by Janet Browne
William: I defy anybody to flatter us on our baby,—for I defy anyone to say anything, in its praise, of which we are not fully conscious.—He is a charming little fellow, & I had not the smallest concepcion there was so much in a five month baby:—You will perceive, by this, that I have a fine degree of paternal fervour.
Darwin to W. D. Fox,
[7 June 1840], DCP 572
William: I saw the first symptom of shyness in my child when nearly two years and three months old: this was shown towards myself, after an absence of ten days from home, chiefly by his eyes being kept slightly averted from mine; but he soon came and sat on my knee and kissed me, and all trace of shyness disappeared.
Darwin 1877, 292
William: It is however extremely difficult to prove that our children instinctively recognise any expression. I attended to this point in my first-born infant, who could not have learnt anything by associating with other children, and I was convinced that he understood a smile and received pleasure from seeing one, answering it by another, at much too early an age to have learnt anything by experience. When this child was about four months old, I made in his presence many odd noises and strange grimaces, and tried to look savage; but the noises, if not too loud, as well as the grimaces, were all taken as good jokes; and I attributed this at the time to their being preceded or accompanied by smiles. When five months old, he seemed to understand a compassionate expression and tone of voice.
Expression, 359
Anne: Another of my infants, a little girl, when exactly a year old, was not nearly so acute, and seemed quite perplexed at the image of a person in a mirror approaching her from behind. The higher apes which I tried with a small looking-glass behaved differently; they placed their hands behind the glass, and in doing so showed their sense, but far from taking pleasure in looking at themselves they got angry and would look no more.
Darwin 1877, 290
Anne: She went to her final sleep most tranquilly, most sweetly at 12 oclock today. Our poor dear dear child has had a very short life but I trust happy, & God only knows what miseries might have been in store for her. She expired without a sigh. How desolate it makes one to think of her frank cordial manners. I am so thankful for the daguerreotype. I cannot remember ever seeing the dear child naughty. God bless her.
Darwin to Emma Darwin,
[23 April 1851], DCP 1412
George: All day long Georgy is drawing ships or soldiers, more especially drummers, whom he will talk about as long as anyone will listen to him.
Darwin to W. E. Darwin,
3 October [1851], DCP 1456
Charles: It was a complete oversight that I did not write to tell you that Emma produced under blessed Chloroform our sixth Boy almost two months ago. I daresay you will think only half-a-dozen Boys a mere joke; but there is a rotundity in the half-dozen which is tremendously serious to me.—Good Heavens to think of all the sendings to School & the Professions afterwards: it is dreadful.
Darwin to W. D. Fox,
8 February [1857], DCP 2049
Charles: It was the most blessed relief to see his poor little innocent face resume its sweet expression in the sleep of death.—Thank God he will never suffer more in this world.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
[29 June 1858], DCP 2297
Francis: I am reminded of old days by my third Boy having just begun collecting Beetles, & he caught the other day Brachinus crepitans of immortal Whittlesea-mere memory.—My blood boiled with old ardour, when he caught a Licinus,—a prize unknown to me.
Darwin to W. D. Fox,
13 November [1858], DCP 2360
Francis, Leonard, and Horace Darwin: We three very young collectors have lately taken, in the parish of Down, six miles from Bromley, Kent, the following beetles, which we believe to be rare, namely, Licinus silphoides, Panagus 4-pustulatus and Clytus mysticus. As this parish is only fifteen miles from London, we have thought that you might think it worth while to insert this little notice in the “Intelligencer”.
Darwin to Entomologist’s Weekly
Intelligencer, 25 June 1859, 99
Leonard: I have a Boy with the collecting mania & it has taken the poor form of collecting Postage stamps: he is terribly eager for “Well, Fargo & Co Pony Express 2d & 4d stamp”, & in a lesser degree “Blood’s 1. Penny Envelope, 1, 3, & 10 cents”. If you will make him this present you will give my dear little man as much pleasure, as a new & curious genus gives us old souls.
Darwin to Asa Gray,
10–20 June [1862], DCP 3595
Horace: Horace said to me yesterday, “if everyone would kill adders they would come to sting less”. I answered “of course they would, for there would be fewer”. He replied indignantly “I did not mean that; but the timid adders which run away would be saved, & in time they would never sting at all.” Natural selection of cowards!
Darwin to John Lubbock,
5 September [1862], DCP 3713
Henrietta: From your earliest years you have given me so much pleasure & happiness that you well deserve all the happiness that is possible in return; & I do believe that you are in right way for obtaining it.—I was a favourite of yours before the time when you can remember. How well I can call to mind how proud I was when at Shrewsbury after an absence of a week or fortnight, you would come & sit on my knee, & there you sat for a long time, looking as solemn as a little judge.—Well it is an awful & astounding fact that you are married; & I shall miss you sadly…. I shall not look at you as a really married woman, until you are in your own house. It is the furniture which does the job.
Darwin to Henrietta (Darwin) Litchfield,
4 September [1871], DCP 7922
My main objection to them [private schools], as places of education, is the enormous proportion of time spent over classics. I fancy, (though perhaps it is only fancy) that I can perceive the ill & contracting effect on my eldest Boy’s mind, in checking interest in anything in which reasoning & observation comes into play.—I shall certainly look out for some school, with more diversified studies for my younger Boys.
Darwin to W. D. Fox,
17 July [1853], DCP 1522
I have indeed been most happy in my family, and I must say to you my children that not one of you has ever given me one minute’s anxiety, except on the score of health. There are, I suspect, very few fathers of five sons who could say this with entire truth. When you were very young it was my delight to play with you all, and I think with a sigh that such days can never return. From your earliest days to now that you are grown up, you have all, sons and daughters, ever been most pleasant, sympathetic and affectionate to us and to one another. When all or most of you are at home (as, thank Heavens, happens pretty frequently) no party can be, according to my taste, more agreeable, and I wish for no other society.
Autobiography, 97
Pigeons
I wish you would publish some small fragment of your data, pigeons if you please & so out with the theory & let it take date—& be cited—& understood.
Charles Lyell to Darwin,
1–2 May 1856, DCP 1862
I have now a grand collection of living & dead Pigeons; & I am hand & glove with all sorts of Fanciers, Spitalfield weavers & all sorts of odd specimens of the Human species, who fancy Pigeons.
Darwin to J. D. Dana,
29 September [1856], DCP 1864
I have found my careful work at Pigeons really invaluable, as enlightening me on many points on variation under domestication.
Darwin to W. D. Fox,
3 October [1856], DCP 1867
I sat one evening in a gin-palace in the Borough [Southeast London] amongst a set of pigeon-fanciers,—when it was hinted that Mr Bult had crossed his Powters with Runts to gain size; & if you had seen the solemn, the mysterious & awful shakes of the head which all the fanciers gave at this scandalous proceeding, you would have recognised how little crossing has had to do with improving breeds, & how dangerous for endless generations the process was.—All this was brough
t home far more vividly than by pages of mere statements &c.
Darwin to T. H. Huxley,
27 November [1859], DCP 2558
I hope Lady Lyell & yourself will remember whenever you want a little rest & have time how very glad we shd be to see you here, & I will show you my pigeons! which is the greatest treat, in my opinion, which can be offered to human being.
Darwin to Charles Lyell,
4 November [1855], DCP 1772
Sir Charles [Lyell] urged the publication of Mr. D’s observations upon pigeons, which he informs me are curious, ingenious, & valuable in the highest degree, accompanied with a brief statement of his general principles…. Every body is interested in pigeons.
Whitwell Elwin to John Murray,
3 May 1859, DCP 2457A
Altogether at least a score of pigeons might be chosen, which if shown to an ornithologist, and he were told that they were wild birds, would certainly, I think, be ranked by him as well-defined species. Moreover, I do not believe that any ornithologist would place the English carrier, the short-faced tumbler, the runt, the barb, pouter, and fantail in the same genus; more especially as in each of these breeds several truly-inherited sub-breeds, or species as he might have called them, could be shown him. Great as the differences are between the breeds of pigeons, I am fully convinced that the common opinion of naturalists is correct, namely, that all have descended from the rock-pigeon (Columba livia).
Origin 1859, 22–23
I have discussed the probable origin of domestic pigeons at some, yet quite insufficient, length; because when I first kept pigeons and watched the several kinds, knowing well how true they bred, I felt fully as much difficulty in believing that they could ever have descended from a common parent, as any naturalist could in coming to a similar conclusion in regard to the many species of finches, or other large groups of birds, in nature.
Origin 1859, 28
That most skilful breeder, Sir John Sebright, used to say, with respect to pigeons, that “he would produce any given feather in three years, but it would take him six years to obtain head and beak.”
Origin 1859, 32
The belief that the chief domestic races are descended from several wild stocks no doubt has arisen from the apparent improbability of such great modifications of structure having been effected since man first domesticated the rock-pigeon. Nor am I surprised at any degree of hesitation in admitting their common origin: formerly, when I went into my aviaries and watched such birds as pouters, carriers, barbs, fantails, and short-faced tumblers, &c., I could not persuade myself that they had all descended from the same wild stock, and that man had consequently in one sense created these remarkable modifications.
Variation 1868, vol. 1, 203–4
Barnacles
When on the coast of Chile, I found a most curious form, which burrowed into the shells of Concholepas, and which differed so much from all other Cirripedes that I had to form a new sub-order for its sole reception. Lately an allied burrowing genus has been found on the shores of Portugal. To understand the structure of my new Cirripede I had to examine and dissect many of the common forms: and this gradually led me on to take up the whole group. I worked steadily on the subject for the next eight years, and ultimately published two thick volumes, describing all the known living species, and two thin quartos on the extinct species. I do not doubt that Sir E. Lytton Bulwer [Edward Bulwer-Lytton] had me in his mind when he introduces in one of his novels a Professor Long, who had written two huge volumes on Limpets.
Autobiography, 117
Are you a good hand at inventing names? I have a quite new & curious genus of Barnacle, which I want to name, & how to invent a name completely puzzles me.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
[2 October 1846], DCP 1003
There is an extraordinary pleasure in pure observation; not but what I suspect the pleasure in this case is rather derived from comparisons forming in one’s mind with allied structures. After having been so many years employed in writing my old geological observations it is delightful to use one’s eyes & fingers again.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
[6 November 1846], DCP 1018
I have lately got a bisexual [two-sexed] cirripede, the male being microscopically small & parasitic within the sack of the female. I tell you this to boast of my species theory, for the nearest & closely allied genus to it is, as usual, hermaphrodite, but I had observed some minute parasites adhering to it, & these parasites, I now can show, are supplemental males, the male organs in the hermaphrodite being unusually small, though perfect & containing zoosperms: so we have almost a polygamous animal, simple females alone being wanting.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
10 May 1848, DCP 1174
I never shd have made this out, had not my species theory convinced me that an hermaphrodite species must pass into a bisexual species by insensibly small stages & here we have it, for the male organs in the hermaphrodite are beginning to fail, & independent males already formed. But I can hardly explain what I mean, & you will perhaps wish my Barnacles & Species theory al Diabolo together. But I don’t care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
10 May 1848, DCP 1174
I am now employed on a large volume, describing the anatomy and all the species of barnacles from all over the world. I do not know whether you live near the sea, but if so I should be very glad if you would collect me any that adhere (small and large) to the coast rocks or to shells or to corals thrown up by gales, and send them to me without cleaning out the animals, and taking care of the bases. You will remember that barnacles are conical little shells, with a sort of four-valved lid on the top. There are others with long flexible footstalk, fixed to floating objects, and sometimes cast on shore. I should be very glad of any specimens, but do not give yourself much trouble about them.
Darwin to Syms Covington
[Darwin’s assistant on the Beagle],
30 March 1849, DCP 1237
The other day I got the curious case of a unisexual, instead of hermaphrodite, cirripede, in which the female had the common cirripedial character, & in two of the valves of her shell had two little pockets, in each of which she kept a little husband. I do not know of any other case where a female invariably has two husbands…. Truly the schemes & wonders of nature are illimitable.
Darwin to Charles Lyell,
[2 September 1849], DCP 1252
I am particularly obliged to you for pointing out to me your notice on the metamorphosis of the cirripedia in Silliman’s Journal, for I shd have overlooked it.—You have to a certain extent forestalled me, though we do not take quite the same view on the homologies of the parts.—I have, I think, worked out the anatomy of the larva in considerable detail & I hope correctly.
Darwin to J. D. Dana,
8 October 1849, DCP 1259
You ask what effect studying species has had on my variation theories; I do not think much; I have felt some difficulties more; on the other hand I have been struck…. with the variability of every part in some slight degree of every species.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
13 June [1850], DCP 1339
I thank you very sincerely for the great trouble you must have taken in collecting so many specimens. I have received a vast number of collections from different places, but never one so rich from one locality. One of the kinds is most curious. It is a new species of a genus of which only one specimen is known to exist in the world, and it is in the British Museum.
Darwin to Syms Covington,
23 November 1850, DCP 1370
Sept. 9th. [1851] Finished packing up all my Cirripedes, preparing fossil balanidae, distributing copies of my work &c. &c. I have yet a few proofs for Fossil Balanidae for Pal. Soc. [the Palaeontological Society] to complete, perhaps a week more work. Began Oct 1, 1846. On Oct 1 it will be 8 years since I began! But then I have lost 1 or 2 years by illness.
Darwin’s Journal, 13
My work on the Cirripedia possesses, I think, considerable value, as besides describing several new and remarkable forms, I made out the homologies of the various parts—I discovered the cementing apparatus, though I blundered dreadfully about the cement glands—and lastly I proved the existence in certain genera of minute males complemental to and parasitic on the hermaphrodites. This latter discovery has at last been fully confirmed; though at one time a German writer was pleased to attribute the whole account to my fertile imagination. The Cirripedes form a highly varying and difficult group of species to class; and my work was of considerable use to me, when I had to discuss in the Origin of Species the principles of a natural classification. Nevertheless, I doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of so much time.
Autobiography, 117–18
To his children the habit of working at barnacles seemed a commonplace human function, like eating or breathing, and it is reported that one of us being taken into the study of a neighbour, [Sir John Lubbock] and seeing no dissecting table or microscope, asked with justifiable suspicion, “Then where does he do his barnacles?”
F. Darwin 1917, 95
Precursors
I knew him [Robert Grant] well; he was dry and formal in manner, but with much enthusiasm beneath this outer crust. He one day, when we were walking together burst forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution. I listened in silent astonishment, and as far as I can judge, without any effect on my mind. I had previously read the Zoönomia of my grandfather [Erasmus Darwin], in which similar views are maintained, but without producing any effect on me.
Autobiography, 49
Heaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a “tendency to progression” “adaptations from the slow willing of animals” &c,—but the conclusions I am led to are not widely different from his—though the means of change are wholly so.
Darwin to J. D., Hooker,
[11 January 1844], DCP 729
I was forestalled [by Edward Forbes] in only one important point, which my vanity has always made me regret, namely, the explanation by means of the Glacial period of the presence of the same species of plants and of some few animals on distant mountain summits and in the arctic regions.