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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: 6 hits
- … formulated the hypothesis of natural selection, Bates was a firm believer in the involvement of …
- … support to date for the working of selection in nature. As Bates boldly stated: ‘I think I have got …
- … enabling them to withstand adverse circumstances. Bates had investigated cases in several …
- … mimicry). Applying the notion of selective advantage, Bates explained such cases as illustrations of …
- … (Bowler 1983, p. 29). Darwin suggested that Bates write a popular account of his travels, …
- … of the contrivances.–-’ ( letter of [28 July–10 August 1861] ). Later in the year, he went even …
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 9 hits
- … (12) Agassiz, Louis (10) Agent for Mr Allen …
- … Arruda Furtado, Francisco d’ (10) Ashburner, Lionel (1) …
- … (1) Covington, Syms (10) Cowper-Temple, W. F. …
- … (9) Errera, L. A. (10) Erskine, H. N. B. …
- … (13) Forbes, Edward (10) Forbes, J. D. …
- … François de Chaumont, F. S. B. (10) Fraser, George (3) …
- … (1) Gosse, P. H. (10) Goubert, E. M. J. M. P. …
- … (1) Harcourt, E. W. V. (10) Hardwicke’s …
- … (1) Leighton, W. A. (10) Leng, H. H. …
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: 7 hits
- … Thomas Henry Huxley gave lectures about it, and Henry Walter Bates invoked it to explain mimicry in …
- … lengthy dialogue on the subject (see Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VI). His paper, ‘Dimorphic …
- … labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I have lately counted …
- … to whom the book should be sent (see Correspondence vol. 10, Appendixes III and IV) and …
- … additions that he would send (see Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VIII). Bronn complied …
- … caution into Tyndall’s ears’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10–12 November [1862] ). Another of …
- … referred him back to Origin (l etter to T. H. Huxley, 10 May [1862] ): 'I fully agree …
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: 7 hits
- … (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). In the same letter …
- … river Amazons , a book that he had encouraged Henry Walter Bates to write. When the book appeared …
- … had been published in 1862 (see Correspondence vol. 10). He sent a copy to Asa Gray to review in …
- … sterility of species, when crossed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 10 [January 1863] ). He reminded …
- … Verbascum and Zea (see Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VI). However, when Evidence as …
- … other acquired differences’ (see Correspondence vol. 10, Appendix VI). In addition to crossing …
- … orchid genus Acropera (see Correspondence vol. 10). Their 1863 letters reveal Darwin’s …
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
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
- … easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had …
- … of coffee to two cups a day, since coffee, with the ‘10 drops of Muriatic acid twice a day (with …
- … daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
- … me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). Towards …
- … of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January [1866] ). …
- … think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … Hooker’s research on alpine floras, Henry Walter Bates’s article on mimetic butterflies, Lubbock’s …
- … come on those terms so you are in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [ c . 10 May 1866] ). …
- … there are over 200 medallions of Papa made by a man from W ms photo in circulation amongst the …
- … weak in his Greek, is something dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … teleological development ( see for example, letter to C. W. Nägeli, 12 June [1866] ). Also in …
- … species was ‘merely ordinaryly diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 May – 11 June 1866] ). On …
- … is a case of dimorphic becoming diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 20 June [1866] ). …
- … I am well accustomed to such explosions’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 22 June [1866] ). He urged …
- … Darwin’s Orchids and papers on botanical dimorphism, Bates’s and Wallace’s work on mimetic …
- … natural selection, and with special creation ( letter from W. R. Grove, 31 August 1866 ). Hooker …
- … as a ‘thinking pump’: ‘I read aloud your simile of H. Spencer to a thinking pump, & it was …
- … know how to begin’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, [before 10 December 1866] ). The intrusion of …
- … other German states and Austria in June and July. Writing on 10 May from Württemberg, one of the …
The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 13 hits
- … When I was in spirits I sometimes fancied that my book w d be successful; but I never even built …
- … from the load of curious facts on record.—’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). In …
- … myself that all was much alike, & if you condemned that you w d . condemn all—my life’s work— …
- … words has been questioned by John L. Brooks and by H. Lewis McKinney, both of whom believe that …
- … day that another letter from Wallace to his friend Frederick Bates, dated 2 March 1858, arrived in …
- … to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September [1859] ), but finally …
- … having finished the last of the proof-sheets ‘13 months & 10 days’ after he had begun to write …
- … to Fox, ‘& I feel worse than when I came’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was …
- … is whether the rag is worth anything?’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical …
- … ‘law of higgledy-piggledy’ (letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics …
- … this Essay & that you were the man.’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). …
- … it is impossible that men like Lyell, Hooker, Huxley, H. C. Watson, Ramsay &c would change their …
- … required a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas w h . he himself had made’ (letter …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 14 hits
- … at the end of 1859, ‘I sometimes fancied that my book w d be successful; but I never even built …
- … from the load of curious facts on record.—’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858] ). In …
- … myself that all was much alike, & if you condemned that you w d . condemn all—my life’s work— …
- … words has been questioned by John L. Brooks and by H. Lewis McKinney, both of whom believe that …
- … day that another letter from Wallace to his friend Frederick Bates, dated 2 March 1858, arrived in …
- … to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September [1859] ), but finally …
- … having finished the last of the proof-sheets ‘13 months & 10 days’ after he had begun to write …
- … to Fox, ‘& I feel worse than when I came’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was …
- … is whether the rag is worth anything?’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical …
- … ‘law of higgledy-piggledy’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics …
- … this Essay & that you were the man.’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). …
- … it is impossible that men like Lyell, Hooker, Huxley, H. C. Watson, Ramsay &c would change their …
- … required a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas w h . he himself had made’ ( letter …
- … got much more larky since we run two horses’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 6 October [1858] ). …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 7 hits
- … Menyanthes ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. Darwin, [20 May 1864] ), or his …
- … perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker met Scott in …
- … of a strangling fig that had been described in Henry Walter Bates’s Naturalist on the river …
- … “Darwin–Mann” ’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 10 August 1864 ). Haeckel sent Darwin a number of his …
- … its death blow’ with the publication of Origin (T. H. Huxley 1864a, p. 567). In 1864, …
- … most of the old Testament’ ( Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Asa Gray, 6 November [1862] ). …
- … had there been any failure of justice’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 4 November 1864 ). …
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 11 hits
- … changes to the existing German edition (see letter from H. G. Bronn, [before 11 March 1862] ). …
- … small corrections & a few of importance’ (see letter to H. G. Bronn, 11 March [1862] ). …
- … not for what they are used. Page xiv, n., line 10, delete ‘(as we shall immediately see)’. …
- … 19, par. 1, line 16, insert after ‘(Gallus bankiva)’: 10 Having kept …
- … whilst man works Page 264, par. 1, lines 10-16, delete ‘, a perfect . . . natural …
- … From facts lately communicated to me by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, it appears also that there are clear …
- … have migrated from the same great mountain-chain. But Mr. Bates, who has studied with such care the …
- … character and the direction of its mountain-ranges, the Rev. W. B. Clarke has lately maintained that …
- … of Australia. Page 424, par. 2, lines 6–10, substitute for ‘I have . . . agency.’: 52 …
- … and fish, between flying possums and flying squirrels, etc. Bates has recently reported how some …
- … also appears in Origin 4th ed., pp. xx. 6. p. 10. 7. p. 22. 8. p. 28. …
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…
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…
