... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
…you began your note by saying that “the enclosed may amuse you”— Nothing was enclosed— I shd. much like to be amused, for my stomach & the whole Universe is this day demoniacal in my eyes— C. D.
Darwin to Joseph Hooker [31 May 1866]
/DCP-LETT-5107
You are quite at liberty to honour me by putting my name down as one of the Patrons of the Cat Show; but let me advise you not to do so, as people may refuse to go & admire a lot of atheistical cats!
Darwin to J. J. Weir 18 September [1873]
/DCP-LETT-8524
I shd. like a Society formed so that everyone might receive pleasant letters & never answer them.
Darwin to Thomas Henry Huxley 22 October [1872]
/DCP-LETT-8567
I hate myself I hate clover & I hate Bees—
Darwin to John Lubbock [3 September 1862]
/DCP-LETT-3705
As for the old fogies in Cambridge it really signifies nothing. I look at their attacks, as a proof that our work is worth the doing. It makes me resolve to buckle on my armour.—
Darwin to Joseph Hooker 15 [May 1860]
/DCP-LETT-2802
Many thanks for your Photograph, & I send mine, but it is a hideous affair—merely a modified, hardly an improved, Gorilla.
To Roland Trimen 14 April [1868]
/DCP-LETT-6117
I sometimes marvel how truth progresses, so difficult is it for one man to convince another, unless his mind is vacant.
To A. R. Wallace 30 April [1868]
/DCP-LETT-6146
I admire the beautiful scenery more than could be reasonably expected of an acknowledged descendent of an Ape.
To Frances Julia Wedgwood 11 July [1861]
/DCP-LETT-3206
Will you be so kind as to write the name for me distinctly, for some people are so foolish as to say that your handwriting, like mine, is not very legible.
To Asa Gray 8 January 1873
We particularly like that one. Not seen Darwin’s handwriting? – try reading this (click on the 'Original' tab to see an image).
Or there's the one about....
- The parrot and the cat (7571: From B. J. Sulivan, 11 March 1871)
- The silver-thief, the maids, and the candlesticks (3537: From J. D. Hooker, [5 May 1862])
- The deliciousness of bananas (10721: To J. D. Hooker, 15 December 1876)
- The Darwins family's Very Bad Day (3835: To W. E. Darwin, 30 November [1861])
- What Darwin ate . . . and drank (coffee is good for you!) (4968A: To Henry Bence Jones, 3 January [1866])
- What Darwin's cousin drank (beer and claret are good for you!) (6436: From W. D. Fox, 29 October [1868])
- The Australian gold rush (1477: To Syms Covington, 14 March 1852)
- Worm holes and knitting needles (8144: To L. C. Wedgwood, 5 January [1872])
- The pigeon and the ginger-beer bottle (13840: From C. Shuttleworth, 27 November [1871–80])
- The soothing effects of chloroform (1292: To W. D. Fox, [17 January 1850])
- A London brewery (4641: From Charles Buxton, 21 October 1864)
- The drunk elephant (11214: From W. M. Moorsom, 28 October 1877)
Explore more letters
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Read introductions to the letters by year of Darwin's life
