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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: 18 hits

  • … – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as …
  • … quotes from the correspondence or published writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton …
  • … read the words of the following: Actor 1 – Asa Gray Actor 2 – Charles Darwin …
  • … in which the play unfolds and acting as a go-between between Gray and Darwin, and between the …
  • … are described by his widow Jane the final days of Professor Asa Gray, Harvard Botanist. A series of …
  • … of the Life of Darwin. At this time in his life, Asa Gray is in his late 70s. JANE …
  • … secret and potentially incendiary ideas. A younger Asa Gray (now in his mid 40s) arrives in …
  • … 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 …
  • … you might reasonably expect… Yours most sincerely Asa Gray. DARWIN:  16   My dear …
  • … 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 …
  • … should not be in conflict. A TREMENDOUS FURORE: 1859-1860 In which Darwin distributes …
  • … in the long run prevail. CERTAIN BENEFICIAL LINES: 1860 Asa Gray presents his argument …
  • … 1859 70  A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 5 JANUARY 1860 71L AGASSIZ, JULY 1860

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: 16 hits

  • On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwins  Origin of
  • learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January
  • out in the United States and in Germany, he expressed to Asa Gray his astonishment at the widespread
  • 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 beenutterly  smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A
  • the only track that leads to physical truth’ (Sedgwick 1860) that most wounded Darwin. Having spent
  • from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • were inexplicable by the theory of creation. Asa Grays statement in his March review that natural
  • 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] …
  • natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19
  • perfected structure as the eye. As Darwin admitted to Lyell, Gray, and others, imagining how
  • caused him greater discomfort. As he readily admitted to Gray: ‘The sight of a feather in a peacock
  • change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). Only his
  • not thoroughly . . . I must be a very bad explainer.' Asa Gray and design in nature

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: 20 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] ) …
  • … 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] ). …
  • … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
  • … and assistance with experiments. In January, he wrote to Asa Gray thanking him for some ‘new cases …
  • … had ‘different functions’. He continued to write to Gray throughout the year about his quest for …
  • … hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
  • … time on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ) …
  • … may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The case was so …
  • … seed. The case clearly excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] …
  • … that had given him ‘great pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he …
  • … of natural selection through the back door ( letter to Asa Gray, 23[–4] July [1862] ). Moreover, …
  • … his opposition to the  Origin  ’ ( letter from Asa Gray, 2–3 July 1862 ). Henry Walter …
  • … ). War abroad. Anxiety at home As usual, Asa Gray took care that Americans should know …
  • … & genius you have for these researches’ ( letter from Asa Gray, 18 May 1862 ). In thanking …
  • … plant,  Drosera . As he had at Eastborne in the summer of 1860 (see Correspondence vol. 8), Darwin …

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: 17 hits

  • that he wasunwell & 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
  • fromsome 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] …
  • 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
  • … ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). The botanist Asa Gray, Darwins friend in the United
  • Huxleys book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In May, Darwin
  • who was already ill-disposed towards Owen following his 1860 review of  Origin , wrote to Falconer
  • and letter to  Athenæum , 18 April [1863] ). He told Gray: ‘Under the cloak of a fling at
  • Lyells  amended verdict on the Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 20 April [1863] ). Darwin quoted a
  • 1862 (see  Correspondence  vol. 10). He sent a copy to Asa Gray to review in an American journal, …
  • January [1863] and 31 January [1863] , and letter to Asa Gray, 31 May [1863] ). Asa Gray
  • letter from Daniel Oliver, 17 February 1863 , letter to Asa Gray, 20 April [1863] , letter to
  • wasenough to drive the quietest man mad’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). Hooker and Gray
  • exercise Darwin was Huxleys assertion, first made in his 1860 review of  Origin , that in order
  • …  and  Viola species, had interested Darwin since 1860; it continued to capture his attention ( …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … of design. The first is between Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray, taking as their point of …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … for the attention now given to the subject. He poses Gray a question on design in nature, as he is …
  • … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
  • … of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …
  • … of variations. Darwin and Graham Letter 13230 — Darwin, C. R. to Graham, …
  • … of people, including members of his own family. Letter 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, …
  • … theist and evolutionist, giving the examples of Kingsley and Asa Gray. As regards his own views, 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: 12 hits

  • Soon after Origin was published, Darwin received a letter from Asa Gray offering to arrange an
  • a share in possible profits. Darwin responded favourably to Grays proposal in his letter of 21
  • their heads that a species is an entity.—‘ After Gray had contacted the Boston publishing
  • preparing for distribution. Acting on Darwins behalf, Gray duly contacted D. Appleton to inquire
  • transmitting their response to Darwin (see letters from Asa Gray, [10 January 1860], [17 January
  • had been fixed through the process of stereotyping (see letter from Asa Gray, 23 January [1860] and
  • of species (two letters to Baden Powell, 18 January 1860), Darwin subsequently changed his mind. On
  • of the transmutation of species; Darwin sent this off to Gray enclosed in his letter of [8 or 9
  • … (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]). …
  • from three separate printings of Origin (see letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] and enclosure) …

Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I

Summary

Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared.  Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … ( Charles Darwin to Charles Lyell   6 June [1860 ]) Darwin encountered problems with the
  • Origin appearedEveryone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with
  • outline of his theory written in 1842 , and, as he told Asa Gray in September 1857 , he intended
  • of twenty years, Natural Selection . With that letter to Gray, Darwin enclosed a
  • for the good of each organic being’. It was Grays now missing response to that exposition
  • … ” ’. It was the draft of this enclosure to Gray , along with extracts from Darwins
  • under domestication & nature ’, other readers reinforced Grays original criticism that
  • … ( Charles Darwin to Charles Lyell, 6 June [1860]) To Lyell, Darwin wrote: ‘ I doubt
  • Nevertheless, regret lingered, and he wrote in a later letter to Lyell: ' Talking ofNatural
  • used natural preservation '. (There is now a hole in the letter where Darwin wrote &#039
  • applicable to them! —a reference to John Edward Gray, who Darwin exclaimed understood

Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies

Summary

The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…

Matches: 23 hits

  • of notes on variation at Down House. During the summer of 1860, he had become interested in  …
  • … . Having learned from his publisher John Murray in November 1860 that a new edition of  Origin
  • with natural theology. He made arrangements with his friend Asa Gray to reprint and distribute in
  • will do me & Natural Selection, right good service’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 267 Februrary [1861] …
  • III). However, Darwin himself remained unconvinced by Grays suggestion that providence may have
  • … ‘barometerof scientific opinion, Charles Lyell ( see letter to Charles Lyell, 20 July [1861] ). …
  • selection could not bedirectly proved’ ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). …
  • wasthe only one proper to such a subject’ ( letter from Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1861] ). Mill in
  • or against some view if it is to be of any service!’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] …
  • chapter on the imperfection of the geological record ( see letter to George Maw, 19 July [1861] ). …
  • he planned to reportat a favourable opportunity’ ( letter from Joseph Leidy, 4 March [1861] ). …
  • laboratory where Nature manufactures her new species’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 28 March [1861] ) …
  • study of natural history was evident. He told Darwin in his letter of [1 December] 1861: …
  • by insect enemies from which the other set is free’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 30 September 1861 ) …
  • fourth child, remained desolate over the death in September 1860 of their first-born, Noel, he and
  • in the voyage of the  Beagle  is well known. As late as 1860, Henslow had defended Darwin against
  • intercrossing between distinct individuals. He told Gray that such cases could perhapsthrow some
  • form of typhus fever’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 11 May 1860 ). This hope was realised. By the end
  • America that threatened peace in Britain in 1861. The end of 1860 and the beginning of 1861 saw
  • profoundly interesting’, Darwin told the Harvard botanist Asa Gray on 5 June, and added, despite the
  • or heard a soul who is not with the North’. Darwin and Gray both unreservedly supported the northern
  • views and sentiments are perfectly satisfactory to me’, Gray wrote to Darwin on 31 December. …
  • greatest curse on Earth Slavery abolished’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 5 June [1861] ): Some

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: 21 hits

  • … 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 …
  • … 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 a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
  • … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
  • … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
  • … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
  • … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
  • … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
  • … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
  • … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
  • … specimens and bird observations from Calcutta. Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 …
  • … of White. Letter 4433  - Wright, Charles to Gray, A., [20, 25, 26 March & 1 …
  • Letter 2781  - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May 1860] Doubleday describes his …
  • Letter 3001  - Darwin to Lubbock, J., [28 November 1860] Darwin offers editorial …

Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870

Summary

This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … them to spread. It takes up the story of Darwin’s life in 1860, in the immediate aftermath of the …
  • … to confide in his closest friends and associates by letter. The letters in this volume speak …
  • … out to me. No doubt many will be. Darwin to Huxley, 1860. I cannot tell …
  • … of the Slave-holders being triumphant … Darwin to Asa Gray, in Boston, Mass., 1862. …

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: 15 hits

  • … species would give rise to fertile progeny (T. H. Huxley 1860, pp.562-5). He later claimed, in a …
  • … have ever been produced from a common stock’ (T. H. Huxley 1860, p. 198). In Origin , p. 272, …
  • … first noticed differences in the flowers of cowslips in May 1860. ‘ I have this morning been …
  • … produced seed capsules. He told the American botanist Asa Gray , ‘ If it should prove that the …
  • … it will be. ’ Darwin was surprised again in December 1860, as he reported to Hooker, ‘ the other …
  • … make 126 additional crosses!! ’ Nevertheless, on telling Gray about the need for this further work, …
  • … often adapted for insect visitation. In his reply to Darwin, Gray unsurprisingly revealed, ‘ I know …
  • … believe in my results. ’ Undeterred, Darwin reported to Gray at the beginning of August, ‘I have …
  • … triple marriage between three hermaphrodite. ’ Gray replied, ‘ If your Lythrum -paper shall be …
  • … , a species of lungwort also known as blue cowslip. He told Gray in October 1865 that with respect …
  • … of Origin . He encouraged Huxley to read it, noting, ‘ Asa Gray & Fritz Müller (the latter …
  • … in as many natural families as possible’, explaining to Gray that he had ‘ become convinced that …
  • … (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 …
  • … term heterostyly in preference to di- or trimorphism. Gray objected and suggested his own …

Rewriting Origin - the later editions

Summary

For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions.  Many of his changes were made in…

Matches: 12 hits

  • … the last proof sheets on 26 December 1859 ; published 1860 1 st US ‘revised and augmented’ …
  • … buried Darwin under a blizzard of letters (see especially letter to Charles Lyell, 11 October …
  • … getting permission to quote prominently from Kingsley’s letter in the revised summary: A …
  • … 2 nd to 3 rd editions; US edition By June 1860 Darwin was at least open to the …
  • … be needed ‘ soon, ever, or never ’.  By November 1860 he had heard that it was , and it was …
  • … additions now sent.— In the meantime, in July 1860, a ‘revised and augmented’ American …
  • … sufficiently acknowledged earlier work.  According to a letter to Asa Gray he had yet to start …
  • … correspondent for the first set of revisions to Origin , Asa Gray, who masterminded the US …
  • … an animal’s colour and its immunity to poison (see letter from Jeffries Wyman, [ c . 15] …
  • … who only began corresponding with Darwin in November 1860, too late for the third edition.   …
  • … hitherto slurred it over. In his Christmas Day letter to his old friend Joseph Hooker, …
  • … of population increase in elephants in response to a letter published in the Athenaeum by a …

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

  • The death of Hugh Falconer Darwins 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] …
  • ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • better, attributing the improvement to Joness diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • he wasable to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • of illnessVariation , which he had begun in January 1860, and which was intended to explain his
  • others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In
  • however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was
  • might be more willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865
  • … & I loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ) …
  • on 2 February, and in April Darwin wrote to his friend Asa Gray, a botanist in the United States, …
  • you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; …
  • needed for references, probably from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June
  • in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 November [1864
  • Benjamin Dann Walsh in the Midwestern United States, and Asa Gray wrote a long review ofClimbing

Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute

Summary

Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…

Matches: 23 hits

  • part of his long-delayedbig book’, started in January 1860, and advertised in the press since 1865
  • suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] …
  • to the printer, but without the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to
  • booksDescent  and  Expression . In the same letter, Darwin revealed the conclusion to his
  • variation of animals and plants under domestication . In a letter to his son William dated 27
  • of his brothers embryological papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although
  • … . Indeed, he told his publisher, John Murray, in a letter of 4 April [1867] , not to send
  • tell me, at what rate your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This
  • … & sent to him, he may wish to give up the task’ ( letter to Carl Vogt, 12 April [1867] ). …
  • fit personto introduce the work to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). …
  • Vogt should translate my book in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). …
  • varieties at the eye, which resulted in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867
  • it will be a somewhat important step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). …
  • if you attack it & me with unparalleled ferocity’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867] …
  • own discretion; anyhow most ought to be introduced’ ( letter to W. S. Dallas, 8 November [1867] ). …
  • however, & I cannot get on so quickly as I could wish’ (letter from W. S. Dallas, 20 November
  • the universality of human expressions. As early as January 1860, he had sent a list of specific
  • from Thomas Bridges to the queries Darwin had sent in 1860 and relaying a promise from a missionary
  • with me about 27 years old In a letter of 22 February [1867] to Fritz Müller in
  • chapter on the cause or meaning of Expression.’ With this letter Darwin enclosed a list of questions
  • the queries to acquaintances in remote areas. On 26 March, Asa Gray wrote, ‘You see I have  …
  • one to send them to, so do not want any more’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • … , 31 August 1867. Another version, possibly derived from Asa Grays printed queries, was published

Climbing Plants

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…

Matches: 8 hits

  • was led to take up this subject by reading a short paper by Asa Gray, published in 1858, on the
  • of Climbing Plants , Chapter 1. Papers Gray, Asa. "Note on the Coiling of
  • Darwin believed this was a wise course of action. Letter 8545 - Asa Gray to Charles
  • for how the stimulus travels in the plant. The rest of the letter is filled with news of Grays trip
  • publish with his old papers on climbing plants. Letter 8656 - Asa Gray to Charles
  • of experimental information is exchanged between Darwin and Asa Gray? Do you think Darwin was
  • seconds. Through this experiment the students, just like Asa Gray and Charles Darwin, were able to
  • as described in the following excerpt from an 1863 letter he wrote to the English botanist J.D. …

Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin

Summary

The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace. This …
  • … has  infinitely  exceeded my wildest hopes.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). …
  • … to choose from the load of curious facts on record.—’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). …
  • … new to the experts. Darwin was delighted to hear from Asa Gray that he was not aware of such a …
  • … as evidence for what actually occurred in nature ( see letter to Asa Gray, 4 April [1858] , and  …
  • … throwing away what you have seen,’ he told Hooker in his letter of 8 [June 1858] , ‘yet I have …
  • … his work was interrupted by the arrival of the now-famous letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, …
  • … selection. Darwin’s shock and dismay is evident in the letter he subsequently wrote to Charles Lyell …
  • … Even his terms now stand as Heads of my Chapters.’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). …
  • … on Charles Lyell’s endorsement, the editors have dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the …
  • … McKinney has suggested that Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same …
  • … Brooks maintains that Darwin received Wallace’s letter even earlier, perhaps as early as 14 May. …
  • … of the Peninsular & Oriental Company, and assuming that the letter to Darwin was posted at the …
  • … of his theory, along with an abstract of his views sent to Asa Gray in September 1857. The …
  • … points in Darwin’s work with which they disagreed. Both Gray and Huxley, who were to become Darwin’s …
  • … to note that in the list of corrections Darwin sent to Asa Gray for a possible American edition, the …

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

  • … implements of early humans (C. Lyell 1859). In September 1860 he visited sites in both France and …
  • … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
  • … book, Prehistoric times (Lubbock 1865).  By 1860, Lyell had begun work on a sixth edition …
  • … completed and set in type for Elements of geology in 1860 and then re-set in 1861 for …
  • … Galton.   In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, evidently in response …
  • … the book in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Asa Gray, and Huxley but he never spoke out …
  • … 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 …
  • … 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 …
  • … in the dispute. When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), …
  • … 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 …
  • … well as the Swiss lake-dwellings, was originally written in 1860 for the sixth edition of the ‘ …
  • … written in Swedish, he gave me an abstract for my use, in a letter dated December 1859. He referred …
  • … discoveries and conclusions which had been made before 1860; but I gladly took advantage of the …
  • … to them, or to any authors of later date than the summer of 1860, I must have expanded the plan of …
  • … expenditures, and condition of the institution for the year 1860  15 (1861): 284–343. Translated by …

Sexual selection

Summary

Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species.  So what…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … tail, whenever I gaze on it, makes me sick! ( To Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ) Bernard …
  • … later quoted at length in  Descent . Darwin (whose letter to Brent is missing) seems to …
  • … sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail,' he exclaimed to Asa Gray the previous year, ' …

Controversy

Summary

The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … such as Thomas Henry Huxley, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and Asa Gray, continued to have sharp theoretical …
  • … him as a bitter enemy. Darwin and Sedgwick Letter 2525 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … of a spirit of bravado, but a want of respect. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
  • … of brotherly love and as his true-hearted friend. Letter 2555 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … classes of facts”. Darwin and Owen Letter 2526 — Owen, Richard to Darwin, C. …
  • … the nature of such influences as “heterodox”. Letter 2575 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … his book “the law of higgledy-piggledy”. Letter 2580 — Darwin, C. R. to Owen, Richard, …
  • … his views now depends on men eminent in science. Letter 2767 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … prevail without such aggressive tactics. Letter 5500 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, E. P. …
  • … reader to take the side of the attacked person. Letter 5533 — Haeckel, E. P. A. to …
  • … of the matter, a vigorous attack is essential. Letter 5544 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, …
  • … political, and religious differences. Letter 2285 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 18 …
  • … MS, but Darwin will offer to send it to journal. Letter 2294 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … 1844. A year ago Darwin sent a short sketch of his views to Asa Gray. Can Darwin honourably publish …
  • … his views from anything Darwin wrote to him. Letter 2295 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … he does not feel this alters the justice of case. Letter 2299 — Hooker, J. D. & …
  • … reasons for arranging the joint presentation. Letter 2306 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … is now planning a 30-page abstract for a journal. Letter 2337 — Wallace, A. R. to …
  • … paper public unaccompanied by his own views. Letter 6024 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, C. …
  • … of minute variations and sexual selection. Letter 6033 — Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, …
  • … George Darwin’s notes on Wallace’s argument. Letter 6045 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, C. …
  • … and form new species without being isolated. Letter 6058 — Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, A. …

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: 19 hits

  • Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But
  • on the basis of alleged evidence of a global ice age, while Asa Gray pressed Darwins American
  • 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 harmany how I cant 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
  • hybrids, soliciting assistance from the American botanist Asa Gray, the nurseryman Thomas Rivers, …
  • ofDomestic Animals & Cult. Plantsto Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] …
  • good deal I think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December
  • … ‘I quite follow you in thinking Agassiz glacier-mad’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September
  • … , translated by Heinrich Georg Bronn, had been published in 1860 and 1863 by the firm E. …
  • across the Atlantic, despite much effort expended by Asa Gray in trying to secure a new American
  • changes, but their proposal was unsatisfactory to Darwin. Gray then approached another American firm
  • become interested in  Rhamnus  (buckthorn) in 1861, when Asa Gray informed him that a North
  • to the famous Oxford meeting of the British Association in 1860, where the bishop of Oxford, Samuel
  • a subject of long discussion in previous years with Lyell, Gray, and Hooker. Wallaces
  • a subject of extensive correspondence between Darwin and Asa Gray for many years, was legally
  • fact that Slavery is at end in your country’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 16 April [1866] ). …
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