From T. H. Huxley 6 August 1860
Summary
Announces great ally for CD: K. E. von Baer "worth all the Owens & Bishops that ever were pupped". Quotes Baer: "J’ai énoncé les mêmes idées que M. Darwin", but based only on zoological geography.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Aug 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98 (ser. 2): 31–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2891 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the United States of America. 4 vols. 1857–62. ] [Reprint edition. Edited by Edward …
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 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 6, letter from B. P. Brent, 23 October 1857 ; and vol. 7, Supplement, letter from B. …
From Bernard Peirce Brent [1860?]
Summary
Habits of ducks when sleeping on water.
| Author: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1860?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 217 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2624 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 385). The experiments, carried out in 1857 and 1859, are recorded in CD’ s Experimental …
To T. H. Huxley 2 [February 1860]
Summary
H. G. Bronn offers to superintend a German translation of Origin.
Bronn has reviewed Origin [Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie (1860), p. 112].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
| Date: | 2 [Feb 1860] |
| Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 80) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2679 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the prize of the French Académie des Sciences in 1857, Bronn discussed the sequence of the …
From Hensleigh Wedgwood [January? 1860]
Summary
Prepared to think world infinitely old, but not that life originated with a single cell. Questions whether geological evidence supports gradual progress in organisation. HW thought scientific opinion during Vestiges debate was against this hypothesis. Argues that presence of same senses in lower animals and vertebrates does not imply descent; assumes resemblance is due to living in same world and thus having organs for the same purposes. Wants CD to know how others may see these questions.
| Author: | Hensleigh Wedgwood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Jan? 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: 83–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2389 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Hensleigh Wedgwood, [before 29 September 1857] ). See also Natural selection , p. 384, …
To Charles Lyell 5 [October 1860]
Summary
Discusses views of T. V. Wollaston concerning island species related to those of mainland; possible land connection between islands and mainland.
Comments on bats of Atlantic islands.
Plant extinction on St Helena.
Experiments on Drosera.
Bronn’s objections [to the Origin] at end of his translation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 5 [Oct 1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.231) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2938 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … plants on Madeira between 1855 and 1857 ( R. Desmond 1977 ). Robert Fisher Tomes was an …
To Edward Cresy 25 August [1860]
Summary
Invites EC to visit. Wants to discuss education of his sons.
Daughter [Henrietta] has been very ill for 15 weeks.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Cresy, Jr |
| Date: | 25 Aug [1860] |
| Classmark: | Private collection |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2899 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Charles Darwin and the Reverend G. V. Reed, 1857–1864. Notes and Records of the Royal …
From J. M. Rodwell 6 December 1860
Summary
Discusses Origin, suggesting confirmation might come from studying reproduction in microscopic organisms.
Gives anecdotal observations of blind rats and white cats.
| Author: | John Medows Rodwell |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Dec 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 169–70 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3012 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on Clapham Common & Norwood Hills in 1857 I found large q s . of the V x well developed— …
To Herbert Spencer 2 February [1860]
Summary
Has prepared a historical sketch [of writers on origin of species] for foreign editions of Origin. It includes HS. He was too ill to provide it for the 1st ed.
Sorry Murray has not sent HS his copy of Origin, as he was instructed.
Huxley will put CD and E. A. Darwin down for HS’s gigantic [publishing] programme. Suggests Dr Drysdale be approached about it.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Herbert Spencer |
| Date: | 2 Feb [1860] |
| Classmark: | University of London, Senate House Library (MS.791/47) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2680 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … CD had visited on several occasions since 1857 (see Correspondence vols. 6 and 7). Dr …
From David Forbes [after 11 December 1860]
Summary
Glacial action in the Andes.
Origin of Chilean sheep.
Varieties of S. American horses.
| Author: | David Forbes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after 11 Dec 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 150 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2621 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … firm before leaving for South America in 1857 ( DNB ). CD cited Forbes on this point in …
To Charles Lyell 25 [June 1860]
Summary
Encloses arrow-heads.
Comments on gestation in dogs.
Mentions BAAS meeting at Oxford.
Etty’s illness.
Criticises views of J. W. Dawson on organic and geological change.
The problems of distinguishing varieties and species.
Discusses facts explained by his theory.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 25 [June 1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.220) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2843 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on many occasions beginning in April 1857. CD greatly admired Lane and his family (see …
To W. D. Fox 17 December [1860]
Summary
Writes of family photographs and health.
Is at work on an enlarged [3d] edition of Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 17 Dec [1860] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 130a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3025 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … sat for the photograph in the summer of 1857. Erasmus Darwin , CD’s grandfather, was the …
To George Varenne Reed 15 September [1860]
Summary
The family will move to sea-side because of his daughter Henrietta’s health. When they return he will be glad to send Leonard twice a week for tutoring. Frank is in a low form at school but is doing very well.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Varenne Reed |
| Date: | 15 Sept [1860] |
| Classmark: | Buckinghamshire Record Office (D 22/39/4) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2918 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Charles Darwin and the Reverend G. V. Reed, 1857–1864. Notes and Records of the Royal …
From J. D. Hooker 2 July 1860
Summary
JDH reports on the debate on the Origin at Oxford [BAAS] meeting.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 July 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 100: 141–2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2852 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … became David Brewster’s second wife in 1857. The Amalekites were the arch-enemies of …
From Asa Gray [10 January 1860]
Summary
Agassiz denounces Origin as "atheistical";
AG is currently reviewing it [in Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84].
Jeffries Wyman praises it, though not a convert.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [10 Jan 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 98 (ser. 2): 26a |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2631 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … American Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (1857–60): 362). Agassiz also denounced CD’s views …
To Asa Gray 26 November [1860]
Summary
Has reread AG’s third Atlantic Monthly article. It is admirable, but CD cannot go as far as AG on design.
Mentions other opinions and reviews of Origin.
Relates some experiments on Drosera showing its extreme sensitivity; requests some observations on orchids.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 26 Nov [1860] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (27) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2998 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Huxley, 1 November [1860] and n. 4. Gray 1857 . CD’s copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL. …
| letter | (56) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (15) |
| Lyell, Charles | (10) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (3) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (55) |
| Lyell, Charles | (13) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (4) |
| Gray, Asa | (3) |
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 …
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: 11 hits
- … of information about his preoccupations during 1856 and 1857. They reveal little noticed aspects of …
- … as ever I can.’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 8 February [1857] ). Darwin also attempted to test …
- … the alpine plants pretty effectually’ complained Darwin in 1857 ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [2 May …
- … of calculation was wrong ( letter to John Lubbock, 14 July [1857] ). Darwin thought his results …
- … experiments on plants through the summers of 1856 and 1857, particularly with garden vegetables like …
- … Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette in October 1857, to be followed by a second notice in 1858. …
- … find the work: am I not a kind Father?’ Darwin wrote in 1857, soon followed by the complaint ‘You …
- … to end!’ (letters to W. E. Darwin, [17 February 1857] and 21 [July 1857] ). The problem of …
- … of his manuscript ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 1 May 1857 ) seem innocuous and hardly the veiled …
- … are all vividly displayed in Darwin's letters. By the end of 1857, Darwin was well on the way …
- … long letter to Asa Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] ). From this letter it is evident …
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
- … was in Darwin’s day. To J. D. Hooker, 3 June [1857] : on the struggle for existence in …
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
- … 2070: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [before 29 Sept 1857] Darwin’s brother-in-law, …
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Summary
There are two extant versions of the abstract of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same date (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] and enclosure).…
Matches: 3 hits
- … natural selection. One was sent to Asa Gray on 5 September 1857, enclosed with a letter of the same …
- … to Prof. Asa Gray, Boston, U.S., dated Down, September 5th, 1857.” (Darwin and Wallace 1858, p. 50). …
- … was sent to A. Gray 8 or 9 months ago, I think October 1857 [‘or perhaps’ del ]’. The printed …
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: 4 hits
- … the Origin of Species…’ FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker …
- … JUNE 1855 20 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 21 A GRAY TO C DARWIN, …
- … MARCH 1862 35 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 36 A GRAY TO C DARWIN …
- … OCTOBER 1858 59 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 12 OCTOBER 1857 60 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, …
The "wicked book": Origin at 157
Summary
Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 November 1859. To celebrate we have uploaded hundreds of new images of letters, bringing the total number you can look at here to over 9000 representing more than…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ’s appearance, but there is a fascinating scrap from 1857 comparing his views on species 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: 3 hits
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…
Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
Summary
Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared. Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…
Matches: 1 hits
- … written in 1842 , and, as he told Asa Gray in September 1857 , he intended to call the ‘ big …
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: 7 hits
- … Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s …
- … 4 26 January 1857 Variation under nature (DAR 9; …
- … 5 3 March 1857 The struggle for existence as bearing on …
- … 6 31 March 1857 On natural selection (DAR 10.2; …
- … 7 29 September 1857 Laws of variation: varieties & …
- … 8 29 September 1857 Difficulties on the theory of …
- … 9 29 December 1857 Hybridism (DAR 12; Natural …
The evolution of honeycomb
Summary
Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of other cells. (Letter from G. R. Waterhouse, 14 April 1857 .) In a later letter …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
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…
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,…
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…
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 7 hits
- … ago’, he wrote to the American botanist Asa Gray in July 1857, it occurred to me that …
- … staggered about the permanence of species.— By 1857, Darwin had found the confidence to …
- … And this much acceleration I owe to you. ’ In February 1857, the rate of this acceleration was …
- … the way facts fall into groups ’, he told Fox in February 1857. Trials of strength …
- … in theory of the descent of species ’. In December 1857, Darwin had expressed his satisfaction that …
- … there is no good & original observation ’. In 1857, Darwin recorded in his journal that …
- … varieties differ from each other’, he told Wallace in May 1857, before stating ‘ I am now preparing …
The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 3 hits
- … completed his ninth chapter, on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to …
- … on variation under nature. Having learned in the summer of 1857 that his method for deriving …
- … with an abstract of his views sent to Asa Gray in September 1857. The correspondence between Darwin, …
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: 21 hits
- … 112 Jukes. “Students Manual of Geology” [Jukes 1857]— published a few years ago, good on …
- … Lucas l’Heredite Naturelle [Lucas 1847–50] 1857 Nov. 15. Andersson Lake Gnami …
- … Thackeray English Humourists [Thackeray 1853] 1857 Jan. Cockburn life of Selby [ …
- … 1856]: H. Coverdale [Smedley [1854–6]: Quits [Tautphoeus] 1857] 29 Lutfullah. Life of …
- … Marsh] 1858] Buckle History of Civilisation [Buckle 1857] Feb. 28 Sir J. Mackintosh …
- … Oct. 22. Olmstead Journey through Texas [Olmsted 1857] Dec. Motley’s History of Dutch …
- … 1853]— Aug.— Sherard Osborne’s Quedah [Osborn 1857] d[itt]o d[itt]o Arctic Journal …
- … Harris 1842] Jukes Student Manual of Geology [Jukes 1857] Azara’s Quadrupeds [Azara …
- … *119: 18v.; 119: 8a, 21a Buckle, Henry Thomas. 1857. History of civilization in …
- … 21v., 22; 119: 19a Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. 1857. The life of Charlotte Brontë . …
- … [Abstract in DAR 205.3: 138.] 119: 20a ——. 1857. The student’s manual of geology. …
- … [Other eds.] *119: 15v. Livingstone, David. 1857. Missionary travels and researches …
- … 3 vols. Vivay. [Other eds.] *119: 22 Lutfullah. 1857. Autobiography of Lutfullah: a …
- … *119: 23; 128: 5 Napier, William Francis Patrick. 1857. The life and opinions of General …
- … of Elgin’s mission to China and Japan in the years 1857, 1858, 1859 . 2 vols. Edinburgh and …
- … on their economy . New York. 128: 25 ——. 1857. A journey through Texas; or, a winter …
- … an Arctic journal\. London. 128: 25 ——. 1857. Quedah; or, stray leaves from a journal …
- … Rouvroy, Louis de, Duke de Saint-Simon Vermandois. 1857. The memoirs of the Duke of Saint Simon on …
- … [Other eds.] *119: 1v.; 119: 12a Smiles, Samuel. 1857. The life of George Stephenson, …
- … New York. *128: 178 [Tautphoeus, Jemima von]. 1857. Quits; a novel . 3 vols. London. …
- … . Edited by J. C. Morris. Madras. 1833–51. Second series, 1857–. [Abstract in DAR 74: 177.] *119: …
