To Francis Darwin [after 12 October 1866]
Summary
Instructions on paying a bill.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | [after 12 Oct 1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 2 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13793 |
From Julius von Haast 8 September 1866
Summary
Thanks CD for his efforts on behalf of JvH’s Royal Society candidacy.
Is at work on a large-scale map of the Southern Alps [of New Zealand].
The ever-growing goldfields and their effect on the country.
| Author: | John Francis Julius (Julius) von Haast |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Sept 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 10 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5207 |
From Asa Gray 7 May 1866
Summary
Thinks a new U. S. edition of Origin is needed.
Gives observations on the climbing habits of Bignonia capreolata.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 150 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5081 |
To Charles Lyell 7 February [1866]
Summary
Discussion of Mrs Agassiz’s letter [to Mary Lyell, forwarded to CD] regarding S. American glacial action,
with comments on Bunbury’s letter on temperate plants.
Refers to opinions of Agassiz, David Forbes, Hooker, and CD on glacial period and glaciers.
Wishes he had published a long chapter on glacial period [Natural selection, pp. 535–66] written ten years ago.
Tells of death of his sister, Catherine, and other family matters.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 7 Feb [1866] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.312) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4999 |
To a local landowner [1866?]
Summary
Requests that correspondent take some action regarding the state of horses on his farm. Robert Ainslie of Tromer Lodge, Down, was fined in 1852 following CD’s complaints.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | [1866?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 96: 27 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4963 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on ‘humane’ objectives between 1837 and 1870, see Fairholm and Pain 1924, pp. 162–4. The …
From J. D. Hooker 21 February 1866
Summary
Had Busks and Lyells to dinner.
Examines and criticises evidence for CD’s hypothesis that the glacial period was not one of universal cold. Physicists deny its possibility.
| Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 102: 59, 62–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5013 |
From George Warde Norman 20 September 1866
Summary
Sends a paper, by the wife of the local curate, on the habits of animals.
| Author: | George Warde Norman |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Sept 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 172: 74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5215 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Office directory of the six home counties 1870). Richard George Holland became curate of …
To ? 10 May [1866?]
Summary
The apparent difference in arm lengths of compositors is due to a drooping shoulder. File-makers stand in a peculiar position and call one of their legs the hind leg.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 10 May [1866?] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5083 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Descent ( letter to Mr Dorrell, 9 August 1870 , Calendar no. 7298). CD discussed …
To Asa Gray 16 April [1866]
Summary
AG’s second article on Climbing plants [Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 41 (1866): 125–30].
Fritz Müller’s observations on Rubiaceae.
New edition [4th] of Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 16 Apr [1866] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (96) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5057 |
From John Edward Gray 28 February 1866
Summary
Has received the larva of the batrachian. Outlines its affinities. Problems of batrachian systematics.
| Author: | John Edward Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Feb 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 209 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5021 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in the British Museum (J. E. Gray ed. 1870). Gray apparently refers to palm civets, …
From John Traherne Moggridge 15 February [1866]
Summary
Is sending Ophrys plants marked as CD requested as wild or under cultivation. Discusses arrangements for a scheme planned for 1867 and his method for marking his Ophrys specimens.
| Author: | John Traherne Moggridge |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Feb [1866] |
| Classmark: | DAR Pamphlet collection G368 (bound in part of Moggridge 1865–8) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5008A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher 35 (1870): (3d paper) 1–16. ] Monkswell, Lord. 1911. …
From Asa Gray 18 July 1866
Summary
Appleton’s cannot alter their plates so as to reproduce revised work [Origin, 4th ed.]. Has made it clear that CD could not do otherwise than object strenuously to course they intend to pursue, and has asked them to return the sheets. Wishes CD’s publisher would supply U. S. market with large numbers of copies, as the English edition could well compete with any American one. Encloses [statement of sales of U. S. edition of Origin to 1 February 1866].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 July 1866 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 149–150); DAR 159: 80 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5160 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … to Gray’s or CD’s account, for 1867 to 1870, 1872, and 1874 to 1881, are in DAR 159; no …
To William Ewart Gladstone 14 May 1866
Summary
Memorial to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from the fellows of the Royal, Linnean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London, stating the importance of separating the administration of the national natural history collections of the British Museum from that of the library and art collections, and placing it in the hands of one officer, immediately responsible to one of the Queen’s ministers.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Date: | 14 May 1866 |
| Classmark: | Gunther 1975, p. 238 (facsimile of printed copy of memorial) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5090F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the museum continued to be considered until 1870. Construction of the British Museum of …
From Asa Gray 3 July 1866
Summary
Is trying to arrange a new American edition of Origin.
Gives notes on Passiflora acerifolia [on cover].
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 July 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5141 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … firm did not publish a revised edition until 1870 ( Freeman 1977 ). Dog in the manger: ‘a …
From Asa Gray 7 August 1866
Summary
Appleton’s will not print a new edition of Origin.
AG has read sheets of new English edition [4th] and is much pleased by the passage on Richard Owen in the historical sketch.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Aug 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 153 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5184 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … was published by D. Appleton & Co . in 1870. CD had considerably revised his account of …
To Fritz Müller 11 January 1866
Summary
Has read FM’s paper on sponges ["Über Darwinella aurea", Arch. Miskrosk. Anat. 1 (1865): 344–53] with interest.
Has also read FM’s work on the metamorphoses of Peneus [Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 3d ser. 14 (1864): 104–15], an interesting and important embryological discovery.
CD regards Louis Agassiz’s opinions as valueless.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 11 Jan 1866 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 5) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4972 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … island, Brazil; he had written to CD that, in 1870 or 1871, he intended to return to his ‘ …
From Fritz Müller 2 August 1866
Summary
Gives some observations on orchids and on some plants which seem to be dichogamous.
| Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Aug 1866 |
| Classmark: | DAR 76: B33, 33a; DAR 157a: 81, 102; DAR 142: 38 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5173 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … anthers (see F. Müller 1868a , 1869, and 1870) and CD added a reference to Müller’s work …
| letter | (17) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Gray, Asa | (4) |
| Gray, J. E. | (1) |
| Haast, Julius von | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (10) |
| Unidentified | (2) |
| Darwin, Francis | (1) |
| Gladstone, W. E. | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (17) |
| Darwin, Francis | (1) |
| Gladstone, W. E. | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (5) |
| Gray, J. E. | (1) |
| Haast, Julius von | (1) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
| Lyell, Charles | (1) |
| Moggridge, J. T. | (1) |
| Müller, Fritz | (2) |
| Norman, G. W. | (1) |
| Unidentified | (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,…
