To T. H. Huxley 9 July [1857]
Summary
Thanks THH for his cautionary response on Brullé, but departs from THH in thinking that Barnéoud, if true, would shed light on Milne-Edwards’ proposition that the wider apart classes of animals are the earlier they depart from common embryonic plan.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 9 July [1857] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 50) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2122 |
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 |
To J. D. Hooker 1 August [1857]
Summary
Important issue at stake with new flora calculations: evidence that species are only strongly marked varieties. Planning large-scale survey.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 1 Aug [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 206, 207 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2130 |
To J. D. Hooker 2 June [1857]
Summary
Qualifications of John Lindley, Huxley, Albany Hancock, Joseph Prestwich, J. C. Ross, and Francis Beaufort for Royal Medal.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 2 June [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 199 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2099 |
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 T. H. Huxley 3 February [1857]
Summary
Thanks THH for his response on glacial movement. Hopes Tyndall will experiment on broken ice and explain how two pieces of ice can freeze together.
Sorry to hear of THH’s row with Richard Owen.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 3 Feb [1857] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 104) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2045 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and ancestors: palaeontology in Victorian London, 1850–1875. London: Blond & Briggs. …
To John Tyndall 4 February [1857]
Summary
CD is "as ignorant of mechanics as a pig", but glaciers have interested him greatly. Hopes to hear that JT’s experiments with ice will explain the freezing together of ice below the freezing point.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Tyndall |
| Date: | 4 Feb [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.8: 2 (EH 88205940) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2046 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … palaeontology in Victorian London, 1850–1875. London: Blond & Briggs. Rowlinson, J. S. …
To Hugh Falconer [7 March 1857]
Summary
Thinking about HF’s paper on Plagiaulax [Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 13 (1857): 261–82]. Owen might answer that all Purbeck mammals are marsupials.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hugh Falconer |
| Date: | [7 Mar 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 26 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3791 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … dentition of the placental Mammalia. R. Owen 1850 , also cited by Falconer, is similarly …
From T. H. Huxley [before 3 October 1857]
Summary
On classification and possibilities of a scientific morphology and zoology. CD’s "pedigree business" is important for physiology but has nothing to do with pure zoology any more than human pedigree has to do with the census. Zoological classification is a census of the animal world.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 3 Oct 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.5: 218 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2144 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and ancestors: palaeontology in Victorian London, 1850–1875. London: Blond & Briggs. …
To William Sharpey 9 April [1857]
Summary
Recommendations of books of general interest [for the Royal Society library]. These include [Louis] Agassiz’s works, [William] McGillivray’s [History of] British birds, and David Low’s [On the domesticated animals of the British Islands].
Comments on current candidates for the Royal Society.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Sharpey |
| Date: | 9 Apr [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 249: 128 (photocopy) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2073F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Royal Society had been in existence since 1850, and CD had served as a member of the sub- …
From Henry Doubleday 26 January 1857
Summary
Sends specimens of Tortrix, which illustrate the extraordinary variation of markings in two or three species. In every family of Lepidoptera there seem to be species extremely prone to vary and in some localities they vary more than in others.
| Author: | Henry Doubleday |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Jan 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 235 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2044 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … butterflies and moths appeared between 1847 and 1850, and a much more complete edition was …
From Thomas Glover 26 October 1857
Summary
Describes his work, which demonstrates that hybrids of Cactus are fertile.
| Author: | Thomas Glover |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Oct 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 58 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2160 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … carefully marked— The first plant bloomed in 1850 & produced a flower of much more lively …
From J. D. Dana 27 April 1857
Summary
In reply to CD’s query [see 2072], JDD describes what little is known about the crustacea of the Antarctic and southern lands.
Knows of no species of the cold temperate south identical with those of the cold temperate north.
| Author: | James Dwight Dana |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Apr 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 39 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2083 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Boston Journal of Natural History 6 (1850–7): 444–532). The monograph he had been …
| letter | (15) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Dana, J. D. | (1) |
| Doubleday, Henry | (1) |
| Glover, Thomas | (1) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (4) |
| Fox, W. D. | (4) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
| Falconer, Hugh | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (15) |
| Fox, W. D. | (4) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Dana, J. D. | (1) |
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…
