To T. H. Huxley 4 January [1857]
Summary
Congratulations [on Mrs H’s delivery].
Balanus balanoides positively identified by CD.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 4 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 48) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2037 |
From Richard Bishop to Charles Spence Bate 3 December 1857
Summary
Gives observations to be forwarded to CD of impregnation in Balanus.
| Author: | Richard Bishop |
| Addressee: | Charles Spence Bate |
| Date: | 3 Dec 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 189 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2179 |
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 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … D. Hooker and Thomson 1857–8. Wollaston 1854 . Koch 1843–4 . Ledebour 1842–53 (see letter …
- … and Correspondence vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 [June 1854] , and letter from J. …
- … Vols. 6,7] Wollaston, Thomas Vernon. 1854. Insecta Maderensia; being an account of the …
- … D. Hooker, [29 June 1854] . The proper dosage of chloroform had recently been the subject …
From Frederick Smith 10 November 1857
Summary
Sends drawings of two forms of workers of Cryptocerus discocephalus in response to CD’s request for examples of insects whose workers show disparity of form.
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Nov 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 11.2: 65a |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2167 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … selection , p. 364 n.1). F. Smith 1854 . Henry Walter Bates had accompanied Alfred …
- … Cambridge University Press. 1975. Smith, Frederick. 1854. Essay on the genera and species …
- … of British Formicidæ. [Read 4 December 1854. ] Transactions of the Entomological …
- … Society of London n.s. 3 (1854–6): 95–135. …
To Asa Gray 29 November [1857]
Summary
Thanks AG for his criticisms of CD’s views; finds it difficult to avoid using the term "natural selection" as an agent.
Discusses crossing in Fumaria and barnacles.
Has received a naturally crossed kidney bean in which the seed-coat has been affected by the pollen of the fertilising plant.
Finds the rule of large genera having most varieties holds good and regards it as most important for his "principle of divergence".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 29 Nov [1857] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (18) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2176 |
To J. D. Hooker [after 20 January 1857]
Summary
CD finds Alphonse de Candolle very useful, though JDH has low opinion.
CD argues for accidental introductions explaining some odd distributions, e.g., New Zealand vs Australian plants.
CD’s method.
Diverging affinities in isolated genera.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [after 20 Jan 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 190 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2033 |
To T. H. Huxley [before 12 November 1857]
Summary
Glad THH has taken up aphid question versus Owen ["On the agamic reproduction and morphology of Aphis", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 22 (1858): 193–236].
Fertilisation and inheritance discussed. Speculates that fertilisation may be a mixture rather than a fusion. Can understand in no other way why crossed forms tend to go back to ancestral forms.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | [before 12 Nov 1857] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 58) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2166 |
From William Henry Harvey 3 January 1857
Summary
Sexes of algae.
| Author: | William Henry Harvey |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Jan 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 115 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2035 |
To William Sharpey 22 May [1857]
Summary
Agrees with Thomas Henry Huxley that Albany Hancock has a good claim on a Royal Society medal. Thinks that geology has not been sufficiently honoured by the Royal Society, and suggests Joseph Prestwich. Expresses his strong opinion that Charles Lyell would be a worthy recipient of the Copley Medal.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Sharpey |
| Date: | 22 May [1857] |
| Classmark: | D. and E. Lake Ltd (dealers) (June 2016) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2093F |
To J. D. Hooker 4 December [1857]
Summary
Inquiries on effect of dry heat on temperate plants for glacial chapter.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 4 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 216 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2180 |
To J. D. Hooker 20 October [1857]
Summary
Returns some of the systematics books borrowed from JDH. Will now take on A. P. and Alphonse de Candolle [Prodromus].
Arrangements for a visit.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 20 Oct [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 212, 222c |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2156 |
From T. V. Wollaston [12 April 1857]
Summary
Lists groups of insects absent from the Madeiran fauna.
| Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [12 Apr 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 139 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2076 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 December [1857]
Summary
Species with marked varieties.
Dana’s pamphlet also too metaphysical for CD.
Natural selection chapter on hybridism completed.
Doubts JDH will resist theory in his introduction to Flora Tasmaniae.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 25 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 218 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2194 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … arithmetic and the ‘principle of divergence’, 1854–1858. Journal of the History of Biology …
To J. D. Hooker 30 September [1857]
Summary
C. F. Ledebour [Flora rossica (1842–53)] particularly useful for variety tabulation. Results generally favourable.
Additions to Down House.
Last two chapters of MS took six months to write.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 30 Sept [1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 210 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2148 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … arithmetic and the ‘principle of divergence’, 1854–1858. Journal of the History of Biology …
To C. S. Bate 29 November [1857]
Summary
Asking for specific information about reproduction in barnacles.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Spence Bate |
| Date: | 29 Nov [1857] |
| Classmark: | Bonhams (dealers) (22 October 2014) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2175F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 3 December 1857) . In Living Cirripedia (1854), p. 102, CD had noted that in several …
CD memorandum July 1857
Summary
Memorandum about £250 investment in Patent Siliceous Stone Company, owned by David Thomas Ansted and Frederick Ransome.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | unknown |
| Date: | July 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.10: 23 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2115F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … loans, also each for £250, to Ransome in 1854 and to Ansted in 1855. CD by this memorandum …
To Syms Covington 22 February 1857
Summary
Sends news of his family, Sulivan, and FitzRoy.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Syms Covington |
| Date: | 22 Feb 1857 |
| Classmark: | Sydney Mail, 9 August 1884, p. 255 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2056 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Henrietta. He had married Maria Smith in 1854. William Macarthur had been knighted and …
To Asa Gray 1 January [1857]
Summary
Thanks AG for 2d part of "Statistics [of the flora of the northern U. S.", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 22 (1856): 204–32; 2d ser. 23 (1857): 62–84, 369–403].
Is glad AG concludes species of large genera are wide-ranging, but is "riled" that he thinks the line of connection of alpine plants is through Greenland. Mentions comparisons of ranges worth investigating.
Believes trees show a tendency toward separation of the sexes and wonders if U. S. species bear this out. Asks which genera are protean in U. S.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 1 Jan [1857] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (7) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2034 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … arithmetic and the ‘principle of divergence’, 1854–1858. Journal of the History of Biology …
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
- … and its environs. [Read 15 November 1854. ] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of …
To A. R. Wallace 22 December 1857
Summary
Comments on agreement of their respective views on distribution.
Reference to differences on subsidence.
Reports on progress of his work and praises ARW’s investigations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 22 Dec 1857 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2192 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 5, letter from R. T. Lowe, 19 September 1854 . A. A. Gould 1852–6 . See letter from T. …
| letter | (24) |
| Bishop, Richard | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (18) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Harvey, W. H. | (1) |
| Hill, Richard | (1) |
| Smith, Frederick (a) | (1) |
| Wollaston, T. V. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (23) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
| Gray, Asa | (4) |
| Bate, C. S. | (2) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (2) |
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: 5 hits
- … cirripedes and culminated in Living Cirripedia (1854) and Fossil Cirripedia (1854), again …
- … series of letters pertaining to the Royal Society. In April 1854, when his cirripede study was …
- … indicated by his comment in a letter to Hooker on 29 [May 1854] : ‘Very far from disagreeing with …
- … Back to species theory In September 1854, as soon as the final proofs of the last barnacle …
- … do as I wish it Throughout the correspondence of 1854 and 1855, the overwhelming …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … [24 July 1842] To P. G. King, 21 February 1854 : ‘I live in the country about 16 miles …
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’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: 23 hits
- … [Wellesley 1832] Sir. W. Nott’s Life [W. Nott 1854].— [DAR *119: 15v.] From …
- … de la Boheme [Barrande 1852–1911] must be deeply studied 1854 The Zoologist by E. Newman [ …
- … [Pepys 1825] (Read).— Sir W. Notts life [W. Nott 1854] read [DAR *128: 177] …
- … r . Nott & Gliddon: Trübner & Co [J. C. Nott and Gliddon 1854] (read) A Lecture by …
- … not published but reported fully in Literary Gazette Sept 30 1854 91 Agricult. Journal …
- … d’un Naturaliste A. de Quatrefages [Quatrefages de Bréau 1854]. (light reading) (??) read …
- … Domestic animals. 94 Lloyd Scandinavian Adventures 1854 [L. Lloyd 1854]. praised in …
- … sur les Migration des Vegetaux 4 to Pamphlet [Godron 1854] (read) Journal of Asiatic Soc. …
- … specially of central platform of France 8 fr. [Lecoq 1854–8] Read Journal de la Soc. Imp. d …
- … Sir J. Lubbock. member Ferguson on Poultry [Ferguson 1854], recommended by M r Brent, but …
- … D r . Badham “Ancient & Modern Tattle” on Fish [Badham 1854]. M r Tegetmeier says very …
- … (read) From Nott & Gliddon [J. C. Nott and Gliddon 1854] Roselini Monumenta [ …
- … Carboniferous strata, translated in Bull. General [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important …
- … I ought to read Murchinson’s Siluria [Murchison 1854]— I must read it. & buy it.— …
- … W. R. Wilde in Dublin University Magazine early month of 1854 on food of Irish. ( Pig ) [Wilde] …
- … translated into French by Gaudin—with additions [Heer 1854]. Archives du Museum [ Archives …
- … Himmalaya [T. Thomson 1852] [DAR 128: 7] 1854 Jan 11 th . Pulsky Red, …
- … 1848]. March 7 th . Hooker’s Himmalaya [Hooker 1854].— —— 23 Stansbury. Exploration …
- … July 3 d . Sir B. B. Psychological Essays [Brodie] 1854] —— Duval Histoire du Pommier, …
- … Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire [I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1854–62] Tome I [DAR 128: 9] …
- … Williams Missionary in T. del Fuego [Hamilton 1854] March 28 th . Sir G. Stephens Lectures …
- … Richardson 1784] (poor) [DAR 128: 10] 1854. Microscopical Journal [ …
- … 1855. Wollastons Insecta Maderensia [Wollaston 1854] —— Johnston Physical Atlas [A. K. …
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…
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: 5 hits
- … on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on …
- … in manuscript form to the Ray Society at the beginning of 1854 , where it took longer than the ‘ …
- … to tell his friend Thomas Henry Huxley in early September 1854, ‘ My second volume on the …
- … Society; the monograph itself was printed in 1854. This volume appears not to have been discussed …
- … but he wrote to the Palaeontographical Society in February 1854 and the society confirmed that he …
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: 3 hits
- … sub-class of Crustacea, Living Cirripedia (1851, 1854) and Fossil Cirripedia (1851, 1854). …
- … spermatozoa’ attached to the female (Living Cirripedia (1854): 23). Darwin had previously worked out …
- … from monoecious forms (Living Cirripedia (1851): 214; (1854): 29, 528 n.) and, at another level, to …
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: 13 hits
- … Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. …
- … In both volumes of Living Cirripedia (1851 and 1854), Darwin devoted an introductory section to …
- … was best placed among the Lepadidae ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 527–8).^1^1^ Both …
- … segments are quite aborted . . . ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 562–3) Indeed, …
- … be the most natural arrangement. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 588) The fact that the …
- … with his figure of the mature animal ( Living Cirripedia (1854), Plate XXV). Throughout …
- … (1851): 37–8) In Living Cirripedia (1854), Darwin ventured to suggest the possible …
- … by a new and anomalous course. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 151–2) Crisp (1983) has …
- … from bisexuality to unisexuality. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 29)^16^ Darwin’s …
- … merely varieties (Southward 1983). In Living Cirripedia (1854), Darwin clearly stated the …
- … be found eminently variable. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 155) One of the first …
- … a very direct and curious manner’ ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 529). Modern systematists place …
- … nature was demonstrated.’ ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 555). See also Rachootin 1984, pp. 235–6. …
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…
Matches: 4 hits
- … the start a cautious and sometimes a difficult one. In 1854-5 the newly established firm of Henry …
- … who thought that ‘it was probably taken in the year 1854, but he had never seen it’. A slot in the …
- … Walker, dated 1912; the photograph itself is here dated 1854, and accompanied by a facsimile of …
- … Polyblank, photographers date of creation 1854 or early 1855 computer-readable …
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: 6 hits
- … Dramatist 23 Middelburg 20 june 1854 Middelburg 13 october …
- … Deventer 11 september 1854 Deventer 8 march 1936 Haarlem …
- … Phil.nat.cand Leiden 18 july 1854 Batavia 8 march 1896 …
- … University. Utrecht 16 april 1854 Amsterdam 4 january 1928 …
- … Phil.nat.cand. Utrecht 16 april 1854 Amsterdam 4 january …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 19 august 1854 Oud-Beijerland 23 …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
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: 6 hits
- … Dramatist 23 Middelburg 20 June 1854 Middelburg 13 October …
- … Deventer 11 September 1854 Deventer 8 March 1936 Haarlem …
- … Phil.nat.cand Leiden 18 July 1854 Batavia 8 March 1896 …
- … University. Utrecht 16 April 1854 Amsterdam 4 January 1928 …
- … Phil.nat.cand. Utrecht 16 April 1854 Amsterdam 4 January …
- … Phil.nat.stud Leiden 19 August 1854 Oud-Beijerland 23 …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Editorial policy and practice
Summary
Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of the Correspondence. Transcriptions are made from the original or a facsimile where these are available. Where they are not, texts are taken from the best…
Matches: 1 hits
- … used in a strict sense. Thus a letter dated ‘after 8 July 1854’ is judged to have been written very …
Joseph Simms
Summary
The American doctor and author of works on physiognomy Joseph Simms wrote to Darwin on 14 September 1874, while he was staying in London. He enclosed a copy of his book Nature’s revelations of character (Simms 1873). He hoped it might 'prove…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in major cities of the US and Canada on physiognomy in 1854. In 1866 he sought training in anatomy …
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: 1 hits
- … Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, [Sept 1854] Darwin sends Lubbock a beetle he …
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: 5 hits
- … of logical thought and language. On 20 May 1854, Darwin again took over the notebook and, …
- … a bit of red glass at the garden) 47v. May 1854. Before tea Ch. asked Lenny P. Have you …
- … give me a kiss if you like”. 48 [74] May 20— 1854.— I saw a pile of sand lying on the lawn …
- … I could not help it awfully”.— 49 June 1854— About 9 months ago, Lenny defined being in …
- … Horace Lenny. When ill with Fever & recovering (Dec 1854) used constantly to ask in the …
Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
Summary
The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…
3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin (with a caption querying the date, and suggesting ‘1854?’). It was reproduced …
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
- … and wrote about barnacles on a daily basis from 1846 to 1854. Ultimately, Darwin's deep and …
