To M. T. Masters 13 April [1860]
Summary
Discusses crosses in sweetpeas and the difference between monstrosities and slight variations. Discusses peloric flowers.
Thanks for correction about furze.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
Date: | 13 Apr [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 146: 338 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2759 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … in sweetpeas and the difference between monstrosities and slight variations. Discusses …
- … no definition can be drawn between monstrosities and slight variations (such as my theory …
- … Some facts lead me to think that monstrosities supervene generally at an early age; and …
- … result from the natural selection of monstrosities. You cannot do me a greater service …
- … I sincerely hope that your work on monstrosities will soon appear, for I am sure it will …
- … or retrogression in organisation in monstrosities of the Compositæ &c. do you not find it …
From Jeffries Wyman [c. 15] September 1860
Summary
Cases of monstrosities becoming transmissible.
Comments on passages in Origin on the blindness of the tucu-tucu (Ctenomys) and Mammoth Cave rats.
Author: | Jeffries Wyman |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [c. 15] Sept 1860 |
Classmark: | DAR 47: 165–6 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2901 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Cases of monstrosities becoming transmissible. Comments on passages in Origin on the …
- … the common cod-fish presents a similar monstrosity, called by the fishermen the “bulldog …
- … though it seems to me a good instance of a monstrosity becoming transmissible like that of …
- … to Labrador I found that a similar monstrosity was occasionally met with in the Cod fish & …
To Asa Gray 11 August [1860]
Summary
Agassiz is strongly opposed to Origin, but CD thinks K. E. von Baer may come out in support.
Discusses the possibility of favourable monstrosities in the light of Theophilus Parsons’ essay ["On the origin of species", Am. J. Sci. 2d ser. 30 (1860): 1–13].
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Asa Gray |
Date: | 11 Aug [1860] |
Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (35) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2896 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … Discusses the possibility of favourable monstrosities in the light of Theophilus Parsons’ …
- … much on chance of favourable monstrosities (ie great & sudden variations) arising. I have, …
To Charles Lyell 18 [and 19 February 1860]
Summary
Encloses reviews by Asa Gray and Bronn. Comments on Bronn review. Mentions review by Wollaston.
Comments on paper by W. H. Harvey in Gardeners’ Chronicle [(1860): 145–6]. Discusses Harvey’s belief in the permanence of monsters.
Discusses CL’s objection that still-living primitive forms failed to develop.
The survival of Lepidosiren and other primitive types of fish and mammals.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 18 and 19 Feb 1860 |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.199) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2703 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … p. 353). CD discussed his belief that monstrosities could not give rise to new specific …
- … by doubting , because all cases of monstrosities which resemble normal structures, which I …
- … supposes) of the seedlings inherited his monstrosity natural selection would be necessary …
To M. T. Masters 25 April [1860]
Summary
Glad to hear of MTM’s papers [? "On a peloria and semidouble flower of Ophrys aranifera, Huds.", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 207–11 and "Observations on the morphology and anatomy of the genus Restio, Linn.", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 8 (1865): 211–55].
CD doubts the value, for origin of species, of parallels between peloria in "distinct groups".
Gärtner proved the stigma can select its own pollen from a mixture of foreign pollens. But much evidence shows varieties of same species are prepotent over a plant’s own pollen.
MTM’s father [William] believes that variation goes on for a long time once it has commenced.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Maxwell Tylden Masters |
Date: | 25 Apr [1860] |
Classmark: | Shrewsbury School Archives (SR/Darwin box 1) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4818 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … work on prolification, a type of floral monstrosity; two of these papers were published in …
- … 24 July [1862] and n. 4). Since many monstrosities resembled other species in distinct …
To Charles Lyell 23 February [1860]
Summary
Gradation in the eye.
Hooker intends to reply [to W. H. Harvey’s article in Gard. Chron. (1860): 145–6].
Discusses Aspicarpa with respect to correlation.
Comments on monstrous animals.
Discusses objections of Bronn and Asa Gray to natural selection. Cites parallel between natural selection and Newton’s concept of gravitation.
Mentions German experiments on spontaneous generation.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Date: | 23 Feb [1860] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.200) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2707 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … You ask, ( I see) why we do not have monstrosities in higher animals; but when they live …
- … recently published a letter about monstrosities ( Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural …
To C. G. B. Daubeny 1 August [1860]
Summary
His thanks for the pamphlet ["Remarks on the final causes of the sexuality of plants" (1860)] and the extremely kind and liberal manner in which Daubeny alludes to CD’s work.
Further discussion of sexual generation and CD’s suspicion that its most important function remains hidden.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Giles Bridle Daubeny |
Date: | 1 Aug [1860] |
Classmark: | Magdalen College, Oxford (MC:F26/C1/119) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2887A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1860a , but did cite other examples of monstrosities from the botanical work of Candolle, …
To J. D. Hooker 4 December [1860]
Summary
Third edition of Origin will answer reviewers.
Drosera experiments detailed.
Hopes for W. H. Harvey’s conversion.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 4 Dec [1860] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 78 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3008 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … It may perhaps be doubted whether monstrosities, or such sudden and great deviations of …
From Charles Lyell 19 June 1860
Summary
Sees Huxley’s deification of matter and force as a reaction to the way Paley likened the "Unknown Cause" to the mind of man so that new causes could be introduced. If you wish to retain free will which is inconsistent with constant law, Paley’s position is better. Free will is a recently introduced cause on our planet. It cannot be fully attributed to secondary causes.
What CD says about the variation in gestation of the hound is remarkable.
The astonishing fertile rabbit–hare hybrids encourage belief in Pallas’s theory of the multiple origin of dogs.
Does the regularity of gestation in man indicate a common stock?
Hooker’s observation of absence of forms peculiar to extra-Arctic Greenland indicates that the time since the beginning of the glacial period is brief in geological terms.
Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 19 June 1860 |
Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/6: 117–23) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2837A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … perpetuate pouter pigeons, & other monstrosities, would have been scouted by a philosopher …
letter | (9) |
Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
Lyell, Charles | (1) |
Wyman, Jeffries | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
Lyell, Charles | (2) |
Masters, M. T. | (2) |
Daubeny, C. G. B. | (1) |
Gray, Asa | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | |
Lyell, Charles | (3) |
Masters, M. T. | (2) |
Daubeny, C. G. B. | (1) |
Gray, Asa | (1) |
Hooker, J. D. | (1) |
Wyman, Jeffries | (1) |
Darwin and Design
Summary
At the beginning of the nineteenth century in Britain, religion and the sciences were generally thought to be in harmony. The study of God’s word in the Bible, and of his works in nature, were considered to be part of the same truth. One version of this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Buckland remarked that the animal was an ‘apparent monstrosity of external form’. But he argued that …
Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson
Summary
[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I saw “ravenous monsters of Sharks” – their monstrosity consisting in their having two terrible …
Review: The Origin of Species
Summary
- by Asa Gray THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (American Journal of Science and Arts, March, 1860) This book is already exciting much attention. Two American editions are announced, through which it will become familiar to many…
Matches: 1 hits
- … detriment of its native vigor, or to the extent of practical monstrosity, although we secure forms …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … mother, the subjects of Siebold’s study of medical monstrosity ( letter from C. T. E. Siebold, 10 …