Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
Apache Server at dcp-public.lib.cam.ac.uk Port 443
Search:
in keywords
59 Items
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 16 hits
- … the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin …
- … continued: Darwin’s own works expanded on it, Thomas Henry Huxley gave lectures about it, and Henry …
- … not think you are conceited, but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. …
- … such view will ultimately prevail Still taking a keen interest in the progress of his …
- … condition in Primula ’ and Orchids ; it suffered a further setback when illness struck the …
- … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
- … & Nicotiana being partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. …
- … The issue arose again when, through November and December, Huxley delivered a series of lectures to …
- … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
- … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
- … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
- … protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
- … with ‘good dashes of original reflexions’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 13 January [1862] ). He warmly …
- … & admirable papers I ever read in my life’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 20 November [1862] ). He …
- … telling him of the need for a second edition ( letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ), …
- … by … particularly active young wolves’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 9 October 1862 ). Darwin …
Henrietta Huxley
Summary
A colourful and insightful exchange occurred in 1865 in a light-hearted conversation between Darwin and Henrietta Huxley, the wife of Darwin’s friend and colleague, Thomas Henry Huxley. Like her husband, Henrietta was a close friend and great champion of…
Matches: 5 hits
- … A colourful and insightful exchange occurred in 1865 in a light-hearted conversation between Darwin …
- … poem “Sea Dreams”. “I am grieved to find that a philosopher of your repute”, she said, “—should have …
- … “—I agree with the Bishop of Oxford”. ( see the letter ) Here, Henrietta makes reference to …
- … Though reports of the confrontation between the Bishop and Huxley were mixed at the time, the …
- … suggests that, while it evidently still loomed large in Huxley and Darwin’s imagination, it was at …
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: 19 hits
- … mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A vicious dispute over an anonymous …
- … von Humboldt’s 105th birthday, Darwin obliged with a reflection on his debt to Humboldt, whom he had …
- … one of the greatest men the world has ever produced. He gave a wonderful impetus to science by …
- … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
- … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
- … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
- … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
- … world. While Darwin was in London, his son George organised a séance at Erasmus’s house. The event …
- … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … researcher Frederick William Henry Myers, and Thomas Henry Huxley, who sent a long report to Darwin …
- … he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874] ). This did …
- … sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March 1874] ). The …
- … additions to Descent was an eight-page note written by Huxley with the aim of ending a dispute …
- … ape and human brains, he asked for a clarifying note from Huxley (Desmond and Moore 2004, pp. xxxv …
- … I have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). The technical …
- … and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). The second …
- … conciseness & clearness of your thought’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 20 April 1874 ). …
- … the spread of various mental and physical disorders (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In July 1874, an anonymous …
- … over the ‘scurrilous libel’ on his son ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [27 July 1874] ). George, …
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: 18 hits
- … , anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied …
- … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
- … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
- … when he and his family departed on 2 September for more than a month at a hydropathic establishment …
- … Charles Lyell, the respected geologist, and Thomas Henry Huxley, the zoologist and anatomist. Lyell …
- … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
- … views of human dignity and intelligence, exclaiming to Huxley: ‘I declare I never in my life read …
- … circles following the publication of Lyell’s and Huxley’s books. Three years earlier Darwin …
- … than Origin had (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
- … earlier in the century. Lyell’s Antiquity of man and Huxley’s Evidence as to man’s place in …
- … would sway many towards a new way of thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see …
- … on this subject seems to get rarer & rarer’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 18 April [1863] ), …
- … for the Natural History Review ( see letter to H. W. Bates, 12 January [1863] ). Darwin added …
- … to J. D. Hooker, [9 May 1863] , and memorandum from G. H. Darwin, [before 11 May 1863]) . …
- … the end of 1862, and published as a book in early 1863 (T. H. Huxley 1863a). Though Darwin was …
- … sterility of species, when crossed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 10 [January 1863] ). He reminded …
- … both self-pollination and cross-pollination ( letter to P. H. Gosse, 2 June [1863] ). The …
- … and Lyell’s Antiquity of man ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 February 1863 , and letter …
Reading my roommate’s illustrious ancestor: To T. H. Huxley, 10 June 1868
Summary
My roommate at Harvard College was Tom Baum, now a Hollywood screenwriter. Tom’s full name is Thomas Henle Baum, his middle name a reference to a German physician ancestor for whom the ‘Loop of Henle’ in the kidney had been named. Other than this iconic…
Matches: 7 hits
- … My roommate at Harvard College was Tom Baum, now a Hollywood screenwriter. Tom’s full name is …
- … little about his Dr. Henle ancestor. Last year I was a single book away from completing my …
- … fee they might wish to charge me. There followed a lengthy, bureaucratic and in the end …
- … ship them both my copies of Part II, they would then send me a Part I and Part II. A couple …
- … that catch my interest. And as I did so, my eyes fell on a 10 June 1868 Darwin letter to Huxley in …
- … him how impressed I was with his Dr. Henle namesake as a leading figure in the development of modern …
- … through the pages with my eyes falling particularly on the letter in which Darwin complains to …
Scientific Practice
Summary
Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…
Matches: 8 hits
- … | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of …
- … and the construction of theory. Darwin was not simply a gentleman naturalist and broad theorist. He …
- … laboratory methods and equipment. Darwin used letters as a speculative space, trying out theories …
- … and Detail Darwin is usually thought of as a gentleman naturalist and a scientific …
- … contacts. His life-long friendship with Thomas Henry Huxley, for example, began with detailed …
- … He hopes Agassiz was sounder on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592 — …
- … in domestic settings. Darwin used his house and garden as a site of experiment, often studying …
- … and difficulties of botanical experimentation. Letter 4895 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 20 hits
- … Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively …
- … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
- … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
- … observations of cats’ instinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
- … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
- … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
- … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
- … to Darwin’s queries about Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 …
- … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
- … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
- … of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to Darwin, E., [8 November1872] …
- … [23 April 1874] Thereza Story-Maskelyne responds to a letter of Darwin’s which was …
- … patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [16 July 1863] …
- … Women: Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
- … Letter 4823 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, …
- … Leith Hill Place. Letter 6139 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 April 1868] …
- … Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] Amy Ruck reports the …
- … “eyebrows”. Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
- … with minnows. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May 1860] …
- … can understand it. Letter 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 23 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his …
- … friends, some of whom took immediate action to mediate a solution. Charles Darwin had close ties …
- … paragraphs of Origin , Darwin had predicted that a ‘revolution in natural history’ would result …
- … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
- … human race. In 1861, Lubbock joined Thomas Henry Huxley, Busk, and several other supporters …
- … 1864 issue of Natural History Review , Lubbock produced a final article on ‘Cave-men’ (Lubbock …
- … (Lubbock 1865). By 1860, Lyell had begun work on a sixth edition of Elements of geology …
- … chapter dealt with Danish kjökkenmöddings and began with a note citing the work of Morlot as the …
- … , 1861, p. 489, in which he has described the results of a recent visit to Denmark, made by him in …
- … in 1864 (C. Lyell 1864). 3 By November 1863 a third edition of Antiquity of man …
- … in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Asa Gray, and Huxley but he never spoke out publicly …
- … about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he discussed a …
- … transmutation; he also wrote to Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 …
- … 1863b, p. 213). In May 1864, Lubbock received a letter from Falconer, who reiterated his …
- … is by me. Evidently, he then showed the note to Huxley and asked for his opinion on the …
- … C. Lyell 1863c that were almost identical. He did not, as Huxley had suggested, send Lyell the text …
- … and went on to say that he intended to make a copy of his letter to show to friends. 18 In …
- … wrote to Darwin to ask what he thought of the affair ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 June 1865] ). …
- … he reiterated his admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week …
- … involvement is the fact that, although he corresponded with Huxley in June and July and had seen …
- … resolve the dispute. Lubbock continued to seek advice from Huxley, Hooker, and other X-club friends …
- … in person with Darwin. Lyell wrote to Darwin, Hooker, and Huxley and also showed the correspondence …
- … vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 15. Letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 March 1865, in BL MSS ADD 49641. …
Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 20 hits
- … learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
- … the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
- … some of those whose support he most wanted: Thomas Henry Huxley, William Benjamin Carpenter, and …
- … critiques of his views. ‘One cannot expect fairness in a Reviewer’, Darwin commented to Hooker after …
- … he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
- … began to fly’. His ‘dearly beloved’ theory suffered a series of attacks, the most vicious of which …
- … his theory would have been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
- … list. Adam Sedgwick, not surprisingly, attacked the book on a number of fronts. But it was his …
- … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
- … statement in his March review that natural selection was a hypothesis, not a theory, therefore also …
- … ‘It seems to me that an hypothesis is developed into a theory solely by explaining an ample lot …
- … phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
- … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
- … yet understand the concept of natural selection. Even Huxley, an avowed supporter, proved a …
- … inter se ,’ Darwin’s theory would remain unproven (T. H. Huxley 1860a). Darwin had long …
- … animal groups could give rise to new species, Darwin found Huxley’s lecture irritating and …
- … geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 ). But Baer in …
- … earlier sessions, including the Thursday meeting at which Huxley and Owen ‘had a furious battle over …
- … ‘for half an hour’, ridiculing Darwin ‘badly & Huxley savagely’. Huxley rose in response and …
- … ‘this row is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further details …
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: 26 hits
- … What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 November [1872] …
- … the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye to the crafting of his legacy. …
- … animals in November, the year marked the culmination of a programme of publication that can be …
- … in relation to sex , published in 1871, these books brought a strong if deceptive sense of a job …
- … himself without writing anything more on 'so difficult a subject, as evolution’ ( letter to A. …
- … earthworms in shaping the environment. The former led to a series of books and papers, and the …
- … years before. In his private life also, Darwin was in a nostalgic frame of mind, picking up …
- … June the previous year. He intended the edition to be a popular one that would bring his most …
- … should be affordable: ‘do you not think 6s is too dear for a cheap Edit? Would not 5s be better? . . …
- … best efforts, set the final price at 7 s. 6 d. ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 February 1872 ) …
- … translations of both Descent and Origin was a particular frustration: `I naturally desire …
- … condition as I can make it’, he wrote to the translator ( letter to J. J. Moulinié, 23 September …
- … translation remained unpublished at the end of the year ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 23 November …
- … to the comparative anatomist St George Jackson Mivart ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January …
- … comparison of Whale & duck most beautiful’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 3 March 1872 ) …
- … enclosed a copy of an article replying to Thomas Henry Huxley’s scathing review of Genesis of …
- … a person as I am made to appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). …
- … Darwin would renounce `fundamental intellectual errors’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 6 January …
- … was silly enough to think he felt friendly towards me’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 8 January [1872 …
- … hoping for reconciliation, if only `in another world’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 10 January …
- … the theories of natural and sexual selection to bees (H. Müller 1872), and with his reply Darwin …
- … for myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was far …
- … by her husband, Richard Buckley Litchfield ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 13 May 1872 ). Delivery …
- … 'I know that I am half-killed myself’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 25 July 1872 ). A …
- … Charlton Bastian’s recent book on the origin of life (H. C. Bastian 1872; Wallace 1872d) left him …
- … 23 December 1872, CD note ), and he exclaimed to Thomas Huxley that he would like a society formed, …
Inheritance
Summary
It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited. But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did. Darwin’s attempt to…
Matches: 9 hits
- … may often be of service to science, when they involve a certain portion of incompleteness, and even …
- … subject of inheritance is wonderful’ Darwin wrote,‘When a new character arises, whatever its nature …
- … were orginally derived. They could also lie dormant 'for a thousand or ten-thousand generations …
- … 1863] ). Years before he published, Darwin sent a draft manuscript on Pangenesis to a …
- … Somebody rummaging among your papers half a century hence will find Pangenesis & say “See this …
- … papers will I fear, make widely opposite remarks.' ( to T. H. Huxley, [17 July 1865] ). He …
- … he has read it twice & is not sure that he understands it. H. Spencer says the view is quite …
- … he shall wait, before he expresses his opinion. . . Old Sir H. Holland says he has read it twice …
- … I can hardly tell you how much I admire it. It is a positive comfort to me to have any feasible …
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: 18 hits
- … and observations. Financial support for science was a recurring issue, as Darwin tried to secure a …
- … life and other bits of family history. On 1 January , a distant cousin, Charles Harrison Tindal, …
- … about the eagerness of the two learned divines to see a pig’s body opened is very amusing’, Darwin …
- … have influenced the whole Kingdom, & even the world’ ( letter from J. L. Chester, 3 March 1880 …
- … delighted to find an ordinary mortal who could laugh’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin to Charles and …
- … much powder & shot’ ( Correspondence vol. 27, letter from Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 , and …
- … modified; but now I much regret that I did not do so’ ( letter to Samuel Butler, 3 January 1880 ). …
- … , sending one or both to his daughter Henrietta ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 1 February [1880] ). …
- … he will have the last word’, she warned ( letter from H. E. Litchfield, [1 February 1880] ). ‘He …
- … 1 February 1880 ). Even the great controversialist Thomas Huxley recommended silence: ‘take no …
- … Darwinophobia? It is a horrid disease’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 3 February 1880 ). All …
- … I was, also, rarely fit to see anybody’ ( letter to S. H. Haliburton, 13 December 1880 ). …
- … thus one looks to prevent its return’ ( letter from J.-H. Fabre, 18 February 1880 ). Darwin shared …
- … biologist of our time’ ( letter from W. D. Roebuck to G. H. Darwin, 25 October 1880 ). The …
- … to Emma Darwin, 2 September 1880 ). In April, Thomas Huxley had delivered an address at the Royal …
- … 21 years since the Origin appeared”‘ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 11 [April] 1880 ). While praising …
- … developed through natural selection’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 11 May 1880 ). Worthy causes …
- … In October, Darwin had discussions with John Lubbock and Huxley and was encouraged about Wallace’s …
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: 24 hits
- … year he was optimistic about publishing it that autumn, but a recurrence of illness forced him to …
- … climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also submitted a manuscript of his hypothesis of …
- … to be discussed in both scholarly and popular publications. A lengthy discussion written by George …
- … received news of an exchange of letters on his theory in a New Zealand newspaper; the letters were …
- … deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of Darwin’s and prominent …
- … J. D. Hooker’s father, died in August. There was also a serious dispute between two of Darwin’s …
- … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
- … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
- … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
- … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
- … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
- … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
- … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
- … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
- … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
- … the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until …
- … of species; for if he is correct, we certainly have what Huxley calls new physiological species …
- … health had been particularly bad, Darwin sent Thomas Henry Huxley a fair copy of a manuscript in …
- … hypothesis of pangenesis’, as it later became, to Huxley’s judgment with some trepidation. ‘It is a …
- … hang on it a good many groups of facts.’ ( Letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 May [1865] .) The …
- … to Darwin of this hypothesis is obvious from his letter to Huxley, despite his apparent modesty, and …
- … was to all appearances his usual method of working. He asked Huxley not for detailed criticism, but …
- … humans (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). According …
- … a trying year. In January he had influenza ( letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865] ); before …
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: 19 hits
- … Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of On the origin of …
- … his cousin William Darwin Fox, ‘My work will have to stop a bit for I must prepare a new edit. of …
- … views on all points will have to be modified.— Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( …
- … Darwin’s most substantial addition to Origin was a response to a critique of natural selection …
- … made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
- … than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
- … is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
- … tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
- … a very long period before the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] …
- … to see Thomson’s work challenged by both Thomas Henry Huxley and Wallace. He confided to Huxley, ‘I …
- … been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
- … fossil discoveries in Patagonia and Wales ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 May 1869 , letter from W …
- … part at Darwin’s most outspoken British supporter, Thomas Huxley, whose address ‘The physical basis …
- … “punctum saliens” of the whole meeting was decidedly Huxley’s answer to D r M c Cann. He …
- … man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September 1869 ). Huxley playfully groused that as usual …
- … fools of themselves than they did’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 28 September 1869 ). …
- … which … I do not care to follow him’ ( letter from T. H. Farrer, 9 October 1869 ). Farrer ventured …
- … and Will and High Design—’ (letter from T. H. Farrer, 13 October 1869). Darwin was …
- … to set foot on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier …
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: 22 hits
- … the whole of the confounded book out of my head’. But a large proportion of Darwin’s time for the …
- … , ‘for as my son Frank says, “you treat man in such a bare-faced manner.”‘ The most lively debate …
- … of illustrating his book. The year also brought a significant milestone for the family, as …
- … as feelings of hope for her future happiness combined with a sense of loss. Descent of man …
- … [of] the facts, during several past years, has been a great amusement’. Darwin had been working …
- … in the late 1830s. In recent years, Darwin had collected a wealth of material on sexual selection …
- … published on 24 February, and all 2500 copies were sold in a week. ‘Murray says he is “torn to …
- … three more printings, 2000 in March, 2000 in April, and a further 1000 in December. The level of …
- … do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
- … to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
- … and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
- … they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
- … and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
- … one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
- … habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears” (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
- … Mivart. An expert on primates and a former protegé of Huxley’s, Mivart had written several articles …
- … Abraham Dee Bartlett, Albert Günther, George Busk, T. H. Huxley, Osbert Salvin, and William Henry …
- … , published the following year. Darwin was also pleased that Huxley took up the defence in an …
- … and misquoting of both Darwin and Catholic theology (T. H. Huxley 1871). Huxley judged Mivart to be …
- … Popery and fear for his soul’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley and H. A. Huxley, 20 September 1871 ). …
- … who was ‘as good as twice refined gold’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 September [1871] ). …
- … up to the last with quinine & sherry’ ( letter from H. E. Litchfield to Charles and Emma Darwin …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 15 hits
- … his son George serious offence. Mivart had previously been a correspondent of Darwin’s, but had …
- … views of those associated with him, his reluctance to enter a public debate, the fierce loyalty of …
- … to liberty of marriage’ in the Contemporary Review (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In this article, George …
- … future to affect personal liberty in the matter of marriage. A better understanding of the …
- … the possibility of creating an elite who would intermarry as a way of improving the race; George …
- … with it was to introduce restrictions on marriage. As a first step, he argued, a divorce …
- … it for publication in the next issue of the Quarterly ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 29 July 1874 …
- … kind of thing Murray would be likely to wish to circulate ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] …
- … them explicitly, he might be thought to endorse them ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 5 August 1874 ). …
- … of encouraging licentiousness. A postscript to Darwin’s letter, which may belong to another letter, …
- … the form of an apology without actually apologising. Huxley intervenes In December, …
- … on George ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December 1874 ). Huxley met Mivart at an evening meeting, …
- … Dec 20th 1874. Private & Confidential Dear Huxley. I thank you for your …
- … Science, Technology and Medicine Archives) Huxley did not share this letter with …
- … of all the instincts of a gentleman’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 23 December 1874 ). However, …
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…
Matches: 20 hits
- … of the same species would give rise to fertile progeny (T. H. Huxley 1860, pp.562-5). He later …
- … of propagation, inter se) have ever been produced from a common stock’ (T. H. Huxley 1860, p. 198). …
- … argued that the sterility of interspecific hybrids was not a special endowment but was gradually …
- … that the variations in the sexual organs were indicative of a transition from a hermaphrodite to a …
- … plants produce less seed than the so-called females, what a beautiful case of gradation from …
- … oxlips were produced among the progeny of cowslips only as a result of cross-fertilisation with …
- … I have made out their good or meaning clearly. The pollen of A is fitted for stigma of B & …
- … when crossed, will surprise those who look at sterility as a special endowment to keep created …
- … ('Dimorphic condition in Primula ’), which he read at a meeting of the Linnean Society of …
- … confessed, ‘ Your paper on hearing it read threw quite a new light on the kind of semidioicality …
- … examinations for Genera Plantarum had become quite so common a thing that precise instances no …
- … later, always produced an abundance of seed. This was a topic Darwin would return to, but for the …
- … not by those of the other; nor are the tubes exserted. ’ A month later he told Hooker, ‘ In …
- … Linum from trusted correspondents. Charles Crocker , a former head of the propagation …
- … quite false notion, that the phenomena are connected with a separation of the sexes. Certainly in …
- … I felt bound in Primula paper to state that it might be a step towards dioicous condition; though I …
- … Variation , Darwin told Hooker, ‘ I have just finished a long weary chapter on simple facts of …
- … on hybridity in the new edition of Origin . He encouraged Huxley to read it, noting, ‘ Asa Gray …
- … (p. 82) and clarified the meaning to Fritz Müller in a letter in September 1866, ‘ What I meant in …
- … than in the short-styled form ’, Darwin annotated this letter, wondering, ‘Would it be worth while …
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: 22 hits
- … chlorophyll by examining thin slices of plant tissue under a microscope. When not experimenting, he …
- … more weak than usual. To Lawson Tait, he remarked, ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly …
- … early April, he was being carried upstairs with the aid of a special chair. The end came on 19 April …
- … 1881. But some of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater …
- … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
- … the nature of their contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. …
- … 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 ). …
- … for him, as he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 …
- … person’. The two men also agreed on the deficiencies of Huxley’s argument that animals were …
- … ( letter from John Collier, 22 February 1882 ; T. H. Huxley 1881, pp. 199–245). Huxley used …
- … to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). Huxley urged Darwin to consult another …
- … say automaton ) critically’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 March 1882 ). Darwin was very …
- … more automata in the world like you’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 March 1882 ). Darwin did …
- … Natural History, that I went as Naturalist on the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World & …
- … a few letters shortly after the publication of Origin . Huxley had written a number of glowing …
- … I cannot tell how or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin’s …
- … of Darwinian theory to flowers and flower-visiting insects; H. Müller 1869)). Darwin was full of …
- … at least be a valid ground for divorce’ ( letter to H. K. Rusden, [before 27 March 1875] ). In …
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: 23 hits
- … in this botanical research, eventually renouncing plans for a medical career to become his father’s …
- … and he was clearly delighted by Francis’s decision. A large portion of the letters Darwin …
- … occasional criticisms, some of which were incorporated in a later edition. Darwin also contributed …
- … in science were manifest in his leading roles in creating a private memorial fund for Thomas Henry …
- … I omitted to observe, which I ought to have observed” ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 January [1873] …
- … and even electrical stimulation. On sending Darwin a specimen of the carnivorous Drosophyllum …
- … work your wicked will on it—root leaf & branch!” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ) …
- … tentacles to bend inward, so that the plant closed like a fist. Darwin was fascinated by this …
- … seemed analogous to muscular contraction in animals: “a nerve is touched … a sensation is felt” ( …
- … parts of the flower would become modified & correlated” ( letter to T. H. Farrer, 14 August …
- … it again, “for Heaven knows when it will be ready” ( letter to John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). …
- … we take notes and take tracings of their burrows” ( letter from Francis Darwin, 14 August [1873] ) …
- … in importance; and if so more places will be created” ( letter to E. A. Darwin, 20 September 1873 …
- … our unfortunate family being fit for continuous work” ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September …
- … on any point; for I knew my own ignorance before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] …
- … “he would fly at the Empr’s throat like a bulldog” ( letter from L. M. Forster to H. E. Litchfield, …
- … a large sum in his own name. Together with Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin drafted an appeal to …
- … it would offend his father ( enclosure to letter from T. H. Huxley, 3 December 1873 ). In …
- … conversation with Emma Darwin, and Darwin began to sound out Huxley’s friends on the matter. The …
- … from J. D. Hooker, [7 April 1873] ). A group of Huxley’s close friends, including Hooker, …
- … to us to the last day of our lives” ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 23 April 1873 ). Huxley was …
- … been without energy & without hope” ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 24 April 1873 ). He accepted …
- … to starve sweat & purge it away” ( letter from G. H. Darwin, [1 October 1873] ). He also …
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: 21 hits
- … considerably improved. His increased vigour was apparent in a busy year that included two trips to …
- … Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But …
- … of special creation on the basis of alleged evidence of a global ice age, while Asa Gray pressed …
- … the details of Hooker’s proposed talk formed the basis of a lengthy and lively exchange of letters …
- … responded philosophically to these deaths, regarding both as a merciful release from painful illness …
- … able to write easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). …
- … once daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
- … see you out with our beagles before the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 …
- … work doing me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). …
- … production of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January …
- … submitted a preliminary sketch of pangenesis to Thomas Henry Huxley in 1865 (see Correspondence vol. …
- … of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] …
- … hybridisers had been a subject of debate between Darwin and Huxley, who had asserted the importance …
- … Shortly after the new edition was published, Darwin wrote to Huxley, ‘do read the Chapt. on …
- … think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … come on those terms so you are in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [ c . 10 May 1866] ). …
- … clearly admired parts of the book, but he expressed to Huxley and others certain reservations and …
- … weak in his Greek, is something dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … who was sympathetic to Darwin and had previously translated Huxley’s Man’s place in nature , was …
- … as a ‘thinking pump’: ‘I read aloud your simile of H. Spencer to a thinking pump, & it was …
- … prosecution on 2 November 1866. Spencer enclosed a letter by Huxley to the Pall Mall Gazette , …
