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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: 24 hits

  • Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864 : ‘the venerable beard gives the
  • Darwin corresponded little during the first three months of 1864, dictating nearly all his letters
  • had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin exclaimed to his close friend, …
  • letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the surgeon and naturalist
  • his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the Copley being open to all
  • …  five years earlier. His primary botanical preoccupation in 1864 was climbing plants. He had become
  • … ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin wrote to Hooker: ‘The
  • …  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). Darwins excitement about his
  • … & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] ). When Darwin asked Oliver
  • light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864] ). Though Darwin replied with his
  • … . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was continuing to study
  • of a paper by another of his orchid correspondents, John Traherne Moggridge, who in June sent him
  • of insect pollinators in 1864 and following years. John Scott again Much of Darwins
  • plight of another of Darwins fellow orchid-experimenters, John Scott. Their correspondence had been
  • of the orchid  Acropera . Darwin communicated one of Scotts papers on the orchid  Oncidium  to
  • a number of topics for him to work on. Darwin encouraged Scott to publish his results independently, …
  • by a steady stream of suggestions and support from Darwin, Scott produced a paper on the Primulaceae
  • five years. Scott felt that his superiors, James McNab and John Hutton Balfour, no longer treated
  • indomitable perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker met
  • supporton the grounds of science’ ( letter to John Scott, 9 April 1864 ), but Scott declined
  • 1864 ). A notably rambling and long letter arrived from John Beck, a Shrewsbury schoolfellow of
  • by a merciful deity for the use of humankind ( letter from John Beck, 6 October 1864 ). …
  • his brother Erasmus told him of a subscription fund for John William Colenso, bishop of Natal, South
  • that a Neanderthal race once extended across Europe. John Lubbock mentioned his forthcoming volume

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: 14 hits

  • that he wasunwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a
  • were himself, Hooker, Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace, and John Lubbock. Honours abroad
  • of the Royal Society ( see letter from Edward Sabine to John Phillips, 12 November 1863 ). …
  • year with the Hertfordshire nurseryman Thomas Rivers. John Scott Darwin had found a
  • of botanical subjects, the crossing experiments that Scott had begun on the primrose family after
  • correspondence in 1863. Darwin eventually communicated Scotts  Primula  work to the Linnean
  • the results of which were published in 1868 ( see letter to John Scott, 25 and 28 May [1863] ). …
  • hoped would counteract Huxleys criticism ( letter from John Scott, 23 July [1863] ). Darwin
  • that your paper will have permanent value’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ). Scott received
  • theOriginis not at all palatable!’ ( letter from John Scott, [3 June 1863] ). Darwins
  • a position offered in Darjeeling, India ( see letter from John Scott, 22 May 1863 , and letter
  • 1860; it continued to capture his attention ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). …
  • to Malvern the following week. Three letters in August from John Goodsir, professor of anatomy at
  • of all such matters as your stomach’ ( see letter from John Goodsir, 21 August [1863] ; letter

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: 19 hits

  • on a paper on  Verbascum (mullein) by CDs protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. …
  • also a serious dispute between two of Darwins friends, John Lubbock and Charles Lyell . These
  • for the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1864, had staunchly supported his candidacy, …
  • Appendix II). In May, he invited a new doctor, John Chapman, to Down and began a course of Chapmans
  • Variation . In March Darwin wrote to his publisher, John Murray, ‘Of present book I have 7
  • forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] ). In
  • will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early
  • … ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was not
  • to CDs theory of transmutation, in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to
  • questions and suggesting new lines of research. John Scott A similar, though not so
  • effort took place in the beginning of the year when John Scott, a protégé of Darwins whom Darwin
  • his experiments on  Verbascum.  Darwin had suggested to Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at
  • varieties (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). Darwin had
  • 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). Scott had evidently started his crossing
  • by him as ascientific arithmetician’, found errors in Scotts calculations, and Hooker announced
  • andawfully tedious to read’, though he praised Scottsindustry & ability’ ( letter from J. …
  • take up the work again when he had time ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ); at the time of
  • in learned societies and in the popular press. In December 1864, George Douglas Campbell, the duke
  • this and that modification of structure’ (G. D. Campbell 1864, pp. 2756). Campbell argued further

Natural Science and Femininity

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, [2 January 1864] Haeckel sends Darwin some …
  • … Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] Darwin thanks Hooker for …
  • … Letter 4469 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [20 April 1864] Hooker discusses the scientific …
  • … Letter 4472 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [26 or 27 April 1864] Hooker once again discusses …
  • … 6046 - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is …

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: 17 hits

  • … of sterility between varieties of  Verbascum . When John Scott, foreman of the propagating …
  • … Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ). …
  • … to publish on  Linum  ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), writing up his …
  • … J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] ). However, it was not until 1864 that the Linnean Society heard …
  • … buy it. When he submitted the manuscript to his publisher, John Murray, he boasted: ‘I can say with …
  • … in the least , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his …
  • … paper for the  Natural History Review  ( see letter to John Lubbock, 16 [December 1862] ). Aware …
  • … of the old  Beagle  crew, Bartholomew James Sulivan, John Clements Wickham, and Arthur Mellersh, …
  • … of this, he prescribed strict conditions for a meeting with John Lubbock: ‘if you could … let me go …
  • … at 9 o clock I do not think it would hurt me’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 23 October [1862] ). …
  • … on botany. Even at the start of their correspondence he told John Scott: ‘Botany is a new subject to …
  • … odds & ends of botany & you know far more’ ( letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
  • … Lyell, 14 October [1862] ). Moreover, when the physicist John Tyndall, fresh from a summer in the …
  • … of Darwin’s circle was in Switzerland in the summer: John Lubbock briefly met up with Tyndall and …
  • … discovered prehistoric lake-dwellings ( see letter from John Lubbock, 23 August 1862 ). Lubbock …
  • … to view the prehistoric sites near Amiens ( see letter from John Lubbock, 15 May 1862 ), and he …
  • … about the antiquity of the human species ( see letter from John Lubbock, 6 January 1862 ). …

Insectivorous Plants

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Plants that consume insects Darwin began his work with insectivorous plants in the mid 1860s, though his findings would not be published until 1875. In his autobiography Darwin reflected on the delay that…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. London; John. Murray. You can download the …
  • … Darwin, Charles. 1875. Insectivorous Plants. London: John Murray. Chapters 17 and 18 …
  • … Plants Letter 3853 - Charles Darwin to John Scott, 11 December 1862 This …
  • … 28 September 1860 Darwin writes to his friend John Stevens Henslow about his …

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: 14 hits

  • … Mentors Darwin's close relationship with John Stevens Henslow, the professor of botany …
  • … he mentored. The first is between Darwin and his neighbour, John Lubbock and the second is between …
  • … Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, [Sept 1854] Darwin sends Lubbock a beetle he …
  • … Letter 1720 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, 19 [July 1855] Darwin congratulates Lubbock on …
  • … Letter 1979 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, 27 Oct [1856] Darwin provides detailed …
  • … expert William Bernard Tegetmeier and the Scottish gardener John Scott, illustrate how the rigid …
  • … him to publish in his journal. The debate about John Scott Letter 3800 — …
  • … found in flowers did not become fertilised when pollinated. Scott suggests Acropera has both …
  • … in the anthers. Letter 4463 — Scott, John to Darwin, C. R., 14 Apr [1864] Scott …
  • … Letter 4468 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 19 [Apr 1864] Darwin makes another plea to his …
  • … Letter 4469 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 20 Apr 1864 Hooker again refuses to help Scott, …
  • … Letter 4471 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 25 Apr [1864] Darwin thinks his friend Kew …
  • … Letter 4611 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 13 Sept [1864] Darwin sends abstract of John Scott …
  • … Letter 4441 — Becker, Lydia to Darwin, C. R., 30 Mar 1864 Becker sends Darwin a copy of her …

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: 1 hits

  • … soon as I am fairly settled & succeeding in India. John Scott to Darwin, 1864. …

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: 9 hits

  • … Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [6 June 1864] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, responds …
  • … to Darwin, [1873] Ellen Lubbock, wife of naturalist John Lubbock, responds to Darwin’s …
  • … Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] Darwin thanks Hooker for …
  • … in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John
  • …  - Wright, Charles to Gray, A., [20, 25, 26 March & 1 April 1864] Charles Wright tells …
  • …  - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
  • … J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John Murray, to forward a manuscript copy of …
  • … editorial criticism of a paper written by English naturalist John Lubbock. In addition to offering …
  • …  - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …

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: 4 hits

  • … a long spell of sickness, and it was only in February 1864 that he wrote up his results. ‘ The …
  • … Lythrum salicaria ’, was sent to the Society on 10 June 1864 and read six days later at the final …
  • … results of similar work carried out by correspondents like John Scott . Scott had been studying …
  • … to write Forms of flowers . He contacted his publisher John Murray in early April 1877, …

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: 24 hits

  • 1697] Sportsmans repository 4 to . [W. H. Scott 1820]— contains much on dogs
  • The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824] at Maer? W. F. …
  • Lee Scots Narrative of Shipwreck in China [J. L. Scott 1841] Lockarts Life of Burns
  • The Emigrant, Head [F. B. Head 1846] St. Johns Highlands [C. W. G. Saint John 1846] …
  • B.M. 6. 6. Black Edin. Longman [Ramsay 1848] St. Johns Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray
  • Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig 1851]. Sir John Davies. China during the War and Peace
  • Mitchells Australia [Mitchell 1838] Walter Scotts life [Lockhart 18378] 1 st  2 nd   …
  • well skimmed 1839 Jan 10 All life of W. Scott [Lockhart 18378] except 5 th  vol
  • life of Cicero. 2 Vols [Middleton 1741] 15 th  W. Scotts life of Swift [W. Scott 1814].— …
  • of Gibbons History [Gibbon 177688] Octob 1 st . Scotts life of Dryden [W. Scott 1808] …
  • d . Series. vol 3. p. 1 to 312 30 th  Colquhoun (John) The Moor & the Loch [Colquhoun
  • Buffon [Milne-Edwards 183440]. March 5 th  St. Johns Highlands [Saint John 1846] 8
  • May 6 th . Scotts Narrative of Shipwreck on China [J. L. Scott 1841] —— 20 Eyres Travels in
  • Tone Autobiography [Tone 1826] very amusing March 10 John Galt Autobiography [Galt 1833] poor
  • 1848] Madam Malguet [Torrens] 1848] —— Lives of John & Alex. Belthune [?Bethune 1840 and
  • Ireland [Thompson 184956]. Vol. I. II & 3 May. St. Johns Tour in Sutherlandshire [Saint
  • Translation [Sévigné 1801] Quentin Durward [W. Scott] 1823]. Veronica [Zschokke 1845b]. G. …
  • 171] Pagets Travels in Hungary & Transylvania [John Paget 1839]— account of Dogs like
  • Empire [Huc 1855] Feb 16 th  Pagets Hungary [John Paget 1839] —— Bechsteins
  • 23] 1858 Life of Montaigne by B. St. John [B. Saint John 1858].— Miss
  • 1855The senses and the intellect . London. [2d ed. (1864) in Darwin Library.]  *128: 165
  • … . Edinburgh119: 7a, 13a Bowerbank, James Scott. 1840A history of the fossil fruits
  • Letters on natural magic, addressed to Sir   Walter Scott, Bart.  London. [Other eds.]  119: 21b
  • … ——. 18378Memoirs of the life of Sir Walter Scott,   Bart . 7 vols. Edinburgh and London.  …

Discussion Questions and Essay Questions

Summary

There are a wide range of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwin’s correspondence.  We have provided a set of sample discussion questions and essay questions, each of which focuses on a particular topic or correspondent in depth.…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … did readers draw from Darwin’s theories?[Mary Boole (1864), F. E. Abbot (1871-4), John Fordyce (1879 …
  • … What was Darwin’s influence on experimental practice? [John Scott and sexual dimorphism (1862), …
  • … in letters? [Hooker on geographic distribution of species (1864--6 and earlier), Wallace on the …

Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life

Summary

1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time.  And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth.  All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … had been founded in March 1876 by the London physiologist John Scott Burdon Sanderson to discuss how …
  • … Darwin rejoiced to hear that the Cambridge astronomer John Couch Adams not only approved of George’s …
  • … at the pre-publication sale dinner held by his publisher, John Murray ( letter to John Murray, 15 …
  • … ). In England, the clergyman botanist George Henslow, son of John Stevens Henslow, Darwin’s …
  • … from different forms of dimorphic and trimorphic plants in 1864 showed that hybrid sterility in …