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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.
Asks correspondent whether, when growing hollyhocks, he finds it necessary to space out the different varieties to prevent crossing and thus to obtain true seed [see Variation 2: 108].
JL’s review of Lyell’s Antiquity of man (1863) [Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 3 (1863): 211–19].
Owen’s review of W. B. Carpenter in Athenæum [28 Mar 1863, pp. 417–19].
Working on monstrous Primula. Is ovule anatropous as Asa Gray says, or amphitropous? Does he know natural path of pollen tubes in Primula. Can the tube enter the ovule by the chalaza?
Encourages JS to publish on sterility of orchids and to experiment on Passiflora.
Doubted Hooker’s poppy case.
Describes case of primrose with three pistils: when pulled apart allowed pollen to be placed directly on ovules. This supports JS’s explanation of H. Crüger’s case.
Thanks for information on Primula ovules. From what DO says the pollen-tubes ought to find their way to the micropyle.
Discusses the repayment of a loan made by CD to DTA and F. Ransome.
Likes JDH’s review of Alphonse de Candolle [Mémoires et souvenirs de A. P. de Candolle (1862)].
Falconer’s article on Lyell ["Primitive man. What led to the question?", Athenæum 4 Apr 1863, pp. 459–60] too severe.
CD has written a letter to the Athenæum "to say, under the cloak of attacking Heterogeny, a word in my own defence" [Collected papers 2: 78–80].
Bates’s Travels [Naturalist on the river Amazons (1863)] are excellent.
Good of HF to tell him about Brazilian beast. So intermediate a form is "very glorious". Must assume it is very old.
Grieved by Falconer’s and Prestwich’s treatment of Lyell.
Reproductive anatomy of the common ash reminds CD of JDH’s Welwitschia because of its transitional forms.
Pleased JDH encourages Oliver to do orchids.
Interested in ACR’s Presidential Address [Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 19 (1863): xxix–lii] on the breaks in succession (of formations). Hopes ACR will provide a diagram of breaks, with the percentage of fossils that "pass upwards", i.e., continue to appear.
Horrified at Huxley’s geology.
Wishes ACR would discuss "creeps".
CD thinks HBD’s tables would be a considerable gain because "the importance of hereditary transmission can hardly be exaggerated from every point of view". Makes suggestions.
Asks him to send any remarkable cases of inheritance to him and, as well, any case of regrowth of amputated additional digit.