To A. W. von Hofmann 3 May 1876
Summary
Thanks AWvH for his work on Justus Liebig [The life-work of Liebig (1876)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | August Wilhelm von Hofmann |
| Date: | 3 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.491) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10494 |
To A. R. Wallace 5 June 1876
Summary
Response to ARW’s "grand and memorable work" [Geographical distribution (1876)]. Most interesting part to CD is ARW’s "protest against sinking imaginary continents".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 5 June 1876 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10531 |
To George Bentham 8 December 1876
Summary
Asks GB to send him flowers of the two forms of Boronia pinnata, as he is republishing his papers on dimorphic plants [Forms of flowers].
Sends copy of Cross and self-fertilisation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 8 Dec 1876 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GEB/1/3: Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, (1830–1884) 717) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10706 |
From G. H. Darwin 20 June 1876
Summary
Comments on an address by William Thomson (‘On the rigidity of the earth’?), which is about the same problem that GHD is working on. Is confident Thomson has overlooked some points.
| Author: | George Howard Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 June 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.2: 55 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10541 |
To John Tyndall 4 February 1876
Summary
Sends congratulations and a teapot on the occasion of JT’s engagement.
Is pleased JT is not giving up on the spontaneous generation question. Feels strongly that subject will not be clear until it is understood how J. S. Burdon Sanderson and others succeeded in getting bacteria in infusions they had boiled for a long time.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Tyndall |
| Date: | 4 Feb 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.8: 24 (EH 88205962) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10379 |
From Asa Gray 12 November 1876
Summary
Thanks for sheets of new book. Intends to talk about it at a scientific social club meeting.
Is amused to read CD’s criticisms of his own style, as in the U. S. it is spoken of as being as faultless as his temper. Corrects a reference.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Nov 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 191 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10668 |
From Wilhelm Breitenbach 26 July 1876
Summary
Observations on pollinia of Orchis maculata
and on Primula elatior. [On latter, see Forms of flowers, p. 34.]
| Author: | Wilhelm Breitenbach |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 July 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 111: B50–4; DAR 160: 290 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10566 |
To the Geological Society of London 5 May 1876
Summary
Asking to borrow three wood blocks.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Geological Society of London |
| Date: | 5 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/19/188) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10496F |
From Asa Gray 5 December 1876
Summary
Dimorphism and cleistogamy in Hottonia.
AG wants new, unambiguous term for what is now referred to as "dimorphism", "dioecio-dimorphism", or "heterostyly"; proposes "heterogone".
Sends an excerpt from Bulletin of Torrey Botanical Club 2 (June 1871) on Hottonia inflata.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Dec 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 192, DAR 111: A92 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10699 |
From Wilhelm Breitenbach 11 September 1876
Summary
His research on Orchis maculata.
Discusses effect of disuse of anthers in Salvia officinalis.
Pleased CD can use his observations on Primula elatior.
| Author: | Wilhelm Breitenbach |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Sept 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 292 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10595 |
To Asa Gray 27 November 1876
Summary
Thanks for a correction. Hopes AG now has all the sheets of Cross and self-fertilisation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 27 Nov 1876 |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (114) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10688 |
To W. E. Darwin [before 30 November 1876]
Summary
Is working at dimorphic plants;
is astonished at WED’s labour.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | [before 30 Nov 1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 119 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5771 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1864 (Botanical notebook of W. E. Darwin, 1862–70; DAR 117: 34). See Forms of flowers , …
From Federico Delpino 19 May 1876
Summary
Has become Professor of Botany at Genoa.
Offers to send his paper on the necessity of out-crossing.
| Author: | Federico Delpino |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 May 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 155 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10510 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
To Andrew Clark [late June 1876]
Summary
Wishes to arrange for William Darwin to see AC. William has suffered a concussion.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Andrew Clark, 1st baronet |
| Date: | [late June 1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 202: 36 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10553 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … from the Hartley Institution, founded in 1862 ( Correspondence vol. 11, letter from W. E. …
To J. V. Carus 23 November 1876
Summary
Tells JVC what changes have been made in the new edition of his geological book [Volcanic islands and South America].
Does not know why he doubted about the Atlantic dust paper – now thinks it worth translating.
Glad JVC has not found Cross and self-fertilisation as intolerably dull as CD feared. Answers his queries about Cross and self-fertilisation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 23 Nov 1876 |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 150–151) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10686 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 December 1862. ] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of …
From J. D. Hooker 13 October 1876
Summary
JDH back from his honeymoon.
Finds he has gout, as his father and grandfather had.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Oct 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 104: 66–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10642 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … vol. 10, letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1862 , and Correspondence vol. 13, letter from …
From Lawson Tait 1 March 1876
Summary
Regrowth of an amputated extra thumb.
| Author: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Mar 1876 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 30 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10412 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of imperfection in the evidence. In 1862 or 3, when a pupil in Edinburgh I assisted my …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 3 August 1876
Summary
Requests orchid specimens for experiment.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 3 Aug 1876 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W.T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 41–2) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10569 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
From Francis Darwin [29 May 1876]
Summary
The Salvia has arrived.
Has found several fly orchids coming in flower, but no Cephalanthera or Musk.
Cannot do any teazel work.
Anthelme Thozet has sent him a lot of Ophideres.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [29 May 1876] |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 58 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10515I |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
To George Bentham 12 December 1876
Summary
Has examined the specimens of Boronia pinnata. No evidence of two distinct bodies of individuals.
Asks whether extra-American species of Aegiphila are heterostyled.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 12 Dec 1876 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GEB/1/3: Correspondence, Vol 3, Daintree–Dyer, (1830–1884) 720) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10714 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 6 (1862): 77–96. [ Collected papers 2: 45–63. ] Forms of …
| letter | (28) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Breitenbach, Wilhelm | (2) |
| Gray, Asa | (2) |
| Darwin, Francis | (1) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Gray, Asa | (3) |
| Bentham, George | (2) |
| Carus, J. V. | (2) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (28) |
| Gray, Asa | (5) |
| Bentham, George | (2) |
| Breitenbach, Wilhelm | (2) |
| Carus, J. V. | (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 …
