From A. R. Wallace 16 August [1868]
Summary
The problem of sterility, and its relation to natural selection.
George Bentham’s support of Darwinism.
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Aug [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: B63–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6318 |
To Fritz Müller 17 August 1868
Summary
FM’s additions for English edition [1869] of Für Darwin.
Dimorphic plants.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 17 Aug 1868 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 25) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6320 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … FM’s additions for English edition [1869] of Für Darwin . Dimorphic plants. …
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 |
From Robert Swinhoe 4 August 1868
Summary
Discusses a domestic oriental fowl.
Is having problems getting answers to CD’s queries on expression as Chinese facial expressions are limited and controlled. Answers as well as he can. [See Expression index.]
| Author: | Robert Swinhoe |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 4 Aug 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 331 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6303 |
To J. V. Carus 16 August [1868]
Summary
Regrets having missed JVC’s visit. CD’s health is poor. He hopes JVC will come to Down after BAAS meeting.
Has heard second part [of Variation] is out in German. Thanks JVC for his great care in making translation accurate.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 16 Aug [1868] |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 25–26) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6317 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … vol. 17, letter to J. V. Carus, 5 January 1869) . See letter from Eduard Koch, 21 July …
To Charles Alexander Johns 13 August [1868?]
Summary
CD not a good enough botanist to form a judgment of specimen. Does not understand whether CAJ supposes the variety to be a result of hybridism or of the present very hot summer, which CD cannot doubt will have an effect on some British plants in their struggle for life.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | C. A Johns |
| Date: | 13 Aug [1868?] |
| Classmark: | Mitchell Library, Sydney (A27 p. 60) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6312 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … which CD used between May 1861 and April 1869, and the reference to a hot summer; the …
To Henry Austin Bruce 24 August [1868?]
Summary
Thanks correspondent for information. CD does not care much for more cases of striped asses,
but is pleased at the interesting case of the affectionate jackal that licks like a domestic dog.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare |
| Date: | 24 Aug [1868?] |
| Classmark: | Sir Brooke Boothby (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6330 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … which was in use from May 1861 to April 1869, and from the reference to material that may …
From T. C. Eyton 23 August [1868]
Summary
Sends a copy of his Osteologia avium.
Variation in pigs’ heads
and in Convolvulus.
| Author: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Aug [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 163: 41 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6328 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in 1867; supplements were published in 1869 and 1875 ( Eyton 1867–75 ). There is a copy in …
From W. S. Dallas 19 August 1868
Summary
The material [from F. Müller] makes the translation more like a new edition.
German entomologists are becoming Darwinists.
| Author: | William Sweetland Dallas |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Aug 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 22 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6325 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … F. Müller 1864 , W. S. Dallas trans. 1869) is reproduced as the enclosure to the …
To Cassell, Petter & Galpin [August–December 1868]
Summary
CD arranges for copies of some blocks [for use in Descent] from Brehm’s [Illustrirtes Thierleben (1864–7)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Cassell, Petter, & Galpin |
| Date: | [Aug–Dec 1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 52 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6300 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Variation was not finished until 1869 (Kovalevsky trans. 1868–9; see letter from V. …
To A. R. Wallace 19 August [1868]
Summary
The problem of dimorphic plants and their fertility.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 19 Aug [1868] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434: 143–6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6322 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … book was published as A. R. Wallace 1869 . See letter from A. R. Wallace, 16 August [ …
To G. H. Lewes 7 August [1868]
Summary
Thinks GHL’s articles are quite excellent; hopes they will be republished.
Discusses adaptation. Doubts whether similar conditions without selection can produce similar organs independent of blood relationship: "resemblances due to descent and adaptation can commonly be distinguished".
Discusses luminous insects, electrical organs of fish, thorns and spines.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Henry Lewes |
| Date: | 7 Aug [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 185: 42; Argyll Papers, Inveraray Castle (NRAS 1209/985) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6308 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869. Pauly, Daniel. 2004. Darwin’s fishes. An …
From J. D. Hooker 30 August 1868
Summary
The newspapers’ pother about his mild theology.
Tyndall’s reference to JDH and CD as the two "modestest" men in science.
Huxley offended the clergy twice without cause or warrant.
William Hooker ill.
Astronomers do not like JDH’s reference to them.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Aug 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 229–32 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6333 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Europe from September 1868 until November 1869; they went first to Kew (J. L. Gray ed. …
| letter | (13) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Dallas, W. S. | (1) |
| Eyton, T. C. | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
| Swinhoe, Robert | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Bruce, H. A. | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
| Cassell, Petter, & Galpin | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
| Bruce, H. A. | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
| Cassell, Petter, & Galpin | (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, …
A beginning, & that is something: To J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869]
Summary
Alison Pearn talks about a letter Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker after finishing corrections to the fifth edition of Origin of Species in 1869.
Matches: 1 hits
- … corrections to the fifth edition of Origin of Species in 1869. …
Perfect copper-plate hand: From Adolf Reuter, 30 May 1869
Summary
My favourite correspondent was chosen not because he is a brilliant conversationalist or a significant scientific thinker – but after a decade of reading a series of challenging hand writings, my favourite is the one who wrote in a perfect copper-plate…
Matches: 1 hits
- … My favourite correspondent was chosen not because he is a brilliant conversationalist or a …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 5 hits
- … of self-fertility over subsequent generations. In June 1869, Müller remarked, on receiving a new …
- … sometimes depends’ ( From Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). By May 1870, Darwin reported that he was …
- … Müller ( To Fritz Müller, 28 November 1868 ). In March 1869, Müller reported results of …
- … pod were mutually sterile ( From Fritz Müller, 14 March 1869 ). ‘The case of the Abutilon sterile …
- … of this plant sent by Müller ( To Fritz Müller, 18 July [1869] ). Darwin sent specimens of plants …
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 …
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Robinia rubra and Pirus malus , 23 September 1869 Alexander Agassiz's …
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…
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…
3.18 Elliott and Fry photos, c.1869-1871
Summary
< Back to Introduction The leading photographic firm of Elliott and Fry seems to have portrayed Darwin at Down House on several occasions. In November 1869 Darwin told A. B. Meyer, who wanted photographs of both him and Wallace for a German…
Matches: 9 hits
- … Darwin at Down House on several occasions. In November 1869 Darwin told A. B. Meyer, who wanted …
- … down here on purpose’. Payments to the firm on 25 July 1869 and 5 April 1870 in Darwin’s banking …
- … widely disseminated images of Darwin were taken in summer 1869, and which in summer 1871: the …
- … were dated by Darwin’s daughter Henrietta on the backs to 1869. By 1871-2 some of Elliott and Fry’s …
- … it ‘abt. 1870’, then crossed this date out in favour of 1869 – the date which John van Wyhe assigns …
- … some of the Elliott and Fry group as having been taken in 1869 and 1871, but dates others (still …
- … to this source. It is significant that none of these 1869–71 Elliott and Fry photographs were …
- … as belonging to groups of photographs taken in summer 1869 and summer 1871, possible also in 1874. …
- … letters from Darwin to A.B. Meyer, 27 November [1869], (DCP-LETT-7014), and to Wallace, 5 December …
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 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…
Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small
Summary
In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…
Matches: 5 hits
- … he attracted many admirers in German-speaking countries. In 1869, his birthday was celebrated by an …
- … vol. 17, letter from F. M. Malven, 12 February [1869] ). An extract from Darwin’s reply to Malven …
- … with his’ ( letter to F. M. Malven, [after 12 February 1869] ). Accompanying this extract was the …
- … some of whom drew substantially on his theory. In 1869, Hermann Müller (brother to Fritz) sent …
- … theory to flowers and flower-visiting insects; H. Müller 1869)). Darwin was full of admiration and …
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 …
3.12 Edwards, second group of photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite the prior difficulties experienced by both photographer and sitter, it is evident that Ernest Edwards portrayed Darwin again in the late 1860s; but exactly when and in what circumstances is not known. There are strong…
Matches: 3 hits
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 …
3.15 George Charles Wallich, photo
Summary
< Back to Introduction In the years around 1868–1871, when professional photographers competed for sittings with Darwin, a doctor called George Charles Wallich approached him with a similar request. Wallich was planning to publish a set of his own…
