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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: 21 hits

  • The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘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,  …
  • selection to humans from Alfred Russel Wallace and St George Jackson Mivart, and heated debates
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • who sent a sketch of a babys 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]). …
  • … ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). St George Jackson Mivart Another set of
  • selection to human evolution came from the zoologist St George Jackson Mivart. A protégé of Thomas
  • the form of a Scottish deerhound puppy, the pride and joy of George Cupples, who had written to
  • Walter Scotts celebratedMaida”’ ( letter from George Cupples, 17 September 1870 ). Darwin
  • much with Polly & enjoys English life’  ( postcard to George Cupples, 27 November [1870] ). …
  • concern of the father for his children were reciprocated. George, who was now a fellow at Trinity
  • letter from G. H. Darwin, [3 February 1870 or earlier] ). George devoted considerable effort to

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: 9 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] …
  • … 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 …
  • … has not been able to do more than look at the plates as Mr. Cupples got hold of it first. …

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: 23 hits

  • … |  Editors and critics  |  Assistants Darwins correspondence helps bring to light a
  • community. Here is a selection of letters exchanged between Darwin and his workforce of women
  • Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August 1849] Darwin
  • peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to Darwin, [29 October
  • in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [6 June 1864] …
  • Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] Darwin
  • Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [5 May 1870] …
  • observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to Darwin, E., [8
  • Asa Gray about the observations of orchids made by his son, George. He details Georges findings and
  • the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9
  • Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • in Llandudno. Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] …
  • Letter 8144 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [5 January 1872] Darwin asks his niece, …
  • Lychnis diurna. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] …
  • lawn. Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin
  • Darwin, [11 November 1865] J. S. Henslows son, George, passes on the results of some
  • Letter 1701  - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris
  • garden ”. Letter 6083  - Casparay, J. X. R. to Darwin, [2 April 1868] …
  • Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin seeks Henriettas
  • Letter 7123 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [March 1870] Darwin thanks his daughter, …
  • Letter 7858 - Darwin to Wa llace, A. R., [12 July 1871] Darwin tells Wallace that
  • the second edition of  Descent  to Darwin's son George. The work is tedious and Wallace
  • editing the second edition of  Descent  to his son, George. Darwin warns George that it will

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: 28 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
  • material on emotional expression. Yet the scope of Darwins 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 Darwins most substantial addition to  Origin  was a
  • a Swiss botanist and professor at Munich (Nägeli 1865). Darwin had considered Nägelis paper
  • principal engine of change in the development of species. Darwin correctly assessed Nägelis theory
  • in most morphological features (Nägeli 1865, p. 29). Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now
  • are & must be morphological’. The comment highlights Darwins apparent confusion about Nägelis
  • … ‘purely morphological’. The modern reader may well share Darwins uncertainty, but Nägeli evidently
  • pp. 289). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical examples he could use
  • now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , and
  • various species from Britain and overseas. The dog-breeder George Cupples worked hard on Darwins
  • I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George Cupples, 21 June 1869 ).  …
  • 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
  • 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, …
  • Sweetland Dallass edition of Fritz Müllers  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 Huxleys answer to D r  M c Cann. He literally poured boiling oil
  • work some hours daily’ ( letter to Anton Dohrn, 4 January 1870 ). Darwins health was generally
  • the prescription. Henrietta Emma Darwin wrote to her brother George on  10 April (DAR 245: 291) …
  • paternal grandfather, Erasmus, to two of Darwins sons (George and Leonard), who had recently

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: 27 hits

  • evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost
  • … (1875) and  Cross and self fertilisation  (1876). Darwins son Francis became increasingly
  • career to become his fathers scientific secretary. Darwin had always relied on assistance from
  • Franciss decision. A large portion of the letters Darwin received in 1873 were in response
  • the previous year. As was typical, readers wrote to Darwin personally to offer suggestions, …
  • some of which were incorporated in a later edition. Darwin also contributed to discussions in the
  • Francis Galtons work on inherited talent, which prompted Darwin to reflect on the traits and
  • Station at Naples. Plants that eat and feel? Darwin had resumed experiments on the
  • 12 January [1873] ).  Drosera  was the main focus of Darwins study of insectivorous plants, a
  • and alkaloids, and even electrical stimulation. On sending Darwin a specimen of the carnivorous  …
  • … ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ). Darwin found that the glandular hairs on the
  • 1873). Darwin asked one of his Scottish correspondents, George Cupples, who the author might be, …
  • for I knew my own ignorance before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] ). …
  • without instruction or previously acquired knowledge” (A. R. Wallace 1870, p. 204). Moggridge
  • Hooker, John Lubbock, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, George Busk, and William Spottiswoode met with
  • believes whether or not they are sound” ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 November 1873 ). But no
  • A family affliction The job also suited Georges current situation, for he had been forced to
  • problems that bore some resemblance to his fathers, George tried a variety of treatments during the
  • recommended by Andrew Clark. “When I have an attack”, George complained, “Im to starve sweat & …
  • offering to move the family to Malvern if it would make George more comfortable. Mindful of
  • and responsibility for his childrens health. He wrote to George and Horace (who was also often
  • to G. H. Darwin, 5 March [1873] ). Darwin worried too that George, perhaps owing to physical
  • he was more reserved about an essay on religion, advising George to reconsider publication: “It is
  • to G. H. Darwin, 21 October [1873] ). Darwin also warned George of the evils ofgiving pain to
  • They ran into difficulties, however, with the vicar, George Sketchley Ffinden, who had been
  • unorthodoxy, troubling and potentially undermining (J. R. Moore 1985, pp. 4712). A courted
  • a personification of Natural Filosofy” ( letter from J. C. Costerus and N. D. Doedes, 18 March 1873

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: 23 hits

  • In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous
  • for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health
  • of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition
  • Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwins greatest scientific pleasure. The year
  • to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that Darwin had been investigating for years, …
  • working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that
  • contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwins interest in root
  • London on 6 and 16 March, respectively. In January, Darwin corresponded with George John
  • This was confirmed by one of his correspondents. A clerk, George Frederick Crawte, recounted a
  • our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). Kennard
  • judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January 1882 ). …
  • transit of Venus on an expedition to Queensland, Australia. Georges recent work had been highly
  • Robert Stawell Ball that was printed in Nature declared Georgethe discoverer of tidal
  • the great judges think highly of the workI believe that George will some day be a great
  • family and close friends grew worried. Letters were sent to George, who was soon to return from
  • dull aching in the chest’ (Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). …
  • 3 April 1882 ). He sent a cheque for a memorial to the late George Rolleston ( letter to H. N. …
  • carried him off the next day. Henrietta immediately wrote to George, who had visited Down on 11
  • to some Estancia,’ wrote Hughes, ‘as the scenery &c. will amply repay your trouble’ ( letter
  • where he had witnessed an earthquake in 1835 ( letter from R. E. Alison, [MarchJuly 1835 ]). …
  • will be months before I am able to work’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To
  • contents of bats?’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, 14 March 1870 ). One of Darwins other great
  • much of him’ ( letter to George Cupples, 20 September [1870] ). Despite Darwins insistence

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
  • Other contacts such as William Bernard Tegetmeier and George Frederick Cupples, introduced him to
  • 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. …
  • about Hookers thoughts. Letter 729Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [11 Jan 1844] …
  • confessing a murder”. Letter 736Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 23 Feb [1844] …
  • Darwin and Gray Letter 1674Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 25 Apr [1855] Darwin
  • species. Letter 1685Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. R., 22 May 1855 Gray recalled
  • flora in the USA. Letter 2125Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 20 July [1857] Darwin
  • information exchange. Letter 1202Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] …
  • name. Letter 1220Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 In this gossipy
  • species descriptions. Letter 1260Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849
  • 7124Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin writes to his daughter