From Ernst Haeckel 2 January 1864
Summary
Returns letter mailed by mistake [see 4361].
Hopes CD will accept gift of his Radiolarien [Die Radiolarien, 2 vols. (1862)].
Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Jan 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 36 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4377 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … 4361 ]. Hopes CD will accept gift of his Radiolarien [ Die Radiolarien , 2 vols. (1862)]. …
- … University Press. 1985–. Haeckel, Ernst. 1862. Die Radiolarien. ( Rhizopoda Radiaria. ) …
- … belong to the class Rhizopoda. Haeckel 1862 included a chapter on the taxonomic …
- … from Ernst Haeckel, 9 [July 1864] . Haeckel 1862 included an atlas of thirty-five plates …
- … that he would be ‘proud’ to receive Haeckel’s monograph Die Radiolarien ( Haeckel 1862 ). …
- … CD’s copy of Haeckel 1862 is in the Darwin Library–Down; some pages are uncut (see …
From G. C. Oxenden 1 August 1864
Summary
Spent two days watching Epipactis palustris in a bog. Never saw a moth.
Thinks "Suddenism" and not "Graduality" is the great Law of Nature.
Author: | George Chichester Oxenden |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Aug 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 173: 62, 66 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4581 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
- … n. 2). In his second letter of 8 July 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10), Oxenden reported …
- … orchid; see Correspondence vol. 10, letters from G. C. Oxenden, 30 May [1862] and …
- … 4 June [1862] , and Orchids 2d ed. , p. 25; see also CD’s note in DAR 70: 27). …
- … longifolia )in his letter of 4 June [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10). The postscript, …
- … see Correspondence vol. 10, letters from G. C. Oxenden, [before 30 May 1862] and …
- … 21 June 1862 , and CD’s notes in DAR 70: 25). CD discussed the species in Orchids , pp. …
To J. D. Hooker 22 [May 1864]
Summary
CD’s pleasure at JDH’s willingness to help Scott find a position in India.
Naudin underrates contamination of his experiments by insects. Thus CD doubts Naudin’s results on rapidity and universality of reversion in hybrids.
Wallace’s paper on man [see 4494] reflects his genius, although CD does not fully agree with it.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 22 [May 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 236 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4506 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … Naturelles ( Botanique ) 4th ser. 9: 257–78. Naudin, Charles Victor. 1862. Cucurbitacées …
- … cultivées au Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle en 1862. Description d’espèces nouvelles et de …
- … to Naudin 1863 , and possibly to Naudin 1862 ; annotated copies of both are in the Darwin …
- … that he may already have read Naudin 1862 . For CD’s reading of earlier papers by Charles …
- … vol. 10, letter from C. V. Naudin, 26 June 1862 and n. 3, and letter to J. …
- … D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] and n. 11. …
- … reading of Naudin 1859a and possibly Naudin 1862 , see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to …
- … In his letter to Asa Gray of 1 July [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10), CD also expressed …
- … 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] and n. 11). For comments of CD’s regarding …
From John Scott 7 January [1864]
Summary
Has finished correcting Primula paper [see 4332].
Has presented paper on monoecious spikes of maize [Edinburgh New Philos. J. 2d ser. 19 (1864): 213–20].
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Jan [1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 98, 99 f.3; Edinburgh Courant, 19 December 1863, p. 8. |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4382 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter from …
- … Scott to publish a paper on the Primulaceae in December 1862 (see Correspondence vol. …
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 6 (1862): 77–96. [ Collected papers 2: 45–63. ] DNB : …
- … 10, letter to John Scott, 3 December [1862] ). Scott and CD corresponded frequently …
- … 128–33, and Correspondence vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] and n. …
- … 14). Beginning in 1862, he carried out experiments to answer this question (see n. …
- … vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 3 December [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter to …
- … with Scott (see Correspondence vol. 10, letters to John Scott , 19 November [1862] and …
- … 11 December [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter to John Scott, 25 [July 1863] and …
From Hermann Kindt 5 September 1864
Summary
Requests permission, for a friend, to publish extracts of Orchids in German translation.
Author: | Hermann Adolph Christian August (Hermann) Kindt |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Sept 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 169: 11 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4609 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Tort, Patrick. 1996. Dictionnaire du …
- … The reference is to Orchids , published in 1862. Kindt’s friend has not been identified. …
- … of Orchids by Heinrich Georg Bronn had been published on 20 October 1862 (Bronn trans. …
- … 1862). See Correspondence vol. 10, letter …
- … from H. G. Bronn, 21 June 1862 . In 1855 Ludwig (Louis) Büchner published Kraft und …
To Hermann Kindt 7 September [1864]
Summary
Explains that Orchids has been translated into German (Bronn trans. 1862); and that Living Cirripedia can now be purchased at Hardwicke’s, 192 Piccadilly, London.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Hermann Adolph Christian August (Hermann) Kindt |
Date: | 7 Sept [1864] |
Classmark: | Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Autographensammlung Kestner: Slg. Kestner/II/C/II/125/Nr. 1, Mappe 125, Blatt Nr1) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4609G |
Matches: 4 hits
- … has been translated into German (Bronn trans. 1862); and that Living Cirripedia can now be …
- … Bibliography Bronn, Heinrich Georg, trans. 1862. Charles Darwin, über die Einrichtungen …
- … Bronn ’s translation of Orchids ( Bronn trans. 1862 ) was published by E. Schweizerbart in …
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
To John Lubbock [1 January 1864]
Summary
JL’s review of Huxley ["Lectures to working men", Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 4 (1864)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Date: | [1 Jan 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 263: 61 (EH 88206505) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4375 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … VI). For CD’s reaction to T. H. Huxley 1862 , see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to …
- … T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter to T. H. Huxley, …
- … lectures for working men delivered in November and December 1862 and first published …
- … in six parts in 1862 ( T. …
- … H. Huxley 1862 ). There is an annotated copy of T. …
- … H. Huxley 1862 in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 423–4). Lubbock began his …
From C. C. Babington 6 June 1864
Summary
Cannot get any Stellaria graminea for CD. It is rare. Some, producing different kinds of flowers, once grew in Sandgate, Kent. Variations in flowers need to be re-examined.
Author: | Charles Cardale Babington |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 6 June 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4521 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … In his letter to Babington of 20 January [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10), CD wrote: ‘I …
- … van Voorst. Babington, Charles Cardale. 1862. Manual of British botany, containing the …
- … has been found. In his letter of 17 January 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10), Babington had …
- … edition of his work ( C. C. Babington 1862 ), in which the description appears on pp. …
From John Scott 19 March 1864
Summary
On fertilisation of Gongora.
His work on peloric Antirrhinum, Passiflora, and Verbascum, done at CD’s suggestion, is at CD’s disposal.
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 Mar 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 102 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4432 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
- … of Acropera ovules in his letter of 11 November 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 10); see also …
- … 203–6, Correspondence vol. 10, letter from John Scott, 11 November 1862 , and letter to …
- … John Scott, 12 November [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter to P. H. Gosse, 2 …
- … the lack of nectar. CD did suspect in 1862 and 1863 that insects gnawed the labellum for …
- … 10, letter from John Scott, 11 November 1862 , and Correspondence vol. 11, letters from …
- … to experiment with Verbascum and Passiflora in 1862 and 1863 (see Correspondence vol. …
- … 10, letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ; see also this volume, letters from John …
To Ernst Haeckel 3 March [1864]
Summary
Has received EH’s Die Radiolarien. Drawings admirably executed. Had no idea such low animals could develop such beautiful structures.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Date: | 3 Mar [1864] |
Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A–Abt. 1: 1–52/2) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4419 |
From Ernst Haeckel 9 [July 1864]
Summary
No book has made such a powerful impression on EH as the Origin. Most older German scholars opposed to it, but number of supporters growing among the young. Fortunately strength of religious dogmas now small among educated Germans. Situation in Jena especially favourable. Defended CD’s theory last year at Congress of German Scientists in Stettin.
Intends special study of jellyfish.
Plans general work on natural history.
Hard fate [death of Anna Sethe Haeckel] has made EH indifferent to criticism.
Colleagues August Schleicher and Carl Gegenbaur also convinced by CD’s theory.
Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 9 [July 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 35 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4555 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … University Press. 1985–. Haeckel, Ernst. 1862. Die Radiolarien. ( Rhizopoda Radiaria. ) …
- … der Radiolarien (Berlin, Reimer
〈 1862) habe〉 ich mich beiläufig darüber ausgesproc〈 hen〉 ( … - … a monograph of Radiolarien (Berlin, Reimer 1862) I already expressed myself on this in …
- … on CD’s theory during the winter term, 1862–3. In zoology lectures given in the winter …
- … his monograph Die Radiolarien ( Haeckel 1862 ); CD received it at the end of February (see …
- … 3 March [1864] ). CD’s copy of Haeckel 1862 is in the Darwin Library–Down (see Marginalia …
- … relationships of Radiolariae, see Haeckel 1862 , p. 234. Haeckel refers to the …
From Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin [17 May 1864]
Summary
CD says Meneanthes is now in flower.
Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | [17 May 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 219.1: 80 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4498F |
Matches: 4 hits
- … trifoliata (buckbean or marsh trefoil); in 1862, he acquired the aquatic plant from the …
- … vol. 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 [April 1862] and n. 3, letter to G. …
- … letter from R. M. Rolfe, 28 November 1862) . Emma probably refers to her nephew Edmund …
- … H. K. Thwaites, 20 June [1862] and n. 4, and note in DAR 110: B52). See also …
From Richard Trevor Clarke 25 November [1864]
Summary
Observations on Gossypium varieties.
Author: | Richard Trevor Clarke |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Nov [1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 161: 165 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4681 |
To A. C. Ramsay 12 July [1864]
Summary
Thanks for his book [Physical geology and geography of Great Britain, 2d. ed. (1864)].
Pleased that ACR’s glacial lake theory is progressing. New Zealand lakes support the view. Suggests he write to Charles Gould in Tasmania, calling his attention to glacial action.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Andrew Crombie Ramsay |
Date: | 12 July [1864] |
Classmark: | Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Ramsay 306: 8) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4560 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … of rock basins in a paper read before the Geological Society of London on 5 March 1862 ( …
- … Ramsay 1862 ). CD largely supported the theory, although it was strongly criticised by …
- … 10, letter to A. C. Ramsay, 5 September [1862] , and this volume, letters to J. D. …
- … In his letter to Ramsay of 5 September [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10), CD noted that …
- … 10, letter from A. C. Ramsay, 17 February 1862) . Ramsay’s letter on fossils in the …
From Horace Benge Dobell 15 July 1864
Summary
Suggests man’s original mode of walking and running is similar to that of quadrupeds.
He also suggests CD answer critics who say no new species has ever been unequivocally traced to its origins, by pointing out that there is no unequivocal account of the origin of surnames.
Author: | Horace Benge Dobell |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 15 July 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 190 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4568 |
To Alfred Russel Wallace 1 January 1864
Summary
Asa Gray’s high opinion of ARW as a reviewer [reference to S. Haughton’s paper on bees’ cells, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 3d ser. 11 (1863): 415–29, reviewed by ARW in "Remarks on the Rev. S. Haughton’s paper", Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 3d ser. 12 (1863): 303–9].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Date: | 1 Jan 1864 |
Classmark: | The British Library (Add. MS 46434: 31) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4376 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … and by the honey bee; with an appendix on the origin of species’ ( Haughton 1862 ). A …
- … reprint ( Haughton 1863 ) of Haughton 1862 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. In …
- … Lyell, [7 May 1863] . For more on Haughton 1862 , see Hull 1973 , pp. 216–28; for CD’s …
- … s review ( Wallace 1863a ) of Haughton 1862 was published in the October 1863 issue of …
To Ernst Haeckel 19 July [1864]
Summary
Thanks for praise [of Origin].
Comments on EH’s Die Radiolarien.
Grieved EH has suffered calamity [death of Anna Sethe Haeckel].
CD recovering from long illness.
Doing easy botanical work.
Mentions variability.
Discusses reception of CD’s views in Germany.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Date: | 19 July [1864] |
Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A-Abt. 1: 1-52/4) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4569 |
To Daniel Oliver [c. 10 June 1864]
Summary
Asks DO to draw diagram of Lythrum on board at Linnean Society for reference during the reading of CD’s paper.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Daniel Oliver |
Date: | [c. 10 June 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 261.10: 61 (EH 88206044) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4532 |
From Joseph Beete Jukes 10 August 1864
Summary
CD’s support in JBJ’s controversy with Hugh Falconer is welcome. R. I. Murchison supports Falconer, and Lyell does not support their side strongly enough. Falconer and Jukes remain friends in private.
Author: | Joseph Beete Jukes |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Aug 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 168: 93 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4587 |
To J. D. Hooker [1 April 1864]
Summary
Proposes to support John Scott in research on relative fertility and self-incompatibility of plants. CD would pay him for a year or two but wants JDH to give him research facilities at Kew.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [1 Apr 1864] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 226a–b |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4444 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … 10, letter from John Scott, 11 November 1862 ); since then Scott had been corresponding …
- … vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 December [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11). CD had …
- … of different varieties of pelargonium in May 1862, with the object of discovering whether …
- … vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 December [1862] ). Scott mentioned his work on peloric …
letter | (132) |
Darwin, C. R. | (54) |
Hooker, J. D. | (22) |
Scott, John | (7) |
Haeckel, Ernst | (3) |
Brent, B. P. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (71) |
Hooker, J. D. | (21) |
Darwin, W. E. | (5) |
Oliver, Daniel | (5) |
Gray, Asa | (4) |
Darwin, C. R. | (125) |
Hooker, J. D. | (43) |
Scott, John | (9) |
Darwin, W. E. | (7) |
Gray, Asa | (6) |

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 …