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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: 22 hits

  • …   Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work,  The …
  • … publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct proofs, and just when …
  • … oversized two-volume  Variation  and instead write a short (as he then expected) ‘Essay on Man’. …
  • … selection in forming human races, and there was also to be a chapter on the meaning and cause of the …
  • … ), published in 1871, and the chapter on expression into a book,  The expression of the emotions in …
  • … for decades, it was only now that he began to work with a view to publishing his observations. …
  • … becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in 1867, as he continued to circulate a list of …
  • … transmutation theory. Three important new correspondents in 1867 were Hermann Müller and Anton Dohrn …
  • … the New Year’s greeting, ‘may you be eupeptic through 1867 & your friends & the world in …
  • … publisher, John Murray, he wrote to Murray on 3 January 1867 , ‘I cannot tell you how sorry I am …
  • … 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 …
  • … “supplemental remarks on expression”’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [12–17] March [1867] ). Darwin’s …
  • … debated the topic on a theoretical level was Alfred Russel Wallace. In a letter to Wallace written …
  • … aviary to see whether this was the case ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1867] ). He also …
  • … level. In his response to Wallace ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 26 February [1867] ), Darwin defended …
  • … than I c d  have succeeded in doing’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 29 April [1867] ). Thus Darwin …
  • Wallace published a long article, ‘Creation by law’ (A. R. Wallace 1867c), which responded to Jenkin …

Darwin’s queries on expression

Summary

When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to …
  • … Correspondence about Darwin’s Questionnaire (click on the letter dates to see the individual letters …
  • … Correspondent Letter date Location …
  • … Barber, Mary E. [after Feb 1867] [Grahamstown, Cape …
  • … Bowker, J.H. [10 Dec 1867] [Cape of Good Hope (South …
  • … Woolston, Southampton, England letter to W.E. Darwin shrugging …
  • … Square W London, England enclosed in a letter from Henry Maudsley …
  • … Darwin, Francis 20 June 1867 Unknown? …
  • … Erskine, H. N. B. 1 Nov 1867 [Ahmednuggur, Bombay, …
  • … Gaika, Christian 7 July 1867 Bedford [Cape of Good …
  • … Geach, F.F. June 1867 Johore, Malaysia …
  • … Gibbs, George 31 March 1867 Smithsonian Institution, …
  • … Peradeniya, Ceylon enclosed in letter from G.H.K. Thwaites …
  • … Gray, Asa 26 March 1867 Cambridge, Massachusetts, …
  • … Egypt] possibly included in letter(s) from Asa Gray Nile …
  • … Lake Wellington, Australia letter to F.J.H. von Mueller nodding, …
  • … Abbey Place, London, England letter to Emma Darwin baby expression …
  • … Penmaenmawr, Conway, Wales letter to Emma Darwin infant daughter …

Controversy

Summary

The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … sharp theoretical differences with him; on the other hand, a number of his public critics assisted …
  • … quickly deteriorated and Darwin came to regard him as a bitter enemy. Darwin and Sedgwick …
  • … but he assures Sedgwick he does not send his book out of a spirit of bravado, but a want of respect. …
  • … “grand principle natural selection ” is “but a secondary consequence of supposed, or known, …
  • … of brotherly love and as his true-hearted friend. Letter 2555 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … classes of facts”. Darwin and Owen Letter 2526 — Owen, Richard to Darwin, C. …
  • … the nature of such influences as “heterodox”. Letter 2575 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … his book “the law of higgledy-piggledy”. Letter 2580 — Darwin, C. R. to Owen, Richard, …
  • … his views now depends on men eminent in science. Letter 2767 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … 5500 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, E. P. A., 12 Apr [1867] Darwin is sympathetic to Haeckel’s …
  • Letter 5533 — Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, C. R., 12 May 1867 Haeckel thanks Darwin for the …
  • … 5544 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, E. P. A., 21 May [1867] Darwin discusses his previous …
  • … much about the social structure of Victorian science. Wallace would become one of Darwin's most …

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: 19 hits

  • kingdom , published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide
  • to the American botanist Asa Gray, ‘I have just begun a large course of experiments on the
  • … ( To Édouard Bornet, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin began a series of experiments, reporting back to
  • unnoticed, had it existed in all individuals of such a common garden plant. Perhaps in the case of
  • … ( To Fritz Müller, [late December 1866 and] 1 January 1867 ). The following year, his experiments
  • of these seeds to Müller, hoping that he wouldraise a plant, cover it with a net, & observe
  • generations. In June 1869, Müller remarked, on receiving a new batch of seeds from Darwin, ‘that it
  • plants’ ( To Fritz Müller, 12 May 1870 ). From a fairly early stage in his experimental
  • to the conditions that might affect his results. In March 1867, he told his close friend Joseph
  • … & about which I dont know whether you w d  care, is that a great excess of, or very little
  • weight, or period of germination in the seeds of Ipomœa. I remember saying the contrary to you & …
  • indisputably  germinate quicker  than seeds produced by a cross between two distinct plants’ ( To
  • … & so have been rarely crossed’ ( To Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). One of theseexoticswas
  • for part of the year ( To JTMoggridge, 1 October [1867] ). Darwin was beginning to suspect
  • Julius Carus, who wrote in early May, Darwin stated, ‘M r  Murray announced my next book without
  • … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly
  • the set of all my works, I would suggest 1,500’ ( To R. F. Cooke, 16 September 1876 ). In the
  • 16 December 1876 ). One critical review came from Alfred Wallace, who complained, ‘I am afraid this
  • of hybrids, has not yet been produced’ ( From ARWallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this

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: 21 hits

  • Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of  On the origin of
  • his cousin William Darwin Fox, ‘My work will have to stop a bit for I must prepare a new edit. of
  • views on all points will have to be modified.— Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( …
  • Darwins most substantial addition to  Origin  was a response to a critique of natural selection
  • made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
  • Jenkin. Darwin had been very impressed by Jenkins 1867 review, which argued that any variation in
  • myself atrociously’, Darwin wrote to Alfred Russel Wallace on 2 February , ‘I meant to say
  • 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 Crolls theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed
  • Thomsons work challenged by both Thomas Henry Huxley and WallaceHe confided to Huxley, ‘I find
  • of information which I have sent prove of any service to M r . Darwin I can supply him with much
  • … . Natural selection and humans: differences with Wallace But even as Darwins research
  • from you, & I am very sorry for it On 24 March, Wallace wrote to Darwin about a
  • which is to me absolutely unassailable’.  In the article, Wallace claimed that certain human
  • civilization. Such features had only emerged, according to Wallace, through the agency ofa Power
  • … & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ).  More
  • and the bird of paradise  (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and
  • an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
  • on the previous German edition (Bronn and Carus trans. 1867), as well as on the German translation
  • Sweetland Dallass edition of Fritz Müllers  Für Darwin  (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an

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

  • Darwins correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively
  • 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 catsinstinctive 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
  • to Darwins queries about Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223
  • January 1868] Darwin asks Thomas Huxley to pass on a questionnaire to his wife, Henrietta. …
  • Darwins niece, Margaret, passes on observations of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, …
  • Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to Darwin, [8 August 1867] Sutton, the keeper of the
  • 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] Explorer and geologist Haast
  • Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • Lychnis diurna. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] …
  • lawn. Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin
  • Letter 1701  - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • describes experiments he is undertaking in his home to test Wallaces theory that birds reject
  • who conducted numerous experiments for Darwin and Wallace from the comfort of hispretty garden
  • Letter 5585  - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [26 July 1867] Darwin praises Henriettas
  • Letter 7858 - Darwin to Wa llace, A. R., [12 July 1871] Darwin tells Wallace that
  • Letter 5403  - Darwin to CarusJ. V.  [17 February 1867] Darwin thanks Carus for his
  • in the editorial process. Letter 9156  - Wallace, A. R . to Darwin, [19 November
  • 5410  - Darwin to Muller, J. F. T., [22 February 1867] Darwin thanks Muller for

Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex

Summary

The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If any man wants to gain a good opinion of his fellow man, he …
  • … or in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in …
  • … of changing the races of man’ (Correspondence vol. 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
  • … was still anticipating that his book would take the form of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to …
  • … on the subject to the zoologist Albert Günther: ‘a drunkard might as well say, he would drink a …
  • … Darwin had sent the manuscript to the publisher in February 1867, and had spent a good deal of that …
  • … Record. Dallas had begun the work in November 1867 and had expected to complete it in a fortnight. …
  • … would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to …
  • … of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
  • … if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
  • … . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] ). The review was …
  • … entomologist Benjamin Dann Walsh on 25 March 1868 . Wallace maintained that males got whatever …
  • … as life he wd find the odour sexual!’ ( letter to A . R. Wallace, 16 September [1868] ). Francis …
  • … question of the “Origin of Species”’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 4 October 1868 ). …
  • … emotional expression. His questionnaire, first sent out in 1867, was circulated to remote parts of …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … although he tended to avoid the subject as much as possible. A number of correspondents tried to …
  • … nor is it clear that by challenging design, he provided a position completely incompatible with all …
  • … point of departure reviews of Origin . The second is a single letter from naturalist A. R. …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … for the attention now given to the subject. He poses Gray a question on design in nature, as he is …
  • … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
  • … at the base of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R …
  • … of the fittest” instead of “Natural Selection”. Wallace urges Darwin to stress frequency of …
  • Letter 5565 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, C. R., 6 June 1867 Clergyman Charles Kingsley …
  • … beauty. Letter 5648 — Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, A. R., 12–13 Oct [1867] Darwin …

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: 20 hits

  • … chlorophyll by examining thin slices of plant tissue under a microscope. When not experimenting, he …
  • … more weak than usual. To Lawson Tait, he remarked, ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly …
  • … early April, he was being carried upstairs with the aid of a special chair. The end came on 19 April …
  • … 1881. But some of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … the nature of their contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … up the results on Brazilian cane, with Darwin providing a detailed outline: ‘I had no intention to …
  • … 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 ). …
  • … It proved to be very popular, with reviews appearing in a wide range of journals and newspapers (see …
  • … 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 …
  • … where he had witnessed an earthquake in 1835 ( letter from R. E. Alison, [March–July 1835 ]). …
  • … Lyell had been a strong advocate of common descent. In 1867, Lyell expressed his enthusiasm for …
  • … of the organic world ( letter from Charles Lyell, 16 July 1867 ). In the same year, Darwin made a …
  • … property’ ( letter to George Warington, 11 October [1867] ). Respecting the privacy of …

Dramatisation script

Summary

Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007

Matches: 24 hits

  • 2Charles Darwin Actor 3In the dress of a modern day archivist, this actor uses the
  • the environment in which the play unfolds and acting as a go-between between Gray and Darwin, and
  • indicate an edit in the original text not, necessarily, a pause in the delivery of the line. A
  • Jane the final days of Professor Asa Gray, Harvard Botanist. A series of strokes affect adversely
  • dinner, though there had seemed some threatening of a cold, but he pronounced himselfGRAY
  • quick breathing and some listlessness, so that he was nursed a little on FridayThat evening
  • his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention
  • 11   My dear HookerWhat a remarkably nice and kind letter Dr A. Gray has sent me in answer to my
  • be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy itHis letter does strike me as most uncommonly
  • on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year
  • a brace of letters 25   I send enclosed [a letter for you from Asa Gray], received
  • might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing
  • Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which
  • his Christian belief and Darwin discovers that Alfred Wallace has developed his own strikingly
  • of the package (an essay from New Guinea from Alfred Russel Wallace) throws Darwin into a fluster. …
  • of last year… /  Why I ask this is as follows: Mr Wallace who is now exploring New Guinea, has
  • will be smashed. …  49   [Yet] there is nothing in Wallaces sketch which is not written out
  • that I can do so honourably50   knowing that Wallace is in the field….  / It seems hard on
  • Dr GrayI shall be glad of your opinion of Darwin and Wallaces paper. GRAY:   58   …
  • on all hands. DARWIN65   My dear [Mr Wallace], I have told [my publisher] Murray
  • paragraph, in which I quote and differ from you[r178   doctrine that each variation has been
  • TO JD HOOKER 12 OCTOBER 1849 6  C DARWIN TO R FITZROY, 1 OCTOBER 1846 7  …
  • TO A GRAY, 27 NOVEMBER 1859 65  C DARWIN TO A WALLACE, 13 NOVEMBER 1859 66  …
  • A GRAY 15 AUGUST 1868 177  TO A GRAY 15 APRIL 1867 178  C DARWIN TO JD

Species and varieties

Summary

On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…

Matches: 19 hits

  • famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing asspeciesmust therefore exist
  • especially to the modern reader, for whom race carries a different and highly charged meaning. In
  • used the term here, he simply meantvariety’, as ina fast-growing race of wheat’. The question, …
  • of books he wanted to read (DAR 119: 2v), Darwin scribbled a reminder to himself in 1838 toread
  • ancient’. He never got around to reading Aristotle beyond a few extracts, until shortly before his
  • to the characterisation of things, and you have, in a nutshell, the two sides of a debate about the
  • world according to an artificial system; that is, he chose a specific group of structural features
  • other criteria. He was challenged by others who searched for a morenaturaltaxonomy that would
  • organism. Darwin himself did not set out to be a taxonomist, but in trying to understand some
  • observation just how much variability often existed within a species. The features he focused on
  • by the idea that the relations in features reflected a real genealogical relationship over time. In
  • to describe it scientifically, & yet all the genera have 1/2 a dozen synonyms’ ( letter to HE
  • by the shadowy doubt whether this or that form be in essence a species.’ He continued, regarding
  • of evolution by natural selection over many years and gave a lot of thought to definitions of
  • some sterility an unfailing test, with others not worth a farthing. It all comes, I believe, from
  • a selected quality to keep incipient species distinct’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] …
  • fertility would not be 'selected'. ( Variation 2: 186–7). One of the reasons that
  • of hybrids might be produced by natural selection ( letter from ARWallace, 1 March 1868 ). …
  • tosay no more but leave the problem as insoluble’ ( letter from ARWallace, 8 [April] 1868 ). …

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: 25 hits

  • On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11
  • of dimorphic plants with Williams help; he also ordered a selection of new climbing plants for his
  • physician-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria. Jenner prescribed a variety of antacids and purgatives, and
  • of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin
  • continued throughout the summer. When he finished a preliminary draft of his paper on climbing
  • 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
  • arose over the grounds on which it was conferred, brought a dramatic conclusion to the year. Darwin
  • his observations indoors ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin
  • However, the queries that Darwin, describing himself asa broken-down brother-naturalist’, sent to
  • 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
  • 5 September 1864 ). Fritz Müeller sent his bookFür Darwin , and Darwin had it translated by a
  • the slavery practised in North America. Alfred Russel Wallace Unlike in the preceding
  • with very little commentary. However, when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him a copy of his recently
  • Some other readers were also aware of the significance of Wallaces paper as the first published
  • to J. D. Hooker, 22 [May 1864] ). He added that he wished Wallace had written Lyells section on
  • the question of human origins ( Correspondence vol. 11). Wallace, however, traced a possible path
  • by natural selection in humans, was new to Darwin. Wallaces paper dealt not only with human
  • that Darwin, who later endorsed monogenism, supported Wallaces attempt to mediate in the
  • on intellectual &ampmoral  qualities’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …

Race, Civilization, and Progress

Summary

Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…

Matches: 23 hits

  • he had witnessed man in his most "primitive wildness" ( letter to Henslow, 11 April 1833
  • homeland by Robert FitzRoy several years earlier as part of a missionary enterprise. Darwin was
  • In his private notebooks, he modeled evolution after a tree of life or coral that was " …
  • toward increased complexity and variety, he suggested, was a bi-product of the abundance of life; …
  • design, while others such as Charles Lyell and Alfred Russel Wallace placed limits on natural
  • the dispute between monogenists and polygenists will "die a silent and unobserved death" …
  • moral powers. The "grade of civilization", he wrote, "seems a most important element
  • of botany at Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow. Letter 204 : Darwin to Henslow, J. S., …
  • 1833 which took effect in the following year. Letter 206 : Darwin to Darwin, E. C., 22
  • shown at elections, has been rising against Slavery.— What a proud thing for England, if she is the
  • be altered; the only alteration I am aware of is forming a much higher estimate of the Negros
  • of the polygenist theory of human descent. Letter 4933 : Farrar, F. W. to Darwin, …
  • have remained unaltered for say 5000 yearsis not this a very strong argument for the Polygenist? …
  • about the state of civilization of the natives. Letter 5617 , Darwin to Weale, J. P. M
  • wonderful fact in the progress of civilization" Letter 5722 , Weale, J. P. M. to
  • of Species , Darwin discussed his views on progress in a letter to Charles Lyell, insisting that
  • of life" ( Origin , 6 th ed, p. 98). Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C
  • not profit it, there would be no advance.— " Letter 6728 : from Charles Lyell, 5
  • be entirely explained by Natural Selection I rather hail Wallaces suggestion that there may be a
  • but may guide the forces & laws of Nature." Letter 6866 : From Federico Delpino
  • clergymen Charles Kingsley, the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, and the philosopher William Graham
  • have risen in rank." Letter 4510 : Darwin to Wallace, A. R., 28 [May 1864] …
  • … (1864) [ available at archive.org ] Alfred Russel Wallace, "The origin of human races

John Murray

Summary

Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…

Matches: 16 hits

  • travel and science. He was the grandson of John Macmurray, a Scot who had arrived in London, altered
  • Darwin Archive  at  Cambridge University Library  a similar number of letters from John Murray
  • had been unsatisfactory. When they came to discuss a second edition, probably at the end of 1845, …
  • parts (July to September 1845) before being reissued in a single volume. Returning to Murray the
  • have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business
  • three years later was not so successful. Darwin contributed a section on using a microscope and a
  • copies some pages in Darwins chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an
  • mistakeif this had happened, he wanted towrite to M r  Clowes & make the poor workman
  • by specialist societies and would not have interested a commercial publisher. In 1854 Darwin had
  • hisbig species book’; on 18 June 1858, he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace with the
  • asked Lyell to act as his intermediary with John Murray ( Letter 2437 ), who, without even reading
  • not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a retail
  • proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all Murrays
  • … – and a second edition was immediately called for ( Letter 2549 ). In the end Murray paid Darwin
  • more despondent: ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray
  • a translation into English of Fritz Müllers book  Für Darwin  (in English, ‘Facts and arguments

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: 21 hits

  • considerably improved. His increased vigour was apparent in a busy year that included two trips to
  • Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But
  • of special creation on the basis of alleged evidence of a global ice age, while Asa Gray pressed
  • the details of Hookers proposed talk formed the basis of a lengthy and lively exchange of letters
  • responded philosophically to these deaths, regarding both as a merciful release from painful illness
  • 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 harmany how I cant 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
  • ofDomestic Animals & Cult. Plantsto 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
  • research on crustacean embryology, and Alfred Russel Wallaces conclusions on varieties and species
  • … ‘I quite follow you in thinking Agassiz glacier-mad’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September
  • you go on, after the startling apparition of your face at R.S. Soirèewhich I dreamed of 2 nights
  • began work on the new translation (Bronn and Carus trans. 1867), incorporating the revisions Darwin
  • and June on the subject of  Rhamnus catharticus  (now  R. cathartica ). Darwin had become
  • of separate sexes. William gathered numerous specimens of  R. catharticus , the only species of  …
  • Orchids  and papers on botanical dimorphism, Batess and Wallaces work on mimetic butterflies, and
  • selection, and with special creation ( letter from W. R. Grove, 31 August 1866 ). Hooker later
  • of transmutation theory during the year with Alfred Russel Wallace. They corresponded in February on