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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.
Praise for and detailed comments on Expression.
Two cases of coloration in animals – one from sexual selection, the other helping to procure prey [see Descent, 2d ed., pp. 542–3].
Gives opinion on the merits of Mr [Stephen P. J.] Eng[leheart (Darwin family doctor)]. Believes he would make an excellent county officer if elected to the district office of health.
Thanks for reference to Hermann Müller’s book on fertilisation [Befruchtung der Blumen (1873)].
Notes on CD’s Expression.
Notes headed "Observations on the expression of the emotions".
Has read Expression, and assures CD some people cry when happy.
Offers different explanations [from CD’s in Expression] for movements of dogs after voiding, and for their turning around before lying down.
CD is also wrong in saying hares do not cry except when they suffer.
Translation of some of his annotations in Dutch edition of Expression.
"Sir William Gull has just brought me the enclosed quotations from Chaucer, as illustrations of the closure of the eyes in effort. [In "The Nun’s priest’s tale" in Canterbury tales the fox tricks Chanticleer into crowing, whereupon Chanticleer closes his eyes to make the effort (and gets seized by the fox).] He begs me to send them to you.
I have lately seen a terrier who very distinctly frowns during mental excitement – not always with anger, but often, I think, with anxiety, as in expecting food."
Klein says water ought to be changed daily. Asks to tell G Revalenta shop shut. Klein reports discovery about toads’ ova does not bear on pangenesis.
Has sent Vichy water, discusses prescription. Tell Arthur Parslow not to continue on colchicum for gout if doesn’t suit him. May go to Pryor’s on Sunday.
Arranges a visit to CL.
On expression among Kaffirs and Hottentots.
Reports that the ability to move ears is common among the Sioux.
On a humming-bird Sphinx moth which tried to extract nectar from flowers on wallpaper. [See Descent, 2d ed., p. 317.]
HA’s paper on leaf arrangement is almost ready; asks CD to communicate it to the Royal Society. Seeks permission to quote from CD’s notes.
Thanks for copy of Expression. Notes on expression among the Széklers.
Sends a copy of his book of travels in Scotland.
Comments on FG’s article ["Hereditary improvement", Fraser’s Mag. 87 (1873): 116–30]. Finds it "the sole feasible, yet I fear utopian, plan of procedure in improving the human race".
Thanks for rabbits for Balfour.
Mentions reading W. R. Greg’s Enigmas [of life (1872)].
Has studied CD’s books and accepts evolution without giving up belief in creation of first forms.
On theory in Descent, suggests offspring of the original [human] progenitor dispersed before a human stage arrived at; this would account for races and languages with no discernible common origin.
Asks whether his observations on absorptive powers of glandular hairs of plants are new facts.
Asks for a Drosophyllum.
Comments on Francis Galton’s article in Fraser’s Magazine,
Greg’s Enigmas,
and Alphonse de Candolle’s Histoire des sciences.