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Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
Matches: 26 hits
- … On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that he ‘Began by Lyell’s advice writing …
- … more for the sake of priority than anything else—Darwin was reluctant to squeeze his expansive …
- … Natural selection . Determined as he was to publish, Darwin nevertheless still felt cautious …
- … specialist in Madeiran entomology, Thomas Vernon Wollaston. Darwin also came to rely on the caustic …
- … in London. Natural Selection Not all of Darwin’s manuscript on species has been …
- … of information about his preoccupations during 1856 and 1857. They reveal little noticed aspects of …
- … of pigeons, poultry, and other domesticated animals. As Darwin explained to Lyell, his studies, …
- … can William Bernhard Tegetmeier continued to help Darwin acquire much of the material for …
- … on domestic animals in India and elsewhere. William Darwin Fox supplied information about cats, dogs …
- … mastiffs. The disparate facts were correlated and checked by Darwin, who adroitly used letters, …
- … as ever I can.’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 8 February [1857] ). Darwin also attempted to test …
- … garden species with their wild congeners. Many of Darwin’s conclusions about the variation of …
- … these chapters are not extant. It seems likely that Darwin used the manuscript when compiling The …
- … or lost during the process. Before the publication of Darwin's correspondence from these years, …
- … light on the role that these ideas were intended to play in Darwin’s formal exposition. …
- … selection could not act without varieties to act upon, Darwin wanted to know where, how, and in what …
- … the alpine plants pretty effectually’ complained Darwin in 1857 ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [2 May …
- … of calculation was wrong ( letter to John Lubbock, 14 July [1857] ). Darwin thought his results …
- … experiments on plants through the summers of 1856 and 1857, particularly with garden vegetables like …
- … Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette in October 1857, to be followed by a second notice in 1858. …
- … not a bird be killed (by hawk, lightning, apoplexy, hail &c) with seeds in crop, & it would …
- … find the work: am I not a kind Father?’ Darwin wrote in 1857, soon followed by the complaint ‘You …
- … to end!’ (letters to W. E. Darwin, [17 February 1857] and 21 [July 1857] ). The problem of …
- … and the preparation of his manuscript ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 1 May 1857 ) seem innocuous and …
- … are all vividly displayed in Darwin's letters. By the end of 1857, Darwin was well on the way …
- … long letter to Asa Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 5 September [1857] ). From this letter it is evident …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Matches: 14 hits
- … human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the …
- … he first began to reflect on the transmutation of species. Darwin’s correspondence reveals the scope …
- … he exchanged information and ideas. Letter 346: Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 27 Feb 1837 …
- … one stock.” Letter 2070: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [before 29 Sept 1857] …
- … because we can trace the elements into Latin, German &c. but I see much the same sort of thing …
- … down of former continents.” Letter 3054: Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 2 Feb [1861] …
- … that languages, like species, were separately created. Darwin writes to the geologist Charles Lyell …
- … I tell him is perfectly logical.” Letter 5605: Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 15 Aug …
- … Letter 7040: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [1868-70?] As Darwin began to work on …
- … growing to such a stage” Letter 8367: Darwin, C. R. to Wright, Chauncey, 3 June [1872] …
- … altering the breed. Letter 8962: Darwin, C. R. to Max Müller, Friedrich, 3 July 1873 …
- … Letter 10194: Max Müller, Friedrich to Darwin, C. R., 13 Oct [1875] For Müller, human and …
- … […]” Letter 9887: Dawkins, W. B. to Darwin, C. R., 14 Mar 1875 The relationship …
- … […]” Letter 11074: Sayce, A. H. to Darwin, C. R., 27 July 1877 Darwin’s study 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: 16 hits
- … Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig …
- … as the creator of this dramatisation, and that of the Darwin Correspondence Project to be identified …
- … correspondence or published writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring …
- … Actor 1 – Asa Gray Actor 2 – Charles Darwin Actor 3 – In the dress of a modern day …
- … Agassiz, Adam Sedgwick, A Friend of John Stuart Mill, Emma Darwin, Horace Darwin… and acts as a sort …
- … the play unfolds and acting as a go-between between Gray and Darwin, and between the audience and …
- … this, he sends out copies of his Review of the Life of Darwin. At this time in his life, Asa …
- … friends in England, copies of his ‘Review of the Life of Darwin’… pencilling the address so that it …
- … Joseph D Hooker GRAY: 3 Charles Darwin… made his home on the border of the little …
- … are kept in check by a constitutional weakness. DARWIN: A plain but comfortable brick …
- … the Origin of Species…’ FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker …
- … paragraph, in which I quote and differ from you[r] 178 doctrine that each variation has been …
- … ARTS AND SCIENCES, PROCEEDINGS XVII, 1882 4 C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 10 MAY 1848 …
- … JUNE 1855 20 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 21 A GRAY TO C DARWIN, …
- … MARCH 1862 35 C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 1 JANUARY 1857 36 A GRAY TO C DARWIN …
- … OCTOBER 1858 59 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 12 OCTOBER 1857 60 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, …
Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
Summary
Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…
Matches: 22 hits
- … Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed …
- … , it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet when this study …
- … anomalous. Moreover, as the letters in this volume suggest, Darwin’s study of cirripedes, far from …
- … classification using the most recent methods available, Darwin was able to provide a thorough …
- … his views on the species question (Crisp 1983). Darwin’s interest in invertebrate zoology …
- … Robert Edmond Grant. In his Autobiography (pp. 49–50), Darwin recalled: ‘Drs. Grant and …
- … numerous references to the ova of various invertebrates, and Darwin’s first scientific paper, …
- … marine organisms was exercised during the Beagle voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm …
- … earlier researches in Edinburgh on the ova of invertebrates, Darwin was particularly well prepared …
- … In 1835, in the Chonos Archipelago off the coast of Chile, Darwin found ‘most curious’ minute …
- … In the zoological notes made during the Beagle voyage, Darwin recorded: ‘The thick shell of some …
- … the absence of a shell and its unusual parasitic nature, Darwin recognised that it differed greatly …
- … such questions as yours,—whether number of species &c &c should enter as an element in …
- … from common stocks— In this view all relations of analogy &c &c &, consist of those …
- … metamorphoses, as we shall see presently in Hippoboscus &c states that in Crust, antennæ & …
- … 1852) or elevating it to a separate class altogether (R. Owen 1855). Milne-Edwards and Owen also …
- … as a distinct class between the Crustacea and the Annelida (R. Owen 1855).^7^ Darwin, however, with …
- … a high compliment when he touched upon this matter in his 1857 lecture on cirripedes. In his praise …
- … and not an anatomist ex professo .’ (T. H. Huxley 1857, p. 238 n.). While Darwin’s …
- … spirits Every cirriped that I dissect I preserve the jaws &c. &c. in this manner, which …
- … nos. 2118 and 2119, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 July [1857] , and letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 …
- … CD’s specimen has remained unique. (The editors thank Drs R. W. Ingle and G. Boxshall of the British …
The "wicked book": Origin at 157
Summary
Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 November 1859. To celebrate we have uploaded hundreds of new images of letters, bringing the total number you can look at here to over 9000 representing more than…
Matches: 9 hits
- … book appeared. You can now see examples of letters to Darwin from nearly 250 different people, and …
- … Lyell , and Joseph Hooker , the two men who arranged for Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas to be made …
- … Asa Gray who was an important sounding board for Darwin’s emerging ideas, and Thomas Huxley …
- … ’s appearance, but there is a fascinating scrap from 1857 comparing his views on species to …
- … the less well-known scientific collaborators who became Darwin's correspondents, Mary Treat …
- … was co-opted as an observer in Wales. Lucy Wedgwood , Darwin’s neice, was one of those who …
- … of water thrown over me on rising William Darwin Fox , Charles’s cousin and another …
- … W. T. Thiselton-Dyer George Cupples H. C. Watson J. J. Weir H. W. Bates …
- … Frederick Smith A. G. Butler John Lubbock R. I. Lynch J. B. Burdon Sanderson …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Matches: 21 hits
- … Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute …
- … was of course kept secret and worked upon for decades, as Darwin collected ‘all kinds of facts’ …
- … and acquire specimens for his own use. A portrait of Darwin in 1849 shows him with a specimen …
- … rather than experimentation. According to this view, Darwin was a ‘philosophical naturalist’ whose …
- … than morphological affinity. The two-fold division of Darwin’s science between observation …
- … authorities who could do the more advanced work of theory. Darwin contributed to this movement, …
- … institutional heads like Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray. Darwin adopted a perspective of great …
- … publications. The final picture that we then have of Darwin is that of a gentleman naturalist, able …
- … a tradition on the wane, and it was gradually eclipsed in Darwin’s own lifetime by the more …
- … is the sharp distinction between observation and theory. Darwin would be the first to defend the …
- … with a curb on make far the best observers’ ( letter to C. H. L. Woodd , 4 March 1850 ). He made …
- … there is no good & original observation’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 December 1857 ). Much …
- … that were made to further substantiate evolutionary theory. Darwin was also greatly heartened by the …
- … a highly controlled space with specialized equipment. In Darwin’s day this was by no means the case. …
- … sometimes to refer to naturally occurring phenomena. Darwin clearly regarded many of his domestic …
- … miniature (small plots of land). Experimentation in Darwin’s day was not the monopoly of …
- … and poultry fanciers, landowners, architects, and writers. Darwin sought the advice of an engineer …
- … Scott). In his choice of correspondents and collaborators, Darwin valued patience, caution, and …
- … and Michael Foster. A final feature to note about Darwin’s experimental life is the pleasure …
- … little experiments’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 March 1857] ; letter to J. S. Henslow, 27 June …
- … over time, detailed observation and experimental work became Darwin’s driving passion, his greatest …
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
Matches: 12 hits
- … Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s …
- … May 1856, was nearly completed by June 1858. At that point Darwin was ‘interrupted’, as he put it, …
- … transmutation ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). Darwin recorded in his ‘Journal’ the …
- … in the ‘Journal’ and the chapter headings as supplied by Darwin, followed by the reference of the …
- … also given. Chapter 1 is not extant nor was it recorded in Darwin's ‘Journal’. Chapter 2 is not …
- … 4 26 January 1857 Variation under nature (DAR 9; …
- … 5 3 March 1857 The struggle for existence as bearing on …
- … 6 31 March 1857 On natural selection (DAR 10.2; …
- … 7 29 September 1857 Laws of variation: varieties & …
- … 8 29 September 1857 Difficulties on the theory of …
- … 9 29 December 1857 Hybridism (DAR 12; Natural …
- … chapter has been taken from a table of contents to which Darwin added the names of chapters as he …
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
- … | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a …
- … community. Here is a selection of letters exchanged between Darwin and his workforce of women …
- … Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August 1849] Darwin …
- … peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to Darwin, [29 October …
- … in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [6 June 1864] …
- … . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to Darwin, [after February 1867] Mary Barber …
- … Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] Darwin …
- … Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [5 May 1870] …
- … the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 …
- … Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris …
- … in Llandudno. Letter 4823 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] …
- … Letter 8144 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [5 January 1872] Darwin asks his niece, …
- … 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 9606 - Harrison, L. C. to Darwin, [22 August 1874] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, …
- … Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris …
- … 2055 - Langton, E. to Darwin, F., [21 February 1857] Darwin’s nephew, Edmund, …
- … Letter 2069 - Tenant, J. to Darwin, [31 March 1857] James Tenant, keeper of the …
- … garden ”. Letter 6083 - Casparay, J. X. R. to Darwin, [2 April 1868] …
- … the future. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 March 1863] Darwin …
- … . Several reviewers speak of the “lucid, vigorous style, &c.” for which he owes her a great debt …
- … Letter 7858 - Darwin to Wa llace, A. R., [12 July 1871] Darwin tells Wallace that …
Scientific Networks
Summary
Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…
Matches: 13 hits
- … activities for building and maintaining such connections. Darwin's networks extended from his …
- … when strong institutional structures were largely absent. Darwin had a small circle of scientific …
- … section contains two sets of letters. The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. …
- … about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [11 Jan 1844] …
- … confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 23 Feb [1844] …
- … Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 25 Apr [1855] Darwin …
- … species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. R., 22 May 1855 Gray recalled …
- … flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 20 July [1857] Darwin …
- … information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] …
- … name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 In this gossipy …
- … species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 …
- … Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 6 & 7 Apr 1850 Hooker apologises for the …
- … of the ephippium”, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 147 (1857): 79–100]. Darwin and Müller …
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: 25 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous …
- … for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health …
- … of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition …
- … Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwin’s greatest scientific pleasure. The year …
- … to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that Darwin had been investigating for years, …
- … working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that …
- … contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwin’s interest in root …
- … London on 6 and 16 March, respectively. In January, Darwin corresponded with George John …
- … letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 28 December 1881 ). Darwin had a long-running interest in such …
- … experiments had been conducted to lend support to Darwin’s theory of pangenesis (see …
- … He was eager to write up the results on Brazilian cane, with Darwin providing a detailed outline: ‘I …
- … at the Linnean Society on 4 May, but not published. Darwin carried on with botanical work in …
- … which are asymmetric, thus facilitating cross-fertilisation. Darwin’s aim, he said, was just to …
- … 3 April 1882 ). Earthworms and evolution Darwin’s last book, Earthworms , had been …
- … Appendix V). The conservative Quarterly Review , owned by Darwin’s publisher John Murray, carried …
- … themselves’ ( Quarterly Review , January 1882, p. 179). Darwin commented at length on the review …
- … is a young man & a worker in any branch of Biology,’ Darwin continued, ‘he will assuredly sooner …
- … our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). Kennard …
- … judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January 1882 ). …
- … dull aching in the chest’ (Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). …
- … to some Estancia,’ wrote Hughes, ‘as the scenery &c. will amply repay your trouble’ ( letter …
- … where he had witnessed an earthquake in 1835 ( letter from R. E. Alison, [March–July 1835 ]). …
- … the Rock’ ( letter to E. W. V. Harcourt, 13 December [1857] ). In May 1857, Darwin wrote to …
- … class with Lyell’ ( letter to William Sharpey, 22 May [1857] ). There are a few letters …
- … will be months before I am able to work’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To …
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
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
- … (DAR 119) opens with five pages of text copied from Notebook C and carries on through 1851; the …
- … used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwin’s letters; the full transcript …
- … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwin’s alterations. The spelling and …
- … book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been …
- … a few instances, primarily in the ‘Books Read’ sections, Darwin recorded that a work had been …
- … of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the …
- … own. Soon after beginning his first reading notebook, Darwin began to separate the scientific …
- … the second reading notebook. Readers primarily interested in Darwin’s scientific reading, therefore, …
- … to be Read [DAR *119: Inside Front Cover] C. Darwin June 1 st . 1838 …
- … [DAR *119: 2v.] White’s regular gradation in man [C. White 1799] Lindley’s …
- … 8 vo p 181 [Latreille 1819]. see p. 17 Note Book C. for reference to authors about E. Indian …
- … in brutes Blackwood June 1838 [J. F. Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on Geog. distrib: of Brit: …
- … Wiegman has pub. German pamphlet on crossing oats &c [Wiegmann 1828] Horticultural …
- … in Library of Hort. Soc. [DAR *119:5v.] M c .Neil 16 has written good article …
- … [Fellows 1839] Catherine 48 Life of Collins R.A. [Collins 1848] Phases of Faith …
- … 112 Jukes. “Students Manual of Geology” [Jukes 1857]— published a few years ago, good on …
- … Lucas l’Heredite Naturelle [Lucas 1847–50] 1857 Nov. 15. Andersson Lake Gnami …
- … Thackeray English Humourists [Thackeray 1853] 1857 Jan. Cockburn life of Selby [ …
- … 1856]: H. Coverdale [Smedley [1854–6]: Quits [Tautphoeus] 1857] 29 Lutfullah. Life of …
- … 1848. Memoirs of the life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. 2 vols. London. *119: 23; 119: …
- … by Richard Owen. Vol. 4 of The works of John Hunter, F.R.S. with notes . Edited by James F. …
- … Robert. 1843. Memoirs of the life of John Constable, R.A., composed chiefly of his letters. …
- … Peacock, George. 1855. Life of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S. London. *128: 172; 128: 21 …
Before Origin: the ‘big book’
Summary
Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…
Matches: 22 hits
- … Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the …
- … day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles ( Darwin's Journal ). He had long …
- … to paper in a more substantial essay. By this point, Darwin had also admitted to his close friend …
- … he acknowledged, ‘ like confessing a murder ’. While Darwin recognised he had far more work to do …
- … reaction to the transmutation theory it contained convinced Darwin that further evidence for the …
- … of Vestiges to him. It took another ten years before Darwin felt ready to start collating his …
- … six months before he started sorting his species notes, Darwin had worried that the process would …
- … I shall feel, if I when I get my notes together on species &c &c, the whole thing explodes …
- … immutability of species ’, he told his cousin William Darwin Fox. Experimental work …
- … set up to provide crucial evidence for his arguments. Fox, Darwin assumed, would have bred pigeons …
- … intensely bred to exaggerate particular characters, would, Darwin believed, clearly exhibit the …
- … amusement’ and be a ‘ horrid bore ’. Contrary to Darwin’s expectations, however, the pigeon …
- … Henrietta . In April 1855, at the same time as Darwin began his pigeon breeding programme, …
- … ago’, he wrote to the American botanist Asa Gray in July 1857, it occurred to me that …
- … geograph. distribution, geological history—affinities &c &c &c.. And it seems to me, …
- … staggered about the permanence of species.— By 1857, Darwin had found the confidence to …
- … And this much acceleration I owe to you. ’ In February 1857, the rate of this acceleration was …
- … the way facts fall into groups ’, he told Fox in February 1857. Trials of strength …
- … in theory of the descent of species ’. In December 1857, Darwin had expressed his satisfaction that …
- … there is no good & original observation ’. In 1857, Darwin recorded in his journal that …
- … varieties differ from each other’, he told Wallace in May 1857, before stating ‘ I am now preparing …
- … and a half chapters were edited and published in 1975 by R. C. Stauffer under the title Charles …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 24 hits
- … 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence …
- … Russel Wallace. This letter led to the first announcement of Darwin’s and Wallace’s respective …
- … the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise On the origin of …
- … exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
- … Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal world and the …
- … The 039;big book039; The year 1858 opened with Darwin hard at work preparing his ‘big …
- … completed his ninth chapter, on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to …
- … appropriate. The correspondence shows that at any one time Darwin was engaged in a number of …
- … The chapter on instinct posed a number of problems for Darwin. ‘I find my chapter on Instinct very …
- … ). In addition to behaviour such as nest-building in birds, Darwin intended to discuss many other …
- … celebrated as a classic example of divine design in nature. Darwin hypothesised that the instinct of …
- … of construction as it took place in the hive. As with Darwin’s study of poultry and pigeons, …
- … founder and president of the Apiarian Society, provided Darwin with information and specimens. His …
- … For assistance with mathematical measurements and geometry, Darwin called upon William Hallowes …
- … from the Beagle voyage; on his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin; and his son William. Even his …
- … bees and bee-hives. Variation and reversion Darwin also continued the botanical work …
- … of smaller genera? The inquiry was of great importance to Darwin, for such evidence would support …
- … of the statistics was still problematic. Hooker thought that Darwin was wrong to assume that …
- … were not certain. This was a question new to the experts. Darwin was delighted to hear from Asa Gray …
- … completed and his results written up. With some trepidation, Darwin sent his manuscript off to …
- … work—& that I confess made me a little low—but I c d . have borne it, for I have the …
- … in the letters of 1858 also relate to questions that Darwin had begun to explore earlier. Letters to …
- … with an abstract of his views sent to Asa Gray in September 1857. The correspondence between Darwin, …
- … it is impossible that men like Lyell, Hooker, Huxley, H. C. Watson, Ramsay &c would change their …
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: 24 hits
- … 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working …
- … dispute over an anonymous review that attacked the work of Darwin’s son George dominated the second …
- … and traveller Alexander von Humboldt’s 105th birthday, Darwin obliged with a reflection on his debt …
- … during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August 1874] ). The death of a …
- … from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such reminiscences led Darwin to the self-assessment, ‘as for one …
- … I feel very old & helpless The year started for Darwin with a week’s visit to …
- … Andrew Clark, whom he had been consulting since August 1873. Darwin had originally thought that …
- … ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] ). Darwin mentioned his poor health so frequently in …
- … 1874 ). Séances, psychics, and sceptics Darwin excused himself for reasons of …
- … by George Henry Lewes and Marian Evans (George Eliot), but Darwin excused himself, finding it too …
- … the month, another Williams séance was held at the home of Darwin’s cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood. Those …
- … imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). Darwin agreed that it was ‘all imposture’ …
- … stop word getting to America of the ‘strange news’ that Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his …
- … the first three months of the year and, like many of Darwin’s enterprises in the 1870s, were family …
- … 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 December [1873] ). Darwin himself had some trouble in …
- … and letter to Charles Lyell, [13 January 1874] ). Darwin blamed his illness for the …
- … . In his preface ( Coral reefs 2d ed., pp. v–vii), Darwin reasserted the priority of his work. …
- … Descent was published in November 1874 ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 ). Though …
- … on subsequent print runs would be very good ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 ). …
- … in a few hours dissolve the hardest cartilage, bone & meat &c. &c.’ ( letter to W. D. …
- … whether at the ‘close of the putrefaction of flesh, skin &c, any substance is produced before …
- … details of an Australian variety of sundew ( letter from T. C. Copland, 23 June 1874 ). …
- … Sharpe for promotion at the British Museum ( letter to R. B. Sharpe, 24 November [1874] ). He …
- … head that M r Spencer’s terms of equilibration &c always bother me & make everything less …
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: 18 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The variation of animals and …
- … letters on climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also submitted a manuscript of his …
- … protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. Darwin’s transmutation theory continued to …
- … Argyll, appeared in the religious weekly, Good Words . Darwin received news of an exchange of …
- … Butler, and, according to Butler, the bishop of Wellington. Darwin’s theory was discussed at an …
- … in the Gardeners’ Chronicle . At the end of the year, Darwin was elected an honorary member of …
- … year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of …
- … in August. There was also a serious dispute between two of Darwin’s friends, John Lubbock and …
- … jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). Darwin was ready to submit his paper on …
- … a sudden illness. Falconer was 56, almost the same age as Darwin himself. Falconer had seconded …
- … supported his candidacy, and had tried hard to persuade Darwin to accept the award in person (see …
- … the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus Alvey Darwin, 3 January 1865 ). Erasmus …
- … Darwin had received a copy of Müller’s book, Für Darwin , a study of the Crustacea with reference …
- … … inheritance, reversion, effects of use & disuse &c’, and which he intended to publish in …
- … He wrote to Hooker, ‘I doubt whether you or I or any one c d do any good in healing this breach. …
- … Hooker’s behalf, ‘He asks if you saw the article of M r . Croll in the last Reader on the …
- … How to manage it , a love-story set in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 to 1858 ( letter to J. D. Hooker, …
- … ‘As for your thinking that you do not deserve the C[opley] Medal,’ he rebuked Hooker, ‘that I …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Matches: 6 hits
- … List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in …
- … Died just a few months after the album was sent to Charles Darwin at the age of 53 …
- … Nat. Stud. 20 Leiden 1 January 1857 Leeuwarden 23 July 1904 …
- … Phil.nat.stud 20 Leiden 2 October 1857 Amsterdam 24 August …
- … Geologist, Economist an Darwinist. Corresponded with Darwin and translated The descent of Man in …
- … Teacher Nieuwendam 11 January 1857 Broek in Waterland …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …