To W. D. Fox 10 October [1850]
Summary
Is concerned about the education of his boys and is undecided between Rugby and Bruce Castle schools; is inclined toward the latter, but afraid to experiment on so important a subject.
Reports on his pear-trees.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 10 Oct [1850] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 78) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1362 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … To W. D. Fox 10 October [1850] …
- … Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 78) Charles Robert Darwin Down 10 Oct [1850] William Darwin Fox …
- … s diary records that ‘Willy went to school’ on 28 January 1850. Probably A. Hill 1833 . …
- … See letter to W. D. Fox, 4 September [1850] . The final decision was to send William to …
- … old stereotyped stupid classical education’. See letter to W. D. Fox, [May 1850] . See …
- … letter to Syms Covington, 23 November 1850 , n. 4. See letter to W. D. Fox, 6 February [ …
- … Down House MS) has an entry for 19 August 1850: ‘Whartton Rev d . — Willy School 74 3 6. ’ …
To W. D. Fox [May 1850]
Summary
Details of his continuing water-cure regimen.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [May 1850] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 76) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1323 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … To W. D. Fox [May 1850] …
- … Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 76) Charles Robert Darwin Down [May 1850] William Darwin Fox …
- … See CD’s reference to Fox’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ in his letter to W. D. Fox, 10 October [1850] . …
- … also letter to W. D. Fox, 4 September [1850] , n. 2. CD’s Health Diary (Down House MS) …
- … CD weighed 10 st. 7 lb 12 oz; on 12 May 1850 he weighed 11 st. 13 lb 10 oz (Health Diary). …
To W. D. Fox 4 September [1850]
Summary
Has heard that Louis Agassiz maintains the doctrine of several species of man "much I daresay to the comfort of the slave-holding southerners".
Homeopathy excites his wrath even more than clairvoyance.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 4 Sept [1850] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 77) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1352 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … To W. D. Fox 4 September [1850] …
- … Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 77) Charles Robert Darwin Down 4 Sept [1850] William Darwin Fox …
- … of Science at Charleston, South Carolina, 15 March 1850, Louis Agassiz stated that, viewed …
- … and CD visited Bruce Castle on 6 September 1850. CD refers to Quetelet 1849 , pp. 228–36, …
- … s review of the book in the Edinburgh Review (1850) 92: 1–57, in which the views described …
To W. D. Fox [17 January 1850]
Summary
Account of the birth of Leonard Darwin, during which he administered the chloroform to Emma.
Continues the water-cure.
Has begun work on fossil cirripedes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [17 Jan 1850] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 75) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1292 |
To W. D. Fox 17 December [1857]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his letter about a rabbit breed that he thinks is the Himalaya. He is particularly glad to hear of it because it breeds so true.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 17 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 105) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2187 |
To W. D. Fox 8 February [1857]
Summary
Birth of his sixth son [C. W. Darwin]. It is dreadful "to think of all the sendings to school and the professions afterwards".
CD is not well but has not the courage for water-cure again; trying mineral acids.
Working hard on the book [Natural selection]; is overwhelmed with riches in facts and interested in way facts fall into groups.
To his surprise [Helix pomatia] has withstood 14 days in salt water.
Pigeons’ skins come in from all parts of the world.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 8 Feb [1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 110) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2049 |
To W. D. Fox 30 October [1857]
Summary
Has come to think his brains were not made for thinking – he immediately feels better when at Moor Park.
News of his family.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 30 Oct [1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 104) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2161 |
From Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox [6 May 1864]
Summary
CD has been so ill they must discourage visit by WDF. Recovering slowly with new treatment.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [6 May 1864] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 143) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4487 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … vol. 4, letter to W. D. Fox, [May 1850] , and Colp 1977 ). Ellen Sophia Fox . …
To W. D. Fox [30 April 1857]
Summary
His impressions of the hydropathic establishment and E. W. Lane. Is convinced the only thing for "chronic cases" is the water-cure.
Asks if WDF knows of any breed of pig that originated or was modified by a cross with a Chinese or Neapolitan pig, and whether the crossbreed bred true.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [30 Apr 1857] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 103) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2085 |
To W. D. Fox 7 March [1852]
Summary
Congratulates and "condoles" with WDF on a tenth child.
On education, he has not had courage to break away from "the old stereotyped stupid classical education"; has sent William to Rugby.
The first Ray Society volume [Living Cirripedia] is finished.
Has joined in a society to prosecute violators of the act against use of children in climbing chimneys.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 7 Mar [1852] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 80) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1476 |
To W. D. Fox 29 [July 1853]
Summary
Sympathises with WDF’s tribulations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 29 [July 1853] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 83) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1526 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Mary. Louisa Mary Fox , born 28 December 1850, died 29 July 1853. (The editors thank …
To W. D. Fox [6 October 1859]
Summary
First impressions of the water-cure establishment are not favourable – "I always hate everything new".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [6 Oct 1859] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 123) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2502 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1849] , and to W. D. Fox, 4 September [1850]). See Metcalfe 1906 and Rees 1989 . Emma …
To W. D. Fox 8 July [1861]
Summary
Family news.
Henslow’s death a sad loss. Leonard Jenyns will write a biography.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 8 July [1861] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 131) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3204 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Francis Rhodes took the Darwin family name in 1850 under the provisions of the will of his …
To W. D. Fox [16 November 1859]
Summary
News of his health and the water-cure establishment.
[Origin] "my weariful book on Species" has been sent to WDF, who will not agree with it. Hooker is a convert, and Lyell is "staggered".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [16 Nov 1859] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 124) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2533 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Rhodes, who took the surname Darwin in 1850 under the terms of the will of his brother-in- …
To W. D. Fox [27 March 1851]
Summary
Sends condolences to WDF on the death of his father. Has brought his daughter [Anne] to J. M. Gully for the water-cure.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [27 Mar 1851] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 78a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1396 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … health had been failing since the summer of 1850 ( Emma Darwin (1915) 2: 132), was to be …
From Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox [29 September 1863]
Summary
Thanks to WDF’s directions, Anne’s tombstone has been found.
CD improved, but recovery is slow. She describes treatment.
Encloses paper she and CD have written [see 4294, which was wrongly addressed by ED and had not reached WDF].
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | [29 Sept 1863] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (Fox 141) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4312 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1851 ; Post Office directory of Birmingham 1850 and 1864). This individual has not been …
To W. D. Fox 29 January [1853]
Summary
Discusses education of his sons. Would like to see more diversity.
He is pleased that Richard Owen and others had a good opinion of his first volume [on Living Cirripedia].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 29 Jan [1853] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 82) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1499 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 10 October [1850] ). George Howard Darwin , then 7 1 2 years old, …
To W. D. Fox 3 January [1856]
Summary
Thanks WDF for his help and reports on progress in "the Cock and Hen line of business". Has written to every quarter of the world for skins of poultry and pigeons.
As for seeds, Hooker and Bentham obstinately refuse to believe they can live even a few years in the ground.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 3 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 86) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1815 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 4, letter to W. D. Fox, 4 September [1850] ). CD refers to his recent letters to the …
To W. D. Fox 17 July [1853]
Summary
Discusses Rugby and education in general. The enormous proportion of time spent on classics checks interest "in anything in which reasoning & observation comes into play".
Expresses shock and sympathy on learning of the deaths in WDF’s house.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 17 July [1853] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 84) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1522 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Hereford after his appointment as dean in 1850 ( DNB ). Benjamin Hall Kennedy , headmaster …
| letter | (19) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
| Fox, W. D. | (19) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
Syms Covington
Summary
When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin’. Covington kept an illustrated journal of his observations and experiences on the voyage, noting wildlife, landscapes, buildings and people and,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Covington still assisted Darwin in his work: in 1850 he sent a box of barnacles to London , some …
Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the best observers’ ( letter to C. H. L. Woodd , 4 March 1850 ). He made the point more …
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Summary
Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…
Matches: 1 hits
- … occasions in his correspondence with Hooker. On 13 June [1850] , for example, Darwin wrote: …
Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 1 hits
- … state of indecision’ (Darwin to W. D. Fox, 10 October [1850] ) as he and Emma tried to choose …
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…
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … when he first wrote out his species essay in full. In 1850, he had written to Hooker ( …
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: 26 hits
- … Memoirs of Plumer Ward by Hon Phipps [E. Phipps 1850] L d . Harveys Memoirs [Hervey 1848] …
- … & will lend me— Pickering Races of Man [Pickering 1850]. (has a good chapter). …
- … Collins R.A. [Collins 1848] Phases of Faith [Newman 1850] Burnetts Hist. of own time …
- … Miss. Fennimore Cooper. Rural Scenes in N.A [Cooper 1850] G. Cummings South African Huntsmans …
- … Dana’s Geology. U.S. Expedition [J. D. Dana 1849] 1850 March Forbes Cystideæ & …
- … [Harvey 1849] —— Agassiz Lake Superior [Agassiz 1850] Nov. Memoirs of Pal. Soc [ …
- … 12. Sedgwicks Discourse on Study of Univers [Sedgwick 1850] 28 Steenstrup on …
- … Feb. 3 d . Hutchinson on Dog-breaking [Hutchinson 1850] 27. Chambers. Sanatory Reform [Anon …
- … 5. Collin’s Autobiography [?Collins 1848]. good 1850 . Jan 15 th Lives of …
- … March 16 th . Newman Phases of Faith [Newman 1850] excellent —— Lord Cloncurry Memoirs …
- … 1846] May 20 G. Cumming S. African Hunter [Cumming 1850] goodish July 1 st . …
- … Sept 12 th . B. Franklins life by Sparks [Sparks ed. 1850] very good Oct 3 Martineau …
- … Podrome de Paleantologie stratigraphique [Orbigny 1850–2] 24 fr: 3. vols. The Vegetation of …
- … Danicorum Mammalium Domesticorum by Prof. Benddz [Bendz 1850]— Plates very expensive Coll. of …
- … Anat. der Wirbellosen Thiere. 1848 [K. T. E. von Siebold 1850].— [DAR *128: 180] …
- … Botany, Horticulture, Floriculture and Natural Science ] (1850? 1851?) must positively be read …
- … to aid me on skeletons Knox Races of Mankind [R. Knox 1850] a curious Book. (Blyth). in …
- … of the Horticultural Society of London ]. Vol I. to V. (1850) VI & VII May 27 th . …
- … [Agassiz 1835] —— 30 Bairds Entomostraca [Baird 1850] May 22 d . Madras Journal of …
- … 1853. Jan. 27 th Life of D r . Coombe [Combe 1850]. good Feb. 6. Letters of Ray …
- … Histoire du Pommier, Poirier, Pêcher [Duval 1852, 1849, 1850] —— 27 th . Hist. Nat. Gen. de …
- … Sept. 4. Nunn’s Shipwreck in the Favorite [Nunn 1850] —— 16 Pepys Diary. Vol 1. 2. 3 d …
- … Facultes Interieurs des animaux invertebres [Macquart 1850]. —— 8 th Gosse Naturalist …
- … 1854] —— Johnston Physical Atlas [A. K. Johnston 1850]. March 28 th Sebastian …
- … [DAR 128: 13] Aug. 20 Weber der Taubenfreund 1850 [Weber 1850] Sept. 1 st . Puvis …
- … [Veith 1856].— 3 d Knox Races of Man.— 1850 [R. Knox 1850] 7. Willughby by Ray …
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…
Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … (Moore 1985; letter to J. S. Henslow, 17 January [1850] and n. 6; and letter to J. B. Innes, …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 6 hits
- … 1853 . Preparing for publication Until 1850, Darwin had probably expected the Ray …
- … I have not yet thought’, Darwin told Bowerbank in January 1850, ‘ your mentioning the Palæont. Soc. …
- … was accepted by the Palaeontographical Society by February 1850 , and in the end, Darwin was …
- … many parcels I have no doubt they wd aid me’. By April 1850, he reported to Steenstrup that he had ‘ …
- … and after requiring late changes by Sowerby in September 1850, told him, ‘ I hope to God I have now …
- … the first fossil volume approached completion in September 1850, Darwin had reported on his progress …
Suggested reading
Summary
Contemporary writing Anon., The English matron: A practical manual for young wives, (London, 1846). Anon., The English gentlewoman: A practical manual for young ladies on their entrance to society, (Third edition, London, 1846). Becker, L. E.…
Matches: 3 hits
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,…
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 1370 —Darwin to Syms Covington, 23 Nov 1850 In this letter, Darwin thanks his …
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. …
Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small
Summary
In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…
Matches: 1 hits
- … myself on you’ ( letter to Wilhelm Dunker, 3 March [1850] ). In the mid-1850s, Darwin was …
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.…
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…
Leonard Darwin born
Summary
The Darwins' eighth child and fourth son, Leonard, is born
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Darwins' eighth child and fourth son, Leonard, is born …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
