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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: 25 hits

  • … 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 …
  • … 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 …
  • … & valuable labours on the Primates’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 April [1870] ). He also …
  • … Ape differs from a lump of granite’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 22 April 1870 ). Mivart …
  • … whatever may have been his “origin” ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 25 April 1870 ). In his …
  • … than I could a ball at Buckingham Palace’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 30 June [1870] ). …
  • … persons long married grow like each other’ ( letter from J. J. Weir, 17 March 1870 ). …
  • … in Bastian’s solutions of the same kind’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 July [1870] ). Bastian’s …
  • … to be thus killed by a man of 86’  ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 May [1870] ). On learning of this, …
  • … do, I know no more than the man in the moon’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 May [1870] ). …
  • … not entirely participated in this feeling’  ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 August 1870 ). Carus …

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: 26 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 …
  • … 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 …
  • … had read it and whether it was worth reading ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 4 February 1867 ). In a …
  • … judgement he would subdue; that is yours’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
  • … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
  • … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • … better, attributing the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • … he was ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • … others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • … willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). After …
  • … loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ). …
  • … species arising’ ( Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). …
  • … he praised Scott’s ‘industry & ability’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1865] ). Scott …
  • … to humans (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). …
  • … Darwin’s theory ( Correspondence vol. 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, 10 June 1863 ). …

Books on the Beagle

Summary

The Beagle was a sort of floating library.  Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.

Matches: 22 hits

  • Captain FitzRoy in the  Narrative  (2: 18). CD, in his letter to Henslow, 9 [September 1831] , …
  • … . . . There will be  plenty  of room for Books.’ (Letter from Robert FitzRoy, 23 September 1831
  • theimmense stockwhich CD mentions may be had from a letter FitzRoy wrote to his sister during an
  • on board the  Beagle §  —  mentioned in a letter or other source as being on board
  • Naturelle  3 (1834): 84115. (DAR 37.1: 677v.; letter to J. S. Henslow, 12 July 1835). * …
  • dhistoire naturelle . 17 vols. Paris, 182231. (Letter from J. S. Henslow, 1521 January [1833]). …
  • a report of the proceedings . .  . Cambridge, 1833.  (Letter to Charles Whitley, 23 July 1834). …
  • of the 2d meeting . . . Oxford, 1832 . London, 1833.  (Letter to J. S. Henslow, March 1834 and
  • 1831. (DAR 32.1: 53). Desaulses de Freycinet, L. Csee  Freycinet, L. C. Desaulses de
  • dhistoire naturelle.  See Bory de Saint-Vincent, J. B. G. M., ed. Dictionnaire des
  • … § EuclidElements of geometry.  (Letter to J. S. Henslow, 30 October 1831). ‡ Falkner, …
  • sur les recherches dhistoire naturelle faites dans lAmérique du Sud . . . 1830 et 1831Annales
  • … (Vols. 1 and 2, in one, 3d edition, inscribed from J. S. Henslow to CDon his departure’, September
  • Darwin Buenos Ayres’). Darwin LibraryCUL. Jones, ThomasA companion to the mountain
  • Johann von (Kruzenshtern, Ivan Fédorovich).  Atlas de lOcéan Pacifique dressé par M. de
  • pour servir danalyse et dexplication à lAtlas de locéan Pacifique.  2 vols. St Petersburg, 1827
  • Théodore. Mémoire sur les habitudes des coléoptères de lAmérique méridionaleAnnales des
  • Jean Vincent FélixExposition méthodique des genres de lordre des polypiers.  Paris, 1821. (DAR
  • edition. Lesson, René-Primevère. See also Duperrey, L. I. Lesson, René-Primevère.  …
  • r . 1832’; vol. 3 (1833): ‘C. Darwin’; letter to J. S. Henslow, 24 July7 November 1834). Darwin
  • …  3d ed. London, 1802. (Notes on fly-leaf: ‘Taken from Jones’ (see Jones, T.)). Darwin LibraryCUL †. …
  • Paradise lost.  ( ’Beaglediary , p. 107; letter to J. S. Henslow, 24 November 1832). * …

Darwin’s reading notebooks

Summary

In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…

Matches: 24 hits

  • de la Folie des Animaux de ses Rapports avec celle de lHomme,” by Dr. Pierquin, published in Paris
  • …  [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. Said to be good by D r  L. Lindsay 5 [DAR *119: 1v.] …
  • … [A. von Humboldt 1811] Richardsons Fauna Borealis [J. Richardson 182937] …
  • Cuvier 1822] read Flourens Edit [Flourens 1845] read L. Jenyns paper on Annals of Nat. Hist. …
  • Hist. genérale et Particulière des Anomalies de lorganization des hommes & des Animaux by Isid. …
  • Paper on consciousness in brutes Blackwood June 1838 [J. F. Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on
  • to White Nat. Hist of Selbourne [E. T. Bennett ed. 1837 and [J. Rennie] ed. 1833] read 19  : …
  • what have they written.? “Hunt” [J. Hunt 1806] p. 290
  • of the Agricultural Association meeting at Oxford. paper by L d  Spencer on gestation of animals
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824
  • … “Resume analytique des observations par F. Cuvier sur linstinct”—LInstitut 1839. p. 408 [Flourens
  • Histoire Générale et particulière des anomalies de lorganisation chez lhomme et les animaux, …
  • chiefly on distribution of forms said to be Poor Sir. J. Edwards Botanical Tour [?J. E. Smith
  • Butler. 3. first sermons [Butler 1834] recommended by Sir. J. Mackintosh J. Long Moral Nature
  • 183440]: In Portfolio ofabstracts34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm
  • 1724] Life of Wilkie [Cunningham 1843] & Chantry [G. Jones 1849]. Grotes History
  • M rs  Frys Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleays letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … [ Asiatick Researches ] 5. vol. 8vo.— Chiefly Sir. W. Joneswork [W. Jones 1799a and 1799b].— re
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 31928). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors
  • to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November
  • The botany . London. [Darwin Library.] 128: 6 Jones, George. 1849Sir Francis Chantrey

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: 23 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 …
  • … 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 ), …
  • … [her] to translate “Domestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by …
  • … poured boiling oil over the bumptious man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker,  7 September 1869 ). Huxley …
  • … suggestions to its publisher, Macmillan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 November 1869 ).  Darwin …
  • … horse. Having been advised in 1866 by the doctor Henry Bence Jones to go riding for his health, …