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Darwin's health

Summary

On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…

Matches: 18 hits

  • On 28 March 1849, ten years before  Origin  was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph
  • establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to Hookers letter which he put down to his
  • headaches, fatigue, trembling, faintness, and dizziness. In 1849, Darwins symptoms became so severe
  • he took Dr Gullys water cure. In Darwins letter to Hooker, he described Dr Gullys treatment: …
  • the years around 1848, 1852, 1859, and 1863. In a letter to Hooker in April of 1861for example, …
  • vomiting wonderfully & I am gaining vigour .’ (letter to JDHooker, 13 April [1864] ) …
  • … (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 2, letter to J. S. Henslow, 14 October [1837] , …
  • health diary (Down House MS), which he kept between 1 July 1849 and 16 January 1855, describes
  • attacks ofperiodical vomitingin a letter to W. D. Fox, [7 June 1840] ( Correspondence vol
  • 1849] , andvomiting every weekin his letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 March 1849 ( …
  • Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [6 May 1864] ). According to Emma
  • decision to consult John Chapman.  In a letter to J. D. Hooker, [20-] 22 February [1864] ( …
  • 1995, pp. 428-9. On his difficulties reading, see letters to J. D. Hooker, 1 June [1865] and
  • from gout (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter to W. D. Fox, [25-9 January 1829] , and
  • discussed in Colp 1977, pp. 31-2, 47, 98. In his letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ( …
  • also Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1864] . …
  • for several years (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 October 1849 , and
  • his chronic vomiting ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 April [1864] ). …

Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles

Summary

Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…

Matches: 22 hits

  • Darwin wrote to his friend and confidant Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘I hope this next summer to finish my
  • my species-work’ ( Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November 1845] ). …
  • Of special interest are the nine letters from Joseph Dalton Hooker written during his expedition in
  • and frequently dangerous travels through the mountains. Hooker writes of the complicated geology of
  • of the Sikkim Himalaya. In the midst of all this activity, Hooker responds to Darwins particular
  • other. Geology, and geological controversy Hookers letters illuminate the role of the
  • of an Admiralty  Manual of scientific enquiry  (1849) designed to guide the scientific work of
  • Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] ). …
  • that such a monograph was adesideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), was
  • are clearly expressed in his letters; he also pointed out to Hooker that it was his species theory
  • of the sexes from an ancestral hermaphrodite in his Notebook D ( Notebooks ) and had subsequently
  • or pistils ( Correspondence  vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November 1840 ). The sexual
  • this importance comes through in his happy protestations to Hooker: ‘But I can hardly explain what I
  • you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). Once
  • for the Advancement of Science in Birmingham in September 1849. At Birmingham, Darwin made
  • of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ), but in the end he adhered to the
  • History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). He also wrote a paper, which he sent
  • with Darwins letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] . As Darwin wrote to J. D. Hooker, …
  • 1847 and during the last half of 1848 and the beginning of 1849. When his father Robert Waring died
  • to Down in June, is the subject of several letters in 1849. Darwin was convinced that it was a
  • House MS) that he kept for the next five years. In December 1849, for example, he had 25 days that
  • personal wealth considerable. In the year between September 1849 and September 1850, Darwins

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: 18 hits

  • Letter 4895Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 20 Sept [1865] Darwin thanks Müller for
  • thinks seems probable. Letter 5173Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 2 Aug 1866
  • to be dichogamous. Letter 5429Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 4 Mar 1867
  • of other species. Letter 5480Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr 1867
  • Letter 5551Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 26 May [1867] Darwin thanks Müller for
  • Letter 207Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D., 23 May 1833 Darwin tells Fox to buy a microscope. …
  • to geology. Letter 1018Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [6 Nov 1846] Darwin
  • full of observations on barnacles and he would like to meet Hooker in London. Letter 1166
  • Owen might discuss the topic [in his contribution to J. F. W. Herschel, ed., Manual of scientific
  • superior”. Letter 1174Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 10 May 1848 Darwin
  • result of applying it to cirripede sexual systems. He tells Hooker that he sent Owen an account of
  • book. Letter 1140Darwin, C. R. to Ross, J. C., 31 Dec 1847 Darwin asks Ross to
  • 1262Darwin, C. R. to Hancock, Albany, [2930 Oct 1849] Darwin thanks Hancock for specimens
  • Letter 1251Darwin, C. R. to Gould, A. A., 20 Aug [1849] Darwin thanks J. D. Dana for
  • This collection of letters, written between Darwin and Hooker whilst Darwin was preparing his
  • history. Letter 1202Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] Darwin writes
  • name to specific name. Letter 1220Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849
  • Letter 1260Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin writes to Hooker about his

Species and varieties

Summary

On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…

Matches: 5 hits

  • synonyms’ ( letter to HE. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ). In the conclusion to
  • contemporary naturalists. In a letter to his friend Joseph Hooker, he wrote, ‘It is really laughable
  • from trying to define the undefinable’ ( letter to  JD. Hooker, 24 December [1856] ). The idea
  • whether sterility could beselected’. In 1862, he told Hooker, ‘I am now strongly inclined to
  • quality to keep incipient species distinct’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). In

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: 17 hits

  • Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August 1849] Darwin thanks Mary Whitby
  • in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L to Darwin, [8 & 9 May 1869] …
  • of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to Darwin, E., [8 November1872] …
  • Darwins behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to Darwin, [17 December 1872] …
  • little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] …
  • and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] …
  • in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John
  • Men: Letter 385  - Wedgwood, S. E. & J. to Darwin, [10 November 1837] …
  • at Maer Hall, Staffordshire. Letter 1219  - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [3 February
  • …  - Henslow, G. to Darwin, [11 November 1865] J. S. Henslows son, George, passes on the
  • Men: Letter 1836  - Berkeley, M. J. to Darwin, [7 March 1856] Clergyman and
  • The experiments were carried outat the suggestion of Dr Hookerand what little he has ascertained
  • to feed to them. Letter 2069  - Tenant, J. to Darwin, [31 March 1857] James
  • University of Bonn. Letter 6046  - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] …
  • Women: Letter 2345 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [20 October 1858] Darwin
  • of style. Letter 2461  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] Darwin
  • as such”. Letter 2475  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [2 July 1859] Darwin

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: 8 hits

  • tapping into the networks of others, such as Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray, who were at leading
  • of face-to-face contact. His correspondence with Joseph Hooker and Asa Gray illustrates how close
  • The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker. The second is between Darwin
  • to conclusion that species are not immutable. He admits to Hookerit is like confessing a murder”. …
  • Letter 1202Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] Darwin catches up on personal
  • name to specific name. Letter 1220Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 In
  • Letter 1260Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin opens by discussing their
  • lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 6 & 7 Apr 1850

Darwin’s reading notebooks

Summary

In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…

Matches: 25 hits

  • 4  [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. Said to be good by D r  L. Lindsay 5 [DAR *119: 1v. …
  • … [A. von Humboldt 1811] Richardsons Fauna Borealis [J. Richardson 182937] …
  • Brown 1814] & at the end of Congo voyage [R. Brown 1818]. (Hooker 923) 7  read
  • on Annals of Nat. Hist. [Jenyns 1838] Prichard; a 3 d . vol [Prichard 183647] Lawrence [W. …
  • Teneriffe. in Pers. Narr. [A. von Humboldt 181429] D r  Royle on Himmalaya types [Royle
  • reference to authors about E. Indian Islands 8 consult D r  Horsfield [Horsfield 1824] …
  • sheep [Youatt 1831, 1834, 1837]. Verey Philosophie dHist. Nat. [Virey 1835] read
  • Paper on consciousness in brutes Blackwood June 1838 [J. F. Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on
  • Crawford Eastern Archipelago [Crawfurd 1820] Raffeles d[itt]o [T. S. B. Raffles 1817] …
  • … [Temminck 181315] read Temminck has written Coup d’œil sur la Fauna des iles de la Sonde et
  • to White Nat. Hist of Selbourne [E. T. Bennett ed. 1837 and [J. Rennie] ed. 1833] read 19  : …
  • what have they written.? “Hunt” [J. Hunt 1806] p. 290
  • He is Horticulturist in France. Michaux, according to Hooker has written on topography of N. …
  • chiefly on distribution of forms said to be Poor Sir. J. Edwards Botanical Tour [?J. E. Smith
  • Butler. 3. first sermons [Butler 1834] recommended by Sir. J. Mackintosh J. Long Moral Nature
  • … ]. many very useful papers for me:— not in Hort. Soc. Hooker? Rogets Bridgewater Treatise
  • … —— Mauritius & C. of Good Hope Hooker recommends order [Backhouse
  • Decandolles Veg: Organ: } recommended by  Hooker . [A. P. de
  • C. Watson 1845]— gives up permanent species (alluded to by Hooker) Foreign & British Med. …
  • Life of Wilkie [Cunningham 1843] & Chantry [G. Jones 1849]. Grotes History of Greece
  • 43 Lindleys Vegetable Kingdom [Lindley 1846]. Hooker says very good for my purpose
  • Phytologist [ Phytologistmust be read . Hooker. read Fortunes Travels in China
  • Universelle ou traité des Cepages Comte Odart 1849” [Odart 1849] read  very good . Rivers
  • Indian Journal [Griffith 1847], strongly recommended by HookerAnalysis & theory of the
  • Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray [C. W. G. Saint-John 1849] (read) Knox. Ornithological

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: 26 hits

  • writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring Gray Louis Agassiz, Adam
  • this actor uses the words of Jane Loring Gray, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, …
  • of natural selection to his friend, the botanist, Joseph D Hooker GRAY:   3   Charles
  • year 1839, and copied and communicated to Messrs Lyell and Hooker in 1844, being a part of
  • DARWIN:   7   January 1844. My dear Hooker. I have beenengaged in a very presumptuous work
  • the opportunity I enjoyed of making your acquaintance at Hookers three years ago; and besides that
  • sheet of note-paper! DARWIN11   My dear HookerWhat a remarkably nice and kind
  • 22   Hurrah I got yesterday my 41st Grass! Hooker is younger than Darwin and Gray by
  • species beforeDARWIN24   My dear Hookeryou cannot imagine how pleased I am
  • on your bowels of immutability. Darwin passes to Hooker a brace of letters 25
  • there is a little rap for you. GRAY:   26   Hooker [is] dreadfully paradoxical to
  • as well as any man. I send itDarwin passes to Hooker an envelope of seeds. …
  • and Hawks have often been seen in mid Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter
  • pleased to have. DARWIN33   My dear Hooker. Thanks, also, for [your] Photograph, …
  • expression and so by no means does you justice. HOOKER:   34   I believe I have very
  • beguiled into shouldrileyou, as you say it doesHooker rightly tells me, I have no business to
  • make a very audacious remark in opposition to what I imagine Hooker has been writing and to your own
  • to tell you, that before I had ever corresponded with you, Hooker had shown me several of your
  • … – a Scottish paleobotanist and contemporary of Darwin and HookerspluttersFALCONER: …
  • I can see that you have already corrupted and half-spoiled Hooker!! DARWIN: Now when I see
  • out much fuller in my sketch copied in 1844, and read by Hooker some dozen years ago…. I should be
  • world to come. DARWIN:   56   My dearest Hooker, You will, and so will Mrs Hooker, be
  • FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 1857-1858 In which Gray and Hooker begin to consider the theological
  • which he and Gray can pour their thoughts and anxieties. Hooker is the more agitated and anxious; …
  • MAY 1848 5  C DARWIN TO JD HOOKER 12 OCTOBER 1849 6  C DARWIN TO R
  • C DARWIN, 1819 AUGUST 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150

Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865

Summary

On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…

Matches: 0 hits

What is an experiment?

Summary

Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … specimens for his own use. A portrait of Darwin in 1849 shows him with a specimen bag over …
  • … to travellers that was issued by the Navy (Herschel ed. 1849). He also treated many of his …
  • … the large networks of institutional heads like Joseph Dalton Hooker and Asa Gray. Darwin adopted a …

Barnacles

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Letter 1253 —Darwin to Albany Hancock, [21 Sept 1849] Darwin writes to barnacle expert …

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Summary

George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … widened her social network and after her father's death in 1849 she travelled to Switzerland …

'An Appeal' against animal cruelty

Summary

The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … campaigning, legislation was passed in 1822, 1835, and 1849 (see nn. 1 and 5, below) to prevent …
  • … Act for the more effectual prevention of cruelty to animals, 1849 ( Statutes, public and general , …

Fool's experiments

Summary

‘I love fools' experiments. I am always making them’, was one of the most interesting things the zoologist E. Ray Lankester ever heard Darwin say. ‘A great deal might be written as comment on that statement’, Lankester later recorded, but he limited…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … shall not be disappointed .’ Nonetheless, he asked Hooker to indulge his ‘ madness ’ and send him …
  • … investigators to undertake fool’s experiments. In 1849, he dared do no more than ‘hint’ his …