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Darwin, C. R. in addressee 
1860-1869 in date 
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From:
Bernard Peirce Brent
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[1860?]
Source of text:
DAR 205.2: 217
Summary:

Habits of ducks when sleeping on water.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Aleksander Jelski
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[1860–82]
Source of text:
DAR 178: 86
Summary:

AJ, a collector, would like a few lines from CD and an autographed photograph.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Robert Scot Skirving
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[1860?]
Source of text:
DAR 205.2: 250a
Summary:

Tells of shooting wood-pigeons that had in their crops acorns that did not grow locally.

[Fragment of letter glued to 2197.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Robert Scot Skirving
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[1860?]
Source of text:
DAR 205.2: 250b
Summary:

Pigeons in Egypt alight on trees rather than on the mud hovels of the natives [see Variation 1: 181].

[Two fragments glued to 2196.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Hensleigh Wedgwood
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[Jan? 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 48: 83–5
Summary:

Prepared to think world infinitely old, but not that life originated with a single cell. Questions whether geological evidence supports gradual progress in organisation. HW thought scientific opinion during Vestiges debate was against this hypothesis. Argues that presence of same senses in lower animals and vertebrates does not imply descent; assumes resemblance is due to living in same world and thus having organs for the same purposes. Wants CD to know how others may see these questions.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
William Whewell
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
2 Jan 1860
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 19
Summary:

Thanks CD for the Origin. WW is not yet a convert but there is so much "of thought and of fact" in what CD has written that "it is not to be contradicted without careful selection of the ground and manner of the dissent".

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Hewett Cottrell Watson
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[3? Jan 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 47: 135–8
Summary:

Notes by HCW on the Origin dealing especially with divergence and convergence. Believes there is some natural tendency to converge into groups in opposition to divergence generated by natural selection.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Leonard Jenyns; Leonard Blomefield
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
4 Jan 1860
Source of text:
The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/5: 95–103)
Summary:

Has read Origin and considers it one of the most valuable contributions to present-day natural history. Believes, however, that there are difficulties in the extensive generalisation that all taxonomic groups are related by descent. Does not understand how Genesis is to be read unless at least the human species was created independently of other animals. Cannot bring himself to the idea that man’s reasoning and moral sense could have been obtained from "irrational progenitors": the "Divine Image" is the unsurmountable distinction between man and brutes. [See 2644.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Joshua Toulmin Smith
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
6 Jan 1860
Source of text:
DAR 261.11: 32.ii (EH 88206084)
Summary:

Sends a copy of his Ventriculidae [of the Chalk (1848)]. This group, he feels, is well represented by CD’s plate of graduating species [Origin, ch. 4].

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Asa Gray
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[10 Jan 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 26a
Summary:

Agassiz denounces Origin as "atheistical";

AG is currently reviewing it [in Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 29 (1860): 153–84].

Jeffries Wyman praises it, though not a convert.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Asa Gray
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
23 Jan 1860
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 22–5
Summary:

American edition of Origin. AG’s assessment of the book’s weak and strong points. Suggests Jeffries Wyman would be a useful source of facts and hints for CD.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
John Murray
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
27 Jan 1860
Source of text:
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 41913 p. 78)
Summary:

Presents statement of expenses and anticipated profit of the new edition of 3000 copies [of Origin].

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles James Fox Bunbury, 8th baronet
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
30 Jan 1860
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 26
Summary:

On the Origin. Before expressing his disagreements, CJFB praises CD’s labour, patience, fairness, and other qualities which make the work "one of the most important that has ever appeared in Natural History". [See 2690.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
George Robert Waterhouse
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[Feb 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 47: 152
Summary:

It is not true that all the fossil cave bears are of the same species.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Philip Lutley Sclater
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[3? Feb 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 205.3: 289
Summary:

Lists land birds of Galapagos and discusses their distribution on mainland of S. America.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Philip Lutley Sclater
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
11 Feb 1860
Source of text:
DAR 205.3: 290, DAR 205.7: 143
Summary:

Informs CD that Sylvicola aureola may be a distinct species but is a close ally of S. aestiva of N. and S. America and perhaps only a "climatic variety".

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[13–14 Feb 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 205.3: 283, DAR 205.9: 395
Summary:

Discusses phases of climate.

Describes fossil mammals discovered by Auguste Bravard in South America.

Has had argument with Bishop of Oxford [Samuel Wilberforce] about CD’s book [Origin].

Discusses review in Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Guesses that T. V. Wollaston is the author.

Discusses evidence of shells on Madeira.

Comments on paper by Wallace ["On the zoological geography of the Malay Archipelago", J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 4 (1860): 172–84].

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
George Henry Kendrick Thwaites
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[14 Feb 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 205.4: 100
Summary:

Questions how natural selection can explain why some cells remain simple and others are modified into highly complex structures.

Reports on the spread in Ceylon of a recently introduced plant.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
François Jules Pictet de la Rive
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
19 Feb 1860
Source of text:
The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/5: 110–11)
Summary:

Believes Origin makes science "young, clear, elevated" but does not have the facts to prove that cumulated slight modifications could ever produce different families from common ancestors. [See 2709.]

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Asa Gray
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
20 Feb 1860
Source of text:
Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (37)
Summary:

Arrangements for the American edition of Origin.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project