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
57 Items
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: 24 hits
- … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
- … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
- … 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] …
- … data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
- … I d have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
- … completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
- … him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George …
- … with his noisy courting of the female in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869 …
- … doubted her ability to recognise the different varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February …
- … weary of everlasting males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November …
- … with much more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). …
- … had ambitions to make the asylum at Wakefield a centre of scientific research, and toward this end …
- … in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 …
- … classes, and had attracted some interest from members of the scientific community as well. Wallace …
- … which he viewed as a wholly natural phenomenon, subject to scientific investigation and explanation. …
- … Detailed discussion of pangenesis had been scarce in scientific literature, and the appearance of …
- … our hypothesis with all its imperfections’ ( letter to Scientific Opinion , [before 20 October …
- … 1869 ). Darwin was uniformly pleased. ‘I like all scientific periodicals’, he wrote to Hooker, …
- … New correspondents Yet despite his enthusiasm for scientific journals, Darwin’s most …
- … own. Darwin advised and encouraged the younger man in his scientific work, much as he had done with …
Interview with Randal Keynes
Summary
Randal Keynes is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, and the author of Annie’s Box (Fourth Estate, 2001), which discusses Darwin’s home life, his relationship with his wife and children, and the ways in which these influenced his feelings about…
Matches: 9 hits
- … a quotation towards the beginning of your book in a letter that Darwin writes to Emma just …
- … popular portraits of Darwin as the solitary genius, and of scientific discovery as a product of a …
- … point to make is really that in those first years of his scientific work, on the Beagle and then …
- … really capture the poetry that's in his own writing and his scientific sensibility. …
- … to have to read again - very much as he annotated his own scientific library: very systematic and …
- … questioning, always searching, never complacent in his own scientific work) - and? I'm seeing a …
- … also concerned about sympathy as a potential impediment to scientific research, studying emotions in …
- … so well that what is actually, I'm almost certain, a purely scientific observation, is …
- … human mind and experience. 14. Darwin's opinion of human nature …
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: 25 hits
- … | Class | Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections …
- … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
- … as Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray, who were at leading scientific institutions and who carried …
- … structures were largely absent. Darwin had a small circle of scientific friends with whom he shared …
- … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
- … ties could be built gradually through the exchange of scientific knowledge and the free expression …
- … botanist Asa Gray. Darwin and Hooker Letter 714 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
- … and he is curious about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
- … to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
- … wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
- … and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
- … and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
- … and their approach to information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D …
- … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
- … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
- … ends with a discussion of lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
- … up his doubts about Darwin’s doctrines. In his second letter he talks about his visit with Falconer. …
- … was on the Beagle voyage and afterwards. Letter 152 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. …
- … is Henslow’s “bounden duty to lecture me”. Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R. …
- … sends home a copy of his notes on the specimens. Letter 249 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, …
- … sends news of Cambridge and mutual friends. Letter 251 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S …
- … illness and specimens are sent to Henslow. Letter 272 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. …
- … themselves. Scott’s work is not science, but “scientific horticulture”. Letter 4471 — …
- … of letters provides a window into his interaction with scientific women. Letter 4170 — …
- … his wife Emma. The letter is a combination of personal and scientific matters. He reports on his …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 16 hits
- … Soon after Origin was published, Darwin received a letter from Asa Gray offering to arrange an …
- … Darwin responded favourably to Gray’s proposal in his letter of 21 December [1859] ( Correspondence …
- … my notions shd be read by intelligent men, accustomed to scientific argument though not …
- … had been fixed through the process of stereotyping (see letter from Asa Gray, 23 January [1860] and …
- … of species; Darwin sent this off to Gray enclosed in his letter of [8 or 9 February 1860]. He had …
- … [1860] and 1 February [1860]). A month later, in his letter of 8 March [1860], Darwin sent …
- … (especially that given by Hewett Cottrell Watson in his letter of [3? January 1860]) that Darwin …
- … changes he intended to make in the American edition in the letter to Lyell, 18 [and 19 February 1860 …
- … corrected Second Edition with additional corrections” (letter to Asa Gray, 1 February [1860]). …
- … resulting from three separate printings of Origin (see letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] and …
- … a brief, but I fear imperfect, sketch of the progress of opinion on the Origin of Species . …
- … see how the two supposed ‘‘impulses’’ account in a scientific sense for the numerous and beautiful …
- … editions little accurate knowledge and a great want of scientific caution, immediately had a very …
- … de l’Acad. Roy. Bruxelles, tom. xiii., p. 581), his opinion that it is more probable that new …
- … been separately created: the author first promulgated this opinion in 1831. M. Isidore …
- … of Origin ( Origin 3d ed., pp. 363–6). See also letter from John Lubbock, [after 28 April …
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: 23 hits
- … varied botanical experiments, and continuing a massive scientific correspondence. Six months later …
- … 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 …
- … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
- … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
- … public role in the controversies that embroiled Britain’s scientific circles following the …
- … than Origin had (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
- … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
- … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
- … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
- … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
- … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
- … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
- … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
- … change of species by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the …
- … disaffected towards Lyell and his book. In a February letter to the Athenæum , a weekly review of …
- … find great difficulty in answering Owen unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
- … of so much of Lyell’s book being written by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
- … told Hooker of his regret that he had ‘truckled to public opinion & used Pentateuchal term of …
- … he fully expected it would become the ‘generally received opinion of men of science’ that organic …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 April [1863] ). a scientific man had better be trampled …
- … popular press, he admired a satiric rendition in Public Opinion of the recent quarrels that he …
- … perceptions, his theory was gathering support in influential scientific circles. George Bentham …
Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network
Summary
The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…
Matches: 13 hits
- … The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working …
- … established and confident naturalist at the heart of British scientific society, travelling often to …
- … the community of savants as well as in its philosophical and scientific pursuits. At home, time was …
- … Government grant was exhausted ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter to A. Y. Spearman, 9 October 1843, …
- … confessing a murder) immutable Darwin’s earlier scientific friendships were not neglected …
- … turned to when he wished to discuss the problems and various scientific issues that arose out of his …
- … are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] ). …
- … the essay of 1844 to read (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 [February 1847]) …
- … himself: as he told his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt he …
- … Natural selection Perhaps the most interesting letter relating to Darwin’s species theory, …
- … Darwin not only used his personal notes and records but, by letter, marshalled the resources of …
- … naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, to support his own opinion that the pampas formations had …
- … of the laws of creation, Geographical Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) …
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: 25 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] ). …
- … he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
- … his theory would have been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
- … Appendix VII.) The difficulties that members of the scientific community found in Origin …
- … different from saying that I depart from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter …
- … a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
- … phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
- … John Stuart Mill’s exposition of the deductive method of scientific investigation, consisting of …
- … were raised against the theory on the basis of existing scientific evidence. Several correspondents, …
- … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
- … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
- … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
- … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
- … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
- … favour of change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). …
- … his study of the geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 …
- … ‘man is in same predicament with other animals’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] )— he …
- … book had become ‘topics of the day’ at the meeting in a letter from Hooker written from Oxford. …
- … Darwin ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1860). Other …
- … that ‘this row is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further …
- … addressed the question of man, among other difficult scientific problems, and set the tone for …
- … Powell and Charles Kingsley attested. Moreover, theological opinion has to be gauged as much in …
- … by Henslow’s defence of the integrity of Darwin’s scientific motivation, Sedgwick admitted that he …
- … Gray and design in nature This was not, however, his opinion of Asa Gray, who Darwin thought …
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: 28 hits
- … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
- … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
- … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
- … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
- … of the year, Darwin seemed resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H …
- … 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] ). …
- … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
- … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
- … hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
- … on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
- … resulted from his ‘ enormous labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
- … Oliver: ‘I can see at least 3 classes of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), …
- … result once out of four or five sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). …
- … one species may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The …
- … and determined to publish on Linum ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), …
- … d . like to make out this wonderfully complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). …
- … The case clearly excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I …
- … that the case warranted a paper for the Linnean Society ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] …
- … that had given him ‘great pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he …
- … know not in the least , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] …
- … 11 July [1862] ). She had had assistance with the scientific details of Origin from Edouard …
- … the area did not at first seem to hold much of potential scientific interest. He told Hooker ( …
- … sent an abstract of his results to Hooker, asking for his opinion as an aid in deciding ‘some future …
- … making a reputation for himself as a botanist. Hooker, whose opinion ‘on any scientific subject’ …
- … was opposition to its publication. Ramsay wanted Darwin’s opinion ( see letter from A. C. Ramsay, …
- … can pick a hole in the reasoning’, Jukes sought Darwin’s opinion. Darwin replied with a plethora of …
- … ). Huxley also wanted Darwin’s palaeontological opinion: what did Darwin think of his …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 26 hits
- … got in touch, and, for all his fears, Darwin found several scientific topics to pursue. …
- … old and new when revising his essay on Erasmus Darwin’s scientific work, and that Darwin had …
- … in Unconscious memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s …
- … memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for publication in the Journal of Popular …
- … in newspapers and literary periodicals rather than the scientific press, the Darwins consulted the …
- … kindness’, and to state how gratified he was that so many scientific men had so good an opinion of …
- … publishers decided to print ‘500 more, making 2000’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January 1881 ) …
- … the animal learnt from its own individual experience ( letter from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). …
- … whether observations of their behaviour were trustworthy ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 March [1881] …
- … about the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 …
- … for more suggestions of such plants, especially annuals ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 21 March …
- … supposed he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The …
- … dead a work falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). …
- … Cooke on 31 July , ‘& if Mr. Murray really thinks that a scientific work would sell …
- … conversation with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), …
- … add, however little, to the general stock of knowledge’ ( letter to E. W. Bok, 10 May 1881 ). …
- … regular ‘bread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
- … evolution and the animal origin of humans as the orthodox scientific belief. However, he objected …
- … Keeping up In addition to the stream of unsolicited scientific material Darwin received, he …
- … of it’ ( letter to Alexander Agassiz, 5 May 1881 ). His scientific friends, however, did not agree …
- … on the advances in geology over the past fifty years. In his opinion the most important had been the …
- … whether he could call Alexander von Humboldt the greatest scientific traveller, as it was ‘the …
- … stimulus, stating that he thought Humboldt ‘the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived ... …
- … ‘the Prince of Wales may meet quietly some of the chief scientific visitors’, he felt obliged to …
- … or any more original work.’ Darwin also believed that his opinion signified little: ‘I have no doubt …
- … confidence must have been boosted by this and by Vines’s opinion that Wiesner was not to be trusted …
Robert FitzRoy
Summary
Robert FitzRoy was captain of HMS Beagle when Darwin was aboard. From 1831 to 1836 the two men lived in the closest proximity, their relationship revealed by the letters they exchanged while Darwin left the ship to explore the countries visited during the…
Matches: 6 hits
- … too often viewed through Darwin’s increasingly negative opinion of his once ‘ beau ideal ’ of a …
- … every thing that is delightful ’ and ‘ very scientific ’. Despite Darwin’s company, FitzRoy broke …
- … to become part of a progressive reforming metropolitan scientific elite, soon being appointed …
- … ‘ most devout abhorrence is one of the d——d scientific Whigs ’. Although FitzRoy’s …
- … had spent the Beagle voyage largely in unison about its scientific aims, and able to overcome …
- … In 1859, Darwin guessed that FitzRoy was the author of a letter to The Times, full of ‘ conceit …
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: 22 hits
- … The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took …
- … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
- … Galton. In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, evidently in response …
- … further at this time. His correspondence with Lyell on scientific topics continued to be very …
- … 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 …
- … he then showed the note to Huxley and asked for his opinion on the matter. Huxley wrote, ‘I have …
- … 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 in the dispute. When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 …
- … with Huxley in June and July and had seen Huxley’s letter to Hooker about the affair, 24 he …
- … reluctantly agreed to delete his own note. In his last letter to Huxley dealing with the affair, he …
- … 30 However, two weeks later, in his last letter to Hooker on the matter, Lubbock’s tone was …
- … analysis of the situation was succinct. In his letter to Hooker of [4 June 1865] he warned that …
- … third edition of Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863c; see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865 …
- … written in Swedish, he gave me an abstract for my use, in a letter dated December 1859. He referred …
- … 1983, Stocking 1987, and Van Riper 1993. 2. Letter from Charles Lyell to John Lubbock, 20 …
- … pp. 154–9. 7. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
- … 1973. 8. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] and …
- … 23: 79–97. Wilson, Leonard Gilchrist. 2002. A scientific libel: John Lubbock’s attack upon …
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: 24 hits
- … are prevailing and likely to prevail, more or less, among scientific men, I have thought it …
- … completely tired. GRAY: He was seldom seen even at scientific meetings, and never in …
- … and I am almost convinced – quite contraryto [the] opinion I started with – that speciesare not – it …
- … his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention …
- … 11 My dear Hooker… What a remarkably nice and kind letter Dr A. Gray has sent me in answer to my …
- … be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy it… His letter does strike me as most uncommonly …
- … on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year …
- … a brace of letters 25 I send enclosed [a letter for you from Asa Gray], received …
- … might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing …
- … Atlantic. HOOKER: 28 Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which …
- … to what I imagine Hooker has been writing and to your own scientific conscience. I presume he has …
- … notions of natural Selection and would see whether it or my letter bears any date, I should be very …
- … 55 My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter influenced by trumpery feelings. …
- … 57 My dear Dr Gray… I shall be glad of your opinion of Darwin and Wallace’s paper. …
- … 71 [I] consider the transmutation theory a scientific mistake, untrue in facts, unscientific …
- … that species ‘have no secondary cause.’… Surely the scientific mind of an age which contemplates the …
- … has written me, taking me seriously to task for altering my opinion after the age of 45, and for …
- … do a good deal to secure it. Darwin passes Gray’s letter to Hooker with a cringe. …
- … full relief from all anxiety. Darwin shows Gray’s letter to Hooker. DARWIN: …
- … back. JANE GRAY: 189 [Jane Gray. Letter to her sister. Fall, 1868.] Mr Darwin …
- … DARWIN: 192 My dear Gray. When I look over your letter[s] … and see all the things you …
- … me, and yet was most anxious till two days ago, when I got a letter from him in excellent spirits. …
- … surprise. Although he had addressed himself simply to scientific men, and had no thought of arguing …
- … TO GRAY AT THIS TIME 189 JANE LORING GRAY, LETTER TO HER SISTER, 1868 or 1869 …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 30 hits
- … John Jenner Weir, ‘If any man wants to gain a good opinion of his fellow man, he ought to do what I …
- … in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, …
- … of changing the races of man’ (Correspondence vol. 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
- … book would take the form of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 3 July 1868 ). But …
- … as well say, he would drink a little and not too much’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 15 May [1868] ) …
- … would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to …
- … of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
- … if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
- … of popular works on natural history. Lewes had serious scientific ambitions, especially in the …
- … reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation …
- … would strike me in the face, but not behind my back’ ( letter to John Murray, 25 February [1868] ) …
- … ignorant article… . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] …
- … ‘he is a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] …
- … wrote of the colour of duck claws on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d C. …
- … proved very fruitful. On 1 May , Darwin received a letter from George Cupples, who was encouraged …
- … with the enthusiastic breeder, who apologised in a letter of 11–13 May 1868 for his ‘voluminuous …
- … of science On 27 February , Darwin sent a letter of thanks to the naturalist and …
- … he later added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). …
- … , ‘I do not at all care about any necessary expense for a scientific purpose.’ females …
- … to various classes, a dim ray of light may be gained’ ( letter to H. T. Stainton, 21 February [1868 …
- … as well as of ‘victorious males getting wives’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 25 February [1868] ). …
- … of females was remarked upon by other entomologists ( letter from Roland Trimen, 20 February 1868 …
- … and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter sent on 3 April by Henry Doubleday …
- … suggested that Farrer communicate some of his results to a scientific journal, adding: ‘what a …
- … you have given to the minds of France! … All friends of scientific truth must rally around the flag …
- … I am not sure whether it w d not be wisest for scientific men quite to ignore the whole subject …
- … September 1868] , ‘whether it w d not be wisest for scientific men quite to ignore the whole …
- … of Sciences and Arts, which Hooker considered ‘the only scientific distinction of the kind … worth a …
- … and the general dullness of a forced holiday from his scientific work. But he came to enjoy the …
- … a reminder of the role his friend often played in their scientific correspondence. As he wrote to …
British Association meeting 1860
Summary
Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…
Matches: 4 hits
- … treatment for a stomach that had “utterly broken down” (letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [June 1860] ) …
- … is possible to determine the law of the variation of Greek opinion, and to establish its analogy …
- … to it,—he could not presume to address the audience as a scientific authority. As, however, he had …
- … having adopted them as a creed. He knew no creeds in scientific matters. He had early begun the …
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: 28 hits
- … requests for autographs, and provided financial support for scientific colleagues or their widows …
- … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
- … brother Erasmus had been interred in 1881. But some of his scientific friends quickly organised a …
- … observation and experiment had long been Darwin’s greatest scientific pleasure. The year opened with …
- … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
- … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
- … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
- … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
- … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
- … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
- … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
- … the Darwinian theory of Evolution. But this difference of opinion … is no obstacle to our …
- … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
- … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
- … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
- … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
- … gone for ever and I should be classed (most unjustly) as a scientific person’. The two men also …
- … be derived from basing the practice of medicine on a solid scientific foundation cannot be …
- … George’s recent work had been highly praised by his scientific peers. A lecture by Robert Stawell …
- … the work … I believe that George will some day be a great scientific swell’. Darwin also mentioned …
- … Cambridge with his wife, Ida, and continued to build up his scientific instrument company, but his …
- … Despite his declining condition, Darwin continued to answer scientific correspondents, and fielded …
- … 150)). Letters of condolence arrived from Darwin’s scientific friends, correspondents, and …
- … leading clergymen, politicians, and presidents of scientific societies, as well as immediate and …
- … ). Another batch of letters provides glimpses of Darwin’s scientific life in the 1840s: his duties …
- … ‘It is not at all likely that you wd wish to quote my opinion on the theological bearing of the …
- … corpus will also be available through the nineteenth-century scientific correspondence website, …
- … education, membership in learned societies, and positions of scientific employment were open to very …
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: 30 hits
- … his publishers, he warned that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). …
- … turned out, alas, very dull & has disappointed me much’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 15 [June …
- … home again’, he fretted, just days before his departure ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [after 26 …
- … many blessings, was finding old age ‘a dismal time’ ( letter to Henry Johnson, 24 September 1879 ) …
- … wrinkles one all over like a baked pear’ ( enclosure in letter from R. W. Dixon, 20 December 1879 …
- … itself, or gone some other way round?’ At least the last letter of 1879 contained a warmer note and …
- … office to complete Horace’s marriage settlement ( letter from W. M. Hacon, 31 December 1879 ). …
- … but they were ‘as nice and good as could be’ ( letter from Karl Beger, [ c. 12 February 1879] ) …
- … on your life’s work, which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). …
- … to wish Darwin a ‘long and serene evening of life’. This letter crossed with one from Darwin, …
- … the statement ‘In the beginning was carbon’ ( letter from Hermann Müller, 14 February 1879 ). …
- … as the ‘organ of “uncultivated materialism”’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 2 June 1879 ]). …
- … up the glory & would please Francis’, he pointed out ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 13 March [1879 …
- … about science & turns everything into ridicule. He hates scientific men’ ( letter to Ernst …
- … 1879] ). Darwin, however, continued to focus on the scientific benefits of Francis’s being …
- … surprising because Darwin and Farrer had corresponded on scientific topics since 1868 and after …
- … tho’ not a profitable one; also D r C[lark]’s opinion that he was so likely to get well as life …
- … letter to Victor Marshall, 14 September 1879 ). Ruskin’s opinion of Darwin’s work appears not to …
- … various honours in the form of diplomas and fellowships from scientific institutions around the …
- … disciple’. Other correspondents, many of whom were not scientific investigators, also claimed to be …
- … wrote on 7 January . ‘When my reason agrees with your opinion, my heart stands to the latter and so …
- … to be troubled about the differences between ecclesiastics & scientific men’, Darwin wrote in …
- … nothing to do with Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious …
- … worth defending his views from attacks that were not made on scientific grounds. Evidently concerned …
- … some faint praise, condemned Guthrie’s work as ‘a pseudo-scientific criticism of a pseudo-scientific …
- … long letter of 13 December that although Spencer was not a scientific discoverer, and his physical …
- … to accept evolution, ‘long before there could be any scientific knowledge of the modus operandi …
- … felt’. This, Moulton believed, was work that ‘true scientific discoverers’ always refused to do …
- … Support for evolutionists Throughout the year, scientific scholars and acquaintances …
- … Darwin contacted Joseph Hooker on 17 December to ask his opinion: ‘I am in very bad position for …
Science: A Man’s World?
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…
Matches: 20 hits
- … we reconcile the gendering of science as masculine with the scientific participation of women? …
- … Discussion Questions 1. What sorts of scientific participation was, and was not, …
- … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
- … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
- … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
- … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
- … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
- … the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
- … Cresy is keen to stress that, despite her education and scientific interest, Anderson is “neither …
- … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
- … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
- … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
- … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
- … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
- … a book detailing his travels and exploration. He will to use scientific language but structure the …
- … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
- … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
- … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
- … his niece’s friend, Mrs Forsyth, on how best to conduct scientific work. In his sex-inclusive …
- … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …
What did Darwin believe?
Summary
What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…
Matches: 22 hits
- … often seeking direction for their own. Mary Boole’s letter In December 1866 Darwin …
- … of Science & the promises of religion. See the letter Boole, like a number …
- … to comment on matters of belief for others: My opinion is not worth more than that of any …
- … meeting point should still be far off. See the letter In his response to Boole …
- … feeling. But he does not venture into such territory in this letter to a stranger. Emma …
- … description of my state of mind. See the letter In this letter, Darwin is …
- … For Darwin, it also seems to imply that there are limits to scientific knowledge, that there are …
- … & I cannot help being open with you. See the letter We know from Darwin’s …
- … means so in eternity. There is a marked tension in Emma’s letter between reason and feeling, and …
- … as a guide to moral conduct, as in his remarks on Paul’s letter to Galatians, chapter six: ‘read …
- … it derive from inner feelings or instincts? In a letter written to Charles several months …
- … trying to learn the truth, you cannot be wrong … See the letter Yet she is concerned …
- … on this point: ‘but I believe you do not consider your opinion as formed’. As Darwin would …
- … Haeckel The value of methodical doubt as a virtue of scientific character would be asserted …
- … by adopting … the first fashionable view. Letter from T. H. Huxley to H. A. Heathorn, …
- … life. Huxley could not accept this, but Kingsley’s letter opened a line of communication that …
- … conception of entire surrender to the will of God.’ (Letter from T. H. Huxley to C. Kingsley, …
- … objections to his own theory, or discussed the limits of scientific knowledge on particular …
- … blows are everywhere necessary. See the letter Darwin is often portrayed as …
- … potential allies and disturb old allegiances. Haeckel’s letter had been prompted by an admonition …
- … of the truth of his own conclusions. See the letter Cautious style and self …
- … on different foundations and forms of evidence, and that his scientific expertise, no matter how …
Gaston de Saporta
Summary
The human-like qualities of great apes have always been a source of scientific and popular fascination, and no less in the Victorian period than in any other. Darwin himself, of course, marshalled similarities in physiology, behaviour and emotional…
Matches: 3 hits
- … qualities of great apes have always been a source of scientific and popular fascination, and no less …
- … beings and other great apes too disquieting to use as scientific evidence? Correspondence …
- … to Darwin after reading Descent of Man . In a long letter in which he both praised the work and …
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 ones, …
