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Letter from Charles Darwin to Hurst & Blackett, 4672
No full textTranscription: "Gentlemen I see that Miss Meteyard is preparing a life of my grandfather Josiah Wedgwood. I have in my possession a good many letters to him from Dr Erasmus Darwin (also my grandfather) & if they would be likely to give any information, I shall be glad to send them to Miss Meteyard or to you. They are chiefly on semi-scientific subjects & probably would only be useful as shewing what subjects were occupying Mr Wedgwood’s mind & the dates of them. Perhaps you will forward this to Miss Meteyard I am Gentleman Yours faithfully Charles Darwin"The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to John Brodie Innes [3457]
No full textTranscription:"Dear Innes, Many thanks for your friendly note. You seem all very prosperous, & we are very glad to hear of it. I have heard of the mule from the canary & other finches occasionally breeding; but it is very rare (except with the siskin where the case is not so rare) & there is hardly one quite well authenticated case of two such mules breeding together. I will not forget your offer if I should wish for any observations or enquiries made in the north. Life rolls on, as you know, very uniformly in Down, & we have no news. Yes, we have, the Butcher has jilted his old love, & is going to be married to a new one! We went a few days ago to lunch with the John Lubbocks & they evidently seem thoroughily to enjoy their new home & freedom. They gave us a good account of poor Montague. We have had the Influenza here very badly— 16 were sick in this house, & at one time six in bed. Etty keeps capital;f6 but now we have Horace failing badly with intermittent weak pulse, like four of our other children previously. It is a curious form of inheritance from my poor constitution, though I never failed in exactly that way. I am glad to hear that Mrs. Innes (to whom pray give our kind remembrances) has been out to dinner; she beats me, for I have not ventured on such a bold step for an age. Believe me Dear Innes, Yours very sincerely, C. Darwin" Postmark: Postmark: FE 24 62 Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England. Envelope included.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to Charles Kingsley, 3439
No full textTranscription: "My dear Mr Kingsley I thank you sincerely for your letter. I have been glad to hear about the Duke of Argyle, for ever since the Glasgow Brit. Assoc. when he was President, I have been his ardent admirer. What a fine thing it is to be a Duke: nobody but a Duke, the first time he geologised would have found a new formation; & the first time he botanised a new lichen to Britain. With respect to the pigeons, your remarks show me clearly (without seeing specimens, though I thank you for the kind offer) that the birds shot were the Stock Dove or C. Oenas, long confounded with the Cushat & Rock-pigeon. It is in some respects intermediate in appearance & habits; as it breeds in holes in trees & in rabbit-warrens. It is so far intermediate that it quite justifies what you say on all the forms being descendants of one. That is a grand & almost awful question on the genealogy of man to which you allude. It is not so awful & difficult to me, as it seems to be most, partly from familiarity & partly, I think, from having seen a good many Barbarians. I declare the thought, when I first saw in T. del Fuego a naked painted, shivering hideous savage, that my ancestors must have been somewhat similar beings, was at that time as revolting to me, nay more revolting than my present belief that an incomparably more remote ancestor was a hairy beast. Monkeys have downright good hearts, at least sometimes, as I could show, if I had space. I have long attended to this subject, & have materials for a curious essay on Human expression, & a little on the relation in mind of man to the lower animals. How I shd. be abused if I were to publish such an essay! I hope & rather expect that Sir C. Lyell will enter in his new Book on the relations of men & other animals; but I do not know what his recent intentions are. It is a very curious subject, that of the old myths; but you naturally with your classical & old-world knowledge lay more stress on such beliefs, than I do with all my profound ignorance. Very odd those accounts in India of the little hairy men! It is very true what you say about the higher races of men, when high enough, replacing & clearing off the lower races. In 500 years how the Anglo-saxon race will have spread & exterminated whole nations; & in consequence how much the Human race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank. Man is clearly an old-world, not an American, species; & if ever intermediate forms between him & unknown Quadrumana are found, I should expect they would be found in Tropical countries, probably islands. But what a chance if ever they are discovered: look at the French beds with the celts, & no fragment of a human bone. It is indeed, as you say absurd to expect a history of the early stages of man in prehistoric times. I hope that I have not wearied you with my scribbling & with many thanks for your letter, I remain with much respect, Yours sincerely, Charles Darwin As you seem to care for all departments of n. History, I send a pamphlet with a rather curious physiological case." Letter sent from Down, Bromley, Kent, England. Page missing.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to [H. W. Bates] 3460
No full textTranscription: "My dear Sir I will write again; but I do not want to lose a post to say that the terms are very favourable: I never heard of such terms being offered for first work. You may depend he thinks very highly of your Book. I have always agreed for each edition separately, (except for my Journal which I disposed of all at once for much worse terms); but I think the terms are so good, I would let Murray do as he likes. You might say you should prefer agreeing for only one Edition. I am heartily glad. Yours, C Darwin" Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to John Brodie Innes [3371]
No full textTranscription:"My dear Innes I am heartily glad to say that Quiz arrived last night safe & sound (but with a cough) & has been running about the house quite happy & very polite to every human being, including Cats. Hearty thanks for your present. Also for your two notes. We most sincerely wish wish you all the happiness which can be expected in this world. Very glad we should be to see you here; but I think you will find yourself so well suited to your new career, that you will remain. We are a sick house with 3 Boys in bed with very bad feverish colds, so no more at present, except kind remembrances to Mrs. Innes & Johny, the young Laird. Ever my dear Innes, Yours very sincerely, Charles Darwin" Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to [Ludwig Büchner], 3810
No full textTranscription: "Respected Sir! I beg leave to return you my sincere thanks for your great kindness in sending me your last work “Aus Natur und Wissenschaft.” I have read the chapter, in which you treat of my work, & you have indeed conferred the most distinguished honour on me. I venture to thank you, also, on account of the good which you will effect in getting the subject widely discussed, & the truth finally discovered, which I have much at heart. I am, like so many Englishmen a very poor proficient at Languages, & German is to me, excepting the simplest descriptions, extremely difficult; but I hope to make intelligible to myself some of your valuable volume. With my best thanks, I have the honour to remain, Respected Sir, Your obliged servant, Charles Darwin" Letter sent from Down, Beckenham, Kent, EnglandThe Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to [H. W. Bates] 3507
No full textTranscription: "My dear Mr Bates Dr. Hooker is coming here tomorrow night to stay till Monday, is there any chance of your being able to spare time to come here during this time: it would give me great pleasure if you could. If you can spare the time or want a little rest, come without writing. You must come to Bromley Kent, by Railway; but I [am] sorry to say Bromley is six miles from this House. On Monday I could send you back to Bromley with Hooker. I hope to get Mr. Lubbock over on Sunday or Saturday evening I only heard this morning when Hooker was coming or I would have given you longer notice. A bit of rest would do you good. Yours very sincerely, C. Darwin Bromley is 10 miles from London & you can start from the Victoria Station Pimlico, or from London Bridge. Do not get out at "Shortlands for Bromley", but at the proper Bromley Station." Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to G.H.K. Thwaites [George Henry Kendrick Thwaites], 3880
No full textTranscription: "My dear Mr Thwaites Can you give me any cases of what some gardeners call “Sports”, but what I shall call “bud-variations”, ie when a leaf-bud assumes suddenly a new character—like moss-rose on Provence &c. I shd be very grateful for any authentic cases. Why I more particularly ask you, is that Sir R. Schomburghk says that at St Domingo, introduced flowers from the warmer temperate regions were there particularly apt to sport in this manner. I wrote some time ago to you about Cinchona being dimorphic like Primula; I have now better reason to believe that this is the case, & I have proof that some of these dimorphic plants are absolutely sterile with their own-form pollen. You mentioned two Ceylon genera (I have your note but names forgotten; one was allied to Menyanthes) Would you have kindness to examine them & see that both forms produce pollen & if you will, compare size of pollen. Or if you prefer could you send me the two forms of these genera in a letter, well dried, but not much pressed & named & then I could compare by soaking the pollen. The flowers shd not be old. I believe that you will forgive me for troubling you, & I remain, Yours very sincerely, Ch. Darwin I am hard at work at a book on “Variation under Domestication”. Endorsement: Endorsement: `1862′ " Letter sent from Down, Bromley, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to [H. W. Bates] 3861
No full textTranscription: "Dear Bates Many thanks for the paper & references on pairing of vars, -a subject which interests me much. If I do not hear to contrary I will keep the paper sent, though I do not see in it much on pairing of varieties. I would not on any account give you trouble to copy the passages out of Zoologist; when I come to subject I can consult the volume in London. I am sorry for all your trouble & delay about artists &c; but it is a law of nature that they will give trouble & it is of no use fighting against a law of nature. Good luck to you. Yours very sincerely, C. Darwin By any chance did you ever come across Indians, hardly pressed by famine, who were thus compelled to cook in new ways & try new vegetable productions? If by any odd chance, you have, I shd be glad to hear; otherwise do not write to say that you do not know." Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript
Letter from Charles Darwin to John Brodie Innes [3528]
No full textTranscription:"Dear Innes I have bad news about Quiz: perhaps you had better not tell your son for a time. He has been killed; it was done instantaneously by a gun. We were forced to do this, for he would fly at poor people, & one day bit a child & two days after a beggar woman & we had an awful row about it. There was another reason we could not stop him having fearful battle with Tartar; I had such a job one day in separating them both streaming with blood; & this was incessantly happening. Poor little Quiz had, also, got so asthmatic that he could not run, so that altogether we had no choice left us, though we were very sorry about it. I hope the world goes well with you all; it has not of late with us, for we have had our youngest boy [Horace] strangely ill, with singular involuntary movements, for two months; but at last he is decidedly better. We feared much that there was mischief in the Brain, but it now seems clear that it was all sympathetic with irritation of stomach. I know of no news of any sort here; we all go on exactly as usual as quiet as mice. Dear Innes, Yours very sincerely, Charles Darwin" Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Down House, near Beckenham, Kent, England.The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscript