From Leo Lesquereux 14 December 1864
Summary
Fossil flora of the Carboniferous. Variation of forms found in coal analogous to succession of forms in peat-bogs.
Author: | Leo Lesquereux |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 14 Dec 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR Pamphlet Collection–CUL (bound with G256) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4715 |
Matches: 13 hits
- … published a series of papers between 1859 and 1863 in the American Journal of Science and …
- … coal formations of North America’ ( Lesquereux 1859–63 ). CD’s annotated copies of some of …
- … String Press. Hampe, Georg Ernst Ludwig. 1859–60. Musci Californici novi. Linnaea. Ein …
- … Neuchâtel 3 (1845): 1–158. Lesquereux, Leo. 1859–63. On some questions concerning the coal …
- … Journal of Science and Arts 2d ser. 28 (1859): 21–37; 30 (1860): 63–74, 367–84; 32 (1861): …
- … 16; 35 (1863): 375–86. Lesquereux, Leo. 1859. On some fossil plants of recent formations. …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Rodgers, Andrew Denny III. 1968. ‘Noble …
- … Origin was published in England in November 1859. The edition was reprinted and published …
- … article on coal formations ( Lesquereux 1859–63 ), published in the American Journal of …
- … article on coal formations ( Lesquereux 1859–63 ), published in the American Journal of …
- … found. See n. 1, above. Lesquereux 1859 . Lesquereux 1860 . This paper was a separate …
- … on the geological survey of Arkansas from 1859 to 1860. The stratigrapher Eugene Woldemar …
- … s article ‘ Musci Californici novi’ ( Hampe 1859–60 , p. 461). A gymnostome is a plant …
From W. H. Harvey 10 November 1864
Summary
Identifies South African species of plants that are normally non-climbers in the wild but climb freely when grown from seed at Glasnevin. Thinks there is probably a gradation in the wild between climbing and non-climbing varieties related to the degree of exposure each particular plant faces.
Author: | William Henry Harvey |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Nov 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 157.2: 112 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4668 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … I. oenotheroides (W. H. Harvey and Sonder 1859–65). Ceropegia bowkeri and C. sororia (a …
- … world ). The reference is to Thesaurus Capensis ( W. H. Harvey 1859–63 , 1: plate 51). …
- … from the Cape of Good Hope. [Read 18 March 1859. ] Proceedings of the Dublin University …
- … others]. 1968–81. Harvey, William Henry. 1859–63. Thesaurus Capensis: or, illustrations of …
- … John van Voorst. Harvey, William Henry. 1859. On a new genus and two new species of …
- … C. bowkeri is described in W. H. Harvey 1859 , pp. 254–5; C. sororia is described in …
From William Henry Harvey 19 May 1864
Summary
Sends dandelion [enclosed] with peculiar form of achene; suggests this solitary "sport" must have arisen by sudden jump from normal type.
Author: | William Henry Harvey |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 May 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 116 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4503 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … species, including Thesaurus Capensis ( W. H. Harvey 1859–63 ) and Flora Capensis (W. …
- … H. Harvey and Sonder 1859– 65). Harvey had sent CD a long letter explaining his views …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Praeger, Robert Lloyd. 1913. William Henry …
- … and Co. 1860–1933. Harvey, William Henry. 1859–63. Thesaurus Capensis: or, illustrations …
From Emma Darwin to Hermann Kindt 14 October [1864]
Summary
Writes, for CD, to thank him for his letter and offer to send Unsere Zeit, but will not trouble him to send it.
Sends photograph of CD.
Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
Addressee: | Hermann Adolph Christian August (Hermann) Kindt |
Date: | 14 Oct [1864] |
Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 238–239 ) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13791 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 238–239 ) Emma …
From Hugh Falconer to William Sharpey 25 October 1864
Summary
Describes CD’s qualifications for Copley Medal.
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | William Sharpey |
Date: | 25 Oct 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 144: 475 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4644 |
From J. D. Hooker 9 [March] 1864
Summary
Reception of Scott’s paper.
Difficulty of writing Boott’s obituary.
Critical of Edward Frankland’s glacial theory.
Falconer’s and Ramsay’s views on Himalayan lakes lack support of basic evidence.
Taxonomic distribution of climbing plants.
Huxley picks quarrels with minor figures and thus magnifies them.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 9 [Mar] 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 101: 189–92 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4404 |
To Ernst Haeckel [after 10] August – 8 October [1864]
Summary
Can understand EH’s feelings on death of his wife.
CD was impressed by manner in which species in South America are replaced by closely allied ones, by affinity of species inhabiting islands near S. America, and by relation of living Edentata and Rodentia to extinct species. When he read Malthus On population, the idea of natural selection flashed on him.
Agrees with EH’s remarks on Kölliker ["Darwin’sche Schöpfungstheorie", Z. Wiss. Zool. 14 (1864): 174–86].
Asks EH to thank Carl Gegenbaur [for Vergleichende Anatomie der Wirbelthiere (1864)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Date: | [after 10] Aug – 8 Oct [1864] |
Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A–Abt. 1: 1–52/5) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4631 |
To J. D. Hooker 23 September [1864]
Summary
Pleased with news of BAAS meeting
and Scott’s possible position as Thomas Anderson’s curator.
Suggests Wallace is due for a Royal Medal.
Agrees with JDH’s criticism of Lyell’s address [see 4614].
Bentham’s Linnean Society address treats continuity of life in a vague non-natural sense.
Rereading his old MS [Natural selection] CD is impressed with work he had already done.
Writing Variation much harder than Climbing plants.
Encloses request to JDH to propose, or suggest on his behalf, that the Ray Society publish a translation of C. F. von Gärtner’s Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich (1849).
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 23 Sept [1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 96: 14; DAR 115: 250a–c |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4621 |
To J. D. Hooker [10 and 12 January 1864]
Summary
CD very ill.
Suspects F. Boott’s widow is illegitimate granddaughter of Erasmus Darwin.
CD, like JDH, has speculated that agrarian weeds have become adapted to cultivated ground. Suggests comparison with country of origin.
Wallace’s praise of Herbert Spencer’s Social statics baffles CD.
[Letter completed by E. A. Darwin.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 10 and 12 Jan 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 216 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4389 |
To E. A. Darwin 30 June 1864
Summary
Has heard nothing about the Copley Medal. Is grateful for Hugh Falconer’s interest [see 4546].
Supplies details about circumstances of his voyage on the Beagle.
Does not believe that his sea-sickness was the cause of his subsequent ill-health.
Encloses the requested list of publications [see 4550].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Date: | 30 June 1864 |
Classmark: | ML 1: 247–8; DAR 154: 67 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4548A |
From Benjamin Dann Walsh 29 April – 19 May 1864
Summary
Recalls being introduced to CD when [undergraduate] at Cambridge.
Sends CD some of his pamphlets
and expresses support of Origin.
Has discovered there are "3 sexes" in the solitary Cynips as well as social insects.
Author: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 29 Apr – 19 May 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4477 |
From Bernard Peirce Brent 18 June 1864
Summary
Has been informed Miss E. Watts retiring from poultry department of the Field and would like to take the post if made available. Asks CD if he would provide a reference for him if necessary.
Has bred and reared a young turtle-dove.
On progress of his lawsuit.
Author: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 18 June 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 302 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4538 |
From William Bernhard Tegetmeier 1 February 1864
Summary
Would like his fowl skulls back.
Breeding experiments seem to show mongrels are just as fertile as pure breeds.
Author: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Feb 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 178: 61 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4761 |
To A. R. Wallace 28 [May 1864]
Summary
Response to ARW’s papers on Papilionidae ["On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 25 (1866): 1–71; abstract in Reader 3 (1864): 491–3],
and man ["The origin of human races", J. Anthropol. Soc. Lond. 2 (1864): clviii–clxxxvi].
The former is "really admirable" and will be influential.
The idea of the man paper is striking and new. Minor points of difference. Conjectures regarding racial differences; the possible correlation between complexion and constitution. His Query to Army surgeons to determine this point. Offers ARW his notes on man, which CD doubts he will be able to use.
On sexual selection in "our aristocracy"; primogeniture is a scheme for destroying natural selection.
[Letter incorrectly dated March by CD.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Date: | 28 [May 1864] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Add. MS 46434: 39) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4510 |
To Ernst Haeckel 9 March 1864
Summary
Thanks for paper ["Über die Entwicklungstheorie Darwins", Amtl. Ber. Versamml. Dtsch. Naturforsch. Aerzte 38 (1863): 17–30]. Delighted EH confirms his views. Many in England afraid to express views openly.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Date: | 9 Mar 1864 |
Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A–Abt. 1: 1–52/3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4422 |
From Hugh Falconer 2 December 1864
Summary
The [Royal Society] President’s address is in the Reader [4 (1864): 708–9], but one or two sentences have been omitted.
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Dec 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 22 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4693 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Sabine, Edward. 1864. [Anniversary address, …
From Francis Trevelyan Buckland [before 11 December 1864]
Summary
Salmon and trout increase in size with river.
Wishes to show CD fish hatchery near Hampton Court.
Quoted CD’s book on self-destruction within species in a salmon arbitration case.
Author: | Francis Trevelyan (Frank) Buckland |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 11 Dec 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 358 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4363 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Variation : The variation of animals and …
To J. D. Hooker 3 November [1864]
Summary
Asks JDH to verify an observation on Dicentra – what CD thought was a branch in the young plant now looks like a gigantic leaf in the old.
Concurs on Spencer’s clever emptiness.
Ramsay exaggerates role of ice. Sorry to hear that Tyndall grows dogmatic.
Admits difficulty of making case for Wallace’s Royal Medal at this time.
Will soon finish the first draft of Variation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 3 Nov [1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 253 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4650 |
To J. D. Hooker 4 December [1864]
Summary
CD pleased with Huxley for defending him against Sabine. Also pleased with much of Sabine’s address. Is sure JDH wrote the botanical part.
Suggests James Hector observe which insects visit endemic New Zealand plants
and JDH examine distribution of white vs coloured corollas in New Zealand.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 4 Dec [1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 255a–c |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4697 |
To B. D. Walsh 4 December [1864]
Summary
Discusses Agassiz’s misrepresentations of his views and J. D. Dana’s "wild notions".
The reception is friendlier from younger scientists in France, and many of the best men in Germany.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
Date: | 4 Dec [1864] |
Classmark: | Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (Walsh) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4695 |
letter | (82) |
Darwin, C. R. | (26) |
Hooker, J. D. | (9) |
Scott, John | (4) |
Falconer, Hugh | (3) |
Haeckel, Ernst | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (48) |
Hooker, J. D. | (12) |
Huxley, T. H. | (3) |
Haeckel, Ernst | (2) |
Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (74) |
Hooker, J. D. | (21) |
Huxley, T. H. | (6) |
Haeckel, Ernst | (5) |
Scott, John | (5) |

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: 21 hits
- … hopes.— (letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ) The year 1858 opened with …
- … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
- … instinct the previous March. By the middle of March 1859, Darwin had finished the last …
- … upon Lyell for advice (letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
- … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
- … the forthcoming book (letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
- … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
- … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
- … than when I came’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
- … rag is worth anything?’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
- … of induction’ (letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
- … (letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
- … to me to do.’ (letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
- … of Darwin’s theory (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
- … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859 , ‘the case of Man and his Races …
- … to their mercies’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 November 1859] ). Late in December, to Darwin’s …
- … were the man.’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). Huxley admitted his authorship to …
- … without good cause.’ (letter to John Murray, 2 December [1859] ). At Murray’s trade sale …
- … had made’ (letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859 ). This and the two references to the …
- … try to make out truth’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1859] ). Yet he desperately wanted people …
- … on our side.—’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1859] ). …

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: 25 hits
- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
- … and prompted the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise On the …
- … exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
- … ‘When I was in spirits’, he told Lyell at the end of 1859, ‘I sometimes fancied that my book w d …
- … hopes.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal …
- … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
- … Botanic Gardens at Kew (see Appendix VII). The year 1859 began auspiciously with Darwin …
- … 1854) ( Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 15 (1859): xxv). One of the most …
- … theory. As he wrote in his introductory essay (Hooker 1859, p. ii): 'In the present Essay I …
- … to test such a theory. His essay, published in December 1859, was the first serious study of the …
- … the other’s ideas (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 2 March [1859] , 11 March [1859] , and 7 …
- … upon Lyell for advice ( letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
- … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
- … the forthcoming book ( letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
- … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
- … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
- … than when I came’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
- … rag is worth anything?’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
- … of induction’ ( letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
- … to me to do.’ ( letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
- … of Darwin’s theory ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
- … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859, ‘the case of Man and his Races & …
- … to their mercies’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 November 1859] ). Late in December, to Darwin’s …
- … were the man.’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). Huxley admitted his authorship to …

Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…

Controversy
Summary
The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Letter 2525 — Darwin, C. R. to Sedgwick, Adam, 11 Nov 1859 Darwin writes to Sedgwick to tell …
- … Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, C. R., 24 Nov 1859 Adam Sedgwick thanks Darwin for …
- … Letter 2555 — Darwin, C. R. to Sedgwick, Adam, 26 Nov [1859] Darwin says Sedgwick could not …
- … Letter 2526 — Owen, Richard to Darwin, C. R., 12 Nov 1859 Owen says to Darwin he will welcome …
- … Letter 2575 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, [10 Dec 1859] Darwin discusses with King' …
- … Letter 2580 — Darwin, C. R. to Owen, Richard, 13 Dec [1859] Darwin responds to Owen’s remarks …

On the Origin of Species
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…

Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … into an entirely new province of knowledge’ ( 9 December 1859 ). He soon became interested in …

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: 3 hits
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
Matches: 1 hits
- … or against me. ( to John Lubbock, 14 December [1859] ) When Origin was …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Darwin on race and gender
Summary
Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 11 April 1833 Letter to C. R. Lyell, 11 October [1859] Letter to Charles …

The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 10 hits
- … but his views were generally derided. 1 In 1859, Lyell visited several sites in …
- … that these were indeed implements of early humans (C. Lyell 1859). In September 1860 he visited …
- … in French, earlier reports written in Danish (Morlot 1859, Forchhammer et al. 1851–5); Lubbock …
- … for their work in the Brixham cave explorations of 1858 and 1859. 5 Another controversy arose …
- … its appearance in print; first in French, dated Berne, Sept. 1859, in the ‘Mémoires de la Société …
- … zoologist M. Claparède had also conversed with me in 1859 on the researches of the best Danish …
- … gave me an abstract for my use, in a letter dated December 1859. He referred me chiefly to ‘Oversigt …
- … and Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate. Lyell, Charles. 1859. On the occurrence of works of …
- … vols. London: John Murray. Morlot, Charles Adolphe. 1859. Etudes géologico-archéologiques en …
- … struggle for life . By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Owen, Richard. 1863. Ape …

Instinct and the Evolution of Mind
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…
Matches: 3 hits

Darwin & Glen Roy
Summary
Although Darwin was best known for his geological work in South America and other remote Beagle destinations, he made one noteworthy attempt to explain a puzzling feature of British geology. In 1838, two years after returning from the voyage, he travelled…
Matches: 1 hits
- … [after September 20 1847] To A.C. Ramsay, 1 July [1859] From Thomas Jamieson, …
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: 4 hits
- … Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John …
- … Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] Darwin expresses anxiety over …
- … Letter 2475 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [2 July 1859] Darwin returns the manuscript of …
- … Letter 2501 - Lyell, C. to Darwin, [3 October 1859] Lyell offers praise and …

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: 8 hits
- … across tropics ’. When Hooker’s essay was published in 1859, it was one of the first publications …
- … as by far the most capable judge in Europe. ’ By April 1859, he was able to tell Wallace that ‘ …
- … Abstract ’ would not be finished until around April 1859. But this was an optimistic estimate. …
- … of favoured races” ’, he told Lyell. On 31 March 1859, Darwin wrote to Murray describing his work …
- … the work of correcting proofs continued over the summer of 1859, Darwin had to take the water cure …
- … never shirked a difficulty’, he told Lyell on 20 September 1859, ‘ I am foolishly anxious for your …
- … of Science meeting held in Aberdeen from 14 to 21 September 1859. Darwin was confident that in time …
- … and negative, to his work flowed in. By early December 1859, he admitted that he needed to ‘ think …
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…

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: 18 hits
- … Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] (Innes) Hairy …
- … The Dog in health & Disease by Stonehenge—Longman 1859 [Stonehenge 1859].— on Toy–Dogs …
- … [Combe 1828] Macclintocks Arctic Voyage [Macclintock 1859] [DAR *128: 153] …
- … [G. Bennett 1860] Read 114 Village Bells [Manning] 1859] } Fanny The Woman in White …
- … Republic [Motley 1855] [DAR 128: 24] 1859 Pagets Lectures on Pathology …
- … 1803] (nothing) [DAR 128: 25] 1859 Feb. 28 Olmstead S. States [Olmsted …
- … Mast [R. H. Dana [1840] (good) Bertrams [Trollope 1859] & Adam Bede [Eliot 1859] …
- … (many novels) Dec: Dana to Cuba & back [R. H. Dana 1859] —— Cruize in Japanese …
- … on Maladies of Silk-worm [Quatrefages de Bréau 1859] Owen Lecture on Classification [R. Owen …
- … March. 8 Houdins the conjurer Life [Robert-Houdin [1859] 19 MacClintocks Narrative …
- … Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften . In 1859 he was the coauthor, with E. Desor, …
- … des progrès de la géologie de 1834 à 1845(–1859) . 8 vols. Paris. [Vol. 1 (1847) in Darwin …
- … at sea . New York. [Other eds.] 128: 25 ——. 1859. To Cuba and back. A vacation voyage …
- … Eliot, George, pseud . (Marian Evans Cross). 1859. Adam Bede . 3 vols. Edinburgh. [Other …
- … (1849): 381–420. [Separately printed in 2 vols. (Paris, 1859) in Darwin Library.] *128: 177 …
- … 119: 16a Hodson, William Stephen Raikes. 1859. Twelve years of a soldier’s life in …
- … 1–46. 119: 9b [Jenkin, Henrietta Camilla]. 1859. Cousin Stella; or, conflict . 3 …
- … Library.] 119: 9a Macclintock, Francis Leopold. 1859. The voyage of the “Fox” in …

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…
Matches: 4 hits
- … natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who …
- … cousin and business partner, the earliest letters date from 1859, the year of the publication of …
- … you may not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a …
- … & proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all …