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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: 24 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of …
- … among them Robert Caspary, John Traherne Moggridge, and Ernst Haeckel, and also a meeting with …
- … Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But the crowning achievement of the year …
- … publisher in December. Much of Darwin’s correspondence in 1866 was focussed on issues surrounding …
- … 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had first consulted Jones …
- … go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). Darwin began riding the cob, …
- … the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 ). More predictably, however, Darwin …
- … how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). Towards Variation …
- … to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January [1866] ). Darwin found the evidence of …
- … 13), and continued to refine his hypothesis in 1866. He wrote to Hooker on 16 May [1866] , ‘I … …
- … to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] ). When finally published in 1868, it …
- … definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). The fourth edition of …
- … also added material obtained through correspondence in 1866, including observations by the American …
- … undertook an ambitious expedition to Brazil in 1865 and 1866, partly with a view to finding support …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September [1866] ). Darwin had first heard of Agassiz’s …
- … dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] ). Darwin also ventured to inform …
- … more than a subsidiary agent’, Darwin wrote on 8 March [1866] , prefacing his remark with, ‘I …
- … Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself was jubilant: ‘I have …
- … Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866] ). Celebrity Darwin’s …
- … exalted, and most brilliant intellects of our age’ (Anon 1866, p. 176). At Down, Darwin …
- … in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [ c . 10 May 1866] ). Henrietta’s letter …
- … I dread all exertion’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 May 1866] ). Darwin’s interest in Caspary’s …
- … prevailed over considerations of health in this case. Ernst Haeckel Nor could Darwin …
- … eulogium which it has ever received’ ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 18 August [1866] ). Darwin clearly …
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: 8 hits
- … … is highly remarkable’ In September 1866, Darwin announced to the American botanist …
- … is highly remarkable’ ( To Asa Gray, 10 September [1866] ). By early December, the French botanist …
- … for several years ( To Édouard Bornet, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin began a series of experiments, …
- … ). Fritz Müller, writing from Brazil in December 1866, noted that plants of this poppy growing in …
- … climatic conditions’ ( From Fritz Müller, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin’s interest was piqued and he …
- … not exist in Britain. During a visit to Darwin in May 1866, Robert Caspary, a specialist in …
- … in a broader context. He told his long-time supporter Ernst Haeckel, ‘It is really wonderful what an …
- … seems almost to require changes in the conditions’ ( To Ernst Haeckel, 13 November 1875 ). He …
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Summary
One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.
Matches: 22 hits
- … Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 10 December [1866] . The ‘hard seed for grit’ …
- … did not then exist: even the word was not coined until 1866. There was no academic department that …
- … was coined by the German scientist and theorist Ernst Haeckel in 1866. ‘By ecology, we mean the …
- … the broad sense, all the “conditions of existence.”’ (Ernst Haeckel, Generelle Morphologie 2: 286; …
- … and some of his correspondents complained mildly about Haeckel’s propensity for making up words, but …
- … dreadful’, Darwin wrote to T. H. Huxley on 22 December 1866 . ‘He seems to have a passion for …
- … appeared in English in E. Ray Lankester’s translation of Haeckel’s History of creation in 1876; it …
- … in his letters. However, Darwin’s Origin of species was Haeckel’s primary inspiration for his …
- … of organisms to their environment for some time before Haeckel thought of a word for the activity; …
- … will no doubt continue to change in the future. Indeed, when Haeckel coined the term ecology he …
- … and left such study to an ‘uncritical’ natural history (Haeckel 1866, 2: 286–7; see also Stauffer …
- … Darwin’s caution is evident in his correspondence with Haeckel, himself a passionate theorist who …
- … upheaval that he was confident Darwin’s work would cause. Haeckel acknowledged himself to have been …
- … on me, as your theory of the evolution of species’, Haeckel wrote to Darwin on 9 July 1864 . ‘In …
- … to know nature as she really is.’ It seems from Haeckel’s letter that what most struck him …
- … history of creation’. Darwin’s response to Haeckel’s request for an account of his great …
- … fact it must have been obvious to everyone except, perhaps, Haeckel himself, that Darwin’s aims and …
- … barnacles, and in botany. In the correspondence between Haeckel and Darwin, the importance of Darwin …
- … reign of law. London: Alexander Strahan. Haeckel, Ernst. German zoologist. Hobbes, …
- … Levey, et al . New York: CABI Publishing. Haeckel, Ernst. 1866. Generelle Morphologie der …
- … . 2 vols. Berlin: Georg Reimer. Haeckel, Ernst. 1876. The history of creation: or the …
- … Richards, Robert J. 2008. The tragic sense of life: Ernst Haeckel and the struggle over …
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: 3 hits
- … public reaction. This exchange of letters with the zoologist Ernst Haeckel, an ardent proponent of …
- … tactics. Letter 5500 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, E. P. A., 12 Apr [1867] Darwin is …
- … side of the attacked person. Letter 5533 — Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, C. R., 12 May …
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: 8 hits
- … had been delivered to the publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct …
- … on human expression that he may have drawn up in late 1866. His correspondents were asked to copy …
- … supporters to write to his most vociferous German champion, Ernst Haeckel, to encourage him to tone …
- … completely revised the German translation of Origin in 1866, would be called upon to translate …
- … Beagle shipmate Bartholomew James Sulivan at Christmas 1866, Darwin had written at the end of the …
- … one of his most devoted supporters, the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, to moderate his public …
- … work, Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (Haeckel 1866), contained much interesting material, …
- … of the truth of his own conclusions’ ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 12 April [1867] ). All …
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
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…
What did Darwin believe?
Summary
What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…
Matches: 7 hits
- … their own. Mary Boole’s letter In December 1866 Darwin received a letter from Mary …
- … mutual concern for many years. Huxley, Wallace, and Haeckel The value of methodical …
- … role model. Darwin’s leading German supporter, Ernst Haeckel, complained to Darwin in 1867, …
- … controversy, allowing others like Huxley, Wallace, and Haeckel to battle on his behalf. Darwin did …
- … would alienate potential allies and disturb old allegiances. Haeckel’s letter had been prompted by …
- … style also left him vulnerable to critics, as Wallace and Haeckel pointed out. To this day, Darwin’s …
- … reference to the present time (London: Elliot Stock). Haeckel, Ernst. German zoologist. …
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: 3 hits
3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…
Matches: 3 hits
3.14 Julia Margaret Cameron, photos
Summary
< Back to Introduction In the summer of 1868 Darwin took a holiday on the Isle of Wight with his immediate family, his brother Erasmus, and his friend Joseph Hooker. The family’s accommodation at Freshwater was rented from the photographer Julia…
4.59 'Simplicissimus' cartoon
Summary
< Back to Introduction In 1909 the German satirical magazine Simplicissimus celebrated the centenary of Darwin’s birth with a whimsical cartoon by its resident artist Thomas Theodor Heine, titled ‘Zu Darwins hundertstem Geburtstag’ (‘On Darwin’s…
3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction Darwin’s son William, who had become a banker in Southampton, took the opportunity of a short visit home to Down House in April 1864 to photograph his father afresh. This half-length portrait was the first to show Darwin with a…
Matches: 4 hits
- … looked little changed, except for his baldness and beard. Ernst Haeckel and the French botanist …
- … in The Quarterly Journal of Science in April 1866. This crayon-like drawing has a facsimile of …
- … was also reproduced as a medallion, which circulated amongst Haeckel’s students in Jena. It was, …
- … Benjamin D. Walsh to Darwin, 1 March 1865 (DCP-LETT-4778). Haeckel’s letter to Darwin, 28 Jan. 1866 …
Portraits of Charles Darwin: a catalogue
Summary
Compiled by Diana Donald The format of the catalogue Nineteenth-century portraits of Darwin are found in a very wide range of visual media. For the purposes of this catalogue, they have been divided into four broad categories, according to medium.…
Matches: 3 hits
From morphology to movement: observation and experiment
Summary
Darwin was a thoughtful observer of the natural world from an early age. Whether on a grand scale, as exemplified by his observations on geology, or a microscopic one, as shown by his early work on the eggs and larvae of tiny bryozoans, Darwin was…
4.4 Thomas Huxley, caricature sketch
Summary
< Back to Introduction This amusing sketch signed by Thomas Huxley is in a letter that he wrote to Darwin on 20 July 1868. By the late 1860s, Origin of Species had given rise to extreme adulation of Darwin on the part of some of the younger German…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin on the part of some of the younger German scientists. Ernst Haeckel, the principal preacher …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
