To Francis Darwin [1878?]
Summary
Forwards an unspecified work for FD to read.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
Date: | [1878?] |
Classmark: | DAR 211: 21 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11302 |
To H. D. Garrison [1878]
Summary
Regrets he was not at home when HDG called.
HDG’s observations on the evolution of the human ear are well worth consideration.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Herod Dailey Garrison |
Date: | [1878] |
Classmark: | Felter 1902, p. 124 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11306F |
From Ellen Harrison to Emma Darwin [January 1878]
Summary
On an elephant’s crying when foot was operated on.
Author: | Ellen Harrison |
Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
Date: | [Jan 1878] |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 108 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11304 |
To Édouard Heckel 1 January 1878
Summary
Pleased EH is translating Forms of flowers. Agrees "cowslip" and "oxlip" ought to be translated by their scientific names.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Édouard Marie (Édouard) Heckel |
Date: | 1 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | Heritage Auctions (dealers) (13 and 14 December 2011, lot 37038) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11306 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … To Édouard Heckel 1 January 1878 …
- … corrections were made in Heckel trans. 1878, pp. 167 and 211. …
- … 2011, lot 37038) Charles Robert Darwin Down 1 Jan 1878 Édouard Marie (Édouard) Heckel …
- … of flowers into French (Heckel trans. 1878). Heckel tended to use the Linnean binomials …
- … de Bardfield and primevère élevée . (See Heckel trans. 1878, chapters 1 and 2. ) )The …
To Raphael Meldola 1 January [1878]
Summary
Good article by Fritz Müller in Kosmos supporting August Weismann’s views on caterpillars.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
Date: | 1 Jan [1878] |
Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11305 |
To Hermann Müller 1 January [1878]
Summary
Thanks HM for his review [of Forms of flowers, Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 286].
Thinks HM’s previous article was very important [Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 128–40]. CD will "heartily rejoice" if HM has explained the steps by which Rhamnus and Valeriana have been rendered dioecious.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Heinrich Ludwig Hermann (Hermann) Müller |
Date: | 1 Jan [1878] |
Classmark: | DAR 146: 438 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11307 |
From Raphael Meldola 2 January [1878]
Summary
Wishes to borrow third part of Fritz Müller’s article on sexual selection in butterflies [Kosmos 2 (1877–8): 218–24].
Is forwarding material on stridulation, including Prof. Wood-Mason’s paper ["Note on Mygale stridulans", Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1877): 281–2], which should interest CD.
Author: | Raphael Meldola |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Jan [1878] |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 121 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11308 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … From Raphael Meldola 2 January [1878] …
- … DAR 171: 121 Raphael Meldola London, John St, 21 2 Jan [1878] Charles Robert Darwin …
- … John Murray. 1871. Meldola, Raphael. 1878. Entomological notes bearing on evolution. …
- … and the letter to Raphael Meldola, 1 January [1878] . Meldola dated it 1877 in error. …
- … See letter to Raphael Meldola, 1 January [1878] and n. 2. The October 1877 issue of Kosmos …
- … known natural history publisher. Meldola 1878 . Meldola had previously discussed with CD …
To ? 2 January 1878
Summary
Thanks correspondent for note and specimen; they will be of use in new edition of Forms of flowers.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Unidentified |
Date: | 2 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 249: 126 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11308A |
To F. J. Cohn 3 January 1878
Summary
Comments on discovery of micro-organisms in disease.
Describes experiments carried out by Francis Darwin on filaments of Dipsacus.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Ferdinand Julius Cohn |
Date: | 3 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | Joseph R. Sakmyster, ADS Autographs (dealer) (no date) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11310 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … To F. J. Cohn 3 January 1878 …
- … Autographs (dealer) (no date) Charles Robert Darwin Down 3 Jan 1878 Ferdinand Julius Cohn …
- … Down, | Beckenham, Kent. Jan 3. 1878. My dear Sir. I thank you sincerely for your most …
- … see British Medical Journal , 9 February 1878, p. 181). Splenic or splenetic fever is now …
From E. A. Greaves 3 January 1878
Summary
The portrait of Erasmus Darwin by Wright of Derby has been dispatched.
Author: | Elizabeth Anne Greaves |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 3 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 210.14: 12 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11309F |
Matches: 4 hits
- … From E. A. Greaves 3 January 1878 …
- … DAR 210.14: 12 Elizabeth Anne Greaves Cheltenham 3 Jan 1878 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … Parade, | Cheltenham Jan y . 3 rd . 1878 Dear Sir, Thanks to Parker’s dilatoriness the …
- … a payment of £50 to Greaves on 2 January 1878 in his Account books–banking account (Down …
To Raphael Meldola 3 January 1878
Summary
Is dispatching December number of Kosmos.
Will read the discussion on stridulation that RM mentioned.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
Date: | 3 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11309 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … To Raphael Meldola 3 January 1878 …
- … Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) Charles Robert Darwin Down 3 Jan 1878 Raphael Meldola …
- … Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R. Jan 3. 1878 My dear Sir, I have many apologies to …
- … letter to Raphael Meldola, 1 January [1878] . CD had asked Meldola to return the October …
- … issue. In his letter to CD of 2 January [1878], Meldola had recommended a discussion of …
- … the Entomological Society of London (see letter from Raphael Meldola, 2 January [1878] ). …
From William Farrer 4 January 1878
Summary
Sends cutting on origin of variety of merino sheep.
Would like references to works on breeding.
Author: | William James (William) Farrer |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 4 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 164: 106 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11311 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … From William Farrer 4 January 1878 …
- … DAR 164: 106 William James (William) Farrer Burnley 4 Jan 1878 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … miles north-east of Burnley in Lancashire. In 1878, it belonged to Farrer’s cousin, Edward …
- … Edgend | nr Burnley Jany 4. 1878 Sir, The enclosed is a leaf of the Australasian …
To Karl von Scherzer? 4 January 1878
Summary
Discusses dates when he might meet the prince (Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria) in London, or perhaps the Prince might visit Down.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Karl von Scherzer |
Date: | 4 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | Swann Auction Galleries (dealers) (11 October 2007) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11311F |
Matches: 6 hits
- … To Karl von Scherzer? 4 January 1878 …
- … dealers) (11 October 2007) Charles Robert Darwin Down 4 Jan 1878 Karl von Scherzer …
- … Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R. Jan 4. 1878 My dear Sir, I shall be in London on the …
- … Erasmus Alvey Darwin, from 17 to 23 January 1878 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). Crown …
- … Prince Rudolph of Austria was staying in London in early January 1878 ( The Times , …
- … 11 January 1878, p. 10). Scherzer, the Austrian consul in London, and a member of the …
From Hyde Clarke 5 January 1878
Summary
Cites language books; a comparison of them shows unity of language.
Author: | Henry Hyde (Hyde) Clarke |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 5 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 161: 162 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11312 |
To W. W. Baxter 6 January [1878]
Summary
Asks about the composition of a spermaceti ointment which he has been buying for some years "because I blackened some young shoots of plants with this ointment mixed with Lamp-black & it produced an extraordinary effect on the shoots, which I think cannot be accounted for merely by the exclusion of light".
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Walmisley Baxter |
Date: | 6 Jan [1878] |
Classmark: | Parke-Bernet (dealers) (6 February 1962) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11314 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … To W. W. Baxter 6 January [1878] …
- … 6 February 1962) Charles Robert Darwin unstated 6 Jan [1878] William Walmisley Baxter …
- … the letter from W. W. Baxter, 7 January 1878 . CD had painted one side of the cotyledons …
- … also letter from Leonard Darwin, 7 January 1878 . Spermaceti ointment was used as a mild …
From W. W. Baxter 7 January 1878
Summary
Constituents of spermaceti ointment supplied to CD. Perhaps effect was caused by substance used to bleach the bees-wax.
Author: | William Walmisley Baxter |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 209.8: 150 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11315 |
From Leonard Darwin 7 January 1878
Author: | Leonard Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 7 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 209.8: 153 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11316 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … From Leonard Darwin 7 January 1878 …
- … DAR 209.8: 153 Leonard Darwin Brompton Barracks, Chatham 7 Jan 1878 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … he had applied to the shoots of plants; see letter to W. W. Baxter, 6 January [1878] . …
- … Brompton Barracks, | Chatham. Jan 7 th . 1878 Dear Father The following is the work on the …
From Leonard Darwin 8 January 1878
Author: | Leonard Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 8 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | DAR 186: 33 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11317 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … From Leonard Darwin 8 January 1878 …
- … DAR 186: 33 Leonard Darwin Brompton Barracks, Chatham 8 Jan 1878 Charles Robert Darwin …
- … see letter from Leonard Darwin, 7 January 1878 and n. 1. See also Movement in plants , pp. …
- … Brompton Barracks, | Chatham. Jan 8 th . 1878 Dear Father Today I tested that lamp black …
To Raphael Meldola 11 January [1878]
Summary
Thinks there can be no objection to RM’s using a Fritz Müller letter [see 11319].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
Date: | 11 Jan [1878] |
Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11318 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … To Raphael Meldola 11 January [1878] …
- … Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) Charles Robert Darwin Down 11 Jan [1878] Raphael Meldola …
- … the Entomological Society of London on 6 February 1878 ( Transactions of the Entomological …
- … Society of London ( Proceedings ) (1878): ii–iii; see also letter …
- … to Fritz Müller, 12 January 1878 ). …
To Fritz Müller 12 January 1878
Summary
CD and son [Francis] working on spontaneous movements of plants and heliotropism.
Has given [Raphael Meldola] permission to read extracts of FM’s last letter [not found], on odours emitted by moths, before Entomological Society [Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1878): ii–iii].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 12 Jan 1878 |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 44) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11319 |
Matches: 7 hits
- … To Fritz Müller 12 January 1878 …
- … 10 no 44) Charles Robert Darwin Down 12 Jan 1878 Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller …
- … by moths, before Entomological Society [ Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1878): ii–iii]. …
- … see the letter from Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878 . CD had asked Müller the same question in …
- … vol. 25) to the society on 6 February 1878 ( Transactions of the Entomological …
- … Society of London ( Proceedings ) (1878): ii–iii). For Meldola’s interest in Kosmos (a …
- … letter from Raphael Meldola, 2 January [1878] . Müller believed at least one species of …
letter | (575) |
Darwin, C. R. | (300) |
Darwin, Francis | (24) |
Torbitt, James | (16) |
Hooker, J. D. | (12) |
Meldola, Raphael | (10) |
Darwin, C. R. | (258) |
Darwin, Francis | (34) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (23) |
Meldola, Raphael | (17) |
Romanes, G. J. | (17) |
Darwin, C. R. | (558) |
Darwin, Francis | (58) |
Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (30) |
Meldola, Raphael | (27) |
Torbitt, James | (26) |

Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 29 hits
- … is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his …
- … scientific man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1878] ). Writing to Ernst Haeckel on …
- … plants.’ Movement in plants In the spring of 1878, Darwin started to focus on the …
- … come up arched’ ( letter to Sophy Wedgwood, 24 March [1878–80] ). While Darwin was studying the …
- … of apex’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [11 May 1878] ). Having found plants responsive to …
- … at my blunder’ ( letter to John Tyndall, 22 December [1878] ). Son abroad Darwin’s …
- … kind to him’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 18 June [1878] ). While Francis was away, Darwin …
- … work, I scribble to you ( letter to Francis Darwin, 7 [July 1878] ). Two weeks later he wrote: ‘I …
- … to discuss it with’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 20 [July 1878] ). It is unclear why the …
- … reported ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 July 1878] ): ‘The oats have only just begun to …
- … Francis wrote ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 17 July 1878] ), ‘a strong horizontal axis …
- … rather’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 3 August 1878] ). One day Francis observed that the …
- … out one’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 July 1878] ). Sachs’s confidence was apparently …
- … him,’ he reported ( letter from Francis Darwin, [22 June 1878] ). ‘Sachs doesn’t consider that …
- … all evils’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [24 and 25 July 1878] ). Babies and animals …
- … he added a week later ( letter to Francis Darwin, 14 July [1878] ). Darwin had of course observed …
- … have said a gee-gee’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 17 July [1878] ). On 12 September , Darwin …
- … will always do so’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 20 August [1878] ). Darwin remarked that a monkey …
- … in your house!’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 2 September [1878] ). More remarkable cases of …
- … of a thieving wasp’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 21 June 1878 ). An inspiration In …
- … ( letter from J.-B. Dumas and Joseph Bertrand, 5 August 1878 ). Despite his many botanical …
- … to me quite ridiculous’ ( letter to John Price, 2 April [1878] ). When a wealthy businessman tried …
- … ( letter from Edmund Mojsisovics von Mojsvár, 28 April 1878 ). ‘What a wonderful change in the …
- … The Swiss botanist Arnold Dodel-Port announced on 12 June 1878 the first issue of an atlas with …
- … come together’ ( letter from Arnold Dodel-Port, 18 June 1878 ). In countries where …
- … are without you’ (letters from Carl Kraus, [31?] January 1878 and 10 February 1878 ). Darwin …
- … been school-boys’ ( letter to Karl von Scherzer, 1 April 1878 ). More critics Closer …
- … matter’ ( letter from H. N. Ridley, [before 28 November 1878] ). Darwin received a copy of the …
- … care of himself ’ ( letter from J. B. Innes, 1 December 1878 ). Darwin did not think the Oxford …

Darwn's letters from 1878 online
Summary
Investigating the movements and 'sleep' of plants, being entertained by the mental faculties of his young grandson Bernard, finally elected a corresponding member of the French Académie des sciences, trying to secure a government grant to support…

Power of movement in plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Family experiments Darwin was an active and engaged father during his children's youth, involving them in his experiments and even occasionally using them as observational subjects. When his children…

Photograph album of German and Austrian scientists
Summary
The album was sent to Darwin to mark his birthday on 12 February 1877 by the civil servant Emil Rade, and contained 165 portraits of German and Austrian scientists. The work was lavishly produced and bound in blue velvet with metal embossing. Its ornate…

Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…

Darwin’s Photographic Portraits
Summary
Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the study of Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, but can be witnessed in his many photographic portraits and in the extensive portrait correspondence that…

Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Leonard Darwin to George Darwin, 8 February [1878] Darwin’s youngest son, Leonard (Lenny), …

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Summary
George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…
Matches: 1 hits
- … become her partner for the next 25 years, until his death in 1878. Lewes was already married but …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …

Conrad Martens
Summary
Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting under the watercolourist Copley Fielding (1789–1855), who also briefly taught Ruskin. In 1833 he was on board the Hyacinth, headed for India, but en route in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … commissions before dying from a heart attack on 21 August 1878. Conrad Martens' …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. …

Florence Caroline Dixie
Summary
On October 29th 1880, Lady Florence Dixie wrote a letter to Charles Darwin from her home in the Scottish Borders; “Whilst reading the other day your very interesting account of A Naturalist’s Voyage round the world,” she said, “I came across a passage…of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in 1875 had two sons, George and Albert, born in 1876 and 1878 respectively. …
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Summary
The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 1854 to 1861, in 1863 and 1864, from 1871 to 1875, and in 1878 and 1880 (CD’s Classed account books …

Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…

Life of Erasmus Darwin
Summary
The Life of Erasmus Darwin (1879) was a curious departure for Darwin. It was intended as a biographical note to accompany an essay on Erasmus's scientific work by the German writer Ernst Krause. But Darwin became immersed in his grandfather's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … had struggled to understand Butler's Life and Habit (1878), which seemed to attribute …

Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … longer chapter on Instinct’, Darwin told Romanes in June 1878, ‘ I have never had time to work it …

Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 1 hits
- … anyone who wrote a lot, but the novelty soon wore off and in 1878 the machine was given away. …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 2 Origin , p. 83. 3 Origin , pp. 187–8. This phrase and the following, longer …

Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 1 hits
- … M. M. Radovanović, 17 September 1874 ), which appeared in 1878. Books and articles were …