skip to content
Study at Cambridge
About the University
Research at Cambridge
Search site
Home
Study at Cambridge
Undergraduate
Courses
Applying
Events and open days
Fees and finance
Student blogs and videos
Graduate
Why Cambridge
Qualifications directory
How to apply
Fees and funding
Frequently asked questions
International students
Continuing education
Executive and professional education
Courses in education
About the University
How the University and Colleges work
History
Visiting the University
Term dates and calendars
Map
For media
Video and audio
Find an expert
Publications
International Cambridge
News
Events
Public engagement
Jobs
Giving to Cambridge
Research at Cambridge
For staff
For current students
For alumni
For business
Colleges & departments
Libraries & facilities
Museums & collections
Email & phone search
Home
Letter
Darwin Correspondence Project
Home
About Darwin
About Darwin overview
Family life
Family life overview
Darwin on childhood
Darwin on marriage
Darwin’s observations on his children
Darwin and fatherhood
The death of Annie Darwin
Visiting the Darwins
Voyage of HMS Beagle
What Darwin read
What Darwin read overview
Darwin’s student booklist
Books on the Beagle
Darwin’s reading notebooks
On the Origin of Species
On the Origin of Species overview
The writing of "Origin"
Abstract of Darwin’s theory
Alfred Russel Wallace’s essay on varieties
Charles Darwin and his publisher
Review: The Origin of Species
Darwin’s health
Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
Darwin’s photographic portraits
Have you read the one about....
Six things Darwin never said – and one he did
Six things Darwin never said – and one he did overview
The evolution of a misquotation
Portraits of Charles Darwin: a catalogue
Portraits of Charles Darwin: a catalogue overview
1.1 Ellen Sharples pastel
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
1.3 Thomas Herbert Maguire, lithograph
1.4 Samuel Laurence drawing 1
1.5 Samuel Laurence drawing 2
1.6 Ouless oil portrait
1.7 Ouless replica
1.8 anonymous drawing, after Ouless
1.9 Rajon, etching after Ouless
1.10 Rajon etching, variant state
1.11 Laura Russell, oil
1.12 Marian Huxley, drawing
1.13 Louisa Nash, drawing
1.14 William Richmond, oil
1.15 Albert Goodwin, watercolour
1.16 Alphonse Legros, drypoint
1.17 Alphonse Legros drawing
1.18 John Collier, oil in Linnean
1.19 John Collier, oil in NPG
1.20 Leopold Flameng etching, after Collier
1.21 window at Christ's College Cambridge
2.1 Thomas Woolner bust
2.2 Thomas Woolner metal plaque
2.3 Wedgwood medallions
2.4 Wedgwood plaque
2.5 Wedgwood medallions, 2nd type
2.6 Adolf von Hildebrand bust
2.7 Joseph Moore, Midland Union medal
2.8 Alphonse Legros medallion
2.9 Legros medallion, plaster model
2.10 Moritz Klinkicht, print from Legros
2.11 Christian Lehr, plaster bust
2.12 Allan Wyon, Royal Society medal
2.13 Edgar Boehm, statue in the NHM
2.14 Boehm, Westminster Abbey roundel
2.15 Boehm terracotta bust (NPG)
2.16 Horace Montford statue, Shrewsbury
2.17 Montford, statuette
2.18 Montford, Carnegie bust
2.19 Montford, bust at the Royal Society
2.20 Montford, terracotta bust, NPG
2.21 Montford, relief at Christ's College
2.22 L.-J. Chavalliaud statue in Liverpool
2.23 Hope Pinker statue, Oxford Museum
2.24 Herbert Hampton statue, Lancaster
2.25 Henry Pegram statue, Birmingham
2.26 Linnean Society medal
2.27 William Couper bust, New York
2.28 Couper bust in Cambridge
3.1 Antoine Claudet, daguerreotype
3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
3.4 William Darwin, photo 1
3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
3.6 William Darwin, photo 3
3.7 Leonard Darwin, photo on verandah
3.8 Leonard Darwin, interior photo
3.9 Leonard Darwin, photo on horseback
3.10 Ernest Edwards, 'Men of Eminence'
3.11 Edwards, in Illustrated London News
3.12 Edwards, second group of photos
3.13 Edwards 'Representative Men'
3.14 Julia Margaret Cameron, photos
3.15 George Charles Wallich, photo
3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
3.17 Lock and Whitfield, 'Men of Mark'
3.18 Elliott and Fry photos, c.1869-1871
3.19 Elliott and Fry photos c.1880-1
3.20 Elliott and Fry, c.1880-1, verandah
3.21 Herbert Rose Barraud, photos
4.1 Albert Way, comic drawings
4.2 Augustus Earle, caricature drawing
4.3 Alfred Crowquill, caricature
4.4 Thomas Huxley, caricature sketch
4.5 William Beard, comic painting
4.6 Thomas Nast, cartoon
4.7 'Vanity Fair', caricature
4.8 'Vanity Fair', preliminary study
4.9 'Graphic', cartoon
4.10 'Hornet' caricature of Darwin
4.11 'Fun' cartoon, 'A little lecture'
4.12 'Fun', Wedding procession
4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
4.14 'Fun' cartoon, 'That troubles'
4.15 George Cruikshank, comic drawing
4.16 Joseph Simms, physiognomy
4.17 'Figaro', unidentifiable 1871
4.18 'Figaro' chromolithograph 1
4.19 George Montbard, caricature
4.20 Frederick Waddy, caricature
4.21 Gegeef, 'Our National Church', 1
4.22 Gegeef et al., 'Our National Church', 2
4.23 Gegeef, 'Battle Field of Science'
4.24 'Daily Graphic', Nast satire
4.25 'Punch' 1877 re. Cambridge doctorate
4.26 Christmas card caricature, monkeys
4.27 'Four founders of Darwinismus'
4.28 'English celebrities' montage
4.29 Richard Grant White, 'Fall of man'
4.30 'La Petite Lune', Gill cartoon
4.31 'La Lune Rousse', Gill cartoon
4.32 Anis liqueur label
4.33 'Harper's Weekly', Bellew caricature
4.34 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 1
4.35 Frederick Sem, caricature
4.36 Sem, Chistmas card
4.37 'Mosquito' satire
4.38 Franz Goedecker, caricature
4.39 'Moonshine' magazine cartoon
4.40 'Phrenological Magazine'
4.41 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 2
4.42 'Punch' Sambourne cartoon 3
4.43 'Illustrated London News' article
4.44 'Puck' cartoon 1
4.45 'Puck' cartoon 2
4.46 'Puck' cartoon 3
4.47 'Puck' cartoon 4
4.48 'Puck', cartoon 5
4.49 Alfred Bryan, caricature
4.50 Cigar box lid design
4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
4.52 'Wasp' caricature
4.53 Claud Warren, 'Outlines of Hands'
4.54 jubilees of Queen Victoria
4.55 Harry Furniss caricature
4.56 'Larks' cartoon
4.57 silhouette cartoon
4.58 'Simian, savage' . . . drawings
4.59 'Simplicissimus' cartoon
Darwin and the experimental life
Darwin and the experimental life overview
What is an experiment?
From morphology to movement: observation and experiment
Fool's experiments
Experimenting with emotions
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Darwin's bad days
Darwin’s first love
The letters
The letters overview
Darwin's life in letters
Darwin's life in letters overview
1821-1836: Childhood to the Beagle voyage
1837-43: The London years to 'natural selection'
1844-1846: Building a scientific network
1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
1851-1855: Death of a daughter
1856-1857: The 'Big Book'
1858-1859: Origin
1860: Answering critics
1861: Gaining allies
1862: A multiplicity of experiments
1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
1864: Failing health
1865: Delays and disappointments
1866: Survival of the fittest
1867: A civilised dispute
1868: Studying sex
1869: Forward on all fronts
1870: Human evolution
1871: An emptying nest
1872: Job done?
1873: Animal or vegetable?
1874: A turbulent year
1875: Pulling strings
1876: In the midst of life
1877: Flowers and honours
1878: Movement and sleep
1879: Tracing roots
1880: Sensitivity and worms
1881: Old friends and new admirers
1882: Nothing too great or too small
Darwin's works in letters
Darwin's works in letters overview
Journal of researches
Living and fossil cirripedia
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Before Origin: the ‘big book’ overview
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Origin
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Rewriting Origin - the later editions overview
How old is the earth?
The whale-bear
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Orchids
Climbing plants
Descent
Expression
Insectivorous plants
Forms of flowers
Cross and self fertilisation
Life of Erasmus Darwin
Movement in Plants
About the letters
Lifecycle of a letter film
Lifecycle of a letter film overview
Editing a Letter
Working in the Darwin archive
Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
Correspondence with women
The hunt for new letters
Editorial policy and practice
Editorial policy and practice overview
Full notes on editorial policy
Symbols and abbreviations
Darwin's letters: a timeline
Darwin's letters: World Map
Have you read the one about...
Charles Darwin: A Life in Letters
Darwin in Conversation exhibition
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Favourite Letters
Favourite Letters overview
Be envious of ripe oranges: To W. D. Fox, May 1832
That monstrous stain: To J. M. Herbert, 2 June 1833
My most solemn request: To Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844
Our poor dear dear child: To Emma Darwin, [23 April 1851]
I beg a million pardons: To John Lubbock, [3 September 1862]
Prize possessions: To Henry Denny, 17 January [1865]
How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]
A fly on the flower: From Hermann Müller, 23 October 1867
Reading my roommate’s illustrious ancestor: To T. H. Huxley, 10 June 1868
A beginning, & that is something: To J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869]
Perfect copper-plate hand: From Adolf Reuter, 30 May 1869
Darwin’s favourite photographer: From O. G. Rejlander, 30 April 1871
Your letter eternalized before us: From N. D. Doedes, 27 March 1873
Lost in translation: From Auguste Forel, 12 November 1874
I never trusted Drosera: From E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875
From Argus pheasant to Mivart: To A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876
Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
Terms of engagement: To Julius Wiesner, 25 October 1881
Intellectual capacities: From Caroline Kennard, 26 December 1881
Darwin plays
Darwin plays overview
'Emma' audio play
'Frank' audio play
'Like confessing a murder' audio play
'Re: Design' dramatisation
'Re: Design' dramatisation overview
Dramatisation script
Browse all Darwin letters in date order
List of correspondents
Commentary
Commentary overview
Evolution
Evolution overview
Natural selection
Sexual selection
Inheritance
Divergence
Correlation of growth: deaf blue-eyed cats, pigs, and poison
Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Darwin’s species notebooks: ‘I think . . .’
Geology
Geology overview
Darwin and geology
Darwin’s introduction to geology
The geology of the Beagle voyage
Darwin and coral reefs
Darwin’s earthquakes
Darwin and the Geological Society
Darwin and Glen Roy
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Life sciences
Life sciences overview
Darwin and Down
Darwin and Down overview
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Species and varieties
The evolution of honeycomb
A tale of two bees
Beauty and the seed
Beauty and the seed overview
Mauro Galetti: profile of an ecologist
Casting about: Darwin on worms
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Dipsacus and Drosera
Darwin and barnacles
Darwin and barnacles overview
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Darwin and vivisection
Darwin and vivisection overview
Vivisection: draft petition
Vivisection: BAAS committee report
Vivisection: first sketch of the bill
Vivisection: Darwin's testimony
'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
Biodiversity and its histories
Human nature
Human nature overview
Darwin on human evolution
The expression of emotions
The expression of emotions overview
Emotion experiment
Emotion experiment overview
Results of the Darwin Online Emotions Experiment
Face of emotion
Darwin’s queries on expression
The origin of language
The origin of language overview
Language: key letters
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Film series podcasts
Religion
Religion overview
Darwin and design
What did Darwin believe?
Darwin and the Church
British Association meeting 1860
Darwin and religion in America
Essays and reviews by Asa Gray
Essays and reviews by Asa Gray overview
Darwiniana – Preface
Essay: Design versus necessity
Essay: Natural selection & natural theology
Essay: Evolution and theology
Essay: What is Darwinism?
Essay: Evolutionary teleology
Science and religion Interviews
Science and religion Interviews overview
Interview with Emily Ballou
Interview with Simon Conway Morris
Interview with John Hedley Brooke
Interview with Randal Keynes
Interview with Tim Lewens
Interview with Pietro Corsi
For the curious...
For the curious... overview
Cordillera Beagle expedition
The Darwin family
Darwin’s plant experiments
Behind the scenes
Darwin’s Networks
Darwin and the Beagle voyage
Darwin and working from home
Darwin, cats and cat shows
Darwin and dogs
Darwin's illness
Plant or animal? (Or: Don’t try this at home!)
Strange things sent to Darwin in the post
People
People overview
Key correspondents
Beagle voyage networks
Family and friends
Darwin's scientific network
Readers and critics
Publishers, artists and illustrators
People pages in alphabetical order
German and Dutch photograph albums
German and Dutch photograph albums overview
Photograph album of German and Austrian scientists
Photograph album of Dutch admirers
German poems presented to Darwin
List of all people mentioned in letters
Learning
Learning overview
Ages 7-11
Ages 7-11 overview
Darwin The Collector
Detecting Darwin
Darwin And Evolution
Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
Home learning: 7-11 years
Ages 11-14
Ages 11-14 overview
Darwin and Religion
Doing Darwin’s Experiments
How dangerous was Darwin?
Offer of a lifetime
Darwin and slavery
Beagle Voyage
Darwin’s scientific women
Schools Gallery: Using Darwin’s letters in the classroom
Universities
Universities overview
Letters as a primary source
Letters as a primary source overview
Scientific networks
Scientific practice
Controversy
Religion
Discussion questions and essay questions
Suggested reading
Getting to know Darwin's science
Getting to know Darwin's science overview
Early days
Barnacles
Biogeography
Variation under domestication
Orchids
Instinct and the evolution of mind
Insectivorous plants
Climbing plants
Floral dimorphism
Power of movement in plants
Earthworms
Dining at Down House
Darwin and human nature
Darwin and human nature overview
Moral nature
Race, civilization, and progress
Women and science
Women and science overview
Women’s scientific participation
Women as a scientific audience
Referencing women’s work
Darwin in public and private
Darwin as mentor
Discussion questions
Suggested reading
Darwin timeline
Teacher training
For the curious...
For the curious... overview
Cordillera Beagle expedition
The Darwin family
Darwin’s plant experiments
Behind the scenes
Darwin’s Networks
Darwin and the Beagle voyage
Darwin and working from home
Darwin, cats and cat shows
Darwin and dogs
Darwin's illness
Plant or animal? (Or: Don’t try this at home!)
Strange things sent to Darwin in the post
Resources
Resources overview
Historical documents
Audio
Video
Interactive
Site index
About us
About us overview
Who we are
Publications
Publications overview
The correspondence of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin: the Beagle letters
Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
The correspondence 1821-60: anniversary paperback set
A voyage round the world
Calendars to the correspondence of Charles Darwin
Darwin and women: a selection of letters
Research initiatives
Research initiatives overview
Darwin and ecological science
Darwin and religion: a definitive web resource
Evolutionary views of human nature
The Darwin and gender project
The Darwin and gender project overview
Darwin and gender projects by Harvard students
Darwin’s Women: Short Film
Epsilon: a collaborative digital framework
Technical
Awards
Funding
Funding overview
Hackathon
History
History overview
Frederick Burkhardt (1912-2007)
Anne Schlabach Burkhardt (1916–2012)
Privacy policy
Contact
Search form
Search
advanced search ›
Mervin George Walker Coates
1815–69
Surgeon.
letter
