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Darwin Correspondence Project
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To Charles Lyell   15 February [1853]

Summary

Returns Lake Superior [1850], which he already has received from Agassiz. Thanks for pamphlets by C. B. Adams [on Mollusca, Contrib. Conchol. 10 (1851): 189–206; 11 (1852): 207–15].

Describes his dissection of an unusual cirripede [Alcippe lampas] with 12 males attached [see Living Cirripedia 2: 556, 558].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  15 Feb [1853]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.103)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1502

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Returns Lake Superior [1850], which he already has received from Agassiz. Thanks for …
  • … Agassiz 1850 (see Correspondence vol.   …
  • … 4, letter to Louis Agassiz, 15 June [1850] ). Agassiz’s presentation copy of Lake …
  • … is in the Darwin Library–CUL. CD recorded having read it between 16 August 1850 and …
  • … early November 1850 ( Correspondence vol.  4, Appendix IV, 119: 22a). Lyell had returned …

To J. D. Dana   6 December [1853]

Summary

Responds to JDD’s objections to his views on the three pairs of appendages in larvae of cirripedes. Reports observations which confirm his views.

Gives his confidential opinion of A. White, C. S. Bate, T. Bell, and W. Baird.

Interested in JDD’s observation that Crustacea are not most developed in the tropics. If JDD ever works it out either in number of species or rank, CD would be glad to have result.

Comments on article by Henri Milne-Edwards ["Crustacés", Ann. Sci. Nat. (Zool.) 18 (1852): 109–66].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  James Dwight Dana
Date:  6 Dec [1853]
Classmark:  Yale University Library: Manuscripts and Archives (Dana Family Papers (MS 164) Series 1, Box 2, folder 43)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1542

Matches: 6 hits

  • … Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baird, William. 1850. The natural history of the British …
  • … vol.  4, letter from J.  D. Dana, [before 29 December 1850] , and letter to J.   …
  • … D. Dana, 29 December [1850] ; see also letter to J.  D. Dana, 8 May [1852] . Living …
  • … of a monograph on the British Entomostraca, the lower Crustacea ( Baird 1850 ). Lyell had …
  • … published a paper on ‘Craters of denudation’ in 1850 in which Dana’s geological work was …
  • … discussed ( C.  Lyell 1850 ; see Correspondence vol.  4, letter to Charles Lyell, [1  …

To J. A. H. de Bosquet   17 July 1853

Summary

Discusses valves in Scalpellum. Comments on JAHdeB’s research on cirripedes.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Augustin Hubert de Bosquet
Date:  17 July 1853
Classmark:  DAR 143: 127
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1523

Matches: 3 hits

  • … University Press. 1985–. Dixon, Frederick. 1850. The geology and fossils of the Tertiary …
  • … and Sowerby 1812–46  and for Dixon 1850 . CD had used these drawings in the preparation of …
  • … 4, letter to Richard Owen, 10 September [1850] , n.  2). See Living Cirripedia (1851):  …

To John Higgins   14 June [1853]

Summary

Discusses account.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Higgins
Date:  14 June [1853]
Classmark:  Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/65)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1519

Matches: 2 hits

  • … letter to John Higgins, 7 June 1851 ). In 1850 CD had agreed to a reduction of 15% in rent …
  • … the slump in agricultural prices. From May 1850 to June 1853 the accounts show a reduction …

From J. D. Hooker   [4 November 1853]

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Summary

Royal Society votes its Royal Medal for 1853 to CD. JDH reports the debate and vote at the Royal Society Council.

Honoured for Coral reefs

and Cirripedia.

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [4 Nov 1853]
Classmark:  DAR 104: 186–7
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1539

Matches: 2 hits

  • … to the Royal Society of London 6 (1850–4): 355–6, briefly mentioned the geological work …
  • … of the Royal Society of London . In June 1850 this regulation was changed so that ‘the …

To Charles Lyell   24 March [1853]

Summary

Volcanic activity of Mt Kilauea as described by Dana [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 9 (1850): 347–64]. Discusses the mechanics of volcanic eruption. Disputes view of William Hopkins that simultaneous action by volcanoes of different heights must come from separate lava sources. Notes relationship of continental elevation to volcanic action.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  24 Mar [1853]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.105)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1508

Matches: 1 hit

  • … as described by Dana [ Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 9 (1850): 347–64]. Discusses the mechanics of …

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 G. R. Waterhouse   18 January [1853]

Summary

Thanks GRW for his sympathy on his ill health. Feels better lately.

Sends thanks to G. P. Deshayes for his advice.

Asks what "original work" GRW has begun so his name will become better known.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  George Robert Waterhouse
Date:  18 Jan [1853]
Classmark:  McGill University Library, Department of Rare Books
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-944

Matches: 1 hit

  • … to G.  R. Waterhouse, [January–June 1850] ). Waterhouse did not recommence this work and …

To Albany Hancock   10 January [1853]

Summary

Grateful for AH’s long letter and suggestions. Delighted at what he says about "complemental males". CD feared no one would believe in them but now that Owen, Dana, and AH accept them, he is content.

Agrees with AH on cross-impregnation; has collected facts on this head but has done nothing with them.

AH’s paper on Alcippe [Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 2d ser. 4 (1849): 305–14] caused him to lose sleep over its anomalous structure.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Albany Hancock
Date:  10 Jan [1853]
Classmark:  Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1497

Matches: 1 hit

  • … letter to Albany Hancock, [26 January–March 1850] , and also letter to Albany Hancock, 25  …

To Josiah Wedgwood III   25 [April 1853]

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Summary

Discusses the [CD/Emma] marriage trust.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Josiah Wedgwood, III
Date:  25 [Apr 1853]
Classmark:  DAR 210.10: 21
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1379

Matches: 1 hit

  • … 4, letter to Salt & Son, 26 November [1850] , n.  2. CD had mistakenly received shares in …

To Edward Cresy   29 April [1853]

Summary

Discusses installation of watering system. Sent question to Gardeners’ Chronicle but, through EC’s kindness, superfluously.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Edward Cresy, Jr
Date:  29 Apr [1853]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 310
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1677

Matches: 1 hit

  • … 1849] , and to W.  D. Fox, 4 September [1850] , n.  2). The copy has ‘Lastell’, which is …

To T. H. Huxley   23 April [1853]

Summary

On THH’s paper on cephalous Mollusca [Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 143 (1853) pt 1: 29–66]. Discovery of the type or "idea" (in THH’s sense, not Owen’s or Agassiz’s) is one of the highest ends of natural history.

Discusses anamorphism;

position of heart in Cleodora.

Variability within species;

cementing process in cirripedes.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  23 Apr [1853]
Classmark:  Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 4)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1480

Matches: 1 hit

  • … ancestors: palaeontology in Victorian London, 1850–1875. London: Blond & Briggs. Huxley, …

To Francis Galton   24 July [1853]

Summary

FG’s volume on his African expedition [Narrative of an explorer in tropical South Africa (1853)] stimulates CD to express his admiration and to hope their acquaintance can be renewed.

Describes his health and life at Down.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Francis Galton
Date:  24 July [1853]
Classmark:  UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/1)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1525

Matches: 1 hit

  • … Galton had been travelling for two years (1850–2) on an expedition in south-west Africa, …

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 Charles Lyell   7 June [1853]

Summary

Describes meeting of Geological Society [1 June 1853].

Mentions his criticism of Murchison’s lecture on flints.

Describes Robert Chambers’ "On the glacial phenomena in Scotland" [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 54 (1853): 229–82].

Mentions controversial election of members to the Royal Society.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  7 June [1853]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.107)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1518

Matches: 1 hit

  • … to the Royal Society of London 6 (1850–4): 311–12). On this day, sixteen scientific men, …

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 …

To T. H. Huxley   11 April [1853]

Summary

Offers to send Ascidia specimens of Beagle voyage. Describes some of them.

Hopes THH will review his book [Living Cirripedia, vol. 1] which has been published for a year with no notice taken of it except briefly by Dana.

Discusses Limulus-like larva. "I have become a man of one idea.– cirripedes morning & night."

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Henry Huxley
Date:  11 Apr [1853]
Classmark:  DAR 145: 150Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 13)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1514

Matches: 1 hit

  • … der Echinodermen’). [Read 7 November 1850, 28 April, and 10 November 1851. ] Abhandlungen …
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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…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Letter 1370 — Darwin, C. R. to Covington, Syms, 23 Nov 1850 Darwin thanks Covington for the …
  • … Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 6 & 7 Apr 1850 Hooker thinks Darwin is “too …
  • … Letter 1339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 13 June [1850] Darwin writes to Hooker on …

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…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). Barnacles Over a …
  • … In the year between September 1849 and September 1850, Darwin’s Account Books (Down House MSS) …

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

  • … H. & Chalus, E. (eds.),  Women's history, Britain 1750 - 1850: An introduction , (Oxford, …
  • … fortunes: Men and women of the English middle class , 1780-1850 (London, 2002). Desmond, A., …
  • … Shoemaker, R. B.,  Gender in English society, 1650-1850: The emergence of separate spheres ? (1998 …

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,…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 6 & 7 Apr 1850 Hooker apologises for the …
  • … Letter 1339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 13 June [1850] Darwin writes to Hooker from his …

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. …

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Burghal School 27 Deventer 29 may 1850 Groningen 2 may 1908 …
  • … for Ladies   Leeuwarden 10 november 1850 Leeuwarden 28 …
  • … Technologist   Assen 17 october 1850 Delft     …
  • … of Natural History. 27 Leiden 2 may 1850 Middelburg 19 …

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.…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Burghal School 27 Deventer 29 May 1850 Groningen 2 May 1908 …
  • … for Ladies   Leeuwarden 10 November 1850 Leeuwarden 28 …
  • … Technologist   Assen 17 October 1850 Delft     …
  • … of Natural History. 27 Leiden 2 may 1850 Middelburg 19 …

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: 2 hits

  • … Darwin’s Cambridge mentor – as its second (appointed in 1850). Henslow’s parish was only about …
  • … DCP-LETT-1283; 20 Nov. [1849], DCP-LETT-1272; 17 Jan. [1850], DCP-LETT-1293. Letters from Darwin to …

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…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … 1847; Francis, born 16 August 1848; Leonard, born 15 January 1850; and Horace, born 18 May 1851. It …
  • … memoirs and reminiscences. [61] Leonard Darwin, born 1850. [62] Francis Darwin, born …
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