To Leonard Jenyns 22 February [1868]
Summary
Asks LJ which British birds are polygamous. His query relates to the possession by the male of secondary sexual characters.
CD is also interested in the numerical proportion of the sexes in birds.
Asks about the use of the horns in male lamellicorn or coprophagous beetles.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield |
Date: | 22 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5911 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … University Press. 1985–. Jenyns, Leonard. 1862. Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, …
- … and Jenyns has been found later than the 1862 letters (see Correspondence vol. 10). John …
- … to a memorial volume on Henslow edited by Jenyns ( Jenyns 1862 ; see Correspondence vol. …
- … 10, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 24 May [1862] , and letter from …
- … Leonard Jenyns, 28 May 1862 ). On CD and Henslow, see Browne 1995 and 2002. …
To Albert Gaudry 17 November 1868
Summary
Thanks AG for Animaux fossiles et géologie de l’Attique [1862–7]. Refers to Lyell’s quotation from AG as "one of the most striking I have ever read on the affiliation of Species".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Albert-Jean (Albert) Gaudry |
Date: | 17 Nov 1868 |
Classmark: | Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milan (Library: Fondo Gaudry b. 7, fasc. 28, doc. 4) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6464 |
To Roland Trimen 12 February [1868]
Summary
Is interested in the relative numbers of males and females of all animals; wants any instances of males, or females, being in excess.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Roland Trimen |
Date: | 12 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Royal Entomological Society (Trimen papers, box 21: 64) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5867 |
To Linnean Society 1 June 1868
Summary
Requests 50 copies of his paper ["Offspring of illegitimate unions of di- and trimorphic plants", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 10 (1869): 393–437].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Linnean Society |
Date: | 1 June 1868 |
Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (Fellows Files No. 6) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6221 |
To Richard Kippist 12 May [1868?]
Summary
Returns volumes of the Ibis.
Requests T. C. Jerdon’s Birds of India
and Thomas Bell’s British reptiles
as well as vols. 5 & 6 of Ibis.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Richard Kippist |
Date: | 12 May [1868?] |
Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (Fellows Files No. 18) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6169A |
To G. H. Darwin [24 March 1868]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Howard Darwin |
Date: | [24 Mar 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.1: 5 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6044 |
To Roland Trimen 16 January [1868]
Summary
Thanks RT for drawings of ocelli, especially for the description of ocelli of S. African Saturniidae. Would like to know of any cases in which the ocelli are confined to the male, to illustrate better the case of the peacock.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Roland Trimen |
Date: | 16 Jan [1868] |
Classmark: | Royal Entomological Society (Trimen papers, box 21: 63) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5790 |
To Cassell, Petter & Galpin [August–December 1868]
Summary
CD arranges for copies of some blocks [for use in Descent] from Brehm’s [Illustrirtes Thierleben (1864–7)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Cassell, Petter, & Galpin |
Date: | [Aug–Dec 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 96: 52 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6300 |
To Henry Walter Bates 11 February [1868]
Summary
Asks about proportions of male to female insects.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Walter Bates |
Date: | 11 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5858 |
To J. B. Innes 20 January [1868]
Summary
CD thanks JBI for contribution to Down school.
George [Darwin] has passed his examination at Cambridge;
Henrietta has been poorly.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Brodie Innes |
Date: | 20 Jan [1868] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5792 |
To Henry Michael Jenkins [after 1 October 1868]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Henry Michael Jenkins |
Date: | [after 1 Oct 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 96: 50 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6402 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Geological Society of London since 1862. He resigned from the Geological Society at …
To Edward Blyth [after July 1868]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Edward Blyth |
Date: | [after July 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 84.2: 183, 187, 187v |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6532 |
To Rolla Charles Meadows Rouse [after 12 March 1868]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Rolla Charles Meadows Rouse |
Date: | [after 12 Mar 1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 96: 39-40 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5962 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … had been ill for much of the period from 1862 to 1864 (see Correspondence vols. 10–12). …
To J. D. Hooker 3 April [1868]
Summary
Asks for [John?] Smith’s exact count of seeds of the crossed and self-fertilised Victoria water-lily. Similar question on Euryale seed and seedlings.
JDH’s coming [BAAS] Presidential Address.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 3 Apr [1868] |
Classmark: | DAR 94: 60–1 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6086 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [21 December 1862] , in which he concluded, ‘I do hold that a …
To G. G. Stokes 5 February [1868]
Summary
Thanks for congratulations on Francis Darwin’s success in the tripos examinations at the university of Cambridge.
The king of Prussia has awarded him the order Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Gabriel Stokes, 1st baronet |
Date: | 5 Feb [1868] |
Classmark: | Heritage Auctions (dealers) (17–18 October 2013) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5839H |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 5 (1862–6): 518). He was elected an honorary member in …
To George Bentham 1 May [1868]
Summary
Sends Ernst Haeckel’s [Generelle] Morphologie [1866] and C. K. Sprengel’s book [Entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur (1793)].
A. Gaudry and L. Rütimeyer have declared in favour of CD’s views.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Bentham |
Date: | 1 May [1868] |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 702) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6154 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Sprengel, Christian Konrad. 1793. Das …
To T. H. Farrer 5 June 1868
Summary
"I have seen the action on Ophrys exactly as you describe and am thoroughly ashamed of my inaccuracy."
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
Date: | 5 June 1868 |
Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6230 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
To Roland Trimen 2 January [1868]
Summary
CD seeks information on the variation of ocelli within species of butterflies.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Roland Trimen |
Date: | 2 Jan [1868] |
Classmark: | Royal Entomological Society (Trimen papers, box 21: 62) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5772 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … received drawings of orchids from Trimen in 1862 and 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, …
To T. H. Farrer 15 September [1868]
Summary
Comments on THF’s MS [on fertilisation of scarlet runners]. Suggests publication, though CD anticipated main features ten years before. Is amused at the caution with which THF put his case that the final end [of the contrivances] was crossing distinct individuals.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
Date: | 15 Sept [1868] |
Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/4) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6365 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 [August 1862] and n. 13). CD gave more detailed instructions …
To Alphonse de Candolle 6 July 1868
Summary
Thanks AdeC for his long letter full of interesting facts, which will be of great use if a new edition [of Variation] is demanded.
As for when CD will publish on variation in a state of nature: he has had the MS almost ready for several years but Variation fatigued him so much
that "I determined to amuse myself by publishing a short essay on the Descent of Man".
AdeC will have plenty of time to publish his views. Asks permission to quote AdeC on a case of inheritance of scalp-muscles [see Descent 1: 20].
Hooker has expressed a view, similar to AdeC’s, "that morals & politics would be very interesting if discussed like any branch of Natural History".
Agrees with AdeC on acclimatisation
and on graft-hybrids.
CD is repeating Hildebrand’s method in producing graft-hybrid potatoes.
As for Pangenesis, very few people approve of it though it has some enthusiastic friends and CD has much faith in its vitality.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alphonse de Candolle |
Date: | 6 July 1868 |
Classmark: | Archives de la famille de Candolle (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6269 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … from J. D. Hooker, [27 or 28 December 1862] , where Hooker wrote, ‘I should like to turn …
letter | (24) |
Farrer, T. H. | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Trimen, Roland | (3) |
Darwin, G. H. | (2) |
Bates, H. W. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (24) |
Farrer, T. H. | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Trimen, Roland | (3) |
Darwin, G. H. | (2) |
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 28 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
- … be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 November [1862] ). I have not the least …
- … him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862] ): 'no doubt you are right …
- … Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 ): 'I entertain no doubt that …
- … but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ): 'you say the answer to …
- … but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862] ): 'To get the degree of …
- … him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ). Darwin was altogether taken …
- … is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). Two sexual forms: …
- … with his study of Primula and escalated throughout 1862 as he searched for other cases of …
- … 1861, and was published in the society’s journal in March 1862. The paper described the two …
- … in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In a postscript, he mentioned his work …
- … telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ): ‘I am nearly sure that daylight is …
- … great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I have lately counted one by one …
- … labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; see ML 2: 292–3). Other …
- … of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), and experimenting to test his …
- … sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). The materials that Darwin …
- … case he determined to experiment on Linum in 1862. Soon he was enthralled, especially by the …
- … be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The case was so good that he …
- … Linum ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), writing up his experiments in …
- … complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). The three forms had different lengths …
- … who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I am almost stark staring mad over …
- … the Linnean Society ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] ). However, it was not until 1864 …
- … pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he worried about the resulting …
- … the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his son, William, his …
- … every flower’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 8 June [1862] ). I never before felt half so …
- … he told Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 [May 1862] ). But he did not have long to wait. ‘It is …
- … it ‘most valuable’ (letter from George Bentham, 15 May 1862). Orchids was published on 15 May, …
- … all, ‘a success’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] ). a flank-movement on the …
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 5 hits
- … In March 1862, Heinrich Georg Bronn wrote to Darwin stating his intention to prepare a …
- … edition (see letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ). Since the publication of the …
- … of importance’ (see letter to H. G. Bronn, 11 March [1862] ). Darwin had sent Bronn some of these …
- … in the new edition; in his letter to Bronn of 25 April [1862 ], he mentioned that he was sending …
- … from E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 11 July 1862 ). (No American edition incorporating …
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: 8 hits
- … in the mud. BEGINNING OF WAR IN AMERICA: 1861-1862 In which the start of the American …
- … cause. Tension. THE DARWIN BOYS: 1862 In which Darwin reports one …
- … 1856 33 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, 14 MARCH 1862 34 JD HOOKER TO C DARWIN, …
- … 1861 115 A GRAY TO CHARLES WRIGHT, 17 APRIL 1862 116 A GRAY TO RW CHURCH 7 MAY …
- … 10 JUNE 1861 121 A GRAY TO C DARWIN, 31 MARCH 1862 122 JD HOOKER TO C …
- … 16 DEC 1861 124 A GRAY TO ENGELMANN, 20 FEB 1862 125 A GRAY TO C DARWIN, 31 …
- … 7 JULY 1863 152 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER, DECEMBER 1862 153 JD HOOKER TO C …
- … 1861 163 C Darwin TO A Gray, 16 OCTOBER 1862 164 C Darwin TO ASA GRAY, …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for …
- … vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1862] , and volume 10, letter to Thomas Rivers, …
- … a construction suitable for tropical plants. In 1861 and 1862, while preparing Orchids , he was …
- … vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] and n. 13). Initially, Darwin purchased for …
- … over the previous two years. In a letter of 24 December [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10) …
- … Kent ( Post Office directory of the six home counties 1862). 3. Asclepias curassavica. …
I beg a million pardons: To John Lubbock, [3 September 1862]
Summary
Alison Pearn looks at a letter Darwin wrote to his neighbour and friend, John Lubbock, after making a mistake in his research on bees in 1862.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Lubbock, after making a mistake in his research on bees in 1862. …
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
Summary
This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…
Clémence Auguste Royer
Summary
Getting Origin translated into French was harder than Darwin had expected. The first translator he approached, Madame Belloc, turned him down on the grounds that the content was ‘too scientific‘, and then in 1860 the French political exile Pierre…
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: 5 hits
- … Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to Darwin, [29 October 1862] Henrietta Darwin provides …
- … Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 July 1862] Darwin tells American naturalist Asa …
- … 3681 - Wedgwood, M. S. to Darwin, [before 4 August 1862] Darwin’s niece, Margaret, …
- … lady”. Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March, 1862 - DAR 219.1:49) Emma Darwin …
- … - Darwin to Wedgwood, K. E. S, M. S. & L. C., [4 August 1862] Darwin thanks his “angel …
Floral Dimorphism
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Floral studies In 1877 Darwin published a book that included a series of smaller studies on botanical subjects. Titled The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, it consisted primarily of…
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
- … 1 October [1861] To Charles Lyell, 1 April [1862] To Charles Lyell, 14 October …
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 …
Orchids
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A project to follow On the Origin of Species Darwin began to observe English orchids and collect specimens from abroad in the years immediately following the publication of On the Origin of Species. Examining…
Matches: 4 hits
- … SOURCES Books Darwin, Charles 1862. On the various contrivances by which …
- … 3421 —Charles Darwin to Joseph Dalton Hooker 30 January 1862 Darwin tells Hooker about a …
- … Letter 3662 —Charles Darwin to Asa Gray 23-4 July 1862 Darwin tells Asa Gray, a professor …
- … Darwin’s work with orchids and Chapter 1 of Darwin’s 1862 book On the various …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
Matches: 6 hits
- … briefly mentioned in his Primula paper. In July 1862, Darwin explained to Gray, ‘ I have …
- … of the genus Linum ’, between 11 and 21 December 1862. The paper was read at a meeting of the …
- … to Lythrum , a genus that he had begun researching in 1862 after Hooker had supplied him with …
- … of Lythrum he had been working on since late July 1862. He told Oliver that, ‘ as each form has …
- … of the crossing experiments immediately, but by October 1862, he admitted to Hooker, ‘ I am rather …
- … 117: 50). Darwin released William from counting in November 1862, telling him, ‘ Next year I shall …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 4 hits
- … on Verbascum. Darwin had suggested to Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic …
- … vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). Darwin had already written to Hooker of …
- … disturbing the serenity of the Christian world’ (Brewster 1862, p. 3). John Hutton Balfour, though …
- … vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). According to Hooker, Balfour’s prejudice …
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
- … [1859] Letter to Charles Kingsley, 6 February [1862] Letter from F. W. Farrar, …
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…
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…
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … lady”. Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E. , (March 1862 - DAR 219.1:49) Emma Darwin …
Sexual selection
Summary
Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species. So what…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the Lords' ( to J. D. Hooker, 25 [and 26] January [1862] ) In 1869, Darwin …