From J. L. Sinclair 31 December 1869
Summary
Would like CD’s opinion on his "theory of organic disturbance" and his "law of organic combination"; hopes CD might notice them in the Academy.
Writes of his unfortunate circumstances.
Author: | James Leask Sinclair |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 31 Dec 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 177: 173 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7039 |
To J. V. Carus 22 October [1869]
Summary
His book [Descent] will not be ready for a year because of his health and the laboriousness of work on sexual selection. Has deferred arrangements for German translation, but would feel secure with JVC. Carl Vogt has offered to translate it.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
Date: | 22 Oct [1869] |
Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 43–44) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6954 |
From Eduard Koch 17 June 1869
Summary
Carus will soon begin translating 5th ed. of Origin.
Sale of Variation is satisfying.
C. J. Dub will write popular work on CD’s theory.
Gustav Jäger has written on it [Die Darwin’sche Theorie und ihre Stellung zu Moral und Religion (1869)].
Author: | Eduard Koch; E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 17 June 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 169: 44 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6785 |
To the editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History 23 July 1869
Summary
CD passes on notes prepared for the French translation of Orchids so that his book may be brought up to date in English as well.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Annals and Magazine of Natural History |
Date: | 23 July 1869 |
Classmark: | Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 142 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6840A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … CD refers to Orchids and Rérolle trans. 1870. For more on CD’s additions, see the letter …
To Victor Masson [after 29 September 1869]
Summary
Is annoyed that a new French edition of Origin [1870] has been prepared without making use of the corrections CD made in the 5th English edition [1869].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | V. Masson et fils |
Date: | [after 29 Sept 1869] |
Classmark: | DAR 96: 61 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6916 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … annoyed that a new French edition of Origin [1870] has been prepared without making use of …
From Frederick Smith 5 November 1869
Summary
Sends reference to stridulation in an article about Scolytus by Dr Chapman "Observations on the economy of British species of Scolytus", Entomol. Mon. Mag. 6 (1870): 126–31.
Author: | Frederick Smith |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Nov 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 82: 4 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6972 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on the economy of British species of Scolytus ", Entomol. Mon. Mag. 6 (1870): 126–31. …
To A. R. Wallace 5 December [1869]
Summary
Further comments on arrangements for German translation of their joint paper.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Date: | 5 Dec [1869] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434: 194–5) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7020 |
To Eduard Koch 22 June [1869]
Summary
Pleased that Julius Dub will publish with ES [Kurze Darstellung der Lehre Darwin’s (1870)].
Would like Gustav Jäger’s brochure [Die Darwin’sche Theorie (1869)].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Eduard Koch; E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
Date: | 22 June [1869] |
Classmark: | Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart (Cod. hist. 4o 333a. No 77, 3) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6792 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Kurze Darstellung der Lehre Darwin’s (1870)]. Would like Gustav Jäger’s brochure [ Die …
From Ernst Haeckel 2 July 1869
Summary
Comments on 5th edition of the Origin [1869];
preparation of second edition of Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte [1870].
The reception of CD’s theory. Mentions support of Pieter Harting and Michael Sars.
EH’s research on calcareous sponges and plans to publish monograph on them.
Author: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 July 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 52 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6812 |
From W. B. Dawkins 19 October 1869
Summary
Reports on his findings in Denbighshire caves ["The Denbighshire caves", Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc. 9 (1869–70): 31–7].
Sends his paper ["On the prae-historic Mammalia in Great Britain", Intellect. Obs. (1868): 403–10].
Has changed his view on the descent of British cattle from the wild aurochs. No evidence that aurochs survived into historic times in Britain.
Author: | William Boyd Dawkins |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 Oct 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 124 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6944 |
From Victor Masson 29 September 1869
Summary
Asks CD to send 5th ed. of Origin so Mlle Royer can use it in her work. Regret they have upset CD to the extent that he would reproach them so untowardly.
Author: | V. Masson et fils |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 29 Sept 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 64 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6918 |
To J. D. Hooker 8 March [1869]
Summary
Transmits letter [from Fritz Müller].
Has been asked to permit a French translation of Orchids and Journal of researches.
At work on sexual selection.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 8 Mar [1869] |
Classmark: | DAR 94: 116-17 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6647 |
From Charles Boner 25 November [1869]
Summary
Gives account of inherited blindness in a family,
and observations contravening CD’s view in Variation that sheep and other domestic animals never run wild.
Author: | Charles Boner |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 25 Nov [1869] |
Classmark: | DAR 160: 238 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7010 |
From Anton Dohrn 30 December 1869
Summary
He has gone through the whole embryology of the Crustacea and has arrived at a pretty well-established genealogy of the whole class; has even tried to write a history of the whole tribe. Finds he cannot adopt the old separation of Orders in the Class; the limits between them are indistinct.
Would like to study embryology of Limulus. Asks CD’s help in obtaining a female specimen.
Outlines his proposal to establish a marine zoological station.
Author: | Felix Anton (Anton) Dohrn |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 Dec 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 162: 204 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7038 |
To F. C. Donders 17 November [1869]
Summary
There is no hurry for information. Delighted that FCD is making experiments.
It was a sincere pleasure to make FCD’s acquaintance.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
Date: | 17 Nov [1869] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6991 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … vol. 18, letter to F. C. Donders, 21 June 1870 . See letter from F. C. Donders, 12 …
From A. R. Wallace 10 March 1869
Summary
Weir’s paper on relation of protection to colour of caterpillars [Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1869): 21–6; (1870): 337–9] confirms ARW’s hypothesis.
Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Mar 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 106: B77–8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6651 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1869): 21–6; (1870): 337–9] confirms ARW’s hypothesis. …
From J. V. Carus 29 April 1869
Summary
A new edition [4th German] of Origin to be published by Schweizerbart. JVC asks CD to send any changes or additions.
Variation has sold two-thirds of the first printing [1868].
Hopes he may do translation of CD’s new work [Descent].
Author: | Julius Victor Carus |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 29 Apr 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 161: 70 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6717 |
From J. D. Hooker 14 November 1869
Summary
Describes how the offer of C.B. was made. He declined a knighthood. Murchison and Lyell are trying to get him made Knight Commander of the Star of India, but he does not think there is a chance. The Duke [of Argyll?] might do it, but does not like JDH’s Darwinism.
Next Presidency of Royal Society discussed: all (Brodie, the X Club botanists, et al.) are agreed on Lyell.
Everyone is disappointed with Nature.
What did CD think of "Huxley’s rhapsody on Goethe’s ditto" [Nature 1 (1869): 9–11]?
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 14 Nov 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 103: 35—8 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6988 |
From David Forbes 30 January 1869
Summary
DF’s opinion of Gustav Jenzsch’s book [Mikroskopische Flora und Fauna (1868)]. Encloses extract of a letter from Ferdinand Zirkel also mentioning Jenzsch’s work.
Author: | David Forbes |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 Jan 1869 |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 143–143/2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6584 |
To Gustav Jäger 9 September 1869
Summary
Admires GJ’s book [Die Darwin’sche Theorie (1869)].
Asks about plumage of rejected male pheasant.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Gustav Jäger |
Date: | 9 Sept 1869 |
Classmark: | Frau Dr Hildegard Jaeger (private collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6885 |
letter | (97) |
Darwin, C. R. | (42) |
Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
Carus, J. V. | (4) |
Wallace, A. R. | (3) |
Boner, Charles | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
Unidentified | (4) |
Carus, J. V. | (2) |
Koch, Eduard | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (95) |
Hooker, J. D. | (12) |
Carus, J. V. | (6) |
Koch, Eduard | (4) |
Unidentified | (4) |
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,…