From Maxwell Tylden Masters 7 February 1865
Summary
MTM heard part of the abstract of CD’s paper on climbing plants, read at the Linnean Society on 2 Feb. Offers CD his opinion and information on the subject, which he has studied for many years.
Author: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Feb 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 71 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4766 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … plants’ , in Vegetable teratology ( Masters 1869 , pp. 319–26). Evidently these are notes …
- … 1848–55): 369–71. Masters, Maxwell Tylden. 1869. Vegetable teratology, an account of the …
- … and other plants are discussed in Masters 1869 , pp. 319–26, and an illustration of the …
- … cites CD’s findings on spiral torsion in ‘Climbing plants’ in Masters 1869 , p. 320 n. …
- … There is an annotated copy of Masters 1869 in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: …
- … spiral torsion in Dipsacus in Masters 1869 , pp. 320–1, with an illustration on page 321. …
To Fritz Müller 10 August [1865]
Summary
Has read and admires FM’s work on species.
Observations on Crustacea are good and original; asks FM to dissect and check some of CD’s observations on cirripedes.
Has sent "Climbing plants" paper [J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 9 (1865): 1–118] and would like to send Orchids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 10 Aug [1865] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 1) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4881 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … by William Sweetland Dallas (Dallas trans. 1869) is in the Rare Books Collection–CUL (see …
- … Müller 1864, pp. 13–19 and Dallas trans. 1869, pp. 20–9). The absence of intermediate …
- … Müller 1864, pp. 24–6, and Dallas trans. 1869, pp. 35–7). In Origin , pp. 193–4, CD …
- … are on pp. 65–74 (see also Dallas trans. 1869, pp. 47–96, pp. 97–109). Müller noted …
- … Müller 1864, pp. 73–4; Dallas trans. 1869, p. 109). In the fourth edition of Origin , …
- … it (Müller 1864, p. 59; Dallas trans. 1869, pp. 88–9). CD had described Anelasma as a ‘ …
From August Schleicher 9 February 1865
Summary
Sends a pamphlet and photograph to CD [missing];
announces a botanical congress at Erfurt at which CD’s theory will be discussed.
Author: | August Schleicher |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 9 Feb 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 53 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4770 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … deutsche Landwirthe 15: 1–11. Schleicher, August. 1869. Darwinism tested by the science of …
- … into English ( Schleicher 1863 and 1869; see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. …
- … annotated copies of Schleicher 1863 and 1869 in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL; …
- … inscribed by the author, and Schleicher 1869 is inscribed by the translator. In several …
To Charles Kingsley [17 June 1865]
Summary
Did not think anyone would notice case of Lathyrus.
Recalls reading correspondent’s paper on great fir woods of Hampshire.
Thanks for photograph.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Kingsley |
Date: | [17 June 1865] |
Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher Collection: FF10) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13877 |
To J. T. Moggridge 13 October [1865]
Summary
Discusses self-fertilisation in bee and spider orchids. Asks JTM to conduct experiment.
Comments on plates [see J. T. Moggridge’s contribution to Flora of Mentone and winter flora of the Riviera, including the coast from Marseilles to Genoa London 1866, 1871. Part II dated 1865; Part I, 1866].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Traherne Moggridge |
Date: | 13 Oct [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 146: 374 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4914 |
From Clémence Auguste Royer [April–June 1865]
Author: | Clémence Auguste Royer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [Apr–June 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 80: B44 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5339 |
From Roland Trimen 13 December 1865
Summary
Butterflies of Mauritius.
RT’s Bonatea paper published by Linnean Society [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 156–60].
Author: | Roland Trimen |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 Dec 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 178: 185 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4951 |
From A. R. Wallace 2 October 1865
Summary
Information concerning improvements in the Reader under new sponsorship.
Current reading and work [on pigeons for Ibis 1 (1865): 365–400, and catalogue of his collection of birds].
Book of travels postponed indefinitely.
Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Oct 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 106: B27–30 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4906 |
To J. D. Hooker 1 June [1865]
Summary
Bad month of sickness. John Chapman’s ice bag on spine.
Does not quite agree with JDH about Lubbock’s plagiarism charges. Lyell’s memory must have failed him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 1 June [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 269, 269b |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4846 |
From William Erasmus Darwin [late February–May 1865]
Summary
[Outline sketches of pollen from short-styled yellow primrose and from long-styled yellow and red primroses.]
Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [late Feb–May 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 108: 89a |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4729 |
From Charles and Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker [10 July 1865]
Summary
Health very bad. All scientific work stopped for 2½ months.
E. B. Tylor’s Early history of mankind [1865] impresses him.
Would like JDH’s opinion of last number of Spencer’s [Principles of] Biology [vol. 1 (1864)], especially on umbellifers. CD not satisfied with Spencer’s views on irregular flowers.
ED reports on CD’s health.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin; Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [10 July 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 272 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4868 |
From J. D. Hooker 3 February 1865
Summary
Falconer’s illness and suffering. His great ability and knowledge.
CD’s paper ["Climbing plants"] went extremely well [at Linnean Society]. M. T. Masters and Bentham commented.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 3 Feb 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 8–9 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4765 |
From Thomas Henry Huxley 1 January 1865
Summary
Sends photograph.
THH wishes he could write the popular zoology but writing is a boring and slow process when he is not interested, and he is overburdened with lectures.
Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Jan 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 304 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4732 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … English translation, which was published in 1869 (see letter to Fritz Müller, 16 March [ …
To Fritz Müller 17 October [1865]
Summary
Is sending FM’s two letters on climbing plants as a paper to the Linnean Society ["Notes on some of the climbing plants near Desterro, in south Brazil", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 344–9].
Adaptations for pollination in Catasetum.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 17 Oct [1865] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4916 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
To J. D. Hooker 15 [February 1865]
Summary
Hildebrand has sent copy of his paper on Pulmonaria in Botanische Zeitung.
How much should CD contribute to Falconer’s bust?
Oswald Heer on alpine and Arctic floras.
A. R. Wallace on geographical distribution in Malay Archipelago.
Lyell’s new edition of Elements. Wishes someone would do a book like it on botany.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 15 [Feb 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 261 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4772 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. Lyell, Charles. 1865. Elements of …
To John Lubbock 11 June [1865]
Summary
JL’s book [Prehistoric times (1865)] is "most original".
Wishes him success in politics.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
Date: | 11 June [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 263: 7 (EH 88206456) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4858 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … a later edition of Lubbock’s book (Lubbock 1869), especially on savages, in Descent. CD …
From John Scott 10 April 1865
Summary
Comments on CD’s Lythrum paper [Collected papers 2: 106–31]
and on H. Crüger’s orchid paper [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 127–35].
May take position at Calcutta Botanic Garden.
Regrets he cannot be elected to Linnean Society.
Pleased Asa Gray has commented on JS’s paper.
Author: | John Scott |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Apr 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 115 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4810 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
To J. D. Hooker 22 December [1865]
Summary
Is working one hour a day now, on illegitimate seedlings of Lythrum and Primula.
Begins to doubt John Scott’s accuracy about primrose and cowslip.
Does JDH believe in Karsten’s denial of parthenogenesis of Coelebogyne?
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 22 Dec [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 278, 278b |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4953 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Linnean Society of London ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 393–437. Index Kewensis : Index Kewensis: …
From W. E. Darwin [April–May 1865]
Summary
Sends camera outlines of pollen. Thinks the red longstyled ones are more sterile than the yellow.
Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [Apr–May 1865] |
Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 20) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4506F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Read 19 March 1868. ] Journal of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 10 (1869): 437–54. …
From Fritz Müller 5 November 1865
Summary
Thanks CD for the copy of Orchids and papers on Linum and Lythrum [Collected papers 2: 93–105; 106–31].
Intends to travel to the River Itajahy and will make observations on climbing plants. Is not sure whether Dalbergia is a winding plant.
CD has changed FM’s whole perception of nature.
CD has helped him to understand distribution of coastal flora.
The vegetation on Desterro is changing.
Louis Agassiz is seeking evidence against transmutation in the distribution of the fish in the Amazon.
Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Nov 1865 |
Classmark: | Möller 1915–21, 2: 76–7. |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4929A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [ Collected papers 2: 138–56. ] …
letter | (31) |
Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Darwin, W. E. | (2) |
Harrison, L. C. | (2) |
Wedgwood, L. C. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (30) |
Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
Müller, Fritz | (4) |
Darwin, Emma | (2) |
Darwin, W. E. | (2) |

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 …