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 A. R. Wallace 4 February 1866
Summary
Looks forward to reading Variation.
Explains how two or more female forms occur in one species through selection. The physiological problem remains of how each produces offspring like the other without intermediates. Is not CD’s case of varieties that will not blend the physiological test of a species needed for "complete proof of the origin of species"?
"Travels" postponed.
Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 4 Feb 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 106: B31–2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4997 |
To John Murray 22 February [1866]
Summary
CD is pleased [about need for a new edition of Origin] but even more grieved – for it will delay his next book [Variation]. Progress of natural history will make many changes necessary in Origin. Nevertheless, proceeds with 32 more woodcuts for Variation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Murray |
Date: | 22 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 139–142) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5016 |
From James Shaw [6–10 February 1866]
Summary
Memorandum of a meeting of the Natural History & Antiquarian Society held in Dumfries on Tuesday 6 February 1866.
Author: | James Shaw |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [6–10 Feb 1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 84.1: 14–17 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5003F |
From Robert Caspary 25 February 1866
Summary
Sends papers on graft-hybrids ["Sur les hybrides obtenus par la greffe", Bull. Congr. Int. Bot. & Hortic. Amsterdam (1865): 65–80, and "Über Mischlinge, durch Pfropfen entstanden", Sitzungsber. K. Phys.-oekon. Ges. Königsberg 6 (1865): 11–21].
Author: | Johann Xaver Robert (Robert) Caspary |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Feb 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 161: 118 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5018 |
To Charles Lyell 15 February [1866]
Summary
Thanks CL for Hooker’s letter.
Discussion of Hooker’s views on glacial action and temperature with specific reference to S. America.
His squabbles with Hooker on transport of seeds via water currents,
temperate plants, and preservation of tropical plants during cooler period.
Expresses interest in seeing Agassiz’s letter.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 15 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.313) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5007 |
From John Murray 24 February [1866]
Summary
Sends sheets of Origin [4th edition] for CD to correct [for 3d German edition?].
Still has 600 copies of Orchids, but deficit reduced to £30.
Undertakes to pay two-thirds of profits of the [fourth] edition of Origin as soon as one-half of the copies are sold.
Author: | John Murray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 346 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5417 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
From J. D. Hooker 4 February 1866
Summary
Asks CD whether he knows of a medicine to check vomiting – for a friend dying from starvation as a result.
Duke of Somerset is looking for two naturalists for survey ship to Korea and Strait of Magellan.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 4 Feb 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 57–8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4996 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … for the East India Company from 1840 until 1862 ( Buchanan 1908 , pp. 441–2). Campbell …
From James Shaw 14 February 1866
Summary
Reports instances of birds admiring their images in mirrors or on pictures.
Author: | James Shaw |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 14 Feb 1866 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 150 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5005 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … school of Tynron, Dumfriesshire, from 1862; this post enabled him to devote much time to …
To Cuthbert Collingwood 16 February [1866]
Summary
Regrets that his health prevents their meeting, but offers some suggestions for the expedition to the Malay Archipelago and coast of China: the search of caverns in the Malay Archipelago for fossil bones, deep sea dredging in the tropics, glacial action in any moderately steep mountains, means of geographical distribution, the history of domestic animals in these regions, and gestures and expressions of real savages as compared with our civilised expressions. [See 5008 and 5011.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Cuthbert Collingwood |
Date: | 16 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 185: 96 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5008B |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 10, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1862] and n. 8. For the scope of CD’s earlier …
To Robert Caspary 21 February [1866]
Summary
Requests copy of paper read at Amsterdam Horticultural Congress, on graft-hybrids like that of Cytisus adami [see 5018].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Xaver Robert (Robert) Caspary |
Date: | 21 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | Yale University: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (GEN MSS MISC Group 1559 F-2) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5012 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 10, letter to Daniel Oliver, 24 July [1862] ). CD discussed the plant in Variation 1: 387– …
To J. D. Hooker [28 February 1866]
Summary
Refers to part of JDH letter on glacial period sent on to Lyell. CD will not yield. Cannot think how JDH attaches so much attention to physicists. Has "come not to care at all for general beliefs without the special facts".
His health is improved but not so good as JDH supposes.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [28 Feb 1866] |
Classmark: | DAR 94: 31–2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5020 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 10, letter from J. D. Hooker, 28 June 1862 , n. 9. See letter from J. D. Hooker, 21 …
From John Traherne Moggridge 15 February [1866]
Summary
Is sending Ophrys plants marked as CD requested as wild or under cultivation. Discusses arrangements for a scheme planned for 1867 and his method for marking his Ophrys specimens.
Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 15 Feb [1866] |
Classmark: | DAR Pamphlet collection G368 (bound in part of Moggridge 1865–8) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5008A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. …
From Fritz Müller 13 February 1866
Summary
Thanks CD for Journal of researches.
Insect genus Elater is an exception to the rule that all luminous organs give out a green light.
Gives some observations on climbing plants at Itajahy.
His study of orchids has convinced him of the value of CD’s book.
Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 Feb 1866 |
Classmark: | Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 79–80 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5004A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862. West, David A. 2003. Fritz Müller. A …
Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
Shaw, James | (2) |
Caspary, Robert | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Moggridge, J. T. | (1) |
Caspary, Robert | (1) |
Collingwood, Cuthbert | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Lyell, Charles | (2) |
Murray, John (b) | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (14) |
Caspary, Robert | (2) |
Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
Lyell, Charles | (2) |
Murray, John (b) | (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 …