To Ernst Haeckel 27 December 1871
Summary
Refers to priest who believes in "our ape-like progenitors".
EH’s work on sponges.
Pangenesis.
Describes new edition of Origin [6th]
and his work on plant crossing.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Date: | 27 Dec 1871 |
| Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A Abt. 1–52/26) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8121 |
To Raphael Meldola 9 June [1871]
Summary
Mentions the difficulties in explaining the separation of sexes and Carl Nägeli’s view that the sexes of plants were primordially distinct.
Has been experimenting for five or six years to demonstrate that the benefits of crossing are the same as those derived from a slight change of conditions.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Raphael Meldola |
| Date: | 9 June [1871] |
| Classmark: | Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hope Entomological Collections 1350: Hope/Westwood Archive, Darwin folder) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7813 |
To Friedrich Hildebrand 10 August [1871]
Summary
Mentions experiments on Lythrum.
Thanks for list of seeds.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand |
| Date: | 10 Aug [1871] |
| Classmark: | Klaus Groove (private collection); sold by Venator and Hanstein, Cologne (dealers), 16 March 2018 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7902 |
To St G. J. Mivart 28 January [1871]
Summary
He has found passage on false belief, Variation 2: 414, and does not think the whole with context is dogmatic. [Encloses copy of the passage.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | St George Jackson Mivart |
| Date: | 28 Jan [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 249: 96–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7462A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … a single monstrous variation would almost certainly be soon obliterated by crossing. …
From T. H. Huxley and H. A. Huxley 20 September 1871
Summary
Has received Chauncey Wright’s pamphlet [see 7940].
Has reviewed Quarterly Review article and 2d ed. of Genesis of species for the Contemporary Review [18 (1871): 443–76].
Mivart has hopelessly misunderstood Suarez [Disputiones (1630)] on evolution.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Huxley; Henrietta Anne Heathorn; Henrietta Anne Huxley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Sept 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 99: 39–42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7953 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … The final paragraph is in Henrietta Anne Huxley’s hand, crossing one page of the letter. …
From J. M. Fleming 29 March 1871
Summary
Discusses breeding fancy pigeons from the wild blue rock-dove.
| Author: | James Murray Fleming |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Mar 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 134 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7642 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … bred rock pigeons ( Columba livia ) by crossing various fancy varieties, but only to have …
To Federico Delpino 22 November 1871
Summary
Will send FD’s work [Studi sopra un lignaggio anemofilo delle composte (1871)] to Nature for review.
CD’s health has been poor all summer – he doubts that he will ever "have the strength to publish on Variability under a state of Nature".
Hopes to publish on cross- and self-fertilisation next summer.
Encloses his photo and asks for FD’s.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Federico Delpino |
| Date: | 22 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | Anna Barone (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8082 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … told George Bentham about Delpino’s work on crossing in 1868 (see Correspondence vol. 16, …
To V. O. Kovalevsky 17 May [1871]
Summary
Interested in W. Hepworth Dixon’s Free Russia, but does not know "whether he is to be trusted".
VOK’s hard work in palaeontology will prepare him for future original investigations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Date: | 17 May [1871] |
| Classmark: | Institut Mittag-Leffler |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7762 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … wonderful events. — Many thanks about the crossing of the Tritons: I shall look out for …
To A. W. Bennett [before 16 November 1871]
Summary
Discussed observations made in 1863 of Impatiens pollen and humble-bees.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred William Bennett |
| Date: | [before 16 Nov 1871] |
| Classmark: | Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 13 (1873): 152 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8303F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … flowers seems to me so well adapted for crossing, that I expected that the perfect flowers …
From Gerhard Rohlfs 6 June 1871
Summary
Various observations from his experience in Africa relevant to Descent.
Fertility of hybrids of blacks and whites.
Protective coloration of Sahara animals.
Natives’ ideas of female beauty.
| Author: | Gerhard Friedrich (Gerhard) Rohlfs |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 89: 183–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7805 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … I have been nearly ten years in Africa crossing over the continent from Tripolis by the …
To J. V. Carus 17 November 1871
Summary
CD offers to mark corrected passages in sheets of 6th edition of Origin.
Discusses question of hybrids between goats and sheep, on which H. von Nathusius has cast doubt in his recent Viehzucht [1872]. CD gives several references for a contrary view.
Asks JVC to inquire about HvN’s assertion that castrated rams have no horns.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 17 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 80–81) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8073 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Jacques Christophe Valmont de Bomare on the crossing of sheep and goats. CD’s extensively …
From Albert Günther 1 October 1871
Summary
Sorry to hear of CD’s poor health.
Is hard at work examining Ceratodus.
Encloses discussion of Mus species with functionally prehensile tails.
Encloses argument against freshwater fish entering the sea.
| Author: | Albrecht Carl Ludwig Gotthilf (Albert) Günther |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Oct 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 246; DAR 205.3: 274 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7980 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … that species of the genus had the power of crossing ‘by some unknown means’ considerable …
From Raphael Meldola 7 June 1871
Summary
Discusses the origin and advantages of sexual differentiation in terms of division of labour.
Discusses the origin of the giraffe’s neck and the unsoundness of St G. J. Mivart’s view with respect to it.
Points out an error in Descent.
| Author: | Raphael Meldola |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 116 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7807 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … great unknown good is derived from the crossing of distinct individuals & it is a well …
From Louis Bouton 22 September 1871
Summary
Is enjoying Descent. Sends corroborating facts on heredity, concerning race of people from the Seychelles known for their tall stature, courage, and vigour.
| Author: | Louis Sulpice (Louis) Bouton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Sept 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 259 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7961 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … and their properties, the habit of crossing sea inlets or of climbing high mountains—& the …
From Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen [before 21 February 1871]
Summary
Notes on Variation and Descent.
| Author: | Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 21 Feb 1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 90: 26–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7529 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the eugenic importance of good crossings , detain the large and healthy men, and make …
| letter | (15) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Bouton, Louis | (1) |
| Fleming, J. M. | (1) |
| Günther, Albert | (1) |
| Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, Hermanus | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Bennett, A. W. | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
| Delpino, Federico | (1) |
| Haeckel, Ernst | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (15) |
| Meldola, Raphael | (2) |
| Bennett, A. W. | (1) |
| Bouton, Louis | (1) |
| Carus, J. V. | (1) |
Darwin's 1876 letters online
Summary
Birth, tragic death . . . and cardigan jackets. To mark the 211th anniversary of Darwin's birth, we have released online the transcripts and footnotes of over 460 letters written to and from him in 1876 and a supplement of 180 letters written before…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I am now getting ready a book on the advantages of crossing, which will be a sort of complement to …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 6 hits
- … him to carry out tasks like counting seeds of Lythrum , crossing cowslips with polyanthuses, and …
- … a full conviction of the change of species is.’ Crossing experiments In addition to …
- … Continuing from these earlier studies, in 1864 he conducted crossing experiments between different …
- … other papers of Scott’s followed, reporting the results of crossing experiments on different species …
- … years, Darwin consulted Charles William Crocker about his crossing experiments with hollyhocks, and …
- … and Friedrich Hildebrand in Germany compared results of crossing experiments with a Pulmonaria …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 9 hits
- … to James Moggridge to ask him to observe whether spontaneous crossing of different varieties of this …
- … I got fresh plants, & consequently took up the effect of crossing & self-fertilising plants …
- … in Florence kept varieties of sweet peas separated to avoid crossing ( From Federico Delpino, 18 …
- … native Mediterranean setting. Although he continued his crossing experiments through the early …
- … what great vigour is given to seedling plants by the crossing of their parents’ ( To Fritz Müller, …
- … & have strength to complete it) will be on the advantages of Crossing Plants, & this will …
- … Meehan had been a vocal opponent of Darwin’s views on crossing, and his paper, ‘Are insects any …
- … press observations continued for 10 years on the effects of crossing plants, & I think that …
- … inferred from observations on self fertilising plants that crossing was of little importance …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … whether hybrid sterility was the inevitable result of crossing species. Thomas Huxley had stated …
- … stigmas ’. Darwin had hoped to publish the results of the crossing experiments immediately, but by …
- … 1863, when Lythrum was flowering, Darwin resumed his crossing experiments. He also wrote to …
- … of the various crosses. For this, he turned to his earlier crossing experiments, which included some …
- … adding this work to his book on ‘the good effects of crossing’ ( Cross and self fertilisation ), …
Orchids
Summary
Why Orchids? Darwin wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…
Matches: 1 hits
- … conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that crossing played an important part in …
1877 letters now online
Summary
Flowers, bloom, a son married . . . and a suspended monkey in Cambridge at Darwin's honorary LLD ceremony. The transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters written to and from Darwin in 1877 are now online. Read more about Darwin's life in 1877…
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 3 hits
- … was only one of many adaptations that had evolved to promote crossing between individuals of the …
- … males and females of unisexual animals. Through extensive crossing experiments, and painstaking …
- … a number of other structures and behaviours that facilitated crossing, especially with the aid of …
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 4 hits
- … the text. Orchids , which concentrated on the ‘means of crossing’, was seen by Darwin as the …
- … , which provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). …
- … before a disease-free variety of potato had been produced by crossing the most pest-free varieties …
- … self-fertilisation To demonstrate the advantages of crossing, Darwin presented the results …
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On the possibility of all organic beings occasionally crossing, & on the remarkable …
Floral Dimorphism
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Floral studies In 1877 Darwin published a book that included a series of smaller studies on botanical subjects. Titled The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, it consisted primarily of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … out of the meaning of heterostyled flowers. The results of crossing such flowers in an illegitimate …
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … his own copy of the first edition of Origin neatly crossing through every occurrence of ‘natural …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to the action of external conditions, something to the crossing of already existing forms, and much …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 3 hits
- … or the Principles of Variation, Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Interbreeding, and Selection under …
- … on dimorphism and trimorphism and reported on a series of crossing experiments with orchids. Darwin …
- … [1867] ). Darwin was also interested in experiments crossing different species of orchids …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to study fertilisation (in particular the effects of crossing and of self-fertilisation); …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VI). In addition to crossing varieties of Primula in 1863, he …
- … the two men discussed a multitude of botanical subjects, the crossing experiments that Scott had …
- … and he continued to observe individuals of the same species crossing with one another in a variety …
- … particularly when he was working on the chapter he called ‘Crossing & Sterility’ (see …
- … discussions, completing three sections, on inheritance, crossing and sterility, and selection, by …
Darwin on childhood
Summary
On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his early childhood. Life. Written August–– 1838 My earliest recollection, the date of which I can approximately tell, and which must have been before…
Matches: 1 hits
- … effect, on my memory.–– I remember, when going there crossing in the carriage a broad ford, & …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
Origin is 160; Darwin's 1875 letters now online
Summary
To mark the 160th anniversary of the publication of Origin of species, the full transcripts and footnotes of nearly 650 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1875 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1875…
Matches: 1 hits
- … fertilisation , summing up many years of experiments on crossing plants. I wd gladly …
Darwin’s earthquakes
Summary
Darwin experienced his first earthquake in 1834, but it was a few months later that he was really confronted with their power. Travelling north along the coast of Chile, Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, were confronted with a series of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … he collected. Travelling on from South America and crossing back half way round the world, …
