To Friedrich Hildebrand 16 May [1866]
Summary
Has forwarded FH’s paper on Fumariaceae to horticultural congress. Comments on its findings.
Discusses forms of Oxalis.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Date: | 16 May [1866] |
| Classmark: | Klaus Groove (private collection); sold by Venator and Hanstein, Cologne (dealers), 16 March 2018 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5092 |
From Charles James Fox Bunbury to Charles Lyell 3 February 1866
Summary
Discusses Louis Agassiz’s theory of the glaciation of Brazil.
| Author: | Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 3 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | F. J. Bunbury ed. 1891–3, Later life 1: 134–6. |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4995F |
To George Henslow 15 [June 1866]
Summary
CD believes most strongly in reversion. J. G. Kölreuter’s, K. F. v Gärtner’s, and some of Charles Naudin’s cases leave no doubt in his mind. Forgets whether Herbert gave cases but in conversation he certainly believed in it. Thinks Gärtner is right to say reversion occurs only rarely in plant hybrids which have not been cultivated. [See 5120.]
Variation
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Henslow |
| Date: | 15 [June 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR Library: tipped into George Henslow’s copy of Variation |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5123A |
To Gardeners’ Chronicle [before 11 August 1866]
Summary
Describes the difficulties of crossing papilionaceous flowers. Believes the lack of success is a consequence of the need for early castration and successive applications of pollen on the stigma. Gives details of a method he has used to cross such flowers successfully.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
| Date: | [before 11 Aug 1866] |
| Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette (1866): 756 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5189 |
From John Gould 10 May 1866
Summary
Gives CD genus and species names of the singular humming-bird; distressed by specific name made necessary by revised laws of nomenclature.
| Author: | John Gould |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 20–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5086 |
To Fritz Müller 25 September [1866]
Summary
Fertilisation in orchids: Friedrich Hildebrand’s paper.
Self-sterility.
Climbing plants.
Agassiz’s attempts to eliminate all Darwinian views.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 25 Sept [1866] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 9) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5216 |
From J. D. Hooker 31 July 1866
Summary
Questions for his lecture on "Insular floras".
Comments on CD’s criticism of Atlantis. Has no fixed opinion on continental extensions. Great objections to hypotheses of CD and Forbes: botanical to CD’s; geological to Forbes’s. Will point out that natural selection is necessary to both hypotheses.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 July 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 81–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5168 |
To Thomas Gold Appleton 2 March [1866]
Summary
The specimen is not a fish but the larva of some batrachian or frog-like animal. Has sent it to British Museum, which says it resembles the axolotl of Mexico.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Gold Appleton |
| Date: | 2 Mar [1866] |
| Classmark: | Boston Public Library Rare Books and Print Departments–Courtesy of the Trustees |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5427 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Appleton had visited Down House in October 1849 ( Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). Emma …
From E. A. Darwin 10 April [1866]
Summary
Has been offered proof impressions of Maguire’s portrait of CD.
Sorry to hear of CD’s "heap of maladies".
Georgina [Tollet?] wants to see the review in the Quarterly Journal of Science [3 (1866): 151–76].
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Apr [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 105: B42–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5053 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … been drawn by Thomas Herbert Maguire in 1849 as part of a series commissioned for Ipswich …
From E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 10 May 1866
Summary
Encloses letter from H. B. Geinitz, who declines to handle translation of new edition of Origin. Recommends Julius Victor Carus. Also suggests Gustav von Leonhard as translator for Origin.
Discusses translation of Variation.
| Author: | E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 72 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5085 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … anatomy collection at Oxford from 1849 to 1851; in 1853 he was appointed professor of …
To Thomas Laxton 3 November [1866]
Summary
Has examined TL’s crossed peas. Observes that in several lots crossed peas are smooth, like paternal stock, not wrinkled like maternal stock. Is this a result of mere variation, peculiar culture, or pollen of the father?
Encloses queries [missing].
Intends planting peas at once if TL approves.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Laxton |
| Date: | 3 Nov [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 36 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5267 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Lincolnshire. London: Kelly and Co. 1849–1937. Variation : The variation of animals and …
From John William Salter 31 December 1866
Summary
JWS is seeking financial help. He is in debt and struggling and wonders if there is any paid service he might perform for CD.
| Author: | John William Salter |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Dec 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 12 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5329 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … had been the proprietor of the work since 1849, when it had been passed on to him by his …
From J. D. Hooker 4 February 1866
Summary
Asks CD whether he knows of a medicine to check vomiting – for a friend dying from starvation as a result.
Duke of Somerset is looking for two naturalists for survey ship to Korea and Strait of Magellan.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 57–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4996 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … imprisoned with him by the Sikkim rajah in 1849 ( J. D. Hooker 1854 , 2: 202–38). Hooker …
| letter | (13) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Appleton, T. G. | (1) |
| Gardeners’ Chronicle | (1) |
| Henslow, George | (1) |
| Hildebrand, Friedrich | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Appleton, T. G. | (1) |
| Bunbury, C. J. F. | (1) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (1) |
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 7 hits
- … On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good …
- … headaches, fatigue, trembling, faintness, and dizziness. In 1849, Darwin’s symptoms became so severe …
- … health diary (Down House MS), which he kept between 1 July 1849 and 16 January 1855, describes …
- … vol. 2). He suffered from persistent sickness in 1849, describing ‘incessant vomiting’ in his letter …
- … Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1849] , and Correspondence vol. 7, …
- … where he and his family spent three months in March 1849 (see Correspondence vol. 4). He also …
- … vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October 1849 , and Colp 1977, pp. 43-6). He underwent …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 10 hits
- … of an Admiralty Manual of scientific enquiry (1849) designed to guide the scientific work of …
- … for the Advancement of Science in Birmingham in September 1849. At Birmingham, Darwin made …
- … of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ), but in the end he adhered to the …
- … History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). He also wrote a paper, which he sent …
- … with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] . As Darwin wrote to J. D. Hooker, …
- … fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). Health and wealth …
- … 1847 and during the last half of 1848 and the beginning of 1849. When his father Robert Waring died …
- … to Down in June, is the subject of several letters in 1849. Darwin was convinced that it was a …
- … House MS) that he kept for the next five years. In December 1849, for example, he had 25 days that …
- … personal wealth considerable. In the year between September 1849 and September 1850, Darwin’s …
1.3 Thomas Herbert Maguire, lithograph
Summary
< Back to Introduction This striking portrait of Darwin, dating from 1849, belonged to a series of about sixty lithographic portraits of naturalists and other scientists drawn by Thomas Herbert Maguire. They were successively commissioned over a…
Matches: 5 hits
- … This striking portrait of Darwin, dating from 1849, belonged to a series of about sixty lithographic …
- … and Kirby. According to a report in the Athenaeum in 1849 , the original intention was simply …
- … and dated in the image, bottom right, ‘T.H. Maguire, 1849’. date of creation 1849 …
- … ‘Our weekly gossip’, Athenaeum , no. 1141 (8 Sept. 1849), pp. 913–914. ‘Review. Portraits of …
- … Secretary’, Gardeners’ Chronicle , 42 (20 October 1849), pp. 662–663. Letters from Darwin to …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 5 hits
- … to J. F. W. Herschel, ed., Manual of scientific enquiry (1849)]. Letter 1167 — …
- … 1262 — Darwin, C. R. to Hancock, Albany, [29–30 Oct 1849] Darwin thanks Hancock for specimens …
- … Letter 1251 — Darwin, C. R. to Gould, A. A., 20 Aug [1849] Darwin thanks J. D. Dana for …
- … Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 Hooker sends Darwin “a yarn about …
- … Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin writes to Hooker about his …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … synonyms’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ). In the conclusion to …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 19 hits
- … Life of Wilkie [Cunningham 1843] & Chantry [G. Jones 1849]. Grote’s History of Greece …
- … Universelle ou traité des Cepages Comte Odart 1849” [Odart 1849] read very good . Rivers …
- … Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray [C. W. G. Saint-John 1849] (read) Knox. Ornithological …
- … on Pop. praised by Daily News. by M r Hicks [Hickson 1849] Published separately Taylor & …
- … India [Sleeman 1844] L d Cloncurry Memm [Lawless 1849] Lady Lyell Sir J Heads …
- … 1828–40] Campbell’s Chief Justices [J. Campbell 1849–57] Tocquevilles Democracy …
- … [J. Campbell 1845–7] Lives of the Lindsays [Lindsay 1849] D r Harvey’s Sea Side …
- … Aspects of Nature. Humboldt [A. von Humboldt 1849]. Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig …
- … Inside Front Cover] Edig. New Phil. Journ.— 1849. Jan. Marten on Transportal of …
- … [Lamb 1837]. (good) [DAR 119: 22a] 1849. Feb 8 th . Geology of Russia by …
- … Marc 3 d Thompson’s Nat. Hist of Ireland [Thompson 1849–56]. Vol. I. II & 3 May. St. …
- … Nov 22. H. Miller Footsteps of the Creator [H. Miller 1849] Dec. 10. Dana’s Geology. U.S. …
- … 1849a and 1849b] Aug. 16 Harvey Sea-side Book [Harvey 1849] —— Agassiz Lake Superior …
- … Dec. 26. Count Odart’s Amelographie [Odart 1849] —— Richardson’s Boat Voyage [J. Richardson …
- … [W. Lloyd 1840].— [DAR 119: 22b] 1849 Feb. 5 th . Miss Martineau. …
- … June Brooks Four Months amongst Goldfinders [Brooks 1849] July 25. Campbell’s Chancellor’s [J …
- … [Fry 1847] (poor) Sept. 5. Newman on the Soul [Newman 1849] Nov. 4 th Burtons life …
- … . Jan 15 th Lives of Lindsays 3. Vols. [Lindsay 1849] Capital Feb. 6 th . …
- … Cure [Lane 1846] amusing June Layards Nineveh [Layard 1849] Vol 1. Vol. 2. Sept. 23 d . …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
Matches: 10 hits
- … College 28 Amsterdam 18 november 1849 Uithoorn 25 august …
- … Burghal School Enkhuizen 20-05-1849 Steenderen …
- … Arnhem High Burghal School Arnhem 1849 Den Bosch 18 …
- … School Amsterdam 29 march 1849 Sneek 31 july 1938 …
- … Burghal School 28 Goes 28 september 1849 Lichtenvoorde 13 …
- … History. Utrecht 16 august 1849 Angerlo 18 october 1930 …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 24 january 1849 Monnickendam 8 …
- … College. Breda 21 september 1849 Den Bosch 13 oktober 1879 …
- … Clerk Winterswijk 23 january 1849 Amsterdam 5 December …
- … on Natural History. Middelburg 1849 Middelburg 1921 …
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Summary
On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…
Matches: 1 hits
- … been diagnosed as ‘suppressed gout’ by Henry Holland in 1849 ( Correspondence vol. 4, letter to W …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Matches: 10 hits
- … College 28 Amsterdam 18 November 1849 Uithoorn 25 August …
- … Burghal School Enkhuizen 20 May 1849 Steenderen …
- … Arnhem High Burghal School Arnhem 1849 Den Bosch 18 …
- … School Amsterdam 29 March 1849 Sneek 31 July 1938 …
- … Burghal School 28 Goes 28 September 1849 Lichtenvoorde 13 …
- … History. Utrecht 16 August 1849 Angerlo 18 October 1930 …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 24 January 1849 Monnickendam 8 …
- … College. Breda 21 September 1849 Den Bosch 13 October 1879 …
- … Clerk Winterswijk 23 January 1849 Amsterdam 5 December …
- … on Natural History. Middelburg 1849 Middelburg 1921 …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Barnacles
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 1253 —Darwin to Albany Hancock, [21 Sept 1849] Darwin writes to barnacle expert …
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Summary
George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…
Matches: 1 hits
- … widened her social network and after her father's death in 1849 she travelled to Switzerland …
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
People featured in the German and Austrian photograph album
Summary
Biographical details of people from the Habsburg Empire that appeared in the album of German and Austrian scientists sent to Darwin on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Johannes Mattes for providing these details and for permission to make his…
Julia Wedgwood
Summary
Charles Darwin’s readership largely consisted of other well-educated Victorian men, nonetheless, some women did read, review, and respond to Darwin’s work. One of these women was Darwin’s own niece, Julia Wedgwood, known in the family as “Snow”. In July…
Matches: 1 hits
- … intakes at both Queen’s and Bedford Colleges in 1848 and 1849. Her teachers included James Martineau …
William Yarrell
Summary
William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on British birds and fish, writing standard reference works on both. He was a member of several science and natural history societies, including the Linnean Society…
Matches: 1 hits
- … William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 1 hits
- … MAY 1848 5 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 12 OCTOBER 1849 6 C DARWIN TO R …
Darwin's illness
Summary
Was Darwin an invalid? In many photographs he looks wearied by age, wrapped in a great coat to protect him from cold. In a letter to his cousin William Fox, he wrote: "Long and continued ill health has much changed me, & I very often think with…
Matches: 1 hits
- … clientele. He wrote from Malvern to his friend Hooker in 1849. " At present, I am …
