Thanks THH for the delightful evening he gave Frank [Darwin].
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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.
Thanks THH for the delightful evening he gave Frank [Darwin].
Is "almost certain" plant is Menispermum canadense.
CD’s health remains bad and as he grows older he becomes weaker.
Sends photograph in case recipient collects them.
Returning Thomas George Bonney’s certificate, which it was a pleasure to sign.
Delighted that JH is interested in his book [Origin?]
Will keep THH’s secret [of authorship of Times review of Origin]. It has made deep impression.
J. D. Dana’s illness.
Daily News accuses him of plagiarising Vestiges.
High praise and detailed comments on JDH’s introductory essay to Flora Tasmaniae, which CD has now finished reading.
Disagrees on power of transoceanic migration. Advocates glacial transport of plants.
CD’s response to reviews of Origin in Saturday Review [8 (1859): 775–6] and John Lindley’s in Gardeners’ Chronicle [but see 2651].
Praises CL’s work on human species.
A critical review of Origin in Saturday Review [24 Dec 1859].
A letter from J. G. Jeffreys criticises CD’s geological statements.
A note from William Whewell concerning Origin.
Remembers reading Smith’s memoir in Geological Transactions on the anomalous nature of Ventriuculidae. Asks for a copy.
Discusses the possibility of "convergence" occurring; believes it could be only very limited.
Queries on expression among Fuegians and Patagonians.
WBC’s review [of Origin, Natl Rev. 10 (1860): 188–214] will do great good. It "turns the flanks of theological opposers" capitally.
Asks for information about cuckoo eggs and West Indian sheep.
Comments on AG’s memoir on Japanese plants [see 2599]; relationship of Japanese flora to N. American.
Thanks LJ for his letter on Origin. Finds LJ agrees with him more than CD had expected.
Discusses problems of geological record, single primordial form, and man.
Sends ticket to pigeon show.
A quotation from Erasmus Darwin’s Zoonomia [1794, 1796] shows that he anticipated Lamarck.
G. Grote impressed by Times review [26 Dec 1859, p. 8].
Comments on corrections [in Origin, 2d ed. (1860)], especially on use of Wallace’s name.
Discusses human evolution with respect to CL’s work. Cites expression as a source of evidence.
Andrew Murray’s criticisms of the Origin involving blind insects in caves [Edinburgh New Philos. J. n.s. 11 (1860): 141–51].
Humorously describes human ancestors.
On the problem of want of sterility in crosses of domestic varieties. Refers to discussion in Origin, pp. 267–72 ["Fertility of varieties when crossed"]. We do not know precise cause of sterility in species.
Andrew Murray has attacked Origin [see 2647].
H. C. Watson objects to natural selection on grounds of limitless diversification of species.
Very pleased with IGStH’s approval [of Origin]. Will be proud to place IGStH’s Résumé des lecons sur la question de l’espèce (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1851) alongside his other works in his library.
Grateful for his offer to look over the difficult passages in Origin for a translator.
Hopes readers will send information on the permanence of cross-bred plants and animals. No one doubts that cross-bred productions tend to revert in various degrees to either parent for many generations. But are there not cases of crossed breeds of sheep and pigs that breed true? CD believes occasional cross-breeding of varieties is advantageous in nature as well as under domestication. [See reply to this letter by J. O. Westwood, Gard. Chron. (1860): 122.]
CD has learned from Lyell that JDH reviewed Origin in Gardeners’ Chronicle writing in Lindley’s style.
Lyell is working on man.