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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: 4 hits
- … by the religious writer and philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe. At Cobbe’s suggestion, Darwin read …
- … apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). …
- … & physics form one great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870?] ). …
- … to finish my note on this subject’ ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). Human …
Darwin and vivisection
Summary
Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…
Matches: 12 hits
- … a memorial by the writer and social reformer Frances Power Cobbe. It called upon the RSPCA to …
- … Darwin was sympathetic to the cause, but found some of Cobbe’s rhetoric inflammatory, and he …
- … ‘I certainly could not sign the paper sent me by Miss Cobbe, with its monstrous (as it seems to me) …
- … January 1875 to Huxley, Darwin mentioned the effect that Cobbe’s campaign and other critical …
- … & independant people (eg my brother & the Litchfields)’. Cobbe was an acquaintance of the …
- … his cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood. After Darwin refused to sign Cobbe’s memorial, Emma wrote to her …
- … or I might get one or two’ (letter from Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe, 14 January [1875] ). …
- … On 11 April, Darwin learned that a bill based on Cobbe’s memorial had already been prepared for the …
- … conditions as are hereafter specified:— (DAR 139.17: 22, p. 2) The final bill presented in …
- … of the Royal Commission on vivisection , Appendix III, p. 338) Huxley and Burdon Sanderson …
- … to the House of Lords. This measure had been initiated by Cobbe and was based on her original …
- … summary ( Report of the Royal Commission on vivisection , p. x), and appeared repeatedly in the …
Moral Nature
Summary
In Descent of Man, Darwin argued that human morality had evolved from the social instincts of animals, especially the bonds of sympathy and love. Darwin gathered observations over many decades on animal behavior: the heroic sacrifices of social insects,…
Matches: 0 hits
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Summary
Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 0 hits
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.…
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: 9 hits
- … set the final price at 7 s. 6 d. ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 February 1872 ). …
- … unpublished at the end of the year ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 23 November 1872 ). To …
- … by Darwin himself (see Correspondence vol. 19, p. xxiv). By the beginning of the year both men …
- … from his ignorance, he feels no doubts’ ( letter to F. C. Donders, 17 June 1872 ). Right up to the …
- … agreed to let them have it for love!!!’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 1 August 1872 ). It had …
- … & have not taken care of ourselves’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 20 November 1872 ). A …
- … in the face of a disappointed public ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 25 November 1872 ). Among those …
- … darkness by an industrial strike ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 6 December 1872 ). Caught out by the …
- … reward to which any scientific man can look’ ( letter to F. C. Donders, 29 April [1872] ). …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 7 hits
- … by the religious writer and social reformer Frances Power Cobbe. The memorial raised questions about …
- … [but] I certainly could not sign the paper sent me by Miss Cobbe.’ Darwin found Cobbe’s …
- … ( Report of the Royal Commission on vivisection , p. 183). Darwin learned of Klein’s testimony …
- … That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875). Back …
- … views of the Oxford linguist’ (G. H. Darwin 1874c, p. 894). On previous occasions, Max …
- … copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July [1875] ). Such visitors from …
- … despondent, yet benevolent man’ (‘Recollections’, p. 407). Even scientific colleagues could …
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…
