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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: 21 hits

  • … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of  The variation …
  • … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
  • … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
  • … of man and his history' The first five months of 1863 contain the bulk of the …
  • … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
  • … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
  • … than  Origin had (see  Correspondence  vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
  • … origins was further increased by the discovery in March 1863 of the Moulin-Quignon jaw, the first …
  • … bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 June 1863 ). Although English experts …
  • … on this subject seems to get rarer & rarer’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 18 April [1863] ), …
  • … for the Natural History Review  ( see letter to H. W. Bates, 12 January [1863] ). Darwin added …
  • … to J. D. Hooker, [9 May 1863] , and memorandum from G. H. Darwin, [before 11 May 1863]) . …
  • … the end of 1862, and published as a book in early 1863 (T. H. Huxley 1863a). Though Darwin was …
  • … sterility of species, when crossed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 10 [January 1863] ). He reminded …
  • … in  Primula ’), he had demonstrated that two different flower forms, one with a long style and …
  • … that suggested a high degree of sterility when the same flower forms were crossed (see Appendix IV). …
  • … noticed.—a triple marriage’ between three hermaphrodite flower forms; during the summer of 1863, …
  • … both self-pollination and cross-pollination ( letter to P. H. Gosse, 2 June [1863] ). The …
  • … on the bookcase and around the head of the sofa ( letter to W. E. Darwin, [25 July 1863], and …
  • … and Lyell’s  Antiquity of man  ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 February 1863 , and letter
  • … was hidden by overgrown trees and shrubs ( see letter from W. D. Fox, 7 September [1863] ). Emma …

Women’s scientific participation

Summary

Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…

Matches: 24 hits

  • … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
  • … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
  • … observations of cats’ instinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
  • … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
  • … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
  • … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
  • … Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
  • Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] …
  • … patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [16 July 1863] …
  • … Women: Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
  • Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, …
  • … Leith Hill Place. Letter 6139  - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 April 1868] …
  • Letter 4235 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [8 July 1863] Lydia Becker sends Darwin a …
  • Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] Amy Ruck reports the …
  • … Himalaya and Tibet. Letter 4139  - Darwin, W. E. to Darwin, [4 May 1863] …
  • … undertaken during an expedition in Cuba. He describes the flower of an orchid he has found and …
  • … “eyebrows”. Letter 1701  - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
  • Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [31 July 1863] Lydia Becker details her …
  • … detail. Family letter: Darwin, E. to Darwin, W. E., [January 23rd 1887]: Emma …
  • … of his garden. Letter 4233  - Tegetmeier, W. B. to Darwin, [29 June - 7 July 1863] …
  • … 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] Darwin offers the results of …
  • Letter 4010 - Huxley, T. H. to Darwin, [25 February 1863] Huxley praises Henrietta’s …
  • … over. Letter 8153  - Darwin to  Darwin, W. E., [9 January 1872] Darwin …

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…

Matches: 24 hits

  • but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20
  • species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862
  • partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862
  • and pronounced themsimply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
  • resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862
  • letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
  • protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
  • Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
  • The paper described the two forms of  Primula flower, short-styled and long-styled, and
  • books for indications that a species had more than one flower form, and writing to botanists asking
  • his son, William, his language was more blunt ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 14 February [1862] ): …
  • distinct flowersgovern the structure of almost every  flower’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 8
  • eminently useful in showing me how nearly all parts of the flower are coadapted for fertilisation by
  • withgood dashes of original reflexions’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 13 January [1862] ). He warmly
  • … & admirable papers I ever read in my life’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 20 November [1862] ). He
  • telling him of the need for a second edition ( letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ), …
  • part of his popular exposition of Darwins theory (Rolle 1863; see letter to Friedrich Rolle, 17
  • and Emmaperplexed to death what to do’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, [23 August 1862] ). They
  • analogous to the nervous matter of animals’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 20 [September 1862] ; letter
  • byparticularly active young wolves’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 ). Darwin
  • have never passed so miserable a nine months’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 12 September [1862] ). …
  • work would make his lifemuch happier’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 14 February [1862] ). Darwin
  • with him, enthusiastically set to work ( see letter to W. E. Darwin, [23 August 1862] , and
  • insects with Darwins hypothesis ( see letter from H. W. Bates, 30 April 1862 ), Darwin was

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: 26 hits

  • … the long illness that had plagued him since the spring of 1863. Because of poor health, Darwin …
  • … from that of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] …
  • … and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the …
  • … As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the …
  • … leaf, and aerial roots. When his health deteriorated in 1863, he found that he could still continue …
  • … gradation by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
  • … fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
  • … matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864 …
  • … long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was …
  • …  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing …
  • … of the two species with the common oxlip. In a letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly …
  • … their collaborative work in determining what differences in flower structures, in addition to stigma …
  • … the ‘splendid case of Dimorphism’ in  Menyanthes  ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. …
  • … this interest. At the start of the year, he received a letter, insect specimens, and an article on …
  • … that it was ‘the best medicine for my stomach’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 17 February [1864] ). …
  • … at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1862 with a letter regarding the fertilisation of the …
  • … two years, with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] …
  • … is difficult enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … troublesome … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). …
  • … the conclusion that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ) …
  • … his indomitable perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker …
  • … basis he recommended a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August …
  • … scientific debate. He had begun taking the journal in April 1863 and was an enthusiastic subscriber. …
  • … and their predecessors had continued to grow following the 1863 publication of Huxley’s  Evidence …
  • … failure to win the award in the two preceding years. An 1863 letter from the president of the Royal …
  • … had there been any failure of justice’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 4 November 1864 ). …

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: 6 hits

  • … was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society on 3 February 1863. Forms of flowers …
  • … hermaphrodite groups; namely the pollen & stigma of each flower being mature at different …
  • … ‘They did not believe in my results’ In July 1863, when Lythrum was flowering, Darwin …
  • … only produced seedlings of the same form, but in March 1863, Darwin told Scott that with regard to …
  • … (p. 82) and clarified the meaning to Fritz Müller in a letter in September 1866, ‘ What I meant in …
  • … than in the short-styled form ’, Darwin annotated this letter, wondering, ‘Would it be worth while …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
  • … the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
  • … he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
  • … his theory would have been ‘ utterly  smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
  • … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • … a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
  • … phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
  • … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
  • … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
  • … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
  • … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
  • … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
  • … favour of change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). …
  • … his study of the geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 …
  • … ‘man is in same predicament with other animals’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] )— he …
  • … book had become ‘topics of the day’ at the meeting in a letter from Hooker written from Oxford. …
  • … Darwin ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1860). Other …
  • … that ‘this row is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further …
  • … if the whole were already proved) to his own views.—’ ( letter from J. S. Henslow to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … ‘how differently different opposers view the subject’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 15 February [1860] …
  • … studying the first published piece: 'I said in a former letter that you were a Lawyer; but I …
  • … detail, focusing on specific aspects of the structure of the flower parts of various species. He …
  • … that these visits have led to changed structure.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 April [1860] ). …
  • … several months later, ‘just as at a game of chess.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 [July 1860] ). …
  • … substance from non=nitrogenised substances.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 31 [August 1860] ). Relying …

Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small

Summary

In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … by the American educator Emily Talbot (Talbot ed. 1882). His letter to Talbot written the previous …
  • … by the flippant witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice …
  • … overflowing in tenderness’ (letter from Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin, 10 May 1882 (DAR 219.1: 150)). …
  • … pains)… would be very interesting to me’ ( letter to E. W. V. Harcourt, 24 June [1856] ). In a …
  • … I cannot tell how or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin’s …
  • … ( letter from Aleksander Jelski, [1860–82] ). In 1863, the final blow was dealt to Darwin’s …
  • … a fallen enemy!’ ( letter to T. F. Jamieson, 24 January [1863] ). From 1863 to 1865, Darwin …
  • … at least be a valid ground for divorce’ ( letter to H. K. Rusden, [before 27 March 1875] ). In …
  • … insignificant and unknown woman, but let it be like a little flower laid on the grave of him for …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But …
  • … able to write easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). …
  • … once daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
  • … see you out with our beagles before the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 …
  • … work doing me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). …
  • … production of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January …
  • … of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] …
  • … good deal I think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December …
  • … ‘I quite follow you in thinking Agassiz glacier-mad’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September …
  • … ten times more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] …
  • … past few years. Emma described the Royal Society event in a letter to George: ‘Your father … entered …
  • … you—& told me to worship Bence Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). …
  • … come on those terms so you are in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [  c . 10 May 1866] ). …
  • … weak in his Greek, is something dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
  • … by Heinrich Georg Bronn, had been published in 1860 and 1863 by the firm E. Schweizerbart’sche …
  • … teleological development ( see for example, letter to C. W. Nägeli, 12 June [1866] ). Also in …
  • … species was ‘merely ordinaryly diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 May – 11 June 1866] ). On …
  • … is a case of dimorphic becoming diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 20 June [1866] ). …
  • … I am well accustomed to such explosions’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 22 June [1866] ). He urged …
  • … , pp. 293–5, he credited observations of the different flower forms to William, but remarked that …
  • … natural selection, and with special creation ( letter from W. R. Grove, 31 August 1866 ). Hooker …
  • … their father’s death in 1848 until Catherine married in 1863. Catherine had written shortly before …

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: 29 hits

  • … suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] …
  • … to the printer, but without the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to …
  • … books,  Descent  and  Expression . In the same letter, Darwin revealed the conclusion to his …
  • … variation of animals and plants under domestication . In a letter to his son William dated 27 …
  • … Vorlesungen über den Menschen  (Lectures on man; Vogt 1863) from German into French. With a …
  • … of his brother’s embryological papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although …
  • … . Indeed, he told his publisher, John Murray, in a letter of 4 April [1867] , not to send …
  • … tell me, at what rate your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This …
  • … & sent to him, he may wish to give up the task’ ( letter to Carl Vogt, 12 April [1867] ). …
  • … fit person’ to introduce the work to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). …
  • … Vogt should translate my book in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). …
  • … varieties at the eye, which resulted in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 …
  • … seems to me, if true, a wonderful physiological fact’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • … it will be a somewhat important step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). …
  • … if you attack it & me with unparalleled ferocity’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867] …
  • … own discretion; anyhow most ought to be introduced’ ( letter to W. S. Dallas, 8 November [1867] ). …
  • … however, & I cannot get on so quickly as I could wish’ (letter from W. S. Dallas, 20 November …
  • … with me about 27 years old In a letter of 22 February [1867] to Fritz Müller in …
  • … chapter on the cause or meaning of Expression.’ With this letter Darwin enclosed a list of questions …
  • … ‘Queries about Expression’. In a postscript to the letter he added, ‘But you must not plague …
  • … that Darwin send his queries to foreign newspapers. The letter also reveals that he did not share …
  • … work in some “supplemental remarks on expression”’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [12–17] March [1867] …
  • … of no one to send them to, so do not want any more’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • … for the year 1867. In his 15 April [1867] letter to Gray , Darwin commented, ‘I have been …
  • … further ( Variation  2: 75). In notes for his reply to a letter from Edward Blyth dated 19 …
  • … cross-pollination, it complemented Darwin’s work on flower structure by focusing on the details of …
  • … ‘I hear he is down on both of us’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, [before 7 January 1867] ). In …
  • … pooh-poohed her, & as it seems very unjustly’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 27 [March 1867] ). …
  • …  for this month; except on wet days’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 1 October [1867] ). There is no …