Discusses heliotropism in plant cotyledons. Asks for information.
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The Charles Darwin Collection
The Darwin Correspondence Project is publishing letters written by and to the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Complete transcripts of letters are being made available through the Project’s website (www.darwinproject.ac.uk) after publication in the ongoing print edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press 1985–). Metadata and summaries of all known letters (c. 15,000) appear in Ɛpsilon, and the full texts of available letters can also be searched, with links to the full texts.
Discusses heliotropism in plant cotyledons. Asks for information.
Has been asked to contribute to W. K. Clifford memorial fund. Asks JT’s advice on how much the committee hopes to raise. Would like to give handsomely but feels bound "with such a lot of children, not to be extravagant".
HM’s teaching methods and his ideas are under attack in Germany along with the works of Ernst Krause.
CD cannot find his pincers and other tools for microscopical dissection. Does FD know where he should look?
Hopes FD will feel better after "so complete a change" [trip to North Africa].
Sends his love to George.
Bernard gets more charming every day.
CD has been put on a committee for a memorial fund for W. K. Clifford.
Directs CD where to find tools in his room. Has been looking at agave and aloe flowers. Thanks family for their letters.
Sends thanks to the Masters for congratulations on his birthday, saying "the approbation & sympathy of one’s fellow-workers in the acquisition of knowledge is the highest possible reward which any man ought to desire".
Outlines his theory to explain the form of certain Swedish sandhills and puts forward his ideas regarding the geological history of the earth.
Thanks JT for his information. Sends £50 to the W. K. Clifford memorial fund.
Second request that CD sign a Cambridge memorial [i.e., petition]. The heading has been amended to include graduates who have formerly studied medicine.
Thanks for having sent prehistoric remains.
Requests testimonial from CD for position of Assistant Keeper, Zoological Dept, British Museum.
"I do not know whether the enclosed will be of any use to you.– I can say nothing of your fitness for the desired office, as I know nothing whatever of its duties.
I am sincerely sorry to hear of Mr F. Smith’s death."
Since he was innocent of sending the Botanische Zeitung to CD, he inquired of the editor, who informs him that it is sent every week by post by order of Williams and Norgate.
Read GA’s book [The colour-sense] with "great interest". Makes criticisms and suggestions.
Cannot believe in GA’s theory of the origin of pleasure and pain.
Is glad he defends sexual selection;
CD finds A. R. Wallace’s explanations "mere empty words" and for many years he has "quite doubted [ARW’s] scientific judgment".
Considers the possible effect of environmental colour on the colour tastes of animals.
Sends short testimonial [missing] for RBS, but doubts its value as he has has already given one for the same office [to A. G. Butler, see 11888].
Letter of recommendation for Richard Bowdler Sharpe, ornithologist.
Thanks for criticisms of Colour-sense.
Clarifies his views that actions desirable for species result in development of nervous organs capable of pleasurable stimulation.
Believes that all "tastes" occurring in nature are explicable with reference to ancestral habits and that none is purely arbitrary.
Wants to borrow Duchartre’s Éléments de botanique [1867].
Thanks CD profusely for the circular which detailed his and Emma Darwin’s plans to increase their children’s income. Thinks a few hundred really makes the difference for feeling really rich, especially as he now knows how important it is for bankers to have available personal savings.
Describes health-related arguments for vegetarianism. Notes arguments that anthropoid apes are vegetarians. Asks whether man is sufficiently adapted to mixed diet so that meat is not harmful?