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Darwin Correspondence Project
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To John Murray   3 October [1861]

Summary

Would JM object to size of Orchids being same as W. N. Hutchinson, Dog breeding [1850]? Prefers little book, not to look pretentious.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Murray
Date:  3 Oct [1861]
Classmark:  National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 110–111)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3275

Matches: 3 hits

  • … as W. N. Hutchinson, Dog breeding [1850]? Prefers little book, not to look pretentious. …
  • … Bibliography Hutchinson, William Nelson. 1850. Dog breaking. The most expeditious, …
  • … the second edition ( W.  N.  Hutchinson 1850 ) in the Darwin Library–CUL.  See also letter …

To Asa Gray   12 March [1861]

Summary

Has received Chauncey Wright’s article.

Reports on favourable response to AG’s pamphlet.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Asa Gray
Date:  12 Mar [1861]
Classmark:  Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (52)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3087

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Bibliography Bachman, John. 1850. An investigation of the cases of hybridity in animals on …
  • … to a paper by John Bachman ( Bachman 1850 ), which in turn commented on S.  G. Morton  …
  • … on this issue carried on throughout 1850 in the Charleston Medical Journal . Asa Gray had …
  • … favour   procure me a pamphlet published in 1850 in Charleston, entitled “Letter to J.   …

From George Rolleston   16 April 1861

Summary

Index of Origin does not refer to variability of rudimentary organs mentioned at pp. 149, 168. Offers references to Rudolf Leuckart and to Franz von Leydig to support CD’s point.

Author:  George Rolleston
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  16 Apr 1861
Classmark:  DAR 176: 206
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3120

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Green, and Longmans. Leydig, Franz. 1850. Zur Anatomie der männlichen Geschlechtsorgane …
  • … system of man in Descent 1: 31. Leydig 1850 . The number of one of CD’s portfolios of …

To Samuel Birch   6 April [1861]

Summary

Requests information about Japanese and Chinese encyclopedias,

about the rarity of fowls with black feathers,

and about date of the king Thouthmosis III.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Samuel Birch
Date:  6 Apr [1861]
Classmark:  British Museum (Department of the Middle East, Correspondence 1826–67: 1493
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3113A

Matches: 2 hits

  • … the figure can be identified as the head of a fowl. The reference is to Pickering 1850 . …
  • … Press. 1985–. Pickering, Charles. 1850. The races of man; and their geographical …

To Thomas Salt   9 February [1861]

Summary

Asks for advice about the mortgage to Major Owen for £20,000.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Thomas Salt
Date:  9 Feb [1861]
Classmark:  Rachel Salt (private collection); sold by Spink’s (dealers), July 2018
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3061F

Matches: 2 hits

  • … 4, letter to Salt & Son, 26 November [1850] ). Salt’s reply has not been found. CD noted …
  • … Owen on mortgage 20,000£, On August 19 th 1850 for five years at 3 3 4 per cent. I believe …

To Richard Kippist   27 [February or March 1861?]

Summary

Requests a number of books to be sent by the carrier on Thursday morning.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Richard Kippist
Date:  27 [Feb or Mar] 1861
Classmark:  Morristown National Historical Park (Lloyd W. Smith MS 697)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3889A

Matches: 2 hits

  • … 2: 218–58, 345–96. Castelnau, Francis de. 1850–7. Expédition dans les parties centrales de …
  • … Agricola 1721 (see n.  3, above). Castelnau 1850–7 , Expédition dans les parties centrales …

To Robert Scot Skirving   16 November [1861–8]

Summary

Knows nothing of the habits of earwigs. Thinks Edward Newman may be trusted on the point [as to whether or not earwigs can fly].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Robert Scot Skirving
Date:  16 Nov [1861-8]
Classmark:  DAR 147: 481
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4673

Matches: 1 hit

  • … but the point was disputed ( Zoologist 8 (1850): 2695, 2759, 2831; Entomologist 3 (1866– …

From William Hugh Gower   23 November 1861

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Summary

Sends notes on fertilisation of Victoria regia tending to show that impregnation with foreign pollen increases productivity of seeds.

Author:  William Hugh Gower
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  23 Nov 1861
Classmark:  DAR 165: 81
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3327

Matches: 1 hit

  • … had flowered for the first time at Kew in 1850. The annotation refers to chapter three of …

To J. D. Hooker   15 January [1861]

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Summary

CD’s opinion of minor critics and commentators on Origin.

H. C. Watson’s notion of genera converging is dismissed.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  15 Jan [1861]
Classmark:  DAR 115.2: 85
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3047

Matches: 2 hits

  • … in the Himalayas between 1848 and 1850, during which time he and another British subject …
  • … 4, letter to W.  J.  Hooker, [January 1850] ; Hooker 1854 , 2: 202–41; and L.  Huxley …

To Joseph Leidy   4 March [1861]

Summary

JL’s approval of CD’s work is gratifying. Most palaeontologists despise it. Delighted that JL has some interesting facts "in support of … selection". Is sure his views will be partially accepted. Has never doubted that "much in my Book will be proved erroneous".

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Leidy
Date:  4 Mar [1861]
Classmark:  Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3081

Matches: 1 hit

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

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 …

From Asa Gray   9 November 1861

Summary

Discusses observations of his own and of John Torrey on dimorphism, especially in Amsinckia.

Is trying to find specimens of Houstonia for CD.

Author:  Asa Gray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  9 Nov 1861
Classmark:  DAR 110 (ser. 2): 63–4
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3313

Matches: 1 hit

  • … of persons who have died since the year 1850. By Frederick Boase. 3 vols. and supplement ( …

To Asa Gray   11 April [1861]

Summary

Huxley and CD fear Chauncey Wright’s review is too general.

Reports the praise for AG’s pamphlet.

J. S. Henslow is dying.

Francis Bowen strikes CD as weak and unobservant; presumes he is a metaphysician, which accounts for his "entire want of common sense".

Does wild Apocynum catch flies in U. S.?

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Asa Gray
Date:  11 Apr [1861]
Classmark:  Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (53)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3115

Matches: 1 hit

  • … of persons who have died since the year 1850. By Frederick Boase. 3 vols. and supplement ( …

To Asa Gray   23 [January 1861]

Summary

Is glad AG will publish [pamphlet of his reviews of Origin]. Insists on bearing the costs. Encloses list of institutions and individuals to whom he would send copies.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Asa Gray
Date:  23 [Jan 1861]
Classmark:  Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (12)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3050

Matches: 1 hit

  • … a continuation of the Leader , founded in 1850 by George Henry Lewes and Thornton Leigh …

From Asa Gray   31 December 1861

Summary

Discusses dimorphism and suggests CD investigate Valeriana.

Praises CD’s views with respect to the U. S. Civil War and relations with England. Worsening relations between Britain and U. S.

Author:  Asa Gray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  31 Dec 1861
Classmark:  DAR 110 (ser. 2): 65, DAR 165: 104–105
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-3354

Matches: 1 hit

  • … la direction de Comte Francis de Castelnau. 7 pts in 13 vols. Paris: P. Betrand. 1850–7. …
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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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