From Daniel Oliver 8 April 1867
Summary
Arrangements for obtaining Carl Nägeli a set of British Hieracium specimens.
| Author: | Daniel Oliver |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Apr 1867 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5494 |
From J. D. Hooker [27] June 1857
Summary
Embryology of plants of low systematic order. Comparative development begins only with first post-cotyledonary leaves.
Curt letter to JDH from George Henslow.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [27] June 1857 |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 115 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2114 |
From J. D. Hooker [24 May 1863]
Summary
Flora of Cameroons shakes JDH’s faith in ability to explain past or present migrations. Sees need for a major novel explanation such as natural selection, glacial cold, or continental connections.
Lyell in a bad way about feud with Falconer.
JDH’s opinion of Wallace, Bates, J. E. Gray, Owen, Asa Gray, Lubbock, and Bentham.
Bentham’s Linnean Society address [see 4118].
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [24 May 1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 101: 143–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4169 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … J. D. Hooker, 4 August 1856 , Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 [ …
- … 1856 (see Wade ed. 1983, pp. 2, 171–83). Wallace 1853 . The reference is to Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates , both of whom had published books on their travels to Amazonian South America ( Wallace 1853 and Bates 1863 ); CD considered Wallace’s book to be inferior to Bates’s as a work of natural history (see letter …
From H. C. Watson 10 June 1856
Summary
Evidence relevant to E. Forbes’s land-bridge theory.
| Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 June 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 33 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1898 |
From J. D. Hooker 21 February 1866
Summary
Had Busks and Lyells to dinner.
Examines and criticises evidence for CD’s hypothesis that the glacial period was not one of universal cold. Physicists deny its possibility.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 59, 62–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5013 |
From H. C. Watson 19 November 1856
Summary
Discusses means of seed transport.
Considers the difficulty of deciding which, if any, botanical species are real.
| Author: | Hewett Cottrell Watson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Nov 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A7–A10 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1994 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … probably a reply to the letter from H. C. Watson, 10 November 1856 . Watson refers to CD’ …
- … 1856 My dear Sir I had occasionally noticed common earth completely embedded within roots, & on one occasion had grounds almost beyond a doubt, to suppose that embedded seeds had germinated on exposure,— still, the idea of this, as a mode of navigation for seeds, never occurred to me until reading your letter, …
From John Scott 14 April [1864]
Summary
Thanks for CD’s consoling letter. His mind cannot concentrate after losing his position, and he feels "an inward dread of life’s future". Would have been glad to work for CD. Understands why Hooker cannot recommend him.
| Author: | John Scott |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Apr [1864] |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 104 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4463 |
From Thomas Hutton 8 March 1856
Summary
TH believes that the progeny of hybrid crosses, in which a domesticated or "artificial" race is involved, tend to resemble the more "natural" of their parents [see Natural selection, p. 486].
Provides some information on local hybrid domestic geese [see Natural selection, p. 439] and pigeons.
| Author: | Thomas Hutton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Mar 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 283 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1838 |
From J. D. Hooker [24 July 1862]
Summary
Wife’s health improved by trip.
Heer’s collections convince JDH that Miocene vegetation was Himalayan, not American, as Heer supposed.
Zurich promises to be a good natural history school.
Review of Natural History Review in Parthenon [1 (1862): 373–5].
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [24 July 1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 70: 171, DAR 101: 48–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3665 |
From E. A. Darwin 26 April 1853
Summary
Acknowledges the receipt of some securities.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Apr 1853 |
| Classmark: | DAR 262.11: 13 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1516 |
From Edward Blyth [3 April 1856]
Summary
Reports observations on Indian pigeons from David Scott at Hansi. EB adds remarks on Indian breeds he has encountered. Suggests Egypt, Turkey, and Syria would be good places from which to obtain specimens. Believes domestic races are all descended from Columba livia; their calls are all similar and they pair indiscriminately.
Guinea-fowl.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [3 Apr 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A140–A143 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1849 |
From Thomas Henry Huxley [before 30 January 1868]
Summary
Congratulations on George’s attaining Second Wrangler.
Variation has just arrived. Wishes he had two heads or a body that needed no rest.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 30 Jan 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 313 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5814 |
From J. D. Hooker 28 January 1868
Summary
Wollaston’s situation hopeless; he must go to Boulogne or Jersey to live. A friend will keep his collection and books together.
JDH’s opinion of Wollaston’s Coleoptera Hesperidum [1867].
Cannot read Duke of Argyll.
CD’s view of Asa Gray as foreign member of Royal Society; compares him to Candolle.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Jan 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 189–190 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5807 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … See Correspondence vol. 6, letter from Charles Lyell, 1– 2 May 1856 and n. 7. John …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [25 January 1868] . Alfred Newton . Hooker refers to Katherine Emily McMurdo , daughter of William Montagu Scott McMurdo . William McMurdo was a brother of Archibald McMurdo , first lieutenant on HMS Terror during the expedition to the Antarctic between 1839 and 1843. (Robert McMurdo, personal communication. ) Wollaston had been among the guests at a weekend party at Down in 1856 …
From Thomas Carew Hunt 2 July 1855
Summary
Answers queries on Azores fauna and flora.
| Author: | Thomas Carew Hunt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 July 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 282 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1709 |
From G. R. Waterhouse 13 February 1858
Summary
GRW’s observations of and ideas on bees’ and wasps’ cells.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Feb 1858 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 23 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2216 |
From B. P. Brent [May–June 1860?]
Summary
Cannot supply a case of atavism in canaries.
Will lend CD back issues of Cottage Gardener.
Cites case of bird (tumbler hen) laying egg in another’s nest.
| Author: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [May–June 1860?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160.3: 297 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2778 |
From Harrison Weir 28 March 1868
Summary
Recognition of colour by animals.
| Author: | Harrison William Weir |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Mar 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 86–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6066 |
From Edward William Vernon Harcourt 31 May 1856
Summary
Extensive notes on Madeiran birds: when and where seen on the island and under what conditions.
| Author: | Edward William Vernon Harcourt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 May 1856 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 100 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1883 |
From Bartholomew James Sulivan 11 January 1867
Summary
Has given CD’s queries about expression to W. H. Stirling. Thomas Bridges, the catechist, had previously answered some questions incompletely [see 2643]; BJS forwards them [see Expression].
BJS answers CD’s query about when some calves show their adult colour.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Jan 1867 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 288 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5357 |
From T. V. Wollaston [early November 1856]
Summary
Variability of certain features within insect genera.
| Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [early Nov 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 138 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2030 |
Matches: 2 hits
| letter | (215) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (40) |
| Gray, Asa | (12) |
| Blyth, Edward | (10) |
| Lyell, Charles | (8) |
| Watson, H. C. | (8) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (215) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (40) |
| Gray, Asa | (12) |
| Blyth, Edward | (10) |
| Lyell, Charles | (8) |
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that he ‘Began by Lyell’s advice writing …
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
- … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 1 hits
- … Re: Design – performance version – 25 March 2007 – 1 Re: Design – Adaptation of the …
Origin
Summary
Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to establish priority for the species theory he had spent over twenty years researching. Darwin never intended to write Origin, and had resisted suggestions in 1856…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to …
Six things Darwin never said – and one he did
Summary
Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly attributed to Darwin that never flowed from his pen.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly …
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
Descent
Summary
There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘ Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim-bladder, a great swimming …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most …
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: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
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
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his …
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
- … Friendship | Mentors | Class | Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific …
Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
4.16 Joseph Simms, physiognomy
Summary
< Back to Introduction In September 1874, the American doctor Joseph Simms, then on a three-year lecture tour of Britain, sent Darwin a copy of his book, Nature’s Revelations of Character; Or, Physiognomy Illustrated. He was seeking a public…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In September 1874, the American doctor Joseph Simms, then on a …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The origin of language was investigated in a wide range of disciplines in the nineteenth century. …
Hermann Müller
Summary
Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the younger brother of Fritz Müller (1822–97). Following the completion of his secondary education at Erfurt in 1848, he studied natural sciences at Halle and Berlin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
