To D. T. Ansted 15 April 1863
Summary
Discusses the repayment of a loan made by CD to DTA and F. Ransome.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | David Thomas Ansted |
Date: | 15 Apr 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 210.10: 25 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4099 |
From W. B. Tegetmeier 18 February 1863
Summary
Hoped to meet CD at the Linnean Society to discuss pigeon and poultry breeding experiments.
Author: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 18 Feb 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 178: 57 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3995 |
CD memorandum 14 February 1863
Summary
Agreement to cancel the bond of D. T. Ansted, dated 19 April 1855. Prof. Ansted is arranging to pay CD what he can.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | David Thomas Ansted |
Date: | 14 Feb 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 210.10: 24 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3985A |
To John Scott 7 November [1863]
Summary
Has read JS’s paper [MS of "Observations on the functions and structure of the reproductive organs in the Primulaceae", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 78–126] which has interested him greatly. Will communicate it to the Linnean Society if JS carries out a few corrections.
Would like to hear about his Verbascum and Passiflora experiments.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Scott |
Date: | 7 Nov [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 93: B5–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4332 |
From John Scott 21 September [1863]
Summary
Sends Primula MS, which CD has promised to communicate to Linnean Society [see 4213].
Will soon send results on peloric Antirrhinum.
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 21 Sept [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 96 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4301 |
From S. P. Woodward 5 June 1863
Summary
Has been writing a notice of H. W. Bates’s "capital book" [Naturalist on the river Amazons (1863)].
P. M. Duncan’s coral paper [J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 29 (1863): 406–58] strengthens SPW’s belief in the general diffusion of marine forms westward in the course of time.
Author: | Samuel Pickworth Woodward |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 June 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 155 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4204 |
From Hugh Falconer 20 April [1863]
Summary
Has been in France, conveys good wishes from Quatrefages.
Describes the fossil of an unusual mammal head from Brazil.
Author: | Hugh Falconer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 20 Apr [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 14 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4113 |
From Isaac Anderson-Henry 7 May 1863
Summary
CD is right on heterostyly in Primula. High praise. Has confirmed it with Primula polyanthus.
Author: | Isaac Anderson; Isaac Anderson Henry |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 May 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 159: 66 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4146 |
From W. B. Tegetmeier 29 June – 7 July 1863
Summary
Progress of pigeon and poultry breeding experiments. No loss of fertility observed yet.
Blue-eyed cats and deafness.
Author: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 29 June – 7 July 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 178: 58 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4233 |
From Asa Gray to J. D. Hooker 6 July 1863
Summary
Includes comments about George Bentham’s anniversary address to the Linnean Society with particular notice of the favourable attention to Darwin, except for Natural Selection, and to AG’s essay in the Atlantic Monthly.
He defends [W. B.] Carpenter and [Jeffries] Wyman against [Richard] Owen.
Gossip about scientific honours and other matters.
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 6 July 1863 |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Asa Gray correspondence: 328–9) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4232F |
To John Scott 1 and 3 August [1863]
Summary
Thanks JS for orchid paper [Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 7 (1863): 543–50]. JS presents excellent new facts on sterility of orchids.
His argument that coloured primroses are not hybrids is good, as is idea of discovering primrose parentage by breeding for colours.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Scott |
Date: | 1 and 3 Aug 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 93: B24, B27–8, B70; DAR 147: 455 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4260 |
To J. D. Hooker 25 [June 1863]
Summary
CD describes first observation of gyratory motion of tendrils: explains its adaptive function is to find objects to hold on to.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 25 [June 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 197 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4221 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Correspondence : The correspondence of …
To J. D. Hooker 26 [July 1863]
Summary
Asa Gray writes as if Civil War were a holy war.
J. E. Renan on Jesus [Vie de Jésus (1863)].
Literature on tendrils of Cucurbita is contradictory.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 26 [July 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 203 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4254 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Collected papers : The collected papers …
To J. D. Hooker 25 [August 1863]
Summary
CD’s illness: he is vomiting "vegetable" cells.
Dutrochet has published the best of CD’s observations on tendrils [see Climbing plants, p. 1 n.].
Lyell has found Joshua Trimmer’s Arctic shells on Moel Tryfan.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 25 [Aug 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 204 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4274 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Journal of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Dutrochet, René Joachim Henri. …
From William Allport Leighton [before 21 June 1863]
Summary
His observations of varieties of Verbascum.
Reference to Abbé Correa in the Life of Sir J. E. Smith.
Author: | William Allport Leighton |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [before 21 June 1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 108: 180 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4217F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1867–1925. Smith, Pleasance. 1832. Memoir and …
To J. D. Hooker 22 July [1863]
Summary
Differences between tendrils derived from leaves and those derived from branches.
CD on Asa Gray’s attitude on the Civil War.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 22 July [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 199 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4250 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Correspondence : The correspondence of …
To J. D. Hooker 14 July [1863]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 14 July [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 200 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4241 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Journal of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Thomson, Charles Wyville. 1863– …
To J. D. Hooker 12–13 August [1863]
Summary
Doubts Decaisne’s report of larkspur self-fertilisation.
Enthusiastically observes climbing plants. Needs to know how novel his observations are. Finds R. J. H. Dutrochet has made similar observations, so he has wasted some time. [See Climbing plants, p. 1 n.]
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 12–13 Aug [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 202 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4266 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Correspondence : The correspondence of …
From Asa Gray [10–16] June [1863]
Summary
Possible dimorphism in Phlox.
Knows of no U. S. law prohibiting marriage of cousins.
Gives references to papers on phyllotaxy.
Author: | Asa Gray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [10–16] June [1863] |
Classmark: | DAR 165: 136 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4198 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1867–1925. WWWA : Who was who in America. A …
From J. D. Hooker [2]9 June 1863
Summary
JDH and Oliver impressed with CD’s observations on gyratory motion of plants.
CD pleased with Bentham’s Linnean Society address on the reception of Darwinism [J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 7 (1863): xi–xxix].
JDH’s social "dogma": "Brains x Beauty = Breeding + wealth".
[Dated 9 June by JDH.]
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [2]9 June 1863 |
Classmark: | DAR 101: 147–8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4224 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Correspondence : The correspondence of …
letter | (39) |
Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
Anderson Henry, Isaac | (2) |
Anderson, Isaac | (2) |
Gray, Asa | (2) |
Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (37) |
Hooker, J. D. | (11) |
Scott, John | (5) |
Gray, Asa | (4) |
Trimen, Roland | (3) |

Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 30 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
- … publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct proofs, and just when …
- … becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in 1867, as he continued to circulate a list of …
- … transmutation theory. Three important new correspondents in 1867 were Hermann Müller and Anton Dohrn …
- … the New Year’s greeting, ‘may you be eupeptic through 1867 & your friends & the world in …
- … publisher, John Murray, he wrote to Murray on 3 January 1867 , ‘I cannot tell you how sorry I am …
- … for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] ). A week later, Darwin had …
- … the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to his close friend, Joseph …
- … Darwin’s time. The first proof-sheets arrived on 1 March 1867 and the tedious work of correction …
- … . In a letter to his son William dated 27 [March 1867] , he admitted, ‘I fear the book is by no …
- … papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although he described some of Alexander …
- … told his publisher, John Murray, in a letter of 4 April [1867] , not to send stereotypes of the …
- … had received other offers, notably one from Vogt in April 1867, to translate the new work. Carus had …
- … will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This hint of uncertainty caused …
- … to give up the task’ ( letter to Carl Vogt, 12 April [1867] ). Darwin need not have worried …
- … to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). Darwin may not have fully …
- … in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). Darwin was not disappointed in …
- … the ‘wonderful discovery’ to Darwin on 14 March 1867 . Then, in April, Robert Trail wrote from …
- … in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin told his American friend …
- … physiological fact’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). Although he did not succeed in …
- … step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). Darwin’s insecurity persisted, …
- … ferocity’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867] ). Even when the corrections were …
- … to be introduced’ ( letter to W. S. Dallas, 8 November [1867] ). Dallas resisted the temptation to …
- … as I could wish’ (letter from W. S. Dallas, 20 November 1867). Dallas, like Carus, alerted Darwin to …
- … for information on Fuegian expressions. On 11 January 1867, Sulivan replied , enclosing belated …
- … 27 years old In a letter of 22 February [1867] to Fritz Müller in Brazil, in which …
- … Russel Wallace, who suggested in his response of 11 March [1867] that Darwin send his queries to …
- … ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [12–17] March [1867] ). Darwin’s doggedness in pursuing answers to his …
- … so do not want any more’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). Nevertheless, at some point …
- … in Notes and Queries on China and Japan , 31 August 1867. Another version, possibly derived from …

Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 27 hits
- … expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to …
- … Barber, Mary E. [after Feb 1867] [Grahamstown, Cape …
- … Bowker, J.H. [10 Dec 1867] [Cape of Good Hope (South …
- … Bowman, William 5 Aug 1867 5 Clifford St, London, …
- … Darwin, Francis 20 June 1867 Unknown? …
- … Erskine, H. N. B. 1 Nov 1867 [Ahmednuggur, Bombay, …
- … Gaika, Christian 7 July 1867 Bedford [Cape of Good …
- … Geach, F.F. June 1867 Johore, Malaysia …
- … Gibbs, George 31 March 1867 Smithsonian Institution, …
- … Gray, Asa 26 March 1867 Cambridge, Massachusetts, …
- … Haast, J.F.J. von 12 May - 2 June 1867 Christchurch, …
- … Haast, J.F.J. von 4 Dec 1867 Christchurch, New …
- … Hagenauer, F.A. [12 Sept 1867] Lake Wellington, …
- … Huxley, H.A. 22 Mar [1867] Abbey Place, London, …
- … Kempson, L.F. 20 June 1867 Penmaenmawr, Conway, …
- … Lubbock, E.F. [1867-8?] Lombard Street, London? …
- … Muller, Fritz 22 Feb [1867] Down, Kent, England …
- … Paget, James 9 July 1867 1 Harewood Place, Hanover …
- … Rothrock, J.T. 31 March 1867 McVeytown [Pennsylvania …
- … Stack, James West 4 Dec 1867 Christchurch, New …
- … Sulivan, B.J. 11 Jan 1867 Bournemouth, England …
- … Sutton, Seth 8 Aug 1867 Zoological Gardens, Regents …
- … Swinhoe, Robert 5 Aug 1867 Amoy, China …
- … Wallace, A. R. 2 March [1867] 9 St. Mark’s Crescent, …
- … Wallace, A. R. 11 March [1867] 9 St. Mark’s Crescent …
- … Weale, J.P.M. 7 July 1867 Bedford, Cape of Good Hope …
- … Weale, J.P.M. [10 Dec 1867] Bedford, Cape of Good …

John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
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: 7 hits
- … Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to Darwin, [after February 1867] Mary Barber responds to …
- … Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] Darwin asks his niece, …
- … Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to Darwin, [8 August 1867] Sutton, the keeper of the …
- … 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] Explorer and geologist Haast …
- … Letter 5585 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [26 July 1867] Darwin praises Henrietta’s …
- … Letter 5403 - Darwin to Carus, J. V. [17 February 1867] Darwin thanks Carus for his …
- … 5410 - Darwin to Muller, J. F. T., [22 February 1867] Darwin thanks Muller for …

Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 5605: Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 15 Aug [1867] Darwin asks Fritz Müller, a …

Edward Lumb
Summary
Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, he travelled to Buenos Aires aged sixteen with his merchant uncle, Charles Poynton, and after some fortunate enterprises set up in business there. In 1833…

A tale of two bees
Summary
Darwinian evolution theory fundamentally changed the way we understand the environment and even led to the coining of the word 'ecology'. Darwin was fascinated by bees: he devised experiments to study the comb-building technique of honey bees and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … much ahead of his time when, in a letter to Darwin in 1867 , he commented on Edward Wilson’s plan …
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…

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…
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. R., 23 Mar 1867 Müller explains how Origin …
- … 5471 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, H. L. H., 29 Mar [1867] Darwin learns that German botanist …
- … Letter 5481 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr [1867] Müller thanks Darwin for the …
- … Letter 5657 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. R., 23 Oct 1867 Müller thanks Darwin for the …
- … Letter 5585 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, H. E., 26 July [1867] Darwin writes to his daughter …
- … Letter 5745 — Barber, M. E. to Darwin, C. R., [after Feb 1867] In this letter, naturalist, …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 3 hits
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…

Controversy
Summary
The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…

Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
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: 1 hits
- … A GRAY 15 AUGUST 1868 177 TO A GRAY 15 APRIL 1867 178 C DARWIN TO JD …

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: 1 hits
- … 5637 - Alfred Russel Wallace to Charles Darwin 1 October 1867 Alfred Russell Wallace, a …

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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Emma Darwin to Henrietta Darwin, [14 April 1867] Emma debates the wisdom of making a visit to …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 5670f - Darwin to Kingsley, C., [6 November 1867] Darwin discusses ‘rudiments’ …

Hermann Müller
Summary
Hermann (Heinrich Ludwig Hermann) Müller, was born in Mühlberg near Erfurt in 1829. He was the younger brother of Fritz Müller (1822–97). Following the completion of his secondary education at Erfurt in 1848, he studied natural sciences at Halle and Berlin…
Matches: 3 hits
- … and sending Darwin a copy of the article. In early spring 1867, Darwin initiated a correspondence …
- … Darwin replied encouragingly and in the summer of 1867, Müller began working on fertilisation of …
- … preventing unwanted visitors from gaining access. In October 1867, Müller sent Darwin a letter …