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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: 27 hits

  • … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The …
  • … machine’  ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December [1870] ). Finishing Descent; …
  • … some weeks’  ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ). Darwin was still working hard on …
  • … I shall be’  ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). She had previously read proof-sheets …
  • … shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Henrietta disagreed: ‘Certainly …
  • … of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February 1870] ). Darwin was also encouraged …
  • … sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). Cobbe accused Darwin of smiling in …
  • … great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870?] ). Humans as animals: ears …
  • … [1868] ; this volume, letter to Thomas Woolner, 10 March [1870] ). Darwin included Woolner’s …
  • … findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March 1870 ). Indeed, Darwin noted the same …
  • … bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). Researching expression: …
  • … spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870 ). Keen for more evidence of …
  • … hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] ). Darwin made a similar request of …
  • … not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] ). Darwin’s queries were part …
  • … of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). He also wrote to a leading Dutch …
  • … on this subject’  ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). Human evolution: debates and …
  • … more fully in a collection of essays published in April 1870 (Wallace 1870a). Wallace wrote to …
  • … naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). Despite their increasing …
  • … in one sense rivals’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870] ). Darwin alluded here to the …
  • … No one but yourself’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 20 May 1870 ). Darwin very rarely used the …
  • … never  write reviews’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). St George Jackson Mivart …
  • … to answer objectors’ ( letter to W. H. Flower, 25 March [1870] ). In his letters to Mivart, Darwin …
  • … Darwin received a string of letters from his cousin Francis Galton, reporting on his efforts to …
  • … by breaking adjacent veins into one’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 25 June 1870 ). Occasionally …
  • … the latest litters has a white forefoot’  ( letter from Francis Galton, 12 May 1870 ). But in …
  • … an old fellow as I daresay I appear to you Francis completed his studies at Cambridge, …
  • … an old fellow as I daresay I appear to you’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 18 October [1870] ). …

Francis Galton

Summary

Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…

Matches: 10 hits

  • Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a
  • from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at Kings College
  • completing a natural historical narrative of the journey (Galton 1853). Darwin enjoyed and admired
  • animals in Africa. On receiving a copy of Origin , Galton remarked that reading the book was like
  • hypothesis of pangenesis in Variation (1868), Galton began a series of experiments on rabbits to
  • more litters & no happy results”, he wrote on 26 April 1870 . In the following year, Galton
  • hereditary material to be transmitted through the blood. Galton resumed his experiments with
  • organs, isolated from the effects of environment or habit. Galton shared his views in several
  • sought help from his mathematician son George, who shared Galtons more statistical approach to
  • in human achievement. In response to a questionnaire that Galton prepared for his book English men

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: 15 hits

  • … Brooke, C.A.J. 30 Nov 1870 Sarawak, Borneo …
  • … Crichton-Browne, James 15 March 1870 West Riding …
  • … Crichton-Browne, James 18 March 1870 Down, Kent, …
  • … blushing Darwin, Francis 20 June 1867 …
  • … and S. Sutton Darwin, Francis [before 30 …
  • … Donders, F.C. 27 May 1870 Utrecht, Netherlands …
  • … Forbes, David 13 June 1870 Portman Square, London W. …
  • … letter from Mansel Weale Galton, Francis 7 …
  • … Nicol, Patrick 13 May 1870 Sussex Lunatic Asylum, …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. [c.8 or 9 Apr 1870] Accra, West …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 4 June 1870 Lagos, Africa …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 3 Sept 1870 Conservative Club, St …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 9 Nov 1870 11 St Mary Abbot's …
  • … Weale, J.P.M. [25 May 1870] Bedford, Cape of Good …
  • … Weir, J.J. 27 June 1870 Blackheath, London, England …

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: 6 hits

  • … more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 November [1872] ), and the …
  • … by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in July 1870, and was now halted so that the further …
  • … drawings shortly afterwards ( letter from Samuel Butler to Francis Darwin, [before 30 May 1872] , …
  • … the claims of spiritualists, and Darwin, through his cousin Francis Galton, had with some interest …
  • … however, incorporated in the second edition, produced by Francis Darwin after his father’s death. …
  • … new name on the list of volunteers: by the beginning of May, Francis Darwin, the Darwins’ third son, …

Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?

Summary

Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…

Matches: 16 hits

  • Cross and self fertilisation  (1876). Darwins son Francis became increasingly involved in this
  • from within the family, and he was clearly delighted by Franciss decision. A large portion
  • in animals. The subject was brought closer to home by Francis Galtons work on inherited talent, …
  • Poisons and electrocution . . . His son Francis was assisting the histologist Edward Emanuel
  • of medical research in London. On the advice of Klein, Francis obtained a new microscope for his
  • on botany, he drew more on assistance from his son Francis. While visiting his fiancée, Amy Ruck, in
  • notes and take tracings of their burrows” ( letter from Francis Darwin, 14 August [1873] ). …
  • … [1873] ).  Shortly afterwards, it was arranged for Francis to rent a house in the village (Down
  • to H. E. Litchfield, 20 February 1873 ). The surgeon Francis Stephen Bennet Francois de Chaumont, …
  • or previously acquired knowledge” (A. R. Wallace 1870, p. 204). Moggridge suggested instead that
  • of instinct and inheritance when he was asked by his cousin Francis Galton to participate in a study
  • to encourage interbreeding among thenaturally gifted” (Galton 1873a). Darwin was sympathetic to
  • and investing money very well” ( letter to Francis Galton, 28 May 1873 ). Among character traits, …
  • his own character, he asked his sons to complete the list. Francis added to his fathers virtues: …
  • and difficulties”. Later in the year, Darwin learned from Francis Maitland Balfour that Dohrn had
  • of one of these longish breaks, Darwin wrote to his son Francis, “I am in an idiotic state of

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: 8 hits

  • … the basis for a new German edition (Bronn and Carus trans. 1870), prepared by Julius Victor Carus, …
  • … own evolutionary views and critical commentary (Royer trans. 1870). Darwin complained to Hooker, …
  • … work some hours daily’ ( letter to Anton Dohrn, 4 January 1870 ). Darwin’s health was generally …
  • … of concern were received for months afterwards. Francis Galton: Hereditary genius and …
  • … Emma read aloud from a new book by Darwin’s half-cousin, Francis Galton. The work,  Hereditary …
  • … is an eminently  important difference’ ( letter to Francis Galton,  23 December [1869] ). …
  • … of inheritance through experiments on rabbits ( letter from Francis Galton, 11 December 1869 ). …
  • … the first to give me freedom of thought’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 24 December 1869 ). …

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: 9 hits

  • … depends’ ( From Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). By May 1870, Darwin reported that he was ‘rearing …
  • … of English fertile plants’ ( To Fritz Müller, 12 May 1870 ). From a fairly early stage in …
  • … 8 January 1876] ). It was his cousin, the statistician Francis Galton, who provided a statistical …
  • … to publish the report in the introduction to the book ( To Francis Galton, 13 January [1876] ). …
  • … 6 June 1876] ). The project proved to be too complex and Francis Darwin later recalled, ‘the …
  • … birth of Darwin’s first grandchild, a son born to Amy and Francis Darwin on 7 September, suddenly …
  • … if, as I expect, you find it too much for you’ ( To Francis Darwin, 16 September [1876] ). Francis
  • … have accepted all, though some slightly modified’ ( To Francis Darwin, 20 September [1876] ). …
  • … ‘Your corrections are very good & very useful’ ( To Francis Darwin   25 September [1876] ). …

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.…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … by people wanting copies’, Darwin wrote to his son Francis on 28 February . Demand continued …
  • … liberal or orthodox. The American philosopher and journalist Francis Ellingwood Abbot incorporated …
  • … man & we were the best of friends’, he wrote to his son Francis on 28 February . However, …
  • … Darwin had been receiving regular reports from his cousin Francis Galton on the progress of …
  • … in order to facilitate cross-circulation ( letter from Francis Galton, 13 September 1871 ). …
  • … activity would have on the elevation of land. In October 1870, two separate square yards of ground …
  • … science ( letter to Horace Darwin, [15 December 1871] ). Francis was now studying medicine at St …
  • … of Trinity College, planned a trip to America, and invited Francis and two Cambridge friends. Darwin …
  • …  be almost superhuman virtue to give it up’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 16 May [1871] ). Darwin …

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 6 hits

  • F., [30 August 1867 - 70] Darwin asks his son, Francis, to check his Latin translation of a
  • Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin seeks Henriettas
  • Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 September 1870] Written shortly before
  • Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, J., [29 September 1870] Darwin asks Murray to
  • Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to Darwin, [29 April 1870] George Cupples tells Darwin about a
  • July 1875] Charlotte Pape responds to Darwin and Galtons works on heredity. She is

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: 10 hits

  • … at an early age was encouraged by Darwin. He wrote to Francis: ‘I say nothing about the loss to …
  • … a small tribute of respect’ (letter from John Lubbock to Francis Darwin, 20 April 1882 (DAR 215: 10n …
  • … of ice dams causing glacial lakes was presented by Thomas Francis Jamieson in a paper to the …
  • … contents of bats?’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, 14 March 1870 ). One of Darwin’s other great …
  • … much of him’ ( letter to George Cupples, 20 September [1870] ). Despite Darwin’s insistence …
  • … Darwin’s views on eugenics, a term coined by his cousin Francis Galton, were mixed, partly owing to …
  • … years of Darwin’s life show his increasing attachment to Francis, as father and son worked together …
  • … no one to talk to, I scribble this to you’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [1 August 1878] ). …
  • … from Charlotte Papé, 16 July 1875 ). She now addressed Francis, who could best appreciate the …
  • … and nothing too small’ (letter from Charlotte Papé to Francis Darwin, 21 April 1882, DAR 215: 7k). …

Discussion Questions and Essay Questions

Summary

There are a wide range of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwin’s correspondence.  We have provided a set of sample discussion questions and essay questions, each of which focuses on a particular topic or correspondent in depth.…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Müller and the adaptations of insects to flowers (1867), Francis Galton on inheritance theory …
  • … [In different human races (David Forbes, 1868, W. Reade, 1870-1) As a product of natural selection, …