From J. D. Hooker 24 March 1874
Summary
"Half an answer" to CD’s query on visit of Sphinx to Hedychium gardnerianum.
Business affairs and family ill health keep him busy.
G. J. Allman will succeed Bentham as President of Linnean Society. Busk has refused.
Huxley is well.
JDH has indoctrinated Sir Stafford Northcote with his merits.
Lyell frail.
Old J. E. Gray goes on publishing.
"Is not [Thomas] Belt splendid!"
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Mar 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 195–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9371 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … Williams & Norgate. Spencer, Herbert. 1870–2. The principles of psychology. 2d edition. 2 …
- … Cambridge University Press. 1985–. Croll, James. 1870–4. On ocean-currents. – Part I. …
- … Philosophical Magazine 4th ser. 39 (February 1870): 81–106; Part II. Philosophical …
- … Magazine 4th ser. 39 (March 1870): 180–94; Part III. Philosophical …
- … Magazine 4th ser. 40 (October 1870): 233–59; 42 (October 1871): 241–80; 47 (February …
- … of his article on ocean currents ( Croll 1870–4 ). In an earlier section of the paper ( …
- … 18, letter from Joachim Barrande, 19 June 1870 and n. 3). Although once thought to be …
- … of Principles of psychology ( Spencer 1870–2 ). Moulton had challenged Spencer’s claim to …
From Albert Günther 28 April 1874
Summary
Thanks for recent edition of CD’s Journal of researches.
| Author: | Albrecht Carl Ludwig Gotthilf (Albert) Günther |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 255 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9432 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … had been published with a new postscript in 1860; this was reprinted in 1870 ( Journal of …
- … researches (1860) and (1870); see Freeman 1977 ). In the postscript, CD noted that several …
- … as varieties ( Journal of researches (1870) , p. vii). Günther later published a detailed …
- … John Murray. 1860. Journal of researches (1870): Journal of researches into the natural …
- … Charles Darwin. New edition. London: John Murray. 1870. Journal of researches : Journal of …
From C. L. Denison 17 January [1874]
Summary
Sends CD the number of Pitcairn islanders transferred to Norfolk Island cited in her deceased husband’s book [Sir William Thomas Denison, Varieties of a vice-regal life (1870)] but is unable to furnish additional information.
| Author: | Caroline Lucy Denison |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Jan [1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 158 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9246 |
To G. H. Darwin 30 January [1874?]
Summary
Returns and sends comments on Clarke Hawkshaw’s essay ‘The persistence of forms of life in the depths of the sea’.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Howard Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Jan [1874?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 185: 152 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7466F |
Matches: 8 hits
- … Bibliography Carpenter, William Benjamin. 1870. The geological bearings of recent …
- … deep-sea explorations. Nature , 27 October 1870, pp. 513–15. Carpenter, William Benjamin, …
- … during the summers of 1868, 1869 and 1870. London: Macmillan and Co. Thomson, Charles …
- … Journal of the Royal Dublin Society 5 (1870): 316–26. Thomson, Charles Wyville. 1873a. The …
- … as 0°.C. {for Porcupine expedition 1869 & 1870 cf. pg s . 142, 202 Depths of the sea for …
- … fath s . In the Porcupine expedition of 1870 the highest temperature in like depths was …
- … example, Origin , pp. 70–9. See Carpenter 1870 , p. 514. Hawkshaw refers to an area of the …
- … temperatures, and positions for the 1869 and 1870 voyages of the Porcupine dredging …
To C. L. Denison 14 January 1874
Summary
Seeks information on the number of Pitcairn islanders and the effect on their fertility of the transfer to Norfolk Island.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Caroline Lucy Denison |
| Date: | 14 Jan 1874 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Australia (MS 73) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9241 |
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 9 June 1874
Summary
Did not know cabbage contained so much nitrogen.
Pinguicula more excited by seeds than Drosera. Asks for information about Pinguicula.
Asks name of weed.
Asks to borrow Utricularia plant.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 9 June 1874 |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9486 |
From J. M. Grandclément [May 1874]
Summary
He was chagrined to read in Descent CD’s statement that smallpox vaccine has saved thousands of lives. He has found no scientific reason to believe in the prophylactic effect of the vaccine. In epidemic of 1870–1, smallpox killed more vaccinated persons than were killed by cholera, against which there is no vaccine, in 1853–4. Cites the difficulties in arriving at a conclusive proof of vaccine’s effectiveness.
| Author: | Joseph Marie Grandclément |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [May 1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 87 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9436 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … effect of the vaccine. In epidemic of 1870–1, smallpox killed more vaccinated persons than …
- … epidemic during the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1), see Smallman-Raynor and Cliff 2002; on …
- … de revaccination. Enfin l’épidémie de 1870–1871 a dû prouver l’impuissance de la vaccine. …
- … of revaccination. Lastly, the epidemic of 1870–1871 ought to have proven the impotence of …
From John Murray Jr 15 September 1874
Summary
Sends CD a statement of number of thousands of copies printed thus far [by Murray’s] of: Journal of researches (12), Origin (13), Descent (10), and Expression (9).
| Author: | John Murray, Jr; John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Sept 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 440 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9639 |
To G. H. Darwin 18 November [1874]
Summary
Sends Murray’s report of November sales of CD’s books. "I am well content."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Howard Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Nov [1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.1: 39 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9724 |
From C.-F. Reinwald 10 December 1874
Summary
Sends French translation of Journal of researches and will send the £20 due to CD when 750 copies have been sold.
| Author: | Charles-Ferdinand Reinwald |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Dec 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 103 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9752 |
From H. W. Bates 7 February 1874
Summary
Books CD requested have been packed and sent.
He will present CD with the classified catalogue [of Royal Geographical Society].
He has not learned whereabouts of Thomas Staley.
| Author: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 91 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9275 |
To J. V. Carus 9 July [1874]
Summary
Advises JVC on how his publisher might deal with problem of getting satisfactory heliotype copies for 2d [German] edition of Expression.
Regrets that he will again be away in August, when JVC might have come for a visit.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 9 July [1874] |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 116–117) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9539 |
From Henry Cecil 9 April 1874
Summary
Has just read Journal of researches and has been charmed out of his anti-Darwinian prejudice.
| Author: | Henry Cecil |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Apr 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 128 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9399 |
From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 25 June 1874
Summary
Reports on his examination of the dried specimens of Pinguicula at Kew to answer CD’s query whether all species secrete.
| Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 June 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 58.1: 64–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9513 |
From T. L. Brunton [29] October [1874]
Summary
Forwards a photograph he thought had been lost. Has noticed that the two sides of the face are often asymmetric in portrait busts and statues.
| Author: | Thomas Lauder Brunton, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [29] Oct [1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 341 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9701 |
From T. M. Coan 14 February 1874
Summary
On the declining population of the Hawaiian Islands [see Descent (1875), pp. 186–7, 187–8 n. 43].
| Author: | Titus Munson Coan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 69: A11, DAR 90: 40–3 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9290 |
From John Murray 3 November 1874
Summary
Statement of stock on hand of CD’s works.
Expression, curiously, at a dead stand-still.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Nov 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 441 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9707 |
From J. D. Hooker [29 August 1874]
Summary
Lady Dorothy Nevill is CD’s best chance for Dionaea.
Reports on Belfast meeting of BAAS. Lubbock’s lecture went off admirably. Huxley’s was the magnum opus.
Encloses letter from Mrs Barber on protective coloration of animals.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [29 Aug 1874] |
| Classmark: | DAR 103: 219–20 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9610 |
From Auguste Forel 31 October 1874
Summary
Thanks for CD’s favourable opinion of his book [Les fourmis de la Suisse (1874)]. Habits of ants; observations on their carrying empty eggs.
| Author: | Auguste-Henri (Auguste) Forel |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Oct 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 154 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9704 |
To John Ralfs 8 July 1874
Summary
Thanks for the Pinguicula plants, which have recovered, and asks if he could also send Utricularia, since his other supplies have failed.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Ralfs |
| Date: | 8 July 1874 |
| Classmark: | The Huntington Library (HM 76527) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9534F |
| letter | (48) |
| Alglave, Émile | (1) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Brunton, T. L. | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
| Cecil, Henry | (1) |
| Coan, T. M. | (1) |
| Cupples, George | (1) |
| D. Appleton & Co | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Darwin, Leonard | (1) |
| Dealtry, William | (1) |
| Denison, C. L. | (1) |
| Dohrn, Anton | (1) |
| Forel, Auguste | (1) |
| Fox, W. D. | (1) |
| Grandclément, J. M. | (2) |
| Günther, Albert | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Howorth, H. H. | (1) |
| Huxley, T. H. | (1) |
| John Murray | (1) |
| Meehan, Thomas | (1) |
| Murray, John (b) | (1) |
| Murray, John, Jr | (1) |
| Müller, Fritz | (1) |
| Nipher, F. E. | (1) |
| Reade, W. W. | (1) |
| Reinwald, C.-F. | (1) |
| Staley, T. N. | (1) |
| Swinhoe, Robert | (1) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (2) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (1) |
| Wright, Chauncey | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (34) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (3) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
| Crichton-Browne, James | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (47) |
| Darwin, G. H. | (3) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (3) |
| Bates, H. W. | (2) |
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…
Matches: 29 hits
- … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The …
- … machine’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December [1870] ). Finishing Descent; …
- … some weeks’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ). Darwin was still working hard on …
- … I shall be’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). She had previously read proof-sheets …
- … shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Henrietta disagreed: ‘Certainly …
- … of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February 1870] ). Darwin was also encouraged …
- … sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). Cobbe accused Darwin of smiling in …
- … great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870?] ). Humans as animals: ears …
- … [1868] ; this volume, letter to Thomas Woolner, 10 March [1870] ). Darwin included Woolner’s …
- … findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March 1870 ). Indeed, Darwin noted the same …
- … bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). Researching expression: …
- … spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870 ). Keen for more evidence of …
- … hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] ). Darwin made a similar request of …
- … not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] ). Darwin’s queries were part …
- … of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). He also wrote to a leading Dutch …
- … on this subject’ ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). Human evolution: debates and …
- … more fully in a collection of essays published in April 1870 (Wallace 1870a). Wallace wrote to …
- … naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). Despite their increasing …
- … in one sense rivals’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870] ). Darwin alluded here to the …
- … No one but yourself’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 20 May 1870 ). Darwin very rarely used the …
- … never write reviews’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). St George Jackson Mivart …
- … to answer objectors’ ( letter to W. H. Flower, 25 March [1870] ). In his letters to Mivart, Darwin …
- … on the Primates’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 April [1870] ). He also tried to recruit Mivart’s …
- … lump of granite’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 22 April 1870 ). Mivart hinted that his …
- … his “origin” ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 25 April 1870 ). In his critical essays (later revised …
- … Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs français (Quatrefages 1870), that gave a detailed account, as …
- … many others’ ( letter to Armand de Quatrefages, 28 May [1870] ). Quatrefages had …
- … discord’ ( letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 30 March 1870 ). In proposing Darwin for election, …
- … them’ ( letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 18 July 1870 ). The assertion had been made by Emile …
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: 12 hits
- … Brooke, C.A.J. 30 Nov 1870 Sarawak, Borneo …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 15 March 1870 West Riding …
- … Crichton-Browne, James 18 March 1870 Down, Kent, …
- … Donders, F.C. 27 May 1870 Utrecht, Netherlands …
- … Forbes, David 13 June 1870 Portman Square, London W. …
- … Nicol, Patrick 13 May 1870 Sussex Lunatic Asylum, …
- … Reade, Winwood W. [c.8 or 9 Apr 1870] Accra, West …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 4 June 1870 Lagos, Africa …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 3 Sept 1870 Conservative Club, St …
- … Reade, Winwood W. 9 Nov 1870 11 St Mary Abbot's …
- … Weale, J.P.M. [25 May 1870] Bedford, Cape of Good …
- … Weir, J.J. 27 June 1870 Blackheath, London, England …
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: 4 hits
- … Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin seeks Henrietta’s …
- … Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 September 1870] Written shortly before …
- … Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, J., [29 September 1870] Darwin asks Murray to …
- … Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to Darwin, [29 April 1870] George Cupples tells Darwin about a …
Francis Darwin
Summary
Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished scientist. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, initially studying mathematics, but then transferring to natural sciences. Francis completed…
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: 1 hits
- … behaviour of her dog (letter from J. L. Gray, 14 February 1870 ), she also passed on information …
Casting about: Darwin on worms
Summary
Earthworms were the subject of a citizen science project to map the distribution of earthworms across Britain (BBC Today programme, 26 May 2014). The general understanding of the role earthworms play in improving soils and providing nutrients for plants to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … on my mind’ ( letter to W. T. Preyer, 17 February [1870 ])) that without earthworms aerating the …
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
- … more litters & no happy results”, he wrote on 26 April 1870 . In the following year, Galton …
Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Summary
On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Descent (letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Audio of more …
Darwin and Gender Projects by Harvard Students
Summary
Working in collaboration with Professor Sarah Richardson and Dr Myrna Perez, Darwin Correspondence Project staff developed a customised set of 'Darwin and Gender' themed resources for a course on Gender, Sex and Evolution first taught at Harvard…
Matches: 1 hits
- … grateful I shall be.”(Letter to Darwin, H. E., [8 Feb 1870] ) Although Miranda acknowledges that …
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…
Experimenting with emotions
Summary
Darwin’s interest in emotions can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On his return, he started recording observations in a set of notebooks, later labelled '…
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: 3 hits
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … you owe any more … Darwin to his son Francis, 1870. …
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…
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Photograph: Authenticity, Science and the Periodical Press, 1870 – 1890 (London and New York: …
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
- … & I feel deeply for you. ( Letter to F. C. Donders, 19 May 1870 ) …
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…
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…
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
- … Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] Letter from Mary Treat, …
Moral Nature
Summary
In Descent of Man, Darwin argued that human morality had evolved from the social instincts of animals, especially the bonds of sympathy and love. Darwin gathered observations over many decades on animal behavior: the heroic sacrifices of social insects,…
