To Asa Gray 1 June [1869]
Summary
Thanks for answers about expression.
Is going to N. Wales to recover after his riding accident.
New edition of Origin.
French edition of Orchids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 1 June [1869] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (86a) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6767 |
Matches: 20 hits
- … To Asa Gray 1 June [1869] …
- … Herbarium of Harvard University (86a) Charles Robert Darwin Down 1 June [1869] Asa Gray …
- … on the topic are in DAR 85: 42. See also letter to J. D. Hooker, [before 7 May 1869] . …
- … letter and the letter from Asa and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869. Letter from Asa and J. …
- … L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869. See letter from Asa and J. …
- … L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869 and n. 10. …
- … see the letter to James Crichton-Browne, 22 May 1869 and n. 9. See letter from Asa …
- … p. 222). The Nortons also visited on 13 May 1869 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). Asa and …
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
- … and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869 and nn. 9 and 12. James Paget treated CD after his …
- … accident; see the letter from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869. …
- … The Darwins left on 10 June 1869 for Caerdeon, Barmouth, and returned on 31 July (see ‘ …
- … Journal’ (Appendix II)). See letter from Asa and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869. CD finished …
- … fifth edition of Origin on 10 February 1869 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). For the French …
- … edition of Orchids , see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 March [1869] and n. 5, …
- … the letter from Louis Rérolle, 10 May 1869 . For CD’s quotations from Gray in his English …
- … ed. See letter from Orange Judd & co. , 21 April 1869 and n. 3. On the American edition of …
- … hte letter from Orange Judd & Co. , 21 April 1869. On Joseph Dalton Hooker’s election as a …
- … Horticultural Exhibition, see the Gardener’s Chronicle , 29 May 1869, p. 582. According …
- … DAR 242), the Huxleys visited on 25 May 1869. The family of Charles Eliot Norton had …
From D. Appleton & Co. to Asa Gray 1 February 1869
Summary
Statement of sales of U. S. edition of Origin.
Author: | D. Appleton & Co |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 1 Feb 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 159: 83 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6588 |
To Asa Gray 15 March [1870]
Summary
The "man-essay" [Descent] is "very interesting but very difficult".
Cat-like behaviour in dogs.
Thanks for information from Louis Agassiz;
wishes he could feel he deserves what Alexander Agassiz says of him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 15 Mar [1870] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (91) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7132 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … CD specimens of Drosera filiformis , the thread-leaved sundew, in 1869; see letter from …
- … Asa Gray, 20 October 1869 and n. 1. …
- … and 1 March 1870 . CD refers to Alexander Agassiz, whom he had met in 1869 (see letter to …
- … Fritz Müller, 1 December [1869] ). It is not known what Agassiz had been saying about CD. …
To Asa Gray 7 December 1870
Summary
Believes AG’s cases of incipient dimorphism are due to mere variability. Has found examples in Nolana and Amsinckia; believes such variation is the basis for the development of dimorphism. Was unaware of variations in Phlox.
Sensitivity of Drosera and Dionaea.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 7 Dec 1870 |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (90) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7388 |
To Asa Gray 15 August [1868]
Summary
AG’s coming visit to England.
Hooker’s Presidency of BAAS.
A month at the Isle of Wight has done almost nothing for CD.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 15 Aug [1868] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (98) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6316 |
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 Asa Gray 8 July [1872]
Summary
Thanks for AG’s book, How plants behave [see 8363].
Is correcting proofs of Expression.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 8 July [1872] |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (107) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8402 |
To Asa Gray 21 August [1862]
Summary
Emma and Leonard have scarlet fever.
Houstonia seems "a grand case"; J. T. Rothrock should publish his observations on the two pollens and the reciprocal action of two hermaphrodites.
Rhexia glandulosa offers nothing odd, but Heterocentron will turn out something marvellous like Lythrum.
Would like to know what AG thinks of last chapter of Orchids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 21 Aug [1862] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (67) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3692 |
To Asa Gray 5 February [1871]
Summary
Sends questions on expressions of Laura Bridgman.
Has finished Descent. Believes that parts, like that on moral sense, will aggravate AG.
Working on an essay on expression.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 5 Feb [1871] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (86) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7476 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869 and nn. 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13. …
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 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. ‘Three forms of Lythrum …
To Asa Gray 15 January 1872
Summary
Questions AG on earthworm activity in North America and would welcome information from northern Canada if AG has a correspondent there.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 15 Jan 1872 |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (99) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8158 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869], for CD’s remarks on his later observations. …
To Asa Gray 16 October [1867]
Summary
Sends sheets of first volume of Variation.
Transport of seeds in locust dung.
Pangenesis will be called "a mad dream".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 16 Oct [1867] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (95) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5649 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
To Asa Gray 4 December 1876
Summary
Plans to republish his paper on dimorphism with additions [Forms of flowers]. Is convinced it is necessary to compare pollen-grains and the state of the stigma to recognise dimorphic plants. Requests specific plants to test for dimorphism and would welcome examples from any family in which he has not encountered dimorphic species.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 4 Dec 1876 |
Classmark: | Archives of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (115) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10697 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. Lindley, John. 1853. The …
To Asa Gray 1 July [1862]
Summary
Thanks for notes on Cypripedium and Platanthera hookeri, which is really beautiful and quite a new case.
His son, George, has been observing the insect fertilisation of orchids.
CD has been crossing peloric flowers of Pelargonium, but doubts he will get good results with respect to sterility of hybrids.
Rhexia glandulosa does not appear to be dimorphic. Lythrum is trimorphic.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 1 July [1862] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (69) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3634 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
To Asa Gray 13 September [1864]
Summary
Has finished Climbing plants;
resuming work on Variation.
Sends abstract of John Scott’s paper [see 4332].
Has received review of Herbert Spencer but cannot believe AG wrote it unless he has muddled his brains with metaphysics.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 13 Sept [1864] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (89) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4611 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. McPherson, James M. 1988. Battle …
To Asa Gray 9 August [1862]
Summary
Believes Lythrum is trimorphic. Asks AG for seeds of plants he suspects are polymorphic.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 9 Aug [1862] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (71) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3685 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. Marginalia : Charles Darwin’s …
From Charles Wright to Asa Gray 20, 25, and 26 March and 1 April 1864
Summary
Describes the flower and mode of action of a particular orchid.
Has been examining Spiranthes and is experimenting to see whether insects are necessary for its fertilisation.
It seems that Oncidium is designed so as not to be fertilised.
Author: | Charles Wright |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 20, 25 and 26 Mar 1864 and 1 Apr 1864 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 163 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4433 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
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 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 437–54. ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria ’: …
To Asa Gray 22 July [1860]
Summary
Greatly praises AG’s discussion of Origin in Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci. [4 (1860): 411–15; 424–6].
Mentions other reviews of Origin; believes the BAAS meeting at Oxford greatly advanced the subject. Has heard his views are gaining ground in Germany.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 22 July [1860] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (30) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2876 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … was editor of the Athenæum from 1853 to 1869. The review of Origin in the Athenæum , 15 …
To Asa Gray 4 August [1863]
Summary
Anticipated AG’s attitude on design in orchids. Does he not think that the variations that gave rise to fancy pigeon varieties were accidental?
Has been working hard at Lythrum
and spontaneous movements of tendrils.
Defends Drosera as a "sagacious animal" but does not know whether he will ever publish on it.
Comments on political situation in U. S.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 4 Aug [1863] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (83) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4262 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. Insectivorous plants. By Charles …
letter | (25) |
Darwin, C. R. | (23) |
D. Appleton & Co | (1) |
Wright, Charles | (1) |
Gray, Asa | [X] |
Gray, Asa | (25) |
Darwin, C. R. | (23) |
D. Appleton & Co | (1) |
Wright, Charles | (1) |

Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 27 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition …
- … that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). Much of the remainder of …
- … to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). Hooker went straight to a crucial …
- … probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , and letter from A. R. Wallace, …
- … in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin had argued ( Origin , pp. …
- … formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Croll could not supply Darwin with an …
- … have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). Darwin did not directly …
- … towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). Towards Descent …
- … ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was able to return to work on …
- … ( letter from Robert Elliot to George Cupples, 21 June 1869 ). Details on mating behaviour …
- … in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 ). Albert Günther, assistant in the …
- … varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February [1869] ). The data contined to …
- … cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet completion of the work was …
- … for Descent . Researching emotion In 1869, Darwin still expected that Descent …
- … hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James Crichton-Browne and …
- … ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). Darwin had often complained of the …
- … in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). More remarkable still were Wallace …
- … seem to you like some mental hallucination’ ( 18 April 1869 ). Since his marriage to Annie …
- … (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and scolded him for again being too …
- … demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). Proceeding on all fronts …
- … South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), and fossil discoveries in …
- … investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February 1869 ). In a letter to the Gardeners …
- … of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] ). In March, Darwin received …
- … in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March 1869 ). This research contributed to …
- … editions ( see letter from Victor Masson, 29 September 1869 ). The work had been undertaken, like …
- … Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by these proceedings, Darwin …
- … of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an explication of Darwinian …

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: 11 hits
- … Crichton-Browne, James 20 May 1869 32 Queen Anne St. …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 19 May 1869 West Riding …
- … Gray, Asa 9 May [1869] [Alexandria, Egypt] …
- … Gray, Jane 9 May [1869] [Alexandria, Egypt] …
- … Gray, Asa 8 & 9 May 1869 Florence, Italy (about …
- … King, P.G. 25 Feb 1869 Sydney, Australia …
- … Maudsley, Henry 20 May 1869 32 Queen Anne St. …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 17 Jan 1869 Sierra Leone, Africa …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 28 June [1869] Sierra Leone, …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 26 Dec 1869 Sierra Leone, Africa …
- … Scott, John 2 July 1869 Royal Botanic Gardens, …
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: 4 hits
- … Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] Jane Loring Gray, …
- … Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] Darwin’s niece, Margaret, …
- … Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s …
- … - Darwin to Gunther, A. C. L. G., [21 September 1869] Darwin asks Gunther for “a great …

Jane Gray
Summary
Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…
Matches: 3 hits

Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
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…

Photograph album of Dutch admirers
Summary
Darwin received the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the Netherlands. He wrote to the Dutch zoologist Pieter Harting, An account of your countrymen’s generous sympathy in having sent me on my…
Matches: 1 hits
- … work on human expression. Donders visited Darwin in 1869 , and a year later Darwin consoled him …

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…

Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…

Science: A Man’s World?
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., [8 November 1869] Darwin thanks Antoinette …

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,…

John Beddoe
Summary
In 1869, when gathering data on sexual selection in humans, Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with John Beddoe, a doctor in Bristol. He was looking for evidence that racial differences that appear to have no benefit in terms of survival - and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1869 Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with a John Beddoe, a doctor in …
Suggested reading
Summary
Contemporary writing Anon., The English matron: A practical manual for young wives, (London, 1846). Anon., The English gentlewoman: A practical manual for young ladies on their entrance to society, (Third edition, London, 1846). Becker, L. E.…

Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 4 hits
- … himself an injustice & never demands justice” (14 April 1869). But Wallace continued, both …
- … about the application of natural selection to ‘man’ in 1869, and looked instead to a ‘higher …
- … investigation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 18 April [1869]). Wallace’s views on man were also …
- … the “great General” (letter to Charles Kingsley, 7 May 1869). In later years when Darwin reflected …

Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … was later expanded into the book, Hereditary Genius (1869), which contained an entry on the …
6430_10256
Summary
From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hookerf1 25 October 1868Lund (Suède)25 Okt. 1868.Monsieur le Professeur! J’ai écrit à deux de mes amis qui ont des connaissances personnelles à la Lapponie, pour avoir les…
About the project
Summary
On this site you can read and search the full texts of more than 7,500 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and find information on 7,500 more. Available here are complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1869. More are…
Matches: 1 hits
- … all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1869. More are being added all the time. …

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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down …

Family life
Summary
From the long letters exchanged with his sisters during the Beagle voyage, through correspondence about his marriage to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, the births—and deaths—of their children, to the contributions of his sons and daughters to his scientific…
Matches: 1 hits
- … From the long letters exchanged with his sisters during the Beagle voyage, through …
Interview with John Hedley Brooke
Summary
John Hedley Brooke is President of the Science and Religion Forum as well as the author of the influential Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991). He has had a long career in the history of science and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in spiritualism. He first writes to Darwin about this in 1869, and this is exactly the same time …