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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: 26 hits
- … The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the publication of his …
- … book out of my head’. But a large proportion of Darwin’s time for the rest of the year was devoted …
- … way, and the initial reception of the book in the press. Darwin fielded numerous letters from …
- … offered sharp criticism or even condemnation. Darwin had expected controversy. ‘I shall be …
- … a bare-faced manner.”‘ The most lively debate centred on Darwin’s evolutionary account of the …
- … taste. Correspondence with his readers and critics helped Darwin to clarify, and in some cases …
- … year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression. Darwin continued to investigate the …
- … also brought a significant milestone for the family, as Darwin’s eldest daughter Henrietta was …
- … during several past years, has been a great amusement’. Darwin had been working fairly continuously …
- … work on species theory in the late 1830s. In recent years, Darwin had collected a wealth of material …
- … to human evolution was comparatively small, reflecting Darwin’s aim of showing kinship with animals …
- … he is “torn to pieces” by people wanting copies’, Darwin wrote to his son Francis on 28 February …
- … letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ). The profits for Darwin were considerable. After …
- … man.’ Promoting the book As usual, Darwin did his best to obtain a wide and favourable …
- … (see Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix IV). Four of Darwin’s five sons received a copy, and his …
- … received a special acknowledgment in the form of a gift. Darwin credited her for whatever he had …
- … ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). Reaction …
- … 1871). The geologist William Boyd Dawkins remarked on Darwin’s books’ reception amongst ‘artisans …
- … and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 ). Samples …
- … regarding human ancestry was expressed by Darwin’s old friend, the former vicar of Down John Brodie …
- … is a thing which I sh d feel very proud of, if anyone c d . say of me.’ After the publication …
- … was achieved through ‘the medium of opinion, positive law &c’, and transmitted by culture, not …
- … in the world except. laughing. crying grinning pouting &c. &c’, he wrote to Hooker on 21 …
- … so giddy I can hardly sit up, so no more’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 4 August [1871] ). On 23 …
- … annually on an acre of land at 16 tons (letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [20 November 1871] ). He also …
- … ( letter to Asa Gray, 16 July [1871] , letter to S. R. S. Norton, 23 November [1871] ). …
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: 22 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 …
- … Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, Adam Sedgwick, A Friend of John Stuart Mill, Emma Darwin, …
- … 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 …
- … are kept in check by a constitutional weakness. DARWIN: A plain but comfortable brick …
- … by every blessing except that of vigorous health… DARWIN: 4 My confounded stomach …
- … pursuits and the simplicity of his character. DARWIN: 5 I am allowed to work now …
- … own house, where he was the most charming of hosts. DARWIN: 6 My life goes on …
- … being a part of [an unpublished] manuscript. Darwin settles down to write. His tone is …
- … To give one example, the last time I saw my dear old friend Falconer, he attacked me most vigorously …
- … DARWIN: Now when I see such strong feeling in my oldest friend, you need not wonder that I always …
- … myself mistaken and punished; 55 My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter …
- … highest authority on such subjects, and he said lately to a friend, who wrote to me, as follows. …
- … with this population, I see not. 121 Your cordial friend and true Yankee, Asa Gray. …
- … Hooker is pale. HOOKER: 153 Dear dear friend. My darling little second girl …
- … hernia. DARWIN: 154 My dear old friend… HOOKER: 155 I tried …
- … 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 …
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: 5 hits
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 24 hits
- … The year 1876 started out sedately enough with Darwin working on the first draft of his book on the …
- … games. ‘I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games’, Darwin boasted; ‘my wife … poor creature, has won …
- … regarding the ailments that were so much a feature of Darwin family life. But the calm was not to …
- … four days later. ‘I cannot bear to think of the future’, Darwin confessed to William on 11 …
- … once, the labour of checking proofs proved a blessing, as Darwin sought solace for the loss of his …
- … and his baby son Bernard now part of the household, and Darwin recasting his work on dimorphic and …
- … had involved much time and effort the previous year, and Darwin clearly wanted to focus his …
- … of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February 1876 ). When …
- … single-volume edition titled Geological observations , Darwin resisted making any revisions at …
- … volume, Coral reefs , already in its second edition. Darwin was nevertheless ‘firmly resolved not …
- … meticulous correction of errors in the German editions made Darwin less anxious about correcting the …
- … to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. ) Darwin focused instead on the second …
- … concentrated on the ‘means of crossing’, was seen by Darwin as the companion to Cross and self …
- … return to old work than part of the future work outlined by Darwin in his ‘little Autobiography’ ( …
- … holiday after finishing Cross and self fertilisation , Darwin took up the suggestion made by a …
- … for his family only. Writing for an hour every afternoon, Darwin finished his account on 3 August …
- … dimittis.”’ (‘Recollections’, pp. 418–19). Darwin remained firm in his resolution to …
- … books raised. On 22 April, he told his old Shropshire friend Thomas Eyton , who had evidently …
- … effected by his forthcoming pamphlet, Darwin confounded (C. O’Shaughnessy 1876), which, he …
- … and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). Although …
- … voting scheduled for 3 February, Darwin reassured his close friend Joseph Hooker that he and Francis …
- … year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March 1876] ). A less welcome reaction …
- … because of a ‘long and terrible illness’ ( letter to C. S. Wedgwood, 20 April 1876 ). By the time …
- … in harmony with yours’ ( letter from George Henslow, [ c. 7 December 1876] ). A more typical …
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 …
- … sent back his own to the publishers, he applied first to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, and …
- … 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 ). …
- … this case you would I feel sure, no longer treat me as your friend, and you would free yourself at …
- … through William Walter Roberts, a Catholic priest and friend of Mivart’s, who was attending Huxley’s …
- … third son Francis married Amy Ruck, the sister of a friend of Leonard Darwin’s in the Royal …
- … 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 ). …
- … ; letter from Michael Foster, 17 June [1874] ). Friend and patron Darwin championed …
- … Sharpe for promotion at the British Museum ( letter to R. B. Sharpe, 24 November [1874] ). He …
- … on a more personal level, Darwin took care of his close friend Hooker, who stayed at Down after his …
- … head that M r Spencer’s terms of equilibration &c always bother me & make everything less …
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: 25 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
- … a very old man, who probably will not last much longer.’ Darwin’s biggest fear was not death, but …
- … sweetest place on this earth’. From the start of the year, Darwin had his demise on his mind. He …
- … provision for the dividing of his wealth after his death. Darwin’s gloominess was compounded by the …
- … and new admirers got in touch, and, for all his fears, Darwin found several scientific topics to …
- … Evolution old and new when revising his essay on Erasmus Darwin’s scientific work, and that Darwin …
- … memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s Gazette on 8 …
- … in a review of Unconscious memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for …
- … the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 May …
- … he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The degree of …
- … falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). Darwin gave in …
- … with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), while H. M. …
- … to possibilities for women, judging from her organization &c’. When Darwin replied the following …
- … ‘bread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
- … publication & to acknowledge any criticism’ ( letter to C. G. Semper, 19 July 1881 ). He …
- … to bear the ‘wear & tear of controversy’ ( letter to G. R. Jesse, 23 April 1881 ). Later in …
- … everyone else’s judgment on the subject ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 12 July 1881 ). However, some …
- … do not be disappointed if the sale is small’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 5 October 1881 ). The …
- … proved ‘the greatness of their power’ ( letter from M. C. Stanley, 16 October 1881 ). Hooker …
- … men the true methods of investigation’ ( letter from C. V. Riley, 18 December 1881 ). …
- … added, ‘when I look back, however, especially my beloved friend to the days I have spent in …
- … been worse.’ Recollections of the earlier loss of a close friend were prompted by the publication of …
- … having read a page of it, but relieved that Carlyle’s friend Erasmus Alvey Darwin, Darwin’s brother, …
- … was made public. On 1 September, an old Shrewsbury School friend, Lamplugh Dykes , wrote to …
- … our children’, Darwin told his old Cambridge University friend John Price on 27 December . As …
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: 21 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 …
- … , to Thomas Henry Huxley for evaluation, and persuaded his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker to comment on …
- … 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 …
- … all kinds has perished with him. He was always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( …
- … Society on 2 February, and in April Darwin wrote to his friend Asa Gray, a botanist in the United …
- … Darwin had received a copy of Müller’s book, Für Darwin , a study of the Crustacea with reference …
- … July 1865 ). This may have been unwise: Thomas Thomson, a friend of Hooker’s, described by him as a …
- … … inheritance, reversion, effects of use & disuse &c’, and which he intended to publish in …
- … expect from their private communications; Lubbock, a younger friend, had been encouraged and …
- … 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 …
- … Darwin was consulting, or encouraging George to consult, a friend, the civil engineer Edward Cresy, …
- … ‘As for your thinking that you do not deserve the C[opley] Medal,’ he rebuked Hooker, ‘that I …
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. …
- … 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 …
- … J. D., 19 [Apr 1864] Darwin makes another plea to his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker to take …
- … C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 25 Apr [1864] Darwin thinks his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker takes …
- … spent preceding day with Henslow; much had to be done. His friend, Alexander Charles Wood, has …
Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 22 hits
- … There are summaries of all Darwin's letters from the year 1879 on this website. The full texts …
- … 27 of the print edition of The correspondence of Charles Darwin , published by Cambridge …
- … to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an …
- … the sensitivity of the tips. Despite this breakthrough, when Darwin first mentioned the book to his …
- … a holiday in the Lake District in August did little to raise Darwin’s spirits. ‘I wish that my …
- … W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [after 26] July [1879] ). From July, Darwin had an additional worry: the …
- … that his grandfather had felt the same way. In 1792, Erasmus Darwin had written: ‘The worst thing I …
- … all over like a baked pear’ ( enclosure in letter from R. W. Dixon, 20 December 1879 ). The year …
- … contained a warmer note and the promise of future happiness: Darwin learned he was to be visited by …
- … Hacon, 31 December 1879 ). Seventy years old Darwin’s seventieth birthday on 12 …
- … the veteran of Modern Zoology’, but it was in Germany that Darwin was most fêted. A German …
- … nice and good as could be’ ( letter from Karl Beger, [ c. 12 February 1879] ). The masters of …
- … accepted in Germany. ‘On this festive day’, Haeckel told Darwin, ‘you can look back, with justified …
- … of the Admiralty described the unknown young man as ‘A M r Darwin grandson of the well known …
- … him on 9 June not to ‘expend much powder & shot on M r Butler’, for he really was not worth …
- … leaving Darwin ‘more perplexed than ever about life of D r . D’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 12 …
- … the highest point, for his “why”—“what for” &c are incessant’, Darwin joked on 2 July (first …
- … holiday in a hotel owned by Victor Marshall, a Darwin family friend. Francis was to join them on his …
- … which is his profession tho’ not a profitable one; also D r C[lark]’s opinion that he was so …
- … greatly amused Darwin, who felt it was ‘very acute of M r Ruskin to know that I feel a deep & …
- … for Mengen as he had just experienced the death of his best friend. In a succinct reply (justified …
- … and prevent ‘Cattle diseases, Potato diseases &c’, probably did not know that Darwin had already …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 24 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
- … markedly, reflecting a decline in his already weak health. Darwin then began punctuating letters …
- … and in a letter of 23 [June 1863] he wrote to his close friend Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘I am …
- … letter-writing dwindled considerably. The correspondence and Darwin’s scientific work diminished …
- … of the water-cure. The treatment was not effective and Darwin remained ill for the rest of the year. …
- … the correspondence from the year. These letters illustrate Darwin’s preoccupation with the …
- … to man’s place in nature both had a direct bearing on Darwin’s species theory and on the problem …
- … detailed anatomical similarities between humans and apes, Darwin was full of praise. He especially …
- … in expressing any judgment on Species or origin of man’. Darwin’s concern about the popular …
- … Lyell’s and Huxley’s books. Three years earlier Darwin had predicted that Lyell’s forthcoming …
- … first half of 1863 focused attention even more closely on Darwin’s arguments for species change. …
- … ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Darwin reiterated in a later letter that it …
- … of creation, and the origin of species particularly, worried Darwin; he told Hooker that he had once …
- … letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did not relish telling Lyell of his …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Nevertheless, Darwin’s regret was profound that the …
- … the ‘brutes’, but added that he would bring many towards Darwin who would have rebelled against …
- … from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). The botanist Asa Gray, Darwin’s friend in the United States, …
- … off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In May, Darwin responded to Gray that Lyell’s and …
- … or Modification, ’. Faction fighting Darwin was not alone in feeling disaffected …
- … in the subject. ‘The worst of it is’, Hooker wrote to Darwin, ‘I suppose it is virtually Huxley’s …
- … that he had contributed to the proofs of human antiquity. Darwin and Hooker repeatedly exchanged …
- … sentence from the second edition of Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863b, p. 469), published in …
- … very slowly recovering, but am very weak’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [29 September? 1863] ). …
- … Thomas’s Hospital, London ( letter from George Busk, [ c. 27 August 1863] ). Brinton, who …
Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms
Summary
‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…
Matches: 22 hits
- … heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old …
- … to adapt to varying conditions. The implications of Darwin’s work for the boundary between animals …
- … studies of animal instincts by George John Romanes drew upon Darwin’s early observations of infants, …
- … of evolution and creation. Many letters flowed between Darwin and his children, as he took delight …
- … Financial support for science was a recurring issue, as Darwin tried to secure a Civil List pension …
- … with Samuel Butler, prompted by the publication of Erasmus Darwin the previous year. …
- … Charles Harrison Tindal, sent a cache of letters from two of Darwin’s grandfather’s clerical friends …
- … divines to see a pig’s body opened is very amusing’, Darwin replied, ‘& that about my …
- … registry offices, and produced a twenty-page history of the Darwin family reaching back to the …
- … the world’ ( letter from J. L. Chester, 3 March 1880 ). Darwin’s sons George and Leonard also …
- … and conciliate a few whose ancestors had not featured in Darwin’s Life . ‘In an endeavour to …
- … think I must pay a round of visits.’ One cousin, Reginald Darwin, warmed to George: ‘he had been …
- … an ordinary mortal who could laugh’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin to Charles and Emma Darwin, 22 July …
- … by anticipation the position I have taken as regards D r Erasmus Darwin in my book Evolution old …
- … to the end’, added her husband Richard ( letter from R. B. Litchfield, 1 February 1880 ). Even the …
- … shake their heads in the same dismal manner as you & M r . Murray did, when I told them my …
- … Times , Darwin was congratulated by an old Shropshire friend, Sarah Haliburton. She was one of the …
- … in a book about beetles the impressive words “captured by C. Darwin”. … This seemed to me glory …
- … ‘but the subject has amused me’ ( letter to W. C. McIntosh, 18 June 1880 ). Members of the family …
- … great doctrines …“Come of Age”‘ ( letter from W. C. Williamson to Emma Darwin, 2 September 1880 ). …
- … his voice as clearly as if he were present’ (letters to C. W. Fox, 29 March 1880 and 10 [April …
- … ). At the year’s end, a Christmas card from another old friend, John Maurice Herbert, inspired happy …
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: 10 hits
- … the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely variable. Many of …
- … was itself an important arena of debate, one that Darwin greatly preferred to the public sphere. …
- … and support sustained in spite of enduring differences. Darwin's correspondence can thus help …
- … Disagreement and Respect Darwin rarely engaged with critics publically. Letters exchanged …
- … Richard Owen, the eminent comparative anatomist, show how Darwin tried to manage strong disagreement …
- … were less severe, the relationship quickly deteriorated and Darwin came to regard him as a bitter …
- … Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, C. R., 24 Nov 1859 Adam Sedgwick thanks Darwin for …
- … in the spirit of brotherly love and as his true-hearted friend. Letter 2555 — Darwin, C …
- … of “unjust things” said by a “very distinguished friend” [A. Sedgwick]. Value of his views now …
- … Letter 5533 — Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, C. R., 12 May 1867 Haeckel thanks Darwin for the …
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 26 hits
- … Towards the end of 1862, Darwin resolved to build a small hothouse at Down House, for ‘experimental …
- … hothouse early in 1863 marked something of a milestone in Darwin’s botanical work, since it greatly …
- … vol. 5, letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1855] ). Darwin became increasingly involved in …
- … Though his greenhouse was probably heated to some extent, Darwin found himself on several occasions …
- … of the hothouses and some of the tropical plants of his friend and neighbour George Henry Turnbull, …
- … make observations and even experiments on his behalf. Darwin’s decision to build a hothouse …
- … Hooker, 12 [December 1862] and n. 13). Initially, Darwin purchased for this purpose a glass …
- … of 24 December [1862] ( Correspondence vol. 10) Darwin told Hooker: I have …
- … Encyclopedia of gardening (Loudon 1835), a copy of which Darwin signed in 1841 (see the copy in …
- … of heat’ (p. 1100). The latter was the sense in which Darwin used the word. The building of …
- … accounts (Down House MS)). When it was completed, Darwin told Turnbull that without Horwood’s aid he …
- … ). Even before work on the hothouse started, however, Darwin began making preparations to …
- … plants’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January [1863] ). Darwin apparently refers to the catalogues …
- … whom he had dealt over many years. In his letter to Hooker, Darwin mentioned that he hoped to be …
- … (letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ). Darwin agreed to send Hooker his list of …
- … (letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ). Darwin probably gave his list of plants to …
- … [1863] ). On 20 February, the plants from Kew had arrived. Darwin was delighted, telling Hooker: ‘I …
- … moss, peat, and charcoal (see the letter from Henrietta Emma Darwin to William Erasmus Darwin, [22 …
- … (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [6 March 1863] ). Darwin derived enormous pleasure from his …
- … (letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin’s aesthetic appreciation of the …
- … continuing: ‘Do you not think you ought to be sent with M r Gower to the Police Court?’ (William …
- … had ‘4 houses of different temperatures’ (letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March [1869] , …
- … which he received in mid-February (see letter from L. C. Treviranus, 12 February 1863 ). …
- … The reference is to James Bateman, an orchid specialist (R. Desmond 1994). 17. Stylidium …
- … C. hæmatostigma. …
- … Cyanophyllum magnificum M r Low 29 | of Melastomaceæ …
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 …
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: 24 hits
- … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the …
- … in relation to Sex’. Always precise in his accounting, Darwin reckoned that he had started writing …
- … gathered on each of these topics was far more extensive than Darwin had anticipated. As a result, …
- … and St George Jackson Mivart, and heated debates sparked by Darwin’s proposed election to the French …
- … final proofs of Descent in December, he wrote to his friend Charles Lyell, ‘thank all the powers …
- … Finishing Descent; postponing Expression Darwin began receiving proofs of some of the …
- … ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ). Darwin was still working hard on parts of the …
- … style, the more grateful I shall be’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). She had …
- … , the latter when she was just eighteen years of age. Darwin clearly expected her to make a …
- … have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Henrietta …
- … so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February 1870] ). …
- … philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe. At Cobbe’s suggestion, Darwin read some of Immanuel Kant’s …
- … ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). Cobbe accused Darwin of smiling in his beard with …
- … as animals: ears Despite Cobbe’s plea, most of Darwin’s scientific attention in 1870 was …
- … fairy in Shakespeare’s A midsummer night’s dream. Darwin obtained a sketch of a human ear from …
- … of a pointed tip projecting inward from the folded margin. Darwin, who had posed for the sculptor in …
- … this volume, letter to Thomas Woolner, 10 March [1870] ). Darwin included Woolner’s sketch in …
- … muscles A more troubling anatomical feature for Darwin was the platysma myoides, a band of …
- … of fright’, and one of his photographs, later used by Darwin in Expression , showed a man whose …
- … letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March 1870 ). Indeed, Darwin noted the same longitudinal …
- … who sent a sketch of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). He also wrote to …
- … (in retrograde direction) naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). …
- … the Darwinian theory which it contains. . . . The views of friend Wallace are so plausible & …
- … that Pusey came to London to ascertain from a trustworthy friend who were the blackest heretics out …
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: 7 hits
- … Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those …
- … a broad variety of women had access to, and engaged with, Darwin's published works. A set of …
- … women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
- … that his views are original and will appeal to the public. Darwin asks Murray to forward the …
- … and criticisms of style. Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] …
- … typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] …
- … to Darwin, H. E., [20 February 1873] Henrietta’s friend, Laura, details recent events and …
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: 27 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
- … appeared at the end of 1866 and had told his cousin William Darwin Fox, ‘My work will have to stop a …
- … spent forty-six days on the task. As he remarked to his best friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton …
- … material on emotional expression. Yet the scope of Darwin’s interests remained extremely broad, and …
- … plants, and earthworms, subjects that had exercised Darwin for decades, and that would continue to …
- … Carl von Nägeli and perfectibility Darwin’s most substantial addition to Origin was a …
- … a Swiss botanist and professor at Munich (Nägeli 1865). Darwin had considered Nägeli’s paper …
- … principal engine of change in the development of species. Darwin correctly assessed Nägeli’s theory …
- … in most morphological features (Nägeli 1865, p. 29). Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now …
- … are & must be morphological’. The comment highlights Darwin’s apparent confusion about Nägeli’s …
- … ‘purely morphological’. The modern reader may well share Darwin’s uncertainty, but Nägeli evidently …
- … pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical examples he could use …
- … problems of heredity Another important criticism that Darwin sought to address in the fifth …
- … prevailing theory of blending inheritance that Jenkin and Darwin both shared, would tend to be lost …
- … ( Origin 5th ed., pp. 103–4). The terminology that Darwin and others employed in these matters ( …
- … ‘I must have expressed myself atrociously’, Darwin wrote to Alfred Russel Wallace on 2 February , …
- … now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , and …
- … to retrench that position following criticism from his friend Hooker, by admitting that the survival …
- … of information which I have sent prove of any service to M r . Darwin I can supply him with much …
- … & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). More …
- … and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and …
- … an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
- … species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February 1869 ). In a …
- … genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March 1869 ). This …
- … Sweetland Dallas’s edition of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an …
- … creation, if he is not completely staggered after reading y r essay’. The work received a …
- … whole meeting was decidedly Huxley’s answer to D r M c Cann. He literally poured boiling oil …
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: 21 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, …
- … Hoping to benefit from Hooker’s botanical expertise, Darwin inquired: ‘ will you tell me at a …
- … land bridges suggested by the naturalist Edward Forbes. Darwin declared to Hooker in July 1856 ‘y …
- … to me, & yet I cannot honestly admit the doctrine ’. Darwin thought Forbes’ hypothesis ‘ an …
- … of untying it. ’ Persuading men of science Darwin’s patient untying of the knot of …
- … geograph. distribution, geological history—affinities &c &c &c.. And it seems to me, …
- … those that Darwin chose to tell were so favourable. His old friend Hugh Falconer, he confessed to …
- … of those closest to him: none more so than that of his old friend, the geologist Charles Lyell, who, …
- … and a half chapters were edited and published in 1975 by R. C. Stauffer under the title Charles …
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: 27 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, …
- … couple of months were needed to index the work, a task that Darwin handed over to someone else for …
- … and animals ( Expression ), published in 1872. Although Darwin had been collecting material and …
- … A global reputation The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly …
- … who might best answer the questions, with the result that Darwin began to receive replies from …
- … Variation would be based on proof-sheets received as Darwin corrected them. Closer to home, two …
- … Charles Fleeming Jenkin, challenged different aspects of Darwin’s theory of transmutation as …
- … orchids are fertilised by insects ( Orchids ). While Darwin privately gave detailed opinions of …
- … capable hands of Alfred Russel Wallace. At the same time, Darwin was persuaded by some German …
- … were becoming counterproductive. Throughout the year, Darwin continued to discuss now …
- … in Germany, and Federico Delpino in Italy, who provided Darwin with the collegial support and …
- … tedious dull work’ Thomas Henry Huxley sent Darwin the New Year’s greeting, ‘may you be …
- … number of copies to be printed, and by the end of the month Darwin promised to send the revised …
- … to John Murray, 31 January [1867] ). A week later, Darwin had sent the manuscript to the …
- … In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to his close friend, Joseph Dalton Hooker, he explained …
- … Descent and Expression . In the same letter, Darwin revealed the conclusion to his newly …
- … As the year progressed, the book continued to consume Darwin’s time. The first proof-sheets arrived …
- … from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin told his American friend Asa Gray, ‘I am repeating this …
- … had sent in 1860 and relaying a promise from a missionary friend who was returning to South America …
- … see your second volume on “The Struggle for Existence &c.” for I doubt if we have a sufficiency …
- … “supplemental remarks on expression”’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [12–17] March [1867] ). Darwin’s …
- … aviary to see whether this was the case ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1867] ). He also …
- … level. In his response to Wallace ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 26 February [1867] ), Darwin defended …
- … to the work I shall find it much better done by you than I c d have succeeded in doing’ ( letter …
- … I have not a word to say against it but such a view c d hardly come into a scientific book’ ( …
- … Wallace published a long article, ‘Creation by law’ (A. R. Wallace 1867c), which responded to Jenkin …
- … had a bout of fever, which Darwin mentioned to his close friend Hooker, whose own newborn baby had …
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: 24 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
- … … of having grown older’. This portrait, the first of Darwin with his now famous beard, had been …
- … 52 hours without vomiting!! In the same month, Darwin began to consult William Jenner, …
- … prescribed a variety of antacids and purgatives, and limited Darwin’s fluid intake; this treatment …
- … the dimorphic aquatic cut-grass Leersia . In May, Darwin finished his paper on Lythrum …
- … he had set aside the previous summer. In October, Darwin let his friends know that on his …
- … to the surgeon and naturalist Francis Trevelyan Buckland, Darwin described his symptoms in some …
- … November and December were also marked by the award to Darwin of the Royal Society’s Copley Medal; …
- … been unsuccessfully nominated the two previous years. As Darwin explained to his cousin William …
- … it was conferred, brought a dramatic conclusion to the year. Darwin also wrote to Fox that he was …
- … progress’ in Britain. Challenging convention Darwin’s concern about the acceptance of …
- … vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin wrote to Hooker: ‘The only approach to work …
- … produce tendrils However, the queries that Darwin, describing himself as ‘a broken-down …
- … tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). Darwin’s excitement about his …
- … ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] ). When Darwin asked Oliver whether the tendrils of …
- … for his teacherly tone, explaining that he had felt that Darwin had misunderstood some accepted …
- … ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864] ). Though Darwin replied with his typical humility …
- … habits of climbing plants’ (‘Climbing plants’), which Darwin submitted to the Linnean Society in …
- … was often the case, he was interested in transitional forms. Darwin came to think, for example, that …
- … and tendril-bearers. At the end of his paper, Darwin used species from the genus Lathyrus …
- … 5 September 1864 ). Fritz Müeller sent his book, Für Darwin , and Darwin had it translated by a …
- … but Lyell says when I read his discussion in the Elements [C. Lyell 1865] I shall recant for fifth …
- … on intellectual & moral qualities’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
- … up, Darwin said it was ‘just like him to defend an absent friend’, and noted that Huxley had also …
