To M. J. Berkeley 7 April [1855]
Summary
Asks for a pea variety for an experiment.
Discusses C. F. v. Gärtner’s results [in Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich (1849)]. Criticises Gärtner’s belief that hybrids are always less fertile than their parents.
Asks about MJB’s experiments.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Miles Joseph Berkeley |
Date: | 7 Apr [1855] |
Classmark: | Shropshire Archives (SA 6001/134/41) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1662 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … selection , pp. 68, 71. Gärtner had died in 1850. In an undated, unbound slip associated …
- … Bibliography Berkeley, Miles Joseph. 1850–1. Gärtner’s observations upon muling among …
- … of the Horticultural Society of London 5 (1850): 156–72; 6 (1851): 1–13. Correspondence : …
- … 404, and also mentioned biefly in Berkeley 1850–1 (see n. 6, below). These peas were a …
- … Wiegmann 1828 is also mentioned in Berkeley 1850–1 . Gärtner 1849 , pp. 497–9. CD’s copy …
- … in October (see n. 3, above). Berkeley 1850–1 , a review of Gärtner 1849 . CD’s annotated …
From H. C. Watson 23 August 1855
Summary
Close species in large and small genera.
Artificiality of botanical classification.
Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23 Aug 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 29 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1747 |
From Edward Blyth [22 September 1855]
Summary
Gives extract from a letter from Capt. R. Tickell: rabbits are not bred by the Burmese; common European and Chinese geese are bred but have probably only recently been introduced.
EB gives references to works illustrating the dog-like instinct of N. American wolves.
Discusses reason and instinct; ascribes both to man and animals. Comments on various instincts, e. g. homing, migratory, parental, constructive, and defensive. Reasoning in animals; cattle learning to overcome fear of passing trains.
Hybrid sterility as an indication of distinct species. Interbreeding as an indication of common parentage.
Enlarges upon details given by J. C. Prichard [in The natural history of man (1843)].
Adaptation of the two-humped camel to cold climates. Camel hybrids.
Doubts that domestic fowl or fancy pigeons have ever reverted to the wild.
Feral horses and cattle of S. America.
Believes the "creole pullets" to be a case of inaccurate description.
Variations in skulls between species of wild boar.
Pigs are so prolific that the species might be expected to cross.
Milk production of cows and goats.
Sheep and goats of lower Bengal.
Indian breeds of horses.
Variation in Asiatic elephants.
Spread of American tropical and subtropical plants in the East.
EB distinguishes between races and artificially-produced breeds.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this memorandum.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [22 Sept 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A85–A92 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1755 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Sciences of Philadelphia 2d ser. 2 (1850–4): 75–9. Westgarth, William. 1848. Australia …
- … Bengal n.s. 15: 135–70. Hutton, Thomas. 1850. The chronology of creation; or, geology and …
- … Journal 45: 49–61. Townsend, John Kirk. 1850. On the giant wolf of North America. – Lupus …
- … Magazine 70 (1851): 669–80. Townsend 1850 . Blyth left a gap in his letter for the species …
- … bactrianus is the frontispiece of Hutton 1850 . This work is in the Darwin Library–CUL and …
From George Gordon 24 December 1855
Author: | George Gordon |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Dec 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.7: 281 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1799 |
To Asa Gray 24 August [1855]
Summary
"Close" species in large and small genera.
Alphonse de Candolle on geographical distribution [Géographie botanique raisonnée (1855)].
Species variability.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 24 Aug [1855] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (10) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1749 |
From Arthur Edward Knox [c. March 1855–7?]
Summary
CD has suggested an explanation of how pike were introduced to a remote lake in Ireland by cormorants [carrying pike spawn on their feet or in their gullets].
Author: | Arthur Edward Knox |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | Mar 1855-7 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 243 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1624 |
From John Davy 30 January 1855
Summary
Responds to CD’s letter. The ova of Salmonidae exposed to air, if kept moist, will stay alive up to 72 hours.
Author: | John Davy |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 Jan 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 227 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1634 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 3 (1850–7): 267–8. Davy, John. 1856. On the vitality of …
From Francis Galton to Charles John Andersson [after 22 February 1855]
Summary
Sends on CD’s list of enquiries about native breeds of animals in South Africa.
Author: | Francis Galton |
Addressee: | Charles John (Carl Johann) Andersson |
Date: | [after 22 Feb 1855] |
Classmark: | National Library of South Africa, Cape Town |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554G |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in Africa during his expeditions between 1850 and 1854 ( Andersson 1856 ). Galton enclosed …
From Asa Gray 30 June 1855
Summary
Sends a list of "close" species from his Manual of botany.
Hopes Hooker or CD will write an essay on species. Discusses some of the difficulties of defining botanical species.
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 June 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 92a |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1707 |
To T. H. Huxley 18 April [1855]
Summary
Thomas Bell thinks John Lindley superior for Royal Society Medal. CD agrees, but demurs at Medal going to same branch of science two years in succession.
Perplexed about Albany Hancock’s qualifications compared with J. O. Westwood’s.
Death of H. De la Beche.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 18 Apr [1855] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 31) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1668 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … mineralogy; or mathematics and chemistry. In 1850, however, the stipulation was altered, …
To Francis Galton 22 February [1855]
Summary
Thanks for FG’s note and trouble in searching out pigeons.
Is obliged to FG for obtaining C. J. Andersson’s offer of information about breeds of cattle in South Africa.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Galton |
Date: | 22 Feb [1855] |
Classmark: | National Library of South Africa, Cape Town |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1554F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in South Africa with Galton between 1850 and 1852. CD cited Andersson’s observations of …
To T. H. Huxley 31 March [1855]
Summary
Thinks J. O. Westwood deserves Royal Society’s Gold Medal. Asks THH’s opinion of his nomination. Lyell deserves Copley Medal, but, since he has Royal Medal, it may be objectionable to propose him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Date: | 31 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 29) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1659 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the council of the Royal Society in 1849 and 1850. He was re-elected in November 1854 and …
To G. R. Waterhouse 4 March [1855]
Summary
A page of [unspecified] text is missing from a parcel of material received from GRW.
CD "hopes and expects to live to see Carboniferous, & perhaps even Silurian, mammifers!"
Has several questions to ask whenever they meet.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
Date: | 4 Mar [1855] |
Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Archives DF PAL/100/7/29) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1641 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … introduced by shipping’ (A. K. Johnston ed. 1850, p. 93). In the revised edition (A. K. …
From Edward Blyth [30 September or 7 October 1855]
Summary
Origin of domestic varieties. EB ascribes "abnormal" variations to man’s propagation of casual monstrosities; believes "normal" variations, e.g. European races of cattle, are a consequence of man’s selecting the choicest specimens. Gives examples of "abnormal" variations; they give rise to features that have no counterpart among possible wild progenitors. Divides domestic animals into those whose origin is known and those whose origin is unknown. Considers that the wild progenitors of nearly all domestic birds are known. Fowls and pigeons show many varieties but if propagated abnormalities are ignored each group can be seen to be variations of a single species, the ancestors of which can be recognised without difficulty. Discusses varieties and ancestry of the domestic fowl. Variation in the wild; the ruff shows exceptional variability; other species of birds show variability in size of individuals. Remarks that markings sometimes vary on different sides of the same animal. Comments on the want of regularity in leaf and petal patterns of some plants. Discusses domestic varieties of reindeer and camels. Origin of humped cattle. Reports the rapid spread of a snail in lower Bengal that was introduced as a single pair five or six years previously.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of part of this memorandum. Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]
Author: | Edward Blyth |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [30 Sept or 7 Oct] 1855 |
Classmark: | DAR 98: A25–A36 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1761 |
To J. D. Hooker 15 [May 1855]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 15 [May 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 114: 147 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1681 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … been elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1850 and was a member of the council. Bonney …
From Charles Cardale Babington [c. June 1855]
Summary
Reports that he sees the oxlip, cowslip, and primrose as really distinct species; hybrids are formed between any two.
Author: | Charles Cardale Babington |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [c. June 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 1 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1584 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … with William Jackson Hooker on the sixth (1850) and later editions of Hooker’s British …
From [J. B. Innes] [after 8 February – August 1855]
Summary
Provides another case of apparently pure bred pointers producing litter with one setter puppy. Correspondent was told that this occurred in several litters; gives names of owners and others who can corroborate the information.
Author: | John Brodie Innes |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [after 8 Feb – Aug 1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 163: 5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13870 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Hore was rector of St Clement’s, Oxford, from 1850 to 1855 ( Clergy list ). Innes may be …
To J. S. Henslow 21 July [1855]
Summary
Thanks JSH for all he has done. His botanical little girls are marvellous. His marking of the list of dubious species is what CD wanted. Explains that he wanted to ascertain whether closely allied forms belong to large or small genera.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 21 July [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A98–A100 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1726 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette in 1850. Excerpts from Henslow’s invitations and …
To Gardeners’ Chronicle 21 May [1855]
Summary
Reports on his experiments on action of sea-water on seeds and the bearing of his investigations on the theory of centres of creation and Edward Forbes’s theory of continental extensions to account for distribution of organic forms. CD’s experiments confirm germination powers were retained after 42 days’ immersion by seven out of eight kinds of seeds.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Gardeners’ Chronicle |
Date: | 21 May [1855] |
Classmark: | Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, no. 21, 26 May 1855, pp. 356–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1684 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … is a misspelling of orache. A. K. Johnston ed. 1850, p. 34. CD’s calculations are in DAR …
To J. S. Henslow 2 July [1855]
Summary
Sends a list of plants with stamps to pay the Hitcham girls who will collect seeds for him.
Describes his work with seeds in salt water.
For his experiments he would like seeds collected from plants that grow both near Hitcham and in the Azores.
Explains again what JSH should do in marking "close species".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
Date: | 2 July [1855] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: A31–A35 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1708 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 14 July [1855] ). W. J. Hooker and Arnott 1850 and 1855. William Jackson Hooker’s The …
letter | (23) |
Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
Blyth, Edward | (4) |
Babington, C. C. | (1) |
Davy, John | (1) |
Galton, Francis | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
Henslow, J. S. | (2) |
Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
Andersson, C. J. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (22) |
Blyth, Edward | (4) |
Galton, Francis | (2) |
Gray, Asa | (2) |
Henslow, J. S. | (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…