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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: 15 hits

  • … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the …
  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … with an exchange with one of his favourite correspondents, Fritz Müller. The men discussed the …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … 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 ). …
  • … Murray, carried an anonymous article on the book in January 1882. The reviewer’s assessment was …
  • … researches themselves’ ( Quarterly Review , January 1882, p. 179). Darwin commented at length on …
  • … 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 …
  • … of whom drew substantially on his theory. In 1869, Hermann Müller (brother to Fritz) sent Darwin his …

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…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … , he had told his valued South American correspondent Fritz Müller, ‘I feel myself a very old man, …
  • in Unconscious memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St Jamess
  • memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for publication in the Journal of Popular
  • publishers decided to print500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ) …
  • a sinner as those whom I have blamed.’ The book inspired Fritz Müller to send observations from
  • the animal learnt from its own individual experience ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). …
  • whether observations of their behaviour were trustworthy ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 March [1881] …
  • about the sale of books beinga game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18
  • a method to investigate aggregation. He explained to Fritz Müller on 10 September why he had
  • Darwin told Francis on 9 Novemberand writing to Fritz Müller on 13 November , he confessed, …
  • new facts is but dull work.’ It was Fritz Müller who sparked Darwins interest in
  • of dimorphism), to see whether his observations supported Müllers conclusion. Seton fireby
  • for more suggestions of such plants, especially annuals ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 March
  • in obtaining mature plants. On 12 April, he reported to Müller , ‘I have procured some plants of
  • supposed he would feelless sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The
  • dead a work falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). …
  • conversation with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), …
  • add, however little, to the general stock of knowledge’ ( letter to E. W. Bok, 10 May 1881 ). …
  • regularbread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • any future publication & to acknowledge any criticism’ ( letter to C. G. Semper, 19 July 1881
  • view of the nature & capabilities of the Fuegians’ ( letter to W. P. Snow, 22 November 1881 ). …
  • Nature published the day after Darwins death in April 1882. Deaths, gifts and legacies
  • for the Belfast potato-blight researcher James Torbitt; Fritz Müller was offered £100 to replace

Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours

Summary

Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…

Matches: 28 hits

  • … correspondents such as Daniel Oliver, Friedrich Hildebrand, Fritz Müller, and John Scott who had …
  • … of respect and affection’. He hinted as much in his letter of 4 June : ‘you will see I have done …
  • … plants. He resumed experiments in the spring, writing to Fritz Müller on 14 May , ‘I have made …
  • … have shared Hooker’s suspicion of ambitious gardeners ( letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August …
  • … method of recording leaf motion for extended periods. In a letter to Thiselton-Dyer of 11 October …
  • … … tap one of the young leaves with a delicate twig’ ( letter to R. I. Lynch, 14 September 1877 ). …
  • … , or to the vibratory flagella of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). …
  • … in July 1877 (F. Darwin 1877b), and Darwin sent Cohn’s letter vindicating his son’s research to …
  • … Die Seele des Kindes (The mind of the child; Preyer 1882), based partly on observations of his son …
  • … his sense of form and of motion was exact and lively’ ( letter from W. E. Gladstone, 23 October …
  • … the Westphalian Provincial Society for Science and Art. In a letter to Darwin written before 16 …
  • … the only one full-page in size. Haeckel sent a personal letter of congratulation on 9 February , …
  • … (see Appendix V). The album arrived with a long letter from the director and secretary of the …
  • … reported, ‘but found him as soft & smooth as butter’ ( letter to C. E. Norton, 16 March 1877 ) …
  • … write to Owen & offer himself you & me to dejeuner!!!’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 June …
  • … where I hope it may remain for centuries to come’ ( letter from C. C. Graham, 30 January 1877 ). …
  • … you in the interests of truth, of man and of societies’ ( letter from Marcellin de Bonnal, [1877] …
  • … to the old story to be horsewhipped by a duke!’ ( letter to J. M. Rodwell, 3 June 1877 ). Back …
  • … frog spawn; the gospel of dirt the order of the day’ ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 27 January [1877] …
  • … credence to racist prejudice in Descent of man . In a letter from an unknown correspondent on …
  • … the subjects of Siebold’s study of medical monstrosity ( letter from C. T. E. Siebold, 10 October …
  • … our blood and thus keep back our civilization’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 17 May 1877 ). Bowles …
  • … and wives of ‘men of the white race’. In a follow-up letter he warned, ‘you find them in multituds …
  • … polish serves to hide the absence of humanity beneath’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 18 May 1877 ). …
  • … in New Guinea, who reportedly had hard inflexible tails ( letter from Arthur Mellersh, 1 January …
  • … up Pangenesis with wicked imprecations’ (Trollope 1867; letter to G. J. Romanes, [1 and 2 December …
  • … disclaimed its ‘scientific value’, he confessed in a letter of 25 November 1877 that the book …
  • … so many men exhibit is in many cases purely physical’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 10 September …

Diagrams and drawings in letters

Summary

Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … in viviparous fish,  [before 1 June 1871] Fritz Müller's observations on butterflies …
  • … of germination in Megarrhiza californica , enclosed in a letter from Asa Gray,   4 April 1880 …
  • … vasculosus Griseb . ,  7 August 1880 Fritz Müller on the sleep movements and …
  • … plants",  Collected papers  2: 236–56],  22 February 1882

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: 19 hits

  • end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburns terms ( Letter 856 ). Instead he asked his friend
  • John Murray, to open negotiations with his own publisher ( Letter 824 ). Lyells talk with Murray
  • have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business
  • copies some pages in Darwins chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an
  • … & make the poor workman some present’ (12 June [1849] Letter 1245 ). Darwins next
  • 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
  • … (Variation ), but work progressed slowly ( Letter 3078 ); meanwhile in 1862 Murray published  On
  • Murray only offered Darwin half profits for this title ( Letter 3261 ); it was never a best-seller
  • … ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray decided to print
  • to Brazil, the beginning of a life-long correspondence ( Letter 4881 ). Subsequently Darwin
  • the risk himself. Murray suggested printing 750 copies ( Letter 6597 ), but Darwin decided on 1000
  • fail, I think, to be much read’ (28 September [1870] Letter 7329 ). Murray decided to print 2500
  • hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was
  • America, of St George Mivarts Genesis of species  ( Letter 7907 ) ;  this was Darwins
  • Letter 13466 ]. He died a few months later, on 19 April 1882. …

Movement in Plants

Summary

The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … had considered combining the works in a single volume ( letter to J. V. Carus, 7 February 1875 ). …
  • … 1877, Darwin asked one of his most trusted correspondents, Fritz Müller, to ‘ observe whether any …
  • … , a plant that exhibited all three types of movement ( letter from R. I. Lynch, [before 28 July …
  • … the woodblock using photography for scientific accuracy ( letter from J. D. Cooper, 13 December …
  • … lost colour, withered, and died within a couple of days ( letter from A. F. Batalin, 28 February …
  • … how their observations could have been so much at odds ( letter to Hugo de Vries 13 February 1879 …
  • … the botanist Gaetano Durando, to find plants and seeds ( letter to Francis Darwin, [4 February – 8 …
  • … into March 1879, and Darwin seemed weary when he told Fritz Müller, ‘ I have little or nothing to …
  • … only the regulator & not cause of movement ’. In the same letter, Darwin discussed terminology, …
  • … to replace Frank’s ‘Transversal-Heliotropismus’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 10 February [1880] ). …
  • … experiments and devised a new test, which he described in a letter to his mother, ‘ I did some …
  • … and it appeared in 1880 (F. Darwin 1880b). In the same letter, Francis revealed the frustration of …
  • … on holiday in the Lake District, Darwin received a long letter from De Vries detailing his latest …
  • … described as ‘little discs’ and ‘greenish bodies’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 29 October 1879 …
  • … of cotton that he had not been able to observe earlier ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 20 …
  • … might have been too weak to lift the weight of the seed ( letter from Asa Gray, 3 February 1880 ). …
  • … germination occurred, the plant would be killed by frost ( letter from Asa Gray, 4 April 1880 ). …
  • … Plants’ or ‘The Nature of the Movements of Plants’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 23 April [1880] ). …
  • … Phytographie  (A. de Candolle 1880). In his letter of thanks for the book, Darwin promised to send …
  • … for advice about the number of copies they should print ( letter to John Murray, 10 July 1880 ). …
  • … works, Murray was willing to publish on the usual terms ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 15 July 1880 ). …
  • … only suggest printing more copies or raising the price ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 20 July 1880 ). …
  • … Stahl’s paper with him, for the relevant page numbers ( letter to Francis Darwin, 5 August [1880] …
  • … publisher, Eduard Koch had already agreed to publish it ( letter from J. V. Carus, 18 September …
  • … Nature  the day after his father’s death (F. Darwin 1882). Darwin’s study of plant movement went …