skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

Search: contains ""

400 Bad Request

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.


Apache Server at dcp-public.lib.cam.ac.uk Port 443
Search:
in keywords
10 Items

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: 26 hits

  • …   Charles Darwins major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large
  • of Argyll, and an anonymous review by an engineer, Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, challenged
  • 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] ). …
  • hypothesis of pangenesis’. Such was the case, reported by Charles Victor Naudin, of a fan palm, …
  • varieties at the eye, which resulted in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867
  • seems to me, if true, a wonderful physiological fact’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • anxious about the reception of pangenesis. He was happy that Charles Lyell had a positive response, …
  • will be a somewhat important step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). …
  • on the anatomy of expression by medical experts such as Charles Bell and Guillaume Benjamin Amand
  • asking again for information on Fuegian expressions. On 11 January 1867, Sulivan replied , …
  • to Alfred Russel Wallace, who suggested in his response of 11 March [1867] that Darwin send his
  • Darwins theory (letter from Fritz to Hermann Müller, 11 February 1867, in Möller ed. 191521, 2: …
  • andclever’, but with certain weak parts ( letter to Charles Lyell, 1 June [1867] ). Charles
  • as one who feels himself likely to be beat’ ( letter from Charles Kingsley, 6 June 1867 ). Darwin
  • c d  hardly come into a scientific book’ ( letter to Charles Kingsley, 10 June [1867] ). …
  • the most telling Reviews of the hostile kind’ ( letter to Charles Kingsley, 10 June [1867] ). …
  • … & botany, before writing about them’ ( letter from Charles Kingsley, 6 June 1867 ). The

Darwin on race and gender

Summary

Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … ( Beagle diary , p. 143). He was delighted to receive a letter from an African correspondent …
  • … and Progress Key letters: Letter to J. S. Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … and human nature’]. Shanafelt, Robert. 2003. How Charles Darwin got emotional expression out …
  • … Correspondence with women Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February …

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: 10 hits

  • … up each edition to the existing standard of science’ ( to Charles Layton, 24 November [1869] ). …
  • … expansion ‘in many places’ . Chief among these was Charles Lyell, instrumental in shaping both …
  • … buried Darwin under a blizzard of letters (see especially letter to Charles Lyell, 11 October …
  • … last one was a welcome endorsement from the religious author Charles Kingsley, a chaplain to the …
  • … sufficiently acknowledged earlier work.  According to a letter to Asa Gray he had yet to start …
  • … an animal’s colour and its immunity to poison (see letter from Jeffries Wyman, [ c . 15] …
  • … hitherto slurred it over. In his Christmas Day letter to his old friend Joseph Hooker, …
  • … (With a glossary of scientific terms??) by Charles Darwin F.R.S.   …
  • … of population increase in elephants in response to a letter published in the Athenaeum by a …
  • … ed. , pp. 450–61). Despite continuing scepticism from Charles Lyell, who was staying with the …

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: 19 hits

  • … of departure reviews of Origin . The second is a single letter from naturalist A. R. Wallace to …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … nature, as he is in a “muddle” on this issue. Letter 3256 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … 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, …
  • … about his “honest & conscientious doubts”. Letter 471 — Darwin, Emma to Darwin, C. …
  • … there is a danger in giving up revelation”. Letter 2534 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, …
  • … need of an act of intervention to bring change. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
  • … with that knowledge which only He can give me.” Letter 5303 — Boole, M. E. to Darwin, C …
  • … that his theory be compatible with her faith. Letter 5307 — Darwin, C. R. to Boole, M. …
  • … and science should each run its own course. Letter 8070 — Darwin, C. R. to Abbot, F. E. …
  • … be an ardent theist and evolutionist, giving the examples of Kingsley and Asa Gray. As regards his …
  • … beauty. Letter 4752 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 22 Jan [1865] Darwin writes …
  • Letter 5004 — Darwin, C. R. to Shaw, James, 11 Feb [1866] Darwin thanks James Shaw for the …
  • … of beauty by animals. Letter 5565 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, C. R., 6 June 1867 …
  • Letter 1536 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, J. W. (b), 11 Oct [1853] Darwin gives his opinion to …

Race, Civilization, and Progress

Summary

Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … he had witnessed man in his most "primitive wildness" ( letter to Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … an inward force or directed by design, while others such as Charles Lyell and Alfred Russel Wallace …
  • … of botany at Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow. Letter 204 : Darwin to Henslow, J. S., …
  • … the first sight of Man in his primitive wildness." Charles wrote to his sister, Emily …
  • … 1833 which took effect in the following year. Letter 206 : Darwin to Darwin, E. C., 22 …
  • … of the polygenist theory of human descent. Letter 4933 : Farrar, F. W. to Darwin, …
  • … about the state of civilization of the natives. Letter 5617 , Darwin to Weale, J. P. M …
  • … wonderful fact in the progress of civilization" Letter 5722 , Weale, J. P. M. to …
  • … of Species , Darwin discussed his views on progress in a letter to Charles Lyell, insisting that …
  • … of life" ( Origin , 6 th ed, p. 98). Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C …
  • … not profit it, there would be no advance.— " Letter 6728 : from Charles Lyell, 5 …
  • … but may guide the forces & laws of Nature." Letter 6866 : From Federico Delpino …
  • … in this inner principle, inborn in all things." Letter 8658 : to Alpheus Hyatt, 4 …
  • … for existence between human races with the geologist Charles Lyell, the liberal Anglican clergymen …
  • … the less intellectual races being exterminated." Letter 3439 : Darwin to Kingsley, …
  • … race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank." Letter 4510 : Darwin to Wallace, …
  • … entirely on intellectual & moral qualities. Letter 13230 : Darwin to Graham, …
  • … Selected Readings Primary Charles Darwin, Notebooks, B 18-29; E 95-7 [ …

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: 20 hits

  • … he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace. This …
  • … as he jokingly called it) to his views of close friends like Charles Lyell, Joseph Dalton Hooker, …
  • … 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] ). …
  • … his reason or his own opinion. Hewett Cottrell Watson and Charles Cardale Babington thought that in …
  • … 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] ). …
  • … McKinney has suggested that Darwin received Wallace’s letter and manuscript on 3 June 1858, the same …
  • … with scarlet fever, currently sweeping through the village. Charles Waring Darwin’s condition …
  • … ideas (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 2 March [1859] , 11 March [1859] , and 7 April [1859] ) …
  • … work. Again, he called upon Lyell for advice ( letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell …
  • … from the title of the forthcoming book ( letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next …
  • … on the origin of species and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to …
  • … selection the ‘law of higgledy-piggledy’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each …
  • … convinced. Darwin was particularly interested in Charles Lyell’s response to his theory. He …
  • … on  Origin  by a ‘celebrated author and divine’ (Charles Kingsley) that ‘it is just as noble a …
  • … the lacunas w h . he himself had made’ ( letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859 ). This …

Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small

Summary

In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … to take his daily strolls (Henrietta Emma Litchfield, ‘Charles Darwin’s death’, DAR 262.23: 2, p. 2) …
  • … a ‘Glycerin Pepsin mixture’ (letters to W. W. Baxter, 11 March 1882 and 18 March [1882 ]). …
  • … immediately wrote to George, who had visited Down on 11 April (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). …
  • … snakes, centipedes, and spiders. The instructions were from Charles Lawrence Hughes, a fellow pupil …
  • … Holland, she mentions his warm reception on arrival: ‘Charles is as well as possible & in gayer …
  • … recommendations for annual medals. He strongly supported Charles Lyell for the Copley, the Royal …
  • … November [1864] ). Writing to the clergyman and naturalist Charles Kingsley, he was more gloomy: …
  • … men whom I should have liked to have known’ ( letter to Charles Kingsley, 2 June [1865] ). …
  • … theory for the whole of the organic world ( letter from Charles Lyell, 16 July 1867 ). In the same …
  • … man’s private property’ ( letter to George Warington, 11 October [1867] ). Respecting the …
  • … and I must not make you my father confessor. ( Letter from Charles Lyell, 1 September 1874 .) …
  • … complete With volume 30, the  Correspondence of Charles Darwin  is now complete. In the …

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: 25 hits

  • … learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
  • … 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 been ‘ utterly  smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
  • … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • … 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] …
  • … current knowledge could not illuminate this ‘mystery’. Charles Lyell worried, among other things, …
  • … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
  • … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
  • … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
  • … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
  • … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
  • … favour of change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). …
  • … his study of the geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 …
  • … ‘man is in same predicament with other animals’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] )— he …
  • … book had become ‘topics of the day’ at the meeting in a letter from Hooker written from Oxford. …
  • … Darwin ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1860). Other …
  • … that ‘this row is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further …
  • … of the scientifically literate clergymen Baden Powell and Charles Kingsley attested. Moreover, …
  • … (like Lyell) to retract their support altogether (letters to Charles Lyell, 1 June [1860] and …
  • … different opposers view the subject’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 15 February [1860] ); later he …
  • … better fun observing is than writing.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 12 September [1860] ). Despite …
  • … & not amuse myself with interludes.—’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 24 November [1860] , and to …
  • … daughter Anne’s fatal illness never far from their minds, Charles and Emma did whatever they could …

Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots

Summary

Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…

Matches: 29 hits

  • … 27 of the print edition of The correspondence of Charles Darwin , published by Cambridge …
  • … his publishers, he warned that it was ‘dry as dust’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879 ). …
  • … turned out, alas, very dull & has disappointed me much’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 15 [June …
  • … home again’, he fretted, just days before his departure ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [after 26 …
  • … many blessings, was finding old age ‘a dismal time’ ( letter to Henry Johnson, 24 September 1879 ) …
  • … wrinkles one all over like a baked pear’ ( enclosure in letter from R. W. Dixon, 20 December 1879 …
  • … itself, or gone some other way round?’ At least the last letter of 1879 contained a warmer note and …
  • … office to complete Horace’s marriage settlement ( letter from W. M. Hacon, 31 December 1879 ). …
  • … but they were ‘as nice and good as could be’ ( letter from Karl Beger, [ c. 12 February 1879] ) …
  • … on your life’s work, which is crowned with glory’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 9 February 1879 ). …
  • … to wish Darwin a ‘long and serene evening of life’. This letter crossed with one from Darwin, …
  • … the statement ‘In the beginning was carbon’ ( letter from Hermann Müller, 14 February 1879 ). …
  • … nature based on the theory of development in connection with Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel. …
  • … as the ‘organ of “uncultivated materialism”’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 2 June 1879 ]). …
  • … up the glory & would please Francis’, he pointed out ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 13 March [1879 …
  • … wholly & shamefully ignorant of my grandfathers life’ ( letter to Ernst Krause, 14 March 1879 …
  • … known philosopher and poet’ ( Correspondence vol. 1, letter from Francis Beaufort to Robert …
  • … these things with the when & the where, & the who—’ ( letter from V. H. Darwin, 28 May …
  • … paternal grandparents thought ‘perfect in every way’ ( letter from E. A. Wheler, 25 March 1879 ). …
  • … heard of him ‘constantly, & always with pride’ ( letter from Reginald Darwin, 29 March 1879 ). …
  • … essay might end up ‘interfering with each other’ ( letter to Ernst Krause, 27 March 1879 ). Darwin …
  • … made such an introduction ‘almost indispensable’ ( letter from Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 ). Darwin …
  • … everything into ridicule. He hates scientific men’ ( letter to Ernst Krause, 14 May 1879 ). …
  • … must be ‘in some degree interesting to the public’ ( letter to Reginald Darwin, 10 April [1879] ). …
  • … ‘very tastefully and well, and with little fatigue’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 12 July 1879 , and …
  • … ‘more perplexed than ever about life of D r . D’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 12 July [1879] ). …
  • … telling, and he regretted going beyond his ‘tether’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 5 June 1879 …
  • … & scientific men’, Darwin wrote in reply on 11 January . ‘Search for the truth, & then …
  • … may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist’, pointing to Charles Kingsley and Asa Gray as proof …

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: 28 hits

  • … by H. W. Rutherford ( Catalogue of the library of Charles Darwin now in the Botany School, …
  • … 3v.] Hunter has written Quarto work on Physiology 11  besides the paper collected by Owen …
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … 1831]. Book I. ch. 7 & Book II. Ch. 8. Book. VII. ch 8, 11. read 1 st . vol of Lamarck. …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … 1834b]. 9. Columbidæ (Pigeons.) [Selby 1835] 11. Ruminating Animals (Deer, Antelopes, …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … Grammont’s Memoirs [Gramont 1714] light & poor Nov 11. Bamford life of Radicle [Bamford …
  • … (in relation to Köelreuter) in Revue Horticole No 9–11 89  1853 [Lecoq 1853]. Reviewed in …
  • … Nat. Hist Zoologist [ Zoologist ] vols. before 11 & 12.— 106 Thumberg Travels …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … Home Tour. (various parts) [G. Head 1837] good —— 11. Oersted’s Soul of Nature [Ørsted 1847] …
  • … . Esmond. by Thackeray [Thackeray 1852] (Poor) Nov. 11. Sir Hudson Lowe’s life and letters [H …
  • … Society of Bengal ]. Vol. I. (1832) 2. 3. 4. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. (1843). not much except Blyth. …
  • … 1859]. (goodish) 1  The personal library of Charles Stokes from whom CD borrowed books …
  • … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
  • … to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … Erskine. 2 vols. London.  *119: 14 Babington, Charles Cardale. 1839.  Primitiæ floræ   …
  • … of Useful Knowledge.) London.  *119: 13 Badham, Charles David. 1845.  Insect life . …
  • … [Abstract in DAR 205.3: 180.] 119: 21a Bell, Charles. 1806.  Essays on the anatomy of …
  • … of the London Clay . London.  *119: 12v. Brace, Charles Loring. 1852.  Hungary in 1851: …
  • … life from 1838 to the present   time . Edited by John Charles Templer. 3 vols. London.  128: 9 …
  • … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832.  A letter in vindication of   the principles of …
  • … . 3 vols. Edinburgh and London.  128: 25 Bunbury, Charles James Fox. 1848.  Journal of a …
  • … nature of virtue . Cambridge.  *119: 13 Buxton, Charles. 1848.  Memoirs of Sir Thomas …
  • … Captain P. Parker   King .) London.  119: 5a [Kingsley, Charles]. 1851.  Yeast: a …