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Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 23 hits
- … alongside a botanical interest in roots, as he and his son Francis carried out their latest …
- … his publishers, he warned that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). …
- … turned out, alas, very dull & has disappointed me much’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 15 [June …
- … home again’, he fretted, just days before his departure ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [after 26 …
- … many blessings, was finding old age ‘a dismal time’ ( letter to Henry Johnson, 24 September 1879 ) …
- … wrinkles one all over like a baked pear’ ( enclosure in letter from R. W. Dixon, 20 December 1879 …
- … itself, or gone some other way round?’ At least the last letter of 1879 contained a warmer note and …
- … office to complete Horace’s marriage settlement ( letter from W. M. Hacon, 31 December 1879 ). …
- … but they were ‘as nice and good as could be’ ( letter from Karl Beger, [ c. 12 February 1879] ) …
- … on your life’s work, which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). …
- … to wish Darwin a ‘long and serene evening of life’. This letter crossed with one from Darwin, …
- … the statement ‘In the beginning was carbon’ ( letter from Hermann Müller, 14 February 1879 ). …
- … with Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel. Kosmos was, as Francis Darwin reported from Germany that …
- … adding a prologue, while his brother Erasmus proposed that George Darwin, Darwin’s son and a keen …
- … the children correctly’, mentioning in particular that Francis Galton was the son of one of Erasmus …
- … wholly & shamefully ignorant of my grandfathers life’ ( letter to Ernst Krause, 14 March 1879 …
- … to contradict false statements that had been published by Francis Galton’s aunt, Mary Anne …
- … for Captain Robert FitzRoy on the Beagle voyage, Francis Beaufort of the Admiralty described the …
- … and poet’ ( Correspondence vol. 1, letter from Francis Beaufort to Robert FitzRoy, 1 September …
- … perplexed than ever about life of D r . D’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 12 July [1879] ). It was …
- … in plants. Over the previous two years, he and his son Francis had worked together on the …
- … of radicles, the embryonic roots of seedlings ( letter to Francis Darwin, 16 June [1879] ). …
- … ‘Journal’). Nor did Darwin mention it when he told George Romanes on 14 September that he had …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 15 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
- … 1960, pp. 98–114, and Dawson 2007, pp. 77–81. George Darwin's article on marriage …
- … Contemporary Review (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In this article, George discussed how modern scientific …
- … reproductive choices would have an effect on future society. Francis Galton had written about the …
- … the probability that people would endure such restrictions, George looked at marital restrictions …
- … divorce on very slight causes. Mivart's review George’s article appeared to have …
- … Darwin was more struck by the comments on himself and George that occurred throughout the paper. …
- … unrestrained licentiousness theoretically justified. Mr. George Darwin proposes that divorce …
- … ordained observer, historian, and master.’ Clearing George's name On 27 July , …
- … and also the proprietor of the Quarterly Review. George took advice from his friends and decided …
- … it for publication in the next issue of the Quarterly ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 29 July 1874 …
- … kind of thing Murray would be likely to wish to circulate ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] …
- … them explicitly, he might be thought to endorse them ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 5 August 1874 ). …
- … of encouraging licentiousness. A postscript to Darwin’s letter, which may belong to another letter, …
- … on board Darwin’s comments and sent a fair copy of his letter with his letter of 6 [August] 1874 …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 23 hits
- … organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of experiments …
- … of most advanced plant laboratories in Europe. While Francis was away, Darwin delighted in …
- … Hooker, ‘or as far as I know any scientific man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1878] ). …
- … or arched.… Almost all seedlings come up arched’ ( letter to Sophy Wedgwood, 24 March [1878–80] ). …
- … (see Movement in plants , pp. 112–13). He explained to Francis on 2 July : ‘I go on maundering …
- … when he finds out that he missed sensitiveness of apex’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [11 May 1878] …
- … the bassoon & apparently more by a high than a low note.’ Francis apparently played the musical …
- … Darwin complained. ‘I am ashamed at my blunder’ ( letter to John Tyndall, 22 December [1878] ). …
- … on plant movement were intensely collaborative, with Francis playing a more active role than ever. …
- … exchanged when they were apart. At the start of June, Francis left to work at Sach’s laboratory in …
- … accursed German language: Sachs is very kind to him’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 18 June …
- … have nobody to talk to, about my work, I scribble to you ( letter to Francis Darwin, 7 [July 1878] …
- … but it is horrid not having you to discuss it with’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 20 [July 1878] ). …
- … topics and dictating experimental method and design. Francis seems to have been allowed to work more …
- … determine whether they had chlorophyll, Francis reported ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 …
- … ‘There is one machine we must have’, Francis wrote ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 17 July …
- … ‘He seems to me to jump to conclusions rather’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 3 August 1878] …
- … the pot-plant every day & never the bedded out one’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 July …
- … ‘I have borrowed Cieselski & read him,’ he reported ( letter from Francis Darwin, [22 June 1878 …
- … dear no”’. Darwin shared some of his observations with George John Romanes, who was engaged in his …
- … of evolutionary progress was raised by the portrait-painter George Arthur Gaskell, who suggested …
- … preferred to engage with critics through correspondence, George asked his father’s advice on …
- … Society of London by Samuel Haughton. ‘If I do write’, George worried, ‘I’m pretty sure to get in …
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Summary
George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…
Matches: 6 hits
- … George Eliot was the pen name of the celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann …
- … time. In 1851 she met the philosopher, writer and critic George Henry Lewes, who was to become her …
- … visitors (23 March 1873; Emma described his visit in a letter to Fanny Allen, [26 March 1873], DAR …
- … son-in-law, Henrietta and Richard Litchfield, might call; George Eliot’s reply was positive, also …
- … it too hot and left before the manifestations started ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) and Charles Darwin’s letter to Francis Darwin, [1 May 1876] ). …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 28 hits
- … in Unconscious memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s …
- … memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for publication in the Journal of Popular …
- … of the false accusation’. Other friends rallied round. Francis Balfour translated Krause’s account …
- … had been a major undertaking for both Darwin and his son Francis, who assisted in the many …
- … publishers decided to print ‘500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ) …
- … with his ‘sort of definition’ of intelligence to George Romanes. ‘I tried to observe what passed in …
- … the animal learnt from its own individual experience ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). …
- … whether observations of their behaviour were trustworthy ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 March [1881] …
- … about the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 …
- … July, sending the pages to Germany for further checks by Francis Darwin, who was spending the summer …
- … Ruskin, who lived there. Sending the last two chapters to Francis on 27 May , Darwin wrote, …
- … to begin any new subject requiring much work’, he told Francis Darwin on 30 May . ‘I have been …
- … case.’ An additional motivation may have been to support Francis Darwin’s published research on …
- … Darwin tried a variety of plants and reagents, telling Francis on 17 October , ‘I have wasted …
- … up the job; but I cannot endure to do this’, Darwin told Francis on 9 November , and writing …
- … for more suggestions of such plants, especially annuals ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 March …
- … supposed he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The …
- … dead a work falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). …
- … conversation with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), …
- … add, however little, to the general stock of knowledge’ ( letter to E. W. Bok, 10 May 1881 ). …
- … Times of 18 April, drawing the ire of antivivisectionists George Jesse and Frances Power Cobbe. …
- … Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company led Darwin to chide Francis for giving a klinostat designed …
- … When Robert Ball, Royal Astronomer of Ireland, praised George’s work, Darwin was so proud that he …
- … supporters, and rejoiced in his election. Promoting Francis’s own botanical research was as …
- … on 27 January for not commending papers presented by Francis at the Linnean Society the previous …
- … in some cases—recruiting the help of Lord Rayleigh, George Darwin, and Horace Darwin—the task of …
- … him on 18 June of the untimely death of the anatomist George Rolleston, but added, ‘when I look …
- … on 1 September, and his estate was settled by his executors George and William Darwin. For …
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: 24 hits
- … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
- … suffered a serious concussion from a riding accident, and George Darwin’s ill-health grew worse, …
- … the first member of the next generation of the family, with Francis and Amy’s child expected in …
- … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
- … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
- … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
- … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
- … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
- … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
- … ignore the accusation made by the comparative anatomist St George Jackson Mivart in his Lessons …
- … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
- … down completely until Mivart made a slanderous attack on George Darwin in late 1874 in an anonymous …
- … fearful that Mivart still had the capacity to damage George’s reputation. ‘I care little about …
- … Darwin reassured his close friend Joseph Hooker that he and Francis would attend the meeting. Darwin …
- … disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
- … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
- … the Vivisec. Commissions recommendation this bill is’, George Darwin declared to his father on 31 …
- … Burdon Sanderson was keen for the society’s secretary, George Romanes, to write articles for the …
- … subject takes an opposite line’. Although he conceded that Francis had the best of an argument with …
- … Pangenesis v. perigenesis The young zoologist George Romanes was also carrying out …
- … to propose the young rising star of Cambridge morphology, Francis Maitland Balfour, for fellowship …
- … of the earliest available commercial models of typewriter. Francis Darwin and his wife, Amy, …
- … point, and he was reliant on his son George and cousin Francis Galton for the calculations. ‘I have …
- … in their research. He revelled in the praise heaped on Francis by George Henry Lewes for an article …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 10 hits
- … youth survive, although more may once have existed . In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, …
- … Beagle years. A matching pair of watercolour portraits by George Richmond, now at Down House, …
- … estimate of Richmond’s work can be gauged from a letter which Hooker wrote to Darwin some years …
- … pair now at Down House. Raymond Lister, author of George Richmond: A Critical Biography , …
- … William, not to herself: did he give it to her subsequently? Francis Darwin, in Life and Letters …
- … Darwin Heirlooms Trust originator of image George Richmond; signed and dated bottom …
- … account books, entry for Dec. 1839. Joseph Hooker, letter to Darwin, 17 March 1862 (DCP-LETT-3474). …
- … 21 and 28 May, 1873 (DCP-LETT-8917 and DCP-LETT-8926). Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters …
- … Studio Vista, 1980), p. 238 and plate 66. Raymond Lister, George Richmond: A Critical Biography …
- … this seemingly conflicts with the indications in Erasmus’s letter of 1866, quoted above. …
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 25 hits
- … Cross and self fertilisation (1876). Darwin’s son Francis became increasingly involved in this …
- … from within the family, and he was clearly delighted by Francis’s decision. A large portion …
- … in animals. The subject was brought closer to home by Francis Galton’s work on inherited talent, …
- … I omitted to observe, which I ought to have observed” ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 January [1873] …
- … work your wicked will on it—root leaf & branch!” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ) …
- … Poisons and electrocution . . . His son Francis was assisting the histologist Edward Emanuel …
- … of medical research in London. On the advice of Klein, Francis obtained a new microscope for his …
- … parts of the flower would become modified & correlated” ( letter to T. H. Farrer, 14 August …
- … it again, “for Heaven knows when it will be ready” ( letter to John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). …
- … on botany, he drew more on assistance from his son Francis. While visiting his fiancée, Amy Ruck, in …
- … we take notes and take tracings of their burrows” ( letter from Francis Darwin, 14 August [1873] ) …
- … in importance; and if so more places will be created” ( letter to E. A. Darwin, 20 September 1873 …
- … our unfortunate family being fit for continuous work” ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September …
- … 1873). Darwin asked one of his Scottish correspondents, George Cupples, who the author might be, …
- … on any point; for I knew my own ignorance before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] …
- … “he would fly at the Empr’s throat like a bulldog” ( letter from L. M. Forster to H. E. Litchfield, …
- … force & truth of the great principle of inheritance!” ( letter to F. S. B. F. de Chaumont, 3 …
- … Hooker, John Lubbock, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, George Busk, and William Spottiswoode met with …
- … accepted, than Darwin reconsidered in favour of his son George. Keeping such editorial work in the …
- … A family affliction The job also suited George’s current situation, for he had been forced to …
- … problems that bore some resemblance to his father’s, George tried a variety of treatments during the …
- … recommended by Andrew Clark. “When I have an attack”, George complained, “I’m to starve sweat & …
- … offering to move the family to Malvern if it would make George more comfortable. Mindful of …
- … and responsibility for his children’s health. He wrote to George and Horace (who was also often …
- … to G. H. Darwin, 5 March [1873] ). Darwin worried too that George, perhaps owing to physical …
Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
Matches: 27 hits
- … scientific and public imagination. Darwin’s son, Francis, carried on his father’s legacy in a …
- … experience with his father's thorough experiments, Francis sought to elaborate on the book’s …
- … protoplasm . Inspired by his investigation of Drosera , Francis set out to examine the cup-like …
- … to prevent insects from creeping up to devour its seed.’ Francis, however, expected to find that the …
- … sent to his father from Kew Gardens by Joseph Dalton Hooker, Francis began growing his own specimens …
- … into deciphering plant carnivory. On 28 May 1876, Francis wrote to his father that he had …
- … emphatically exclaiming ‘ Hooray theory. Blow facts. ’ Francis drew comparisons to ‘the absorption …
- … article on aggregation in D. rotundifolia tentacles, Francis had to delay further examinations …
- … investigation and suggested further observations, imploring Francis ‘ I would work at this subject …
- … golden eggs. ’ With his father's encouragement, Francis recorded ‘ splendid …
- … described the protoplasmic masses and movements to George John Romanes, FRS. In late June Darwin …
- … feeding on solid particles of decaying insects. ’ Francis consulted with William Thiselton …
- … for the rest of the summer. Although it can be surmised that Francis privately carried on with his …
- … However, tragedy soon struck the Darwin household. Francis’ wife, Amy, died just four days after …
- … reminded him so much of his life with Amy, a devastated Francis left for Wales with his in-laws, the …
- … in the value of finding solace through one’s work. Francis entered a reclusive and hardworking state …
- … of the Royal Society could submit research papers, and Francis was not a fellow. Personally, Darwin …
- … stimulate his zeal & make him think better of his work ’. Francis read his paper ‘On the …
- … were formed of living matter. ’ An abstract of Francis’ paper was published in the Royal …
- … may have been. ’ The full paper, complete with several of Francis’ drawings and a plate of sixteen …
- … of Microscopical Science (F. Darwin 1877b). Francis presented several key conclusions in …
- … of treacherous slides leading down to a pool of water.’ Francis stipulated that the protoplasmic …
- … insect matter (F. Darwin 1877a, pp. 5-8). In his full paper, Francis proposed an experiment in which …
- … Drosera (F. Darwin 1877b, p. 270). There is no record of Francis following through with these …
- … ‘ I can declare that I have hardly ever received [a letter] in my life which has given me more …
- … Darwin’s request, Cohn agreed to allow an excerpt of his letter to be published in Nature , …
- … August 1877, p. 339). Although, as Darwin pointed out in a letter to G.J. Romanes, Cohn was hesitant …
3.15 George Charles Wallich, photo
Summary
< Back to Introduction In the years around 1868–1871, when professional photographers competed for sittings with Darwin, a doctor called George Charles Wallich approached him with a similar request. Wallich was planning to publish a set of his own…
Matches: 5 hits
- … competed for sittings with Darwin, a doctor called George Charles Wallich approached him with a …
- … the photographs, including one of Darwin. However, in a letter to Wallich of 18 April 1869, Darwin …
- … marine biology. He sent a copy to Darwin, who responded in a letter full of questions and comments …
- … physical location (one variant) Francis P. Farquhar Pictorial Collection, The Bancroft Library, …
- … this print) originator of image George Charles Wallich date of …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 26 hits
- … an anonymous review that attacked the work of Darwin’s son George dominated the second half of the …
- … be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
- … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
- … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
- … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
- … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
- … the spirit world. While Darwin was in London, his son George organised a séance at Erasmus’s house. …
- … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … Darwin’s cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood. Those present included George Darwin, the psychic researcher …
- … that Mr Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
- … his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874 …
- … Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
- … edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
- … 2d ed., p. v). Among the many contributors was George Cupples, a Scottish deerhound expert …
- … in, litters of puppies to other dog breeders (letters from George Cupples, 21 February 1874 and …
- … had cost twenty-four shillings.) Murray’s partner, Robert Francis Cooke, informed Darwin that the …
- … from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 ). Darwin's son George had laboured hard on the …
- … affair Before helping Darwin revise Descent , George had taken up questions of human …
- … Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor. It included an attack on George’s paper as speaking ‘in an …
- … in order to check population’. The review was by St George Jackson Mivart, one of the most …
- … (see G. B. Airy ed. 1881). Darwin’s third son Francis married Amy Ruck, the sister of a …
- … work on insectivorous plants. Amy drew a plant and Francis was disappointed that they seemed not to …
- … from Cornwall, but Darwin was unwell when it arrived, so Francis worked on the tiny bladders under …
- … 1874 , and Correspondence vol. 21, letter from Francis Darwin, [11 October 1873] ). …
- … work’ ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 18 September [1874] ).Francis’s new wife, Amy, drew the plant ( …
- … After his wife read Expression , the military surgeon Francis François de Chaumont sent …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 26 hits
- … by people wanting copies’, Darwin wrote to his son Francis on 28 February . Demand continued …
- … do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
- … to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
- … and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
- … they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
- … and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
- … one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
- … habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears” (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
- … ‘will-power’ and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 …
- … in order to make it darker than the hair on his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 …
- … together with an image of an orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). …
- … of himself, adding that it made a ‘very poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] …
- … each night, returning to its allotted space each morning ( letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 …
- … without having a high aesthetic appreciation of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 …
- … endowment of spiritual life’ at some time in the past ( letter from Roland Trimen, 17 and 18 April …
- … theory on purely religious grounds. The Christian publisher George Morrish urged Darwin to rest the …
- … the baboon is as the Creator made it’ ( letter from George Morrish, 18 March 1871 ). Darwin …
- … liberal or orthodox. The American philosopher and journalist Francis Ellingwood Abbot incorporated …
- … 20 August 1871 ). The Anglican clergyman and naturalist George Henslow reported that he had been …
- … of utilitarianism to assist his father in answering Morley. George and Henrietta remarked upon his …
- … far the most vexing critic for Darwin was the zoologist St George Jackson Mivart. An expert on …
- … man & we were the best of friends’, he wrote to his son Francis on 28 February . However, …
- … Alexander Agassiz, Abraham Dee Bartlett, Albert Günther, George Busk, T. H. Huxley, Osbert Salvin, …
- … Darwin had been receiving regular reports from his cousin Francis Galton on the progress of …
- … in order to facilitate cross-circulation ( letter from Francis Galton, 13 September 1871 ). …
- … science ( letter to Horace Darwin, [15 December 1871] ). Francis was now studying medicine at St …
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: 22 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. …
- … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
- … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
- … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
- … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
- … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
- … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
- … Asa Gray about the observations of orchids made by his son, George. He details George’s findings and …
- … Darwin, [11 November 1865] J. S. Henslow’s son, George, passes on the results of some …
- … February 1857] Darwin’s nephew, Edmund, writes to Francis with the results of his …
- … in his home. Letter 10517 - Darwin to Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin …
- … the second edition of Descent to Darwin's son George. The work is tedious and Wallace …
- … editing the second edition of Descent to his son, George. Darwin warns George that it will …
- … editing the second edition of Descent to his son, George. Darwin warns George that it will …
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin t o Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin gives his son, Francis …
Movement in Plants
Summary
The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…
Matches: 27 hits
- … only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin , is mentioned on the …
- … he was able to co-opt the advantages of both while Francis was working abroad. Darwin was privy to …
- … research being pursued by other naturalists who, like Francis, had come to this centre for the study …
- … copied but also improved on some of the apparatuses that Francis had been introduced to at Würzburg. …
- … had considered combining the works in a single volume ( letter to J. V. Carus, 7 February 1875 ). …
- … from all over Europe and beyond. When Darwin’s son Francis worked in this laboratory in the summers …
- … plants. Returning to bloom in October 1873, he asked his son George to calculate ‘ what inclination …
- … had also asked Horace to discuss the point with his friend Francis Balfour(258). Darwin promised to …
- … of any success. '. Just two months later, Darwin put Francis in charge of this aspect of the …
- … , a plant that exhibited all three types of movement ( letter from R. I. Lynch, [before 28 July …
- … more familiar with the research in Sachs’s laboratory as Francis’s departure for Würzburg was …
- … to Wurzburg, & work by myself will be dull work’ . Francis was in Würzburg until early August. …
- … good instruments were never far from Darwin’s thinking. Francis viewed the new instruments he was …
- … design an improved version of the instrument, a klinostat; Francis later described and illustrated …
- … was the relationship between bending movement and growth. Francis described the disagreements about …
- … increased turgescence which precedes it ’ was reported by Francis, who added that Sachs ‘ doesn’t …
- … the woodblock using photography for scientific accuracy ( letter from J. D. Cooper, 13 December …
- … lost colour, withered, and died within a couple of days ( letter from A. F. Batalin, 28 February …
- … how their observations could have been so much at odds ( letter to Hugo de Vries 13 February 1879 …
- … the botanist Gaetano Durando, to find plants and seeds ( letter to Francis Darwin, [4 February – 8 …
- … only the regulator & not cause of movement ’. In the same letter, Darwin discussed terminology, …
- … to replace Frank’s ‘Transversal-Heliotropismus’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 10 February [1880] ). …
- … experiments and devised a new test, which he described in a letter to his mother, ‘ I did some …
- … and it appeared in 1880 (F. Darwin 1880b). In the same letter, Francis revealed the frustration of …
- … on holiday in the Lake District, Darwin received a long letter from De Vries detailing his latest …
- … described as ‘little discs’ and ‘greenish bodies’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 29 October 1879 …
- … want of copies ’, leading Darwin to exclaim to his son George, ‘ Hurrah for the old bloody Times …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 26 hits
- … What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 November [1872] …
- … anything more on 'so difficult a subject, as evolution’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 27 July …
- … best efforts, set the final price at 7 s. 6 d. ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 February 1872 ) …
- … condition as I can make it’, he wrote to the translator ( letter to J. J. Moulinié, 23 September …
- … translation remained unpublished at the end of the year ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 23 November …
- … more criticisms’, he wrote to the comparative anatomist St George Jackson Mivart ( letter to St G. …
- … comparison of Whale & duck most beautiful’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 3 March 1872 ) …
- … a person as I am made to appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). …
- … Darwin would renounce `fundamental intellectual errors’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 6 January …
- … was silly enough to think he felt friendly towards me’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 8 January [1872 …
- … hoping for reconciliation, if only `in another world’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 10 January …
- … have been ungracious in him not to thank Mivart for his letter. He promised to send a copy of the …
- … partly in mind, `chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 3 August [1872] …
- … Darwinism is to be the theme. Surely the world moves!’ ( letter from Mary Treat, 13 December 1872 …
- … to find that Weismann accepted it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I …
- … few naturalists in England seem inclined to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May …
- … reached the buzzing place where I myself was standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May …
- … ‘as for myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was …
- … to stand closer (a serried mass) and to be more erect’ ( letter to Briton Riviere, 19 May [1872] ) …
- … and amused rather than offended by `that clever book’ ( letter to J. M. Herbert, 21 November 1872 …
- … wrote offering Arthur May’s drawings shortly afterwards ( letter from Samuel Butler to Francis …
- … 'exactly where, from his ignorance, he feels no doubts’ ( letter to F. C. Donders, 17 June …
- … music provided by her husband, Richard Buckley Litchfield ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 13 May 1872 …
- … relay a message to the organiser, Airy’s own father, Sir George ( letter to Hubert Airy, 24 August …
- … the claims of spiritualists, and Darwin, through his cousin Francis Galton, had with some interest …
- … however, incorporated in the second edition, produced by Francis Darwin after his father’s death. …
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: 26 hits
- … 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 …
- … 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] ). …
- … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
- … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
- … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
- … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
- … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
- … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
- … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
- … change of species by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the …
- … disaffected towards Lyell and his book. In a February letter to the Athenæum , a weekly review of …
- … find great difficulty in answering Owen unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
- … was gathering support in influential scientific circles. George Bentham devoted the first part of …
- … could not satisfy himself on all points ( see letter from George Bentham, 21 April 1863 ). …
- … on species, though so cleverly written’ ( letter to George Bentham, 19 June [1863] ). …
- … the Severn Valley Naturalists Field Club ( see letter from George Maw, 19 February 1863 ). Other …
- … Oliver for references on phyllotaxy, and setting his son George, the mathematician in the family, to …
- … a German botanist in Trinidad, and continued writing to George Henry Kendrick Thwaites, the director …
- … noted in ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria ’. George contributed his mathematical …
- … by them (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix IX). Francis Darwin later wrote of his father’s …
- … Malvern Wells, Darwin stopped in London overnight to consult George Busk, former Hunterian Professor …
- … that even writing the letter was ‘against rules’. George Busk had diagnosed Darwin as having …
- … specialist at St Thomas’s Hospital, London ( letter from George Busk, [ c. 27 August 1863] ). …
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
Matches: 30 hits
- … selection to humans from Alfred Russel Wallace and St George Jackson Mivart, and heated debates …
- … shall be a man again & not a horrid grinding machine’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December …
- … anything which has happened to me for some weeks’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ) …
- … corrections of style, the more grateful I shall be’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ) …
- … who wd ever have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …
- … abt any thing so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February …
- … thro’ apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] …
- … how metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870 …
- … in thanks for the drawing ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26 November [1868] …
- … patients, but it did not confirm Duchenne’s findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March …
- … furrows radiating on the side of the neck of his son Francis when he was playing the flute. …
- … muscle’, he complained, ‘is the bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). …
- … to their belief that all demons and spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870 …
- … . . Could you make it scream without hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] …
- … or crying badly; but I fear he will not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] …
- … Lucy Wedgwood, who sent a sketch of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). …
- … is the inclination to finish my note on this subject’ ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). …
- … the previous year (see Correspondence vol. 17, letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). His …
- … (in retrograde direction) naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). …
- … ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). St George Jackson Mivart Another set of …
- … selection to human evolution came from the zoologist St George Jackson Mivart. A protégé of Thomas …
- … Darwin received a string of letters from his cousin Francis Galton, reporting on his efforts to …
- … by breaking adjacent veins into one’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 25 June 1870 ). Occasionally …
- … the latest litters has a white forefoot’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 12 May 1870 ). But in …
- … the form of a Scottish deerhound puppy, the pride and joy of George Cupples, who had written to …
- … Walter Scott’s celebrated “Maida”’ ( letter from George Cupples, 17 September 1870 ). Darwin …
- … much with Polly & enjoys English life’ ( postcard to George Cupples, 27 November [1870] ). …
- … an old fellow as I daresay I appear to you Francis completed his studies at Cambridge, …
- … concern of the father for his children were reciprocated. George, who was now a fellow at Trinity …
- … letter from G. H. Darwin, [3 February 1870 or earlier] ). George devoted considerable effort to …
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: 24 hits
- … botany was increasingly a collaborative affair with his son Francis, who had moved back to Down …
- … of respect and affection’. He hinted as much in his letter of 4 June : ‘you will see I have done …
- … In the end, Darwin did not publish on the subject, but Francis later reported some of the results of …
- … have shared Hooker’s suspicion of ambitious gardeners ( letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August …
- … … tap one of the young leaves with a delicate twig’ ( letter to R. I. Lynch, 14 September 1877 ). …
- … with thread, card, and bits of glass. Encouraging Francis Darwin greatly enjoyed …
- … publish the full paper. A disgruntled Darwin reported to George John Romanes on 23 May , ‘the …
- … eminent German botanist Ferdinand Julius Cohn, who confirmed Francis’s observations: ‘the most …
- … , or to the vibratory flagella of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). …
- … in July 1877 (F. Darwin 1877b), and Darwin sent Cohn’s letter vindicating his son’s research to …
- … of language by children’. He wrote to the editor, George Croom Robertson, on 27 April 1877 , ‘I …
- … his sense of form and of motion was exact and lively’ ( letter from W. E. Gladstone, 23 October …
- … the Westphalian Provincial Society for Science and Art. In a letter to Darwin written before 16 …
- … the only one full-page in size. Haeckel sent a personal letter of congratulation on 9 February , …
- … (see Appendix V). The album arrived with a long letter from the director and secretary of the …
- … reported, ‘but found him as soft & smooth as butter’ ( letter to C. E. Norton, 16 March 1877 ) …
- … with the aim of testing Darwin’s theory of pangenesis, George Romanes sent Darwin lengthy notes made …
- … Butler had visited Down House and become friendly with George and Francis. He wrote to Francis on …
- … ‘As for “natural selection”’, he wrote to Francis on 25 November , ‘frankly to me it now seems a …
- … an honorary doctorate of laws. Darwin learned about it from George before the official announcement, …
- … are going to formally offer you the L.L.D degree’, George wrote before 28 May 1877 , ‘please do …
- … to write about the manner of refusal if refuse you must’. George tried to reassure him on 28 May …
- … ). In the end, Darwin made the journey along with Emma. George, Francis, and Horace also attended. …
- … found time for scientific observation. Having lunched with George in Trinity College, he spotted …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 26 hits
- … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
- … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
- … made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
- … than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
- … is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
- … tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
- … a very long period before the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] …
- … data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
- … I d have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
- … completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
- … various species from Britain and overseas. The dog-breeder George Cupples worked hard on Darwin’s …
- … him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George …
- … with his noisy courting of the female in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 …
- … doubted her ability to recognise the different varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February …
- … weary of everlasting males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November …
- … with much more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). …
- … in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 …
- … orang-utan, and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ) …
- … does himself an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
- … geological structures of the South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), …
- … of the same species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February …
- … role of earthworms in the formation of the soil ( letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle , 9 May [1869] …
- … sundew), a genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March …
- … the prescription. Henrietta Emma Darwin wrote to her brother George on 10 April (DAR 245: 291) …
- … of concern were received for months afterwards. Francis Galton: Hereditary genius and …
- … paternal grandfather, Erasmus, to two of Darwin’s sons (George and Leonard), who had recently …
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: 11 hits
- … 17 March [1867] ). He noted another factor in a letter to Gray, remarking, ‘I am going on with my …
- … on 30 January 1868. In April 1868, Darwin informed George Bentham, ‘I am experimenting on a …
- … of orchids are quite intelligible to me’ ( To George Bentham, 22 April 1868 ). A month later, he …
- … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly …
- … heights would be useful. He asked his mathematician son George whether it would be ‘an easy …
- … ( To G. H. Darwin, 8 January [1876] ). George explained the difficulties of lumping different …
- … 8 January 1876] ). It was his cousin, the statistician Francis Galton, who provided a statistical …
- … to publish the report in the introduction to the book ( To Francis Galton, 13 January [1876] ). …
- … 6 June 1876] ). The project proved to be too complex and Francis Darwin later recalled, ‘the …
- … A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long …
- … Most published reviews that appeared were also positive, but George Henslow, in his review in …
