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From:
Joseph Marie Grandclément
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[May 1874]
Source of text:
DAR 165: 87
Summary:

He was chagrined to read in Descent CD’s statement that smallpox vaccine has saved thousands of lives. He has found no scientific reason to believe in the prophylactic effect of the vaccine. In epidemic of 1870–1, smallpox killed more vaccinated persons than were killed by cholera, against which there is no vaccine, in 1853–4. Cites the difficulties in arriving at a conclusive proof of vaccine’s effectiveness.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Date:
1 May 1874
Source of text:
JDH/2/16 f.14, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:

JDH reports that the slightly cold weather in Cannes & Montpellier have aggravated his rheumatism. Criticises the maintenance of [Jules Emille] Planchon's garden in Montpellier & attributes this to the fact that they try to grow twice as many species as necessary on a small budget. The aging Professor Charles Martins gave a charming tour of the garden. At Montpellier station met with [Hugh Algernon] Weddell arriving from Cette [Sète], where he had been doing lichen research. Mrs [Frances] Hooker is going to Florence to stay with Miss Galton. JDH is happy 'to miss' the presidency of 'Section D' [at the Florence International Botanical Congress] & supports [John] Tyndall for a vice-presidency. Mentions the Roman ruins at Nimes & a trip from Nimes to Pont du Gard ruin, where he gather 42 species in a single spot. Tomorrow they leave for Antibes where they may see [George James] Allman if he has not left for San Remo. They then go to stay with Mr Hanbury at Mentone [Giardini Botanici Hanbury previously known as Palazzo Orengo], and on to Genoa, Pisa & Florence. JDH reports that [Geroge] Bentham is well but 'put out' to hear that Cambridge Universoty has awarded him the peculiar honour of LL.D. Adds that having met St George Jackson Mivart in Paris & found him to be a willing candidate for secretary of the Linnean Society this information has been met with enthusiasm from Frederick Currie [Currey].

Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Easton and Anderson
Date:
4 May [1874]
Source of text:
DAR 97: C55
Summary:

CD’s son Horace wishes to continue at Easton and Anderson’s Works. CD trusts they will not bind him to long hours of work as this would be against medical advice.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Francis Stephen Bennet François de Chaumont
Date:
4 May 1874
Source of text:
Wellcome Collection (RAMC/473/5) Trustees of the Army Medical Services Museum
Summary:

Returns FDeC’s certificate for the Royal Society signed.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Thereza Mary Llewelyn; Thereza Mary Story-Maskelyne
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
4 May 1874
Source of text:
DAR 177: 263
Summary:

Reply to CD’s letter in Nature ["Flowers of the primrose", Collected papers 2: 183–4]. She has a canary that eats primroses.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
John Scott Burdon Sanderson, 1st baronet
Date:
5 May [1874]
Source of text:
University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Darwin - Burdon Sanderson letters RBSC-ARC-1731-1-4)
Summary:

Thanks for the acid digestion experiments, which can be printed as they are. CD trying Drosera on dentine and enamel.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
John Ferguson McLennan
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
5 May 1874
Source of text:
DAR 171: 20
Summary:

Would like to see C. S. Wake’s paper ["Marriage among primitive peoples", Anthropologia 1 (1873–5): 197–207].

Will return L. H. Morgan’s work [? Systems of consanguinity (1871)].

Murray suggests Macmillan’s are more likely to reprint JFMcL’s Primitive marriage.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Nature
Date:
7 and 11 May [1874]
Source of text:
Nature , 14 May 1874, pp. 24–5
Summary:

Thanks Nature correspondents for their observations on destruction of primroses [Nature 9 (1874): 509; 10 (1874): 6–7]. Reports an error in his observations: ovules, as well as nectar, are taken by the birds. As the habit of cutting off primrose flowers is widespread, CD concludes it is instinctive in bullfinches.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Thomas Mellard Reade
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
7 May 1874
Source of text:
DAR 176: 27
Summary:

Studying glacial drift in NW. England, he finds evidence of intense glacial activity, but the molluscan fauna does not appear to indicate a low sea temperature. Requests information on Tierra del Fuego molluscs for comparison.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
William Darwin Fox
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
8 May [1874]
Source of text:
DAR 164: 197
Summary:

Has left Delamere and settled on the Isle of Wight.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
John Ferguson McLennan
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
8 May 1874
Source of text:
DAR 171: 21
Summary:

Thanks for issue of Anthropologia. Would be pleased if CD would write to Murray on his behalf.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Date:
8 May 1874
Source of text:
JDH/2/16 f.15, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Summary:

[Letter in French, transcript available in French and English]. JDH writes to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer in order to practice the French he is learning. He writes that he & his party have travelled from Nimes to Arles, where he saw the Roman ruins, & from Arles to Cannes during which journey he admired the countryside & particularly the Pinus pinea groups by the sea. He compares Cannes itself to Torquay but less green. They then stayed with Mr Altmann at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes where they also met with Mr Thuret & Dr Bornet. JDH describes & praises Thuret's garden, which is full of plants from all over the world which thrive despite the extreme seasonal temperatures caused by the Mistral winds. JDH personally prefers the climate & greener vegetation of Madeira & Portugal to that in France. The cold weather in Antibes aggravated JDH's rheumatism, the season there is nearly over. He also met a Colonel Roper in Antibes who was there with his wife for her health. Colonel Roper was very well read in natural history, his wife went every night with a princess to a casino in Monaco at returned by train at midnight. JDH discusses Bornet's work on seaweeds which grow within the tissues of lichen & gives his own opinions, particularly on the 'gonidie'. He also mentions the possibility of lichens & algae with parasitic relationships, or whether it is more a case of their primordial condition. JDH continues the letter in English under the address Pegli, near Genoa. He writes that they will go next to Sestri, Spezzia & Florence & notes that [George] Bentham has had diarrhoea & JDH's own cough lingers.

Contributor:
Hooker Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Béla Weisz
Date:
8 May 1874
Source of text:
DAR 148: 3
Summary:

Would be interesting to discuss political economy in light of evolution. Recommends Walter Bagehot Physics and politics [1872] and Descent in which source of moral sense is discussed.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Michael Foster
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[before 9 May 1874]
Source of text:
DAR 164: 167
Summary:

Encloses a report on state of appeal for Naples Zoological Station.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
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From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
William Crookes
Date:
9 May [1874]
Source of text:
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Summary:

Regrets he cannot comply with request because of his work and poor health.

Delighted to have seen correspondent’s "wonderful experiment" at Royal Society.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Michael Foster
Date:
9 May [1874]
Source of text:
Michael Silverman (dealer) (January 2001)
Summary:

CD is rather disappointed by the money raised for Dohrn. Had hoped for £700–800.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
John Murray
Date:
9 May [1874]
Source of text:
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 347–347A)
Summary:

Recommends that JM consider publishing a new edition of J. F. McLennan’s Primitive marriage [1865]. CD considers it very valuable and not too indelicate.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Thomas Mellard Reade
Date:
9 May 1874
Source of text:
University of Liverpool Library (TMR1.D.7.1)
Summary:

Interested in TMR’s investigation of drift. Narrative 1: 545–6 contains catalogue of shells collected. Much struck by marine productions of Tierra del Fuego.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Thomas Lauder Brunton, 1st baronet
Date:
11 May 1874
Source of text:
Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts Division (C0140 Box 13 AM20431)
Summary:

Encloses, for examination, residue from skim-milk which has been on the glands of Drosera. Asks TLB to confirm his views on action of Drosera secretion on milk. Asks about effects of pepsin and hydrochloric acid in digestive juice.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
William Darwin Fox
Date:
11 May [1874]
Source of text:
Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 153)
Summary:

Has just finished new editions of Descent

and Coral reefs.

Is working on a book almost wholly on Drosera; thinks he has made some discoveries.

Will never have strength and life to complete more of the series of books related to Origin.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project