To Albert Gaudry 17 September [1866]
Summary
Thanks AG for Considérations générales [sur les animaux fossiles] de Pikermi [1866]. The observations on the various intermediate fossil forms seem most valuable.
AG does not fully understand what CD means by "the struggle for existence, or concurrence vitale".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Albert-Jean (Albert) Gaudry |
Date: | 17 Sept [1866] |
Classmark: | Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milan (Library: Fondo Gaudry b. 7, fasc. 28, doc. 1) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5213 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … London: John Murray. 1871. Gaudry, Albert. 1862–7. Animaux fossiles et géologie de l’ …
- … Géologique de France. Gaudry, Albert. 1862. Sur le singe fossile de Grèce. Bulletin de la …
- … on the fossil animals of Greece ( Gaudry 1862–7 ). CD’s separately paginated offprint, …
- … as a ‘type transitionnel’ (see Gaudry 1862 , p. 1023). Although CD did not cite this …
- … reflected his infinite beauty ( Gaudry 1862–7 , p. 370). CD may have been alluding to …
- … both the antelope and the goat (see Gaudry 1862–7 , p. 347). He included several graphs …
From J. D. Hooker 2 July 1866
Summary
Suggests a memorial from Huxley, Murchison, and other geologists on the Gallegos fossils. He will speak privately to Duke of Somerset.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 July 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 79–80 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5139 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … D. Hooker, 3 November [1862] ). For CD’s interest in the plant in connection with his …
- … 10, letter to Alphonse de Candolle, 17 June [1862] . A. hispidifolia is not a recognised …
- … had requested Alkanna seed from Hooker in 1862 after having been informed by Alphonse de …
- … vol. 10, letter from Alphonse de Candolle, 13 June 1862 , and letter to J. …
To Rudolf Suchsland 4 April 1866
Summary
Cannot support another edition of Origin, so unable to send English pages. Suggests some of his other works that might be worth translating into German.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Georg Rudolf Emil (Rudolf) Suchsland |
Date: | 4 Apr 1866 |
Classmark: | Sotheby’s (dealers) (16 December 2010); Kotte Autographs (dealers) (March 2016) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5054F |
Matches: 5 hits
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 6 (1862): 77–96. [ Collected papers 2: 45–63. ] Freeman, …
- … Beagle’ . Heinrich Georg Bronn had translated Orchids into German in 1862 (Bronn trans. …
- … 1862). CD’s paper on climbing plants was published in 1865 in the Journal of the Linnean …
- … the possession of the Linnean Society. By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 April 1862. ] Journal of …
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 6 (1862): 151–7. [ Collected papers 2: 63–70. ] …
From E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 23 March 1866
Summary
Describes plans for new German edition of Origin [1867].
Author: | E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23 Mar 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 71 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5038 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 16 October 1862 . The firm had published two German editions of …
- … sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 7 June 1862 . See also letter from Rudolf Suchsland, 16 March …
- … a new translation. After Bronn’s death in 1862, Hans Bruno Geinitz replaced him as editor …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
- … German edition of Orchids (Bronn trans. 1862). On the reception of Origin in Germany, see …
To Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg 22 July [1866?]
Summary
Thanks CGE for two papers and for his assistance of many years ago.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg |
Date: | 22 July [1866?] |
Classmark: | Archiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Nachlass Ehrenberg, Nr. 321) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5163 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 September [1866]
Summary
Susan Darwin still lives, but is dying.
Requests an Erica massoni to compare with Drosera.
On L. Agassiz’s "astonishing" view that Amazon Valley was filled with gigantic glacier. Asa Gray says LA is determined to cover the globe with glaciers in order to destroy "Darwinian views".
Excellent review of A. Murray [The geographical distribution of mammals] in Gardeners’ Chronicle [(1866): 902].
Frankland’s Royal Institution lecture ["On the source of muscular power" Not. Proc. R. Inst. G. B. 4 (1862–6): 661–85].
Wallace’s paper.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 25 Sept [1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 300 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5217 |
From B. J. Sulivan 25 December 1866
Summary
Discusses the South American mission.
Has been busy digging out fossil leaves from local Eocene deposits.
Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Dec 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 287 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5325 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7. Salter, John William. 1862. On Peltocaris, a new genus …
- … of Silurian Crustacea. [Read 21 May 1862. ] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society …
- … Patagonian Mission Society from 1857 to 1862, when he became the society’s superintendent …
- … Survey of Great Britain (Harpe and Salter 1862 ) that included material collected at …
From J. D. Hooker 13 May 1866
Summary
Refers to enclosure from Asa Gray
with whom he can talk calmly now that war is over. North had no right to resort to bloodshed.
Startled by CD’s attendance at Royal Society soirée.
Has asked E. B. Tylor to make up questions for consuls and missionaries, through whose wives a lot of most curious information [for Descent?] could be obtained.
Tying umbilical cord has always been a mystery to JDH.
John Crawfurd’s paper on cultivated plants is shocking twaddle ["On the migration of cultivated plants in reference to ethnology", J. Bot. Br. & Foreign 4 (1866): 317–32].
R. T. Lowe back from Madeira.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 May 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 71–4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5089 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … 10, letter from Asa Gray, 18 February 1862 ). CD sometimes shared letters from Gray that …
- … Bell and Sons. Mayne, Richard Charles. 1862. Four years in British Columbia and Vancouver …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, [19 January 1862] , and Correspondence vol. 11, letter from …
- … Columbia and Vancouver Island ( Mayne 1862 ). Mayne had served on an expedition to British …
From George Bentham 25 September 1866
Summary
Replies to CD’s two memoranda, GB explains: 1. That he never said thistles do not produce seeds, but rather that the infinite majority of new plants are propagated from buds
2. That book-borrowing rules of the Linnean Library are not so stringent as the Librarian makes out.
Author: | George Bentham |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Sept 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 158 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5218 |
To Fritz Müller 23 August [1866]
Summary
Thanks for observations on orchids.
FM’s paper on climbing plants [see 5146]; CD has received proofs.
Carl Claus’s pamphlet on copepods [Die Copepodenfauna von Nizza (1866)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 23 Aug [1866] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 8) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5196 |
From J. D. Hooker [17 May 1866]
Summary
W. H. Harvey is dead. His loss to science.
Will get a copy of Crawfurd’s paper. It was such trash he tore his up.
His letter to Asa Gray was about his [JDH’s] proof that America will have an aristocracy from interbreeding of wealth, intellect, and beauty; and the lower classes, not having time for politics, will leave them to the aforementioned.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [17 May 1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 75–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5093 |
From J. D. Hooker 28 September 1866
Summary
Drosera and Erica massoni have been sent.
Had heard of Agassiz’s theory but not that CD’s theory had raised it.
JDH wrote the article on A. Murray.
Frankland’s lecture too much for him.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 28 Sept 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 106–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5222 |
To Asa Gray 10 September [1866]
Summary
L. Agassiz’s evidence [for glaciation of America] is very weak.
Thanks AG for arranging for American edition of Variation, but doubts that the book will be successful.
Has found no differences in pollen of Rhamnus so cannot conjecture whether it is dimorphic.
The common oxlip of England is certainly a hybrid between the primrose and the cowslip whereas Primula elatior is a good species.
Reports experiments on the relative vigour of seedlings from cross- and self-fertilised plants.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 10 Sept [1866] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (92) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5210 |
To Fritz Müller [9 and] 15 April [1866]
Summary
Structure of Scaevola and its fertilisation with insect aid.
Fertilisation of Aristolochia.
FM’s paper on climbing plants [see 5146].
Is preparing new edition of Origin.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 9 and 15 Apr 1866 |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 6) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5050 |
To Robert Hunt 3 May [1866]
Summary
Encloses a sketch of the principal events in his life [for RH’s memoir on CD in Walford, ed., Portraits of men of eminence (1863–7)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Robert Hunt |
Date: | 3 May [1866] |
Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (tipped into General Special Collections MSS HUN/49) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5524 |
From James Shaw 19 April 1866
Author: | James Shaw |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 Apr 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 10–13 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5060 |
To J. D. Hooker 30 June [1866]
Summary
Has heard from B. J. Sulivan about the fossils at Gallegos, Patagonia. Would be a great haul for palaeontology if Duke of Somerset would encourage Capt. Mayne to collect them [on survey of Magellan Strait].
Tells JDH of a new map of world that he might use in his lecture [on "Insular floras", BAAS, 1866, J. Bot. Br. & Foreign 5 (1867): 23–31; Gard. Chron. (1867): 6, 27, 50, 75].
Impressed by H. Spencer’s last number, but each suggestion would require years of work to be of use to science.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 30 June [1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 292 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5135 |
To Charles Lyell 7 February [1866]
Summary
Discussion of Mrs Agassiz’s letter [to Mary Lyell, forwarded to CD] regarding S. American glacial action,
with comments on Bunbury’s letter on temperate plants.
Refers to opinions of Agassiz, David Forbes, Hooker, and CD on glacial period and glaciers.
Wishes he had published a long chapter on glacial period [Natural selection, pp. 535–66] written ten years ago.
Tells of death of his sister, Catherine, and other family matters.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 7 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.312) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4999 |
From George Stacey Gibson 7 July 1866
Summary
Asks CD if he can explain the results of an experiment that produced barley from oats that had been cut down to prevent their flowering.
Author: | George Stacey Gibson |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 July 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 40 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5151 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 10, letter to J. B. Innes, 22 December [1862] , and Correspondence vol. 12, letter from …
From Friedrich Rolle 12 April 1866
Summary
Gustav von Leonhard and Hans Bruno Geinitz’s Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie [1862–79] unfriendly to CD’s theory.
Lists various German publications dealing with CD’s theory.
Author: | Friedrich Rolle |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 12 Apr 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 176: 203 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5055 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie [1862–79] unfriendly to CD’s theory. Lists various …
letter | (82) |
Darwin, C. R. | (33) |
Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
Henslow, George | (3) |
Müller, Fritz | (3) |
Shaw, James | (3) |
Darwin, C. R. | (49) |
Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
Müller, Fritz | (6) |
Lyell, Charles | (4) |
Carus, J. V. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (82) |
Hooker, J. D. | (14) |
Müller, Fritz | (9) |
Lyell, Charles | (4) |
Darwin, W. E. | (3) |

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 …