From F. F. Hallett 21 May 1875
Summary
Insists that he, not Le Couteur, was the first to recognise and exploit variation within wheat varieties. Disturbed he was not acknowledged in Variation.
Author: | Frederic Francis Hallett |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 21 May 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 90 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9988 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … of England 22: 371–81. Hallett, Frederic F. 1862. On ‘pedigree’ in wheat as a means of …
- … his paper on ‘On “pedigree” in wheat’ ( Hallett 1861 ) that had been reprinted in 1862 ( …
- … Hallett 1862 ) and bound with notices from various newspapers and periodicals from around …
- … America &c (sent herewith) in the year 1862 that I naturally felt surprise at receiving no …
- … of England ( Hallett 1861 ), and later reprinted as a pamphlet ( Hallett 1862 ); CD’s …
- … copy of Hallett 1862 , marked as Hallett described, is in DAR 200.3: 30. Le Couteur 1836 . …
- … in the Royal Ag l . Society’s Journal in 1862 and have marked paragraph on pp 6 & 7 as to …
From F. F. Hallett 18 May 1875
Summary
Sends his paper to show his priority over John Le Couteur. Claims discovery of the "law of development" of cereals.
Author: | Frederic Francis Hallett |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 18 May 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 89 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9982 |
Matches: 4 hits
To Asa Gray 30 May [1875]
Summary
Wants seeds of Nesaea verticillata for crossing experiments to see whether seedlings from "illegitimate unions" are sterile like true hybrids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 30 May [1875] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (121) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10002 |
From Julius Sachs 4 July 1875
Summary
Thanks for Insectivorous plants.
Has just finished his Geschichte der Botanik [1875].
Compares action of Drosera glands to action of sprouting embryo and to action of roots in absorbing minerals.
Author: | Julius Sachs |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 4 July 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10042 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Zeitung 18: 117–19. Sachs, Julius. 1862. Zur Keimungsgeschichte der Dattel. Botanische …
- … der Dattel (botanische Zeitung 1862 p 241 ff) mitgetheilt; leider besitze ich kein …
- … problem of germination of the date; Sachs 1862 , p. 243), Sachs described the specialised …
- … Keimungsgeschichte der Dattel (botanische Zeitung 1862 p 241 ff); unfortunately I have run …
To W. E. Darwin [2 April 1875]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | [2 Apr 1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 140 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9910 |
To Anthelme Thozet 22 August 1875
Summary
Thanks for articles about moths sucking oranges.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Anthelme (Pomona) Thozet |
Date: | 22 Aug 1875 |
Classmark: | Rockhampton Bulletin, 6 November 1875, p. 2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10132F |
To W. E. Darwin [5 April 1875]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Date: | [5 Apr 1875] |
Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 141 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9914 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Athenæum: rules and regulations, and list of members . London: n.p. 1862. …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 3 October [1875]
Summary
Suggests WTT-D read account of Bignonia capreolata in forthcoming Climbing plants.
Plans experiments [on Melastomataceae]. Describes similar experiment performed on Monochaetum. Interested in meaning of differently coloured stamens.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Date: | 3 Oct [1875] |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W.T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 29–30) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10180 |
From Francis Galton 8 November 1875
Author: | Francis Galton |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Nov 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 105: A88–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10250 |
To J. V. Carus 25 December 1875
Summary
Thanks for errata in Insectivorous plants.
Sends spare copies of his papers, but thinks several are not worth publishing.
Has only one copy, which he will lend JVC, of the best one, on "Erratic boulders of South America" [Collected papers 1: 145–63].
Has not sent "Parallel roads of Glen Roy" [Collected papers 1: 87–137], as he is sure he was wrong.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
Date: | 25 Dec 1875 |
Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 137–138) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10323 |
To K. M. Lyell 26 December [1875]
Summary
Sends Charles Lyell’s letters. Those from 1862–9 are so heavy that they have to be put in two parcels.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Katharine Murray Horner; Katharine Murray Lyell |
Date: | 26 Dec [1875] |
Classmark: | Kinnordy MS (private collection) (Sold at Bonhams, New York (dealers), 4 December 2019, lot 18) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13826 |
To F. B. Goodacre 20 February 1875
Summary
Thanks FBG for his essay. Thinks FBG’s planned collection would be very useful but is ‘not sanguine of success’. Most naturalists do not care about domesticated productions. ‘A strong remnant of the feeling yet survives that there is a marked distinction between varieties & species, & naturalists regard only the latter.’
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Burges Goodacre |
Date: | 20 Feb 1875 |
Classmark: | Dr John Goodacre (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9864 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … species by John Edward Gray ( Sus pliciceps (a synonym of S. scrofa); J. E. Gray 1862 ). …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 21 July 1875
Summary
Would be obliged for correction of references in Variation [1st ed.].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
Date: | 21 July 1875 |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W.T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 25–6) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10084 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Variation 2d ed. : The variation of animals …
From J. V. Carus 5 February 1875
Summary
New [3d] German edition of Descent will soon be out.
Will begin translating Journal of researches, which will be first volume of CD’s collected works.
JVC has proposed bringing out all CD’s botanical papers in one or two volumes.
Errata in Descent enclosed.
Author: | Julius Victor Carus |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Feb 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 161: 99 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9841 |
From Federico Delpino 11 September 1875
Summary
Thanks for Thomas Belt’s Naturalist in Nicaragua [1874], which confirms some of his observations,
and for Insectivorous plants, which he praises.
Suggests that a book integrating knowledge of plant–animal interactions be written by a Darwinist.
Defines biology as the science of external interactions.
German reception is far more positive than Italian.
Author: | Federico Delpino |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 11 Sept 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 154 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10155 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Spencer, Herbert. 1864–7. The principles of …
From George Rolleston 30 August 1875
Summary
Sends copy of his "Address [to the department of anthropology", Rep. BAAS 45 (1875): 142–56].
Notes criticism of remark by Walter Bagehot dealing with extinction of barbarians [cited in Descent 1: 239].
Author: | George Rolleston |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 Aug 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 147: 554 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10141 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 10, letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 and n. 7). In his address, Rolleston stated …
From R. D. Fitzgerald 20 September 1875
Author: | Robert David Fitzgerald |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 20 Sept 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 130 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10161 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Smee, Alfred. 1872. My garden: its plan and …
From J. D. Hooker 20 June 1875
Summary
Thiselton-Dyer’s appointment has come.
Wants to discuss insectivorous plants and get some experiments going.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 20 June 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 30–2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10025 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Genera plantarum (Bentham and Hooker 1862 –83) was published in May 1876 ( Publishers’ …
From J. D. Hooker 23 October 1875
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 23 Oct 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 104: 42–3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10215 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in Genera plantarum (Bentham and Hooker 1862 –83, 1 (pt. 2): 676). It is now in the family …
From W. B. Dawkins 1 December 1875
Summary
Asks CD to sign papers for Royal Society candidacy of W. B. Clarke.
Author: | William Boyd Dawkins |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Dec 1875 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 131 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10285 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from W. B. Clarke, 16 January 1862) . Roderick Impey Murchison , Adam Sedgwick , …
letter | (34) |
Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Cooke, R. F. | (2) |
Hallett, F. F. | (2) |
John Murray | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (21) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (3) |
Carus, J. V. | (2) |
Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
Fitzgerald, R. D. | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | |
Carus, J. V. | (3) |
Darwin, W. E. | (3) |
Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (3) |
Cooke, R. F. | (2) |
Fitzgerald, R. D. | (2) |
Hallett, F. F. | (2) |
Innes, J. B. | (2) |
John Murray | (2) |
Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
Dawkins, W. B. | (1) |
Delpino, Federico | (1) |
Galton, Francis | (1) |
Gilbert, J. H. | (1) |
Goodacre, F. B. | (1) |
Gray, Asa | (1) |
Horner, K. M. | (1) |
Lyell, K. M. | (1) |
Müller, Fritz | (1) |
Nevill, D. F. | (1) |
Rolleston, George | (1) |
Sachs, Julius | (1) |
Thozet, Anthelme | (1) |
Walpole, D. F. | (1) |

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 …