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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: 14 hits

  • In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwins mind was the writing of  The
  • However, several smaller projects came to fruition in 1865, including the publication of his long
  • for evaluation, and persuaded his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker to comment on a paper on  Verbascum
  • committed suicide at the end of April; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic
  • thriving, and when illness made work impossible, Darwin and Hooker read a number of novels, and
  • the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). Darwin
  • letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus Alvey Darwin, 3 January 1865 ). Erasmus forwarded his letters
  • laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] ). Sic transit gloria
  • kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] ). However, …
  • griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 ). …
  • Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). He
  • and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] ). In
  • … ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …

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: 17 hits

  • In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in
  • basis of Lubbocks book, Prehistoric times (Lubbock 1865).  By 1860, Lyell had begun work
  • material available pertaining to the antiquity of humans. In 1865, he wrote that the section on
  • discussed the book in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker, Asa Gray, and Huxley but he never
  • complaint about the book was more personal. He confided to Hooker that he wasdeeply disappointed’ …
  • but had tried, indirectly, to influence him. He told Hooker: 10 Do see Falconer
  • Falconer to tone down his attack on Lyell and agreed, on Hookers advice, to soften a passage in the
  • not pursue any grievance against Lyell until the spring of 1865. 13  In the course of
  • C. Lyell 1863c and Lubbock 1861 (and consequently in Lubbock 1865), combined with the wording of
  • between the end of February and the beginning of March 1865, Lubbock wrote the note which would
  • allude to Sir Cs explanation of the matter’. 23 Hooker, who had also been sent copies of the
  • have given Lyells explanation in print, he disagreed with Hookers assessment of Lubbocks note, …
  • reiterated his admiration for Lubbocks book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week
  • When Hooker pressed him for an opinion ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 July 1865 ), Darwin wrote
  • of Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863c; see letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 June 1865] and n. 13) …
  • 7. See Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] . On Lyells
  • … ]. 10. Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] . …

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: 5 hits

  • … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London …
  • … Darwin wrote that he fell ill again on 22 April 1865 and was unable to ‘do anything.’  Emma Darwin’s …
  • … hand). Darwin began the ice treatment on 20 May 1865. In his letter to Chapman of 7 June 1865
  • … up the treatment (see letter from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865]). …
  • … Brinton, William Jenner, and George Busk (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [7 January 1865], and letter …

How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]

Summary

Sometimes, what stands out in a Darwin letter is not what is in it, but what is left out or just implied because the recipient would have known what Darwin was referring to. It is frustrating to spend hours looking but fail to identify something mentioned…

Matches: 5 hits

  • found in a relatively short letter written by Darwin in June 1865 to his close friend Joseph
  • Darwin mentions both his own healthvery badand that of Hookers wife (she had recently suffered a
  • The first step was to look at the letter from Hooker to which this letter was a reply ( From J. D. …
  • Indian mutiny. At least three novels had been written around 1865. Suddenly, ‘How tomade sense:  …
  • a favourable review in the  Athenæum  in January 1865. It had all the criteria for a novel 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: 6 hits

  • … ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] . …
  • … the origin of species particularly, worried Darwin; he told Hooker that he had once thought Lyell …
  • … lack of expertise in the subject. ‘The worst of it is’, Hooker wrote to Darwin, ‘I suppose it is …
  • … credit to his own research and that of Joseph Prestwich. Hooker wrote: ‘I fear L. will get scant …
  • … had contributed to the proofs of human antiquity. Darwin and Hooker repeatedly exchanged regrets …
  • … Gray, 4 August [1863] ). The results were published in his 1865 paper ‘Three forms of  Lythrum …

Joseph Dalton Hooker

Summary

The 1400 letters exchanged between Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) account for around 10% of Darwin’s surviving correspondence and provide a structure within which all the other letters can be explored.  They are a connecting thread that spans…

Matches: 23 hits

  • with his closest friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. The 1400 letters exchanged
  • that period. They illuminate the mutual friendships he and Hooker shared with other scientists, but
  • two menTheir correspondence began in 1843 when Hooker, just returned from James Clark Ross
  • main elements of his species theory, and within a few months Hooker was admitted into the small and
  • perhaps his most famous letter of all , Darwin wrote to Hooker in January 1844 of his growing
  • 1858 outlining an almost identical theory to his own, it was Hooker, together with Charles Lyell, …
  • Darwin callednatural selection”. It was also to Hooker that Darwin, writing furiously in
  • of  On the Origin of Species  for comment, and Hooker continued to be a sounding board for
  • which various plants are nourished, reproduce, and colonise. Hooker, who after ten years as
  • global networks of well-informed correspondents. Hooker was a frequent visitor to Darwin at
  • as well as to the patient ”. It was to Darwin that Hooker wrote just an hour after the death of his
  • the many hundreds of letters that passed between Darwin and Hooker all but a handful of those that
  • in 1888 and 1902, the second of which he dedicated to Hookerin remembrance of his lifelong
  • letters is also obvious, for example in his annotations to Hookers comments on the first edition of
  • Key letters Developing a theory: Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] : Darwin
  • day, distracted by grief, Darwin sent two letters to Hooker who was in the midst of arranging
  • The writing of  Origin  and its reception: Hooker was one of the few to whom Darwin sent
  • …  for commentwith close to disastrous results when Hookers children used some of it for scrap
  • response of the old fogies of CambridgeRead  Hookers description of the famous 1860
  • … . Friendship, gossip, and shared jokes: Hooker started a running joke in their
  • being the result of natural selectionWhen Hooker had his family silver stolen by a man
  • had resulted in neuter humans who would not flirt. Hooker suggested they should give up
  • daughter of his grandfather , Erasmus Darwin. Hooker sometimes made fun of Darwins

Inheritance

Summary

It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited.  But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did.  Darwin’s attempt to…

Matches: 6 hits

  • of characters written in invisible ink on the germ' ( to J. D. Hooker, 26 [March 1863] ).   …
  • example of in that way. ( T. H. Huxley, 16 July 1865 ). 'Your last note& …
  • make widely opposite remarks.' ( to T. H. Huxley, [17 July 1865] ). He was forced to confess
  • on Pangenesis, his 'great god Pan'. He defended it to Joseph Hooker, despite the doubts of
  • same as his) & he says he is not sure he understands it. Sir JLubbock says he shall wait, …
  • Father, & christened by some other name. (  to J. D. Hooker, 23 February '1868] ) …

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: 27 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
  • your darling. BOOKS BY THE LATE CHARLES DARWIN: 1863-1865 In which Drwin struggles
  • I find rather dull. GRAY:   170   1 May 1865Well, ‘treason has done its worstand
  • C DARWIN, 1819 AUGUST 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150
  • 5 DECEMBER 1864 170 A GRAY TO RW CHURCH, 1 MAY 1865 171  C DARWIN TO A GRAY
  • 174 FROM A GRAY TO CHARLES DARWIN, 24 JULY 1865 175 A GRAY TO RW CHURCH, 22 JUNE 1868
  • 25 MAY 1868 195 A GRAY TO JD HOOKER, 21 NOV 1865 196  FROM A GRAY 27

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

  • on publishers, decried on one occasion by Joseph Dalton Hooker asPenny-wise Pound foolish, …
  • Fuller consideration of Darwins work was given by Hooker in an evening speech on insular floras at
  • January [1866] ). Darwin had first consulted Jones in July 1865 and attributed his improved health
  • me any harmany how I cant be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). Towards
  • a preliminary sketch of pangenesis to Thomas Henry Huxley in 1865 (see Correspondence vol. 13), and
  • it was too big. ‘You must congratulate me’, he wrote to Hooker, ‘when you hear that I have sent M.S. …
  • Animals & Cult. Plantsto Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] ). When
  • of Darwins closest scientific friends and correspondents. Hookers research on alpine floras, Henry
  • Agassiz undertook an ambitious expedition to Brazil in 1865 and 1866, partly with a view to finding
  • have survived and appear in this volume), drawing Darwin, Hooker, and the botanist Charles James Fox
  • more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] ). Darwin
  • … ‘Your fatherentered at the same time with Dr B. J. who received him with triumph. All his friends
  • me to worship Bence Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself
  • then went for ¾ to Zoolog. Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866] ). …
  • tell him the truth how little exertion I can stand. I sh d  like very much to see him, though I
  • … & admit how little is known on the subject’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 and 4 August [1866] ). …
  • copies of his earlier botanical publications at the end of 1865, Darwin wrote in January 1866, …
  • of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in December 1865. Despite concerns about the ongoing
  • support the Jamaica Committee, which had formed in December 1865 to lobby for the criminal

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: 17 hits

  • …  was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, …
  • establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to Hookers letter which he put down to his
  • 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] , …
  • 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
  • threw up food.  In his letter to Chapman of 16 May [1865] , Darwin stated that his sickness was
  • Darwins diary (DAR 242) on several occasions in 1864 and 1865. ‘Bad hysteria & sicknesswere
  • 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] ). …

George Busk

Summary

After the Beagle voyage, Darwin’s collection of bryozoans disappears from the records until the material was sent, in 1852, for study by George Busk, one of the foremost workers on the group of his day. In 1863, on the way down to Malvern Wells, Darwin had…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … were part of a lively scientific and social circle.  Joseph Hooker described Ellen Busk as 'a …
  • … their ostracism by Charles and Lady Lyell ( letter from J. D. Hooker [2 June 1865] ).    …

Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts

Summary

At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of  Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…

Matches: 17 hits

  • correcting’ ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868] ). He may have
  • he remarked to his best friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘If I lived 20 more years, & …
  • Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
  • Nägeli, a Swiss botanist and professor at Munich (Nägeli 1865). Darwin had considered Nägelis paper
  • account for changes in most morphological features (Nägeli 1865, p. 29). Darwin sent a manuscript of
  • blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). Hooker
  • only be altered by his perfectibility principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 289). In further letters, Hooker
  • retrench that position following criticism from his friend Hooker, by admitting that the survival of
  • do fairly well, though if I had read you first, perhaps I d  have been less deferential towards
  • males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet
  • … & contemptalmost hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James
  • by Wallaces assertions: ‘If you had not told me I d  have thought that they had been added by
  • commentary (Royer trans. 1870). Darwin complained to Hooker, ‘Besides her enormously long & …
  • … [her] to translateDomestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by
  • of the whole meeting was decidedly Huxleys answer to D r  M c Cann. He literally poured boiling
  • suggestions to its publisher, Macmillan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 November 1869 ).  Darwin
  • been since his last period of prolonged illness in 1864 and 1865, although a particularly low spell

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: 20 hits

  • exclaimed to his close friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘Hurrah! I have been 52 hours
  • 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin wrote to Hooker: ‘The only approach to work which
  • by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). Darwins
  • …  peduncles to test sensitivity, and in his request to Hooker for another specimen: ‘I want it
  • plant morphology. Many of his other correspondents, such as Hooker and Gray, had grown accustomed to
  • which Darwin submitted to the Linnean Society in January 1865. Climbers and twiners
  • the  Lythrum  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] …
  • letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly wrote to Hooker: ‘I will fight you to the death, …
  • and 249). When Darwin requested orchid specimens from Hooker in November, he said that he did
  • certain difficult & tedious points’, Darwin asked Hooker about the possibility of Scotts
  • with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] ). …
  • often at odds with one another: ‘Gardeners are the very dl, & where two or three are gathered
  • enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). Nevertheless
  • that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ). In his
  • a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August 1864] ). Darwin
  • you have bearded this lion in his den’ ( letter to B. D. Walsh, 4 December [1864] ). Walsh also
  • he thought himsanguine & unsafe’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 February 1864 ). Hooker
  • correct if they contradicted the Bible ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, [19 September 1864] ). When
  • says when I read his discussion in the Elements [C. Lyell 1865] I shall recant for fifth time’ ( …

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…

Matches: 20 hits

  • been advertised by the publisher John Murray as early as 1865, the two-volume work appeared in
  • the accursed Index-maker’, Darwin wrote to Joseph Dalton Hooker on 6 January . Darwin had sent
  • … ). Darwin sympathised, replying on 14 January , ‘I sh d  have a very bad heart, as hard as
  • to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). But such
  • awaythat sparked the most discussion. Darwin wrote to Hooker on 23 February , ‘did you look at
  • thought it was by Gray himself, but Darwin corrected him: ‘D r  Gray would strike me in the face, …
  • editor of the  London and Westminster Review . When Hooker later tried to refute the claims of the
  • a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] ). …
  • on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed tothe Rev d  C. Darwin M.d’; Binstead evidently
  • … (from ?, 6 April 1868). On 21 May , Darwin complained to Hooker, ‘I am bothered with heaps of
  • kind almost heroic, in you to sacrifice your hair and pay 3 d  in the cause of science
  • information on colour changes in the canary (letters from J. J. Weir, [26] March 1868 and 3
  • … , ‘almost heroic, in you to sacrifice your hair and pay 3 d  in the cause of science.’ Darwin
  • added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). Sexual
  • as ofvictorious males getting wives’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 25 February [1868] ). Yet a
  • role of colour, sound, and smell in attracting females. J. J. Weir reported on 14 April 1868
  • Wallace that he had begun the previous year, writing to Hooker on 21 May , ‘I always distrust
  • circulated to remote parts of the world. A correspondent of Hookers distributed it in Japan ( …
  • the Linnean Society of London on 19 March. In a letter to Hooker on 21 May , he enthused over an
  • the previous year by James Philip Mansel Weale ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [20 May 1868] ). …

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: 16 hits

  • by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August 1874] ). …
  • of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such reminiscences
  • looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). I
  • hope.— I feel very old & helpless’  ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] ). Darwin
  • to believe in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18
  • the publishers, he applied first to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, and finally borrowed one from
  • for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); however, he did
  • … ‘Im a grown man now’, he reminded Darwin, ‘& sh d . stand on my own footing, & if it is
  • Mivart (see  Correspondence  vol. 20, letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). To Darwin
  • views. In December, he sought advice from Huxley and Hooker, sending them a draft letter that
  • Mivart had written the article ( enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 21 December 1874 ). Huxley
  • to write to Mivart directly after he knew the full result of Hookers and Huxleys representations ( …
  • or adviseable’. On Christmas Eve, Darwin wrote to Hooker that they were still in a dilemma
  • 15 th  he published that shabby rejoinder’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1874] ).  On
  • made public through anonymous reviews. While staying with Hooker over Christmas, John Tyndall, …
  • removed as secretary of the Linnean Society  ( letter From J. D. Hooker, 29 December 1874 ). …

Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions

Summary

Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …

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: 17 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
  • C. R. to Gould, A. A., 20 Aug [1849] Darwin thanks J. D. Dana for cirripede specimens. Darwin
  • 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
  • descriptions. Letter 1260Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 Oct 1849 Darwin

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

  • 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
  • Letter 4823  - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] Darwins niece, Lucy, …
  • 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
  • Letter 4928  - Henslow, G. to Darwin, [11 November 1865] J. S. Henslows son, George, …
  • 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

Cross and self fertilisation

Summary

The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…

Matches: 20 hits

  • his results. In March 1867, he told his close friend Joseph Hooker, ‘The only fact which I have
  • produced by a cross between two distinct plants’ ( To JDHooker, 17 March [1867] ). He noted
  • of France where Moggridge lived for part of the year ( To JTMoggridge, 1 October [1867] ). …
  • … ‘I always supposed until lately that no evil effects w d  be visible until after several
  • flower. ‘How utterly mysterious it is’, he reported to Hooker, ‘that there sh d  be some
  • to impotence when taken from the same plant!’ ( To JDHooker, 21 May [1868] ) Pollen tubes, or
  • Darwin sent specimens of plants he raised from this seed to Hooker, who named it Abutilon darwinii
  • a new species, & I am honoured by its name’, Darwin told Hooker, ‘It offers an instance, of
  • the season it becomes capable of self-fertilisation’ ( To JDHooker, 23 July [1871] ). Darwin
  • … ). When Darwin began writing in February 1873, he asked Hooker for names of families of several
  • … & I have no idea when it will be published’ ( To JVCarus, 8 May [1873] ). Hermann Müller
  • and not onthe evil effects of Interbreeding’ ( To JVCarus, 2 August [1873] ). In
  • … & Trimorphic plants with new & related matter. ( To JVCarus, 19 March [1874] ). A year
  • … ‘I have to add new researches on this subject. ( To JVCarus   7 February 1875 ). In fact, …
  • planned to publish his earlier papers in the same book ( To JVCarus, 25 December 1875 ). …
  • the 34 crossed plants being still taken as 100.? I sh drather like to know what the general
  • with which they grow mingled in a state of nature’ ( To J. H. Gilbert, 16 February 1876 ). Darwin
  • with a recipe for treating soil to remove nutrients ( From JHGilbert, 4 March 1876 ). In June
  • Chronicle , 19 February [1877] ). In contrast, as Hooker told Darwin, ‘Dyer is full of your Cross
  • it forNature”— he gloats over it' ( From JDHooker, 27 January 1877 ). Darwin was

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: 17 hits

  • started in January 1860, and advertised in the press since 1865 with the unwieldy title, …
  • on 8 February [1867] to his close friend, Joseph Dalton Hooker, he explained, ‘I began a chapter
  • at what rate your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This hint of
  • to introduce the work to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). Darwin may
  • translate my book in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). Darwin was not
  • like that of the date palm. Naudin had sent specimens to Hooker, who reported thewonderful
  • apparently discussing it or showing it to anyone until 1865, when he sent a version of it to Huxley, …
  • insecurity persisted, however, and in November he told Hooker, ‘I shall not be at all surprised if
  • as I have been taunted with concealing my opinions; & I sh d  do this immediately after the
  • the work I shall find it much better done by you than I c d  have succeeded in doing’ ( letter to
  • Douglas Campbell, published  The reign of law  (G. D. Campbell 1867), a book based on a series of
  • from T. H. Huxley, [before 7 January 1867] ). In February, Hooker asked whether Darwin had read it
  • I have not a word to say against it but such a view c d  hardly come into a scientific book’ ( …
  • I have not a word to say against it but such a view c d  hardly come into a scientific book
  • judgement he would subdue; that is yours’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin
  • if I had the power of writing with severity I dare say I sh d  triumph in turning poor devils
  • alert (see  Correspondence  vol. 13, letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] and n. 4). …
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