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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: 25 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
- … publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct proofs, and just when …
- … becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in 1867, as he continued to circulate a list of …
- … transmutation theory. Three important new correspondents in 1867 were Hermann Müller and Anton Dohrn …
- … ‘Horrid tedious dull work’ Thomas Henry Huxley sent Darwin the New Year’s greeting, ‘may you …
- … publisher, John Murray, he wrote to Murray on 3 January 1867 , ‘I cannot tell you how sorry I am …
- … for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] ). A week later, Darwin had …
- … the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to his close friend, Joseph …
- … Darwin’s time. The first proof-sheets arrived on 1 March 1867 and the tedious work of correction …
- … . In a letter to his son William dated 27 [March 1867] , he admitted, ‘I fear the book is by no …
- … papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although he described some of Alexander …
- … told his publisher, John Murray, in a letter of 4 April [1867] , not to send stereotypes of the …
- … had received other offers, notably one from Vogt in April 1867, to translate the new work. Carus had …
- … will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This hint of uncertainty caused …
- … to give up the task’ ( letter to Carl Vogt, 12 April [1867] ). Darwin need not have worried …
- … to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). Darwin may not have fully …
- … in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). Darwin was not disappointed in …
- … the ‘wonderful discovery’ to Darwin on 14 March 1867 . Then, in April, Robert Trail wrote from …
- … in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin told his American friend …
- … physiological fact’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). Although he did not succeed in …
- … step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). Darwin’s insecurity persisted, …
- … ferocity’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867] ). Even when the corrections were …
- … to be introduced’ ( letter to W. S. Dallas, 8 November [1867] ). Dallas resisted the temptation to …
- … noted, ‘I hear he is down on both of us’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, [before 7 January 1867] ). In …
- … for this month; except on wet days’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 1 October [1867] ). There is no …
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 20 hits
- … expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to …
- … Barber, Mary E. [after Feb 1867] [Grahamstown, Cape …
- … Bowker, J.H. [10 Dec 1867] [Cape of Good Hope (South …
- … Bowman, William 5 Aug 1867 5 Clifford St, London, …
- … Darwin, Francis 20 June 1867 Unknown? …
- … Erskine, H. N. B. 1 Nov 1867 [Ahmednuggur, Bombay, …
- … Gaika, Christian 7 July 1867 Bedford [Cape of Good …
- … Geach, F.F. June 1867 Johore, Malaysia …
- … Gibbs, George 31 March 1867 Smithsonian Institution, …
- … Gray, Asa 26 March 1867 Cambridge, Massachusetts, …
- … Haast, J.F.J. von 12 May - 2 June 1867 Christchurch, …
- … Haast, J.F.J. von 4 Dec 1867 Christchurch, New …
- … Hagenauer, F.A. [12 Sept 1867] Lake Wellington, …
- … Kempson, L.F. 20 June 1867 Penmaenmawr, Conway, …
- … Lubbock, E.F. [1867-8?] Lombard Street, London? …
- … Muller, Fritz 22 Feb [1867] Down, Kent, England …
- … Paget, James 9 July 1867 1 Harewood Place, Hanover …
- … Rothrock, J.T. 31 March 1867 McVeytown [Pennsylvania …
- … Stack, James West 4 Dec 1867 Christchurch, New …
- … Sulivan, B.J. 11 Jan 1867 Bournemouth, England …
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: 9 hits
- … contacts. His life-long friendship with Thomas Henry Huxley, for example, began with detailed …
- … & night.” Letter 1480 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. H., 23 Apr [1853] …
- … He hopes Agassiz was sounder on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592 — …
- … Letter 4895 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 20 Sept [1865] Darwin thanks Müller for …
- … seems probable. Letter 5173 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 2 Aug 1866 Müller …
- … be dichogamous. Letter 5429 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 4 Mar 1867 Müller …
- … other species. Letter 5480 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr 1867 Müller …
- … Letter 5551 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 26 May [1867] Darwin thanks Müller for …
- … , and asks for references to cirripede descriptions by T. A. Conrad. …
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: 27 hits
- … Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August 1849] Darwin thanks Mary Whitby …
- … in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to Darwin, [29 October 1862] …
- … Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to Darwin, [after February 1867] Mary Barber responds to …
- … Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] Darwin asks his niece, …
- … pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H., [30 January 1868] …
- … Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] …
- … Letter 9426 - Story-Maskelyne , T. M. to Darwin, [23 April 1874] Thereza …
- … buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to Darwin, [September 1874] …
- … patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [16 July 1863] …
- … Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to Darwin, [8 August 1867] Sutton, the keeper of the …
- … 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] Explorer and geologist Haast …
- … Women: Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
- … Letter 4823 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, …
- … Leith Hill Place. Letter 6139 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 April 1868] …
- … Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] Amy Ruck reports the …
- … in a tin box. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to Darwin, [September 1874] …
- … Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [2 September 1847] Darwin questions Mrs. …
- … “eyebrows”. Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] …
- … with minnows. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May 1860] …
- … suggestion. Letter 5254 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [23 October 1866] …
- … those at Kew. Letter 6139 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 April 1868] …
- … can understand it. Letter 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] …
- … daughter, Henrietta. Letter 4010 - Huxley, T. H. to Darwin, [25 February 1863] …
- … Letter 5585 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [26 July 1867] Darwin praises Henrietta’s …
- … Letter 5403 - Darwin to Carus, J. V. [17 February 1867] Darwin thanks Carus for his …
- … Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [2 September 1847] Darwin asks Mrs. Whitby …
- … 5410 - Darwin to Muller, J. F. T., [22 February 1867] Darwin thanks Muller for …
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
- … of the same species would give rise to fertile progeny (T. H. Huxley 1860, pp.562-5). He later …
- … inter se) have ever been produced from a common stock’ (T. H. Huxley 1860, p. 198). In Origin , p …
- … on hybridity in the new edition of Origin . He encouraged Huxley to read it, noting, ‘ Asa Gray …
- … you from publishing on the subject ’. In March 1867, Darwin received a small book from …
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: 13 hits
- … Jenkin. Darwin had been very impressed by Jenkin’s 1867 review, which argued that any variation in …
- … would no doubt do if we had proper data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter …
- … to see Thomson’s work challenged by both Thomas Henry Huxley and Wallace. He confided to Huxley, ‘I …
- … been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
- … and fossil discoveries in Patagonia and Wales ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 7 May 1869 , letter …
- … on the previous German edition (Bronn and Carus trans. 1867), as well as on the German translation …
- … part at Darwin’s most outspoken British supporter, Thomas Huxley, whose address ‘The physical basis …
- … “punctum saliens” of the whole meeting was decidedly Huxley’s answer to D r M c Cann. He …
- … man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 7 September 1869 ). Huxley playfully groused that as usual …
- … greater fools of themselves than they did’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 28 September 1869 ). …
- … into which … I do not care to follow him’ ( letter from T. H. Farrer, 9 October 1869 ). Farrer …
- … Freedom and Will and High Design—’ (letter from T. H. Farrer, 13 October 1869). …
- … to set foot on summit of a mountain.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 9 July [1869] ). Earlier …
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…
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: 17 hits
- … witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice looked to …
- … for him, as he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 …
- … person’. The two men also agreed on the deficiencies of Huxley’s argument that animals were …
- … ( letter from John Collier, 22 February 1882 ; T. H. Huxley 1881, pp. 199–245). Huxley used …
- … to William Jenner, 20 March [1882] ; see also letter from T. L Brunton, 12 February 1882 , and …
- … to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). Huxley urged Darwin to consult another …
- … can be placed to look after your machinery (I daren’t say automaton ) critically’ ( letter from …
- … were more automata in the world like you’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 March 1882 ). Darwin …
- … Natural History, that I went as Naturalist on the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World & …
- … a few letters shortly after the publication of Origin . Huxley had written a number of glowing …
- … circle; I cannot tell how or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin …
- … years following Origin, a number of Darwin’s friends, Huxley, John Lubbock, and Charles Lyell, …
- … Lyell had been a strong advocate of common descent. In 1867, Lyell expressed his enthusiasm for …
- … of the organic world ( letter from Charles Lyell, 16 July 1867 ). In the same year, Darwin made a …
- … property’ ( letter to George Warington, 11 October [1867] ). Respecting the privacy of …
- … of Darwinian theory to flowers and flower-visiting insects; H. Müller 1869)). Darwin was full of …
- … at least be a valid ground for divorce’ ( letter to H. K. Rusden, [before 27 March 1875] ). In …
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: 17 hits
- … intended for publication in Variation , to Thomas Henry Huxley for evaluation, and persuaded his …
- … the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until …
- … of species; for if he is correct, we certainly have what Huxley calls new physiological species …
- … in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Scott 1867), and Darwin summarised them in …
- … health had been particularly bad, Darwin sent Thomas Henry Huxley a fair copy of a manuscript in …
- … hypothesis of pangenesis’, as it later became, to Huxley’s judgment with some trepidation. ‘It is a …
- … can hang on it a good many groups of facts.’ ( Letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 May [1865] .) The …
- … to Darwin of this hypothesis is obvious from his letter to Huxley, despite his apparent modesty, and …
- … was to all appearances his usual method of working. He asked Huxley not for detailed criticism, but …
- … from Darwin’s letter to him of 12 July [1865] . Huxley had evidently pointed out some similarity …
- … just & I will try to persuade myself not to publish.’ Huxley swiftly qualified what Darwin had …
- … anticipation of our modern Theories—and that stupid ass, Huxley, prevented his publishing them”… I …
- … of the only clue at present accessible—and don’t give the Philistines more chances of blaspheming …
- … humans (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from J. H. Balfour, 14 January 1862 ). According …
- … work of reconciliation seems in the end to have been done by Huxley. In fact, Darwin’s immediate …
- … a trying year. In January he had influenza ( letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865] ); before …
- … on the affair, to her mother, ends, ‘I wish people weren’t so foolish’;. In November, Darwin and …
What did Darwin believe?
Summary
What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…
Matches: 14 hits
- … ongoing discussion and mutual concern for many years. Huxley, Wallace, and Haeckel The …
- … be asserted by one of Darwin’s leading proponents, Thomas Huxley. We can see Huxley pleading his …
- … … the first fashionable view. Letter from T. H. Huxley to H. A. Heathorn, October 1847. …
- … Kingsley, who had written to him following the death of Huxley’s first son, Noel, aged 5. Kingsley …
- … many years. ‘The most sacred act of a man’s life,’ Huxley wrote, ‘is to say and to feel, “I believe …
- … and follow the facts without rest or regard for risk.’ Huxley compared this to ‘the Christian …
- … so honest and fair the candid expression of his doubts.” Huxley urged that Darwin’s readers adopt …
- … by unjustified belief.” In support of his claim, Huxley referred to the many passages in …
- … calling attention to the difficulties of his theory. Indeed, Huxley’s own style of debate, often …
- … German supporter, Ernst Haeckel, complained to Darwin in 1867, When I see how unfairly …
- … scientific and social controversy, allowing others like Huxley, Wallace, and Haeckel to battle on …
- … no good, only causes pain. I feel sure that our good friend Huxley, though he has much influence, w …
- … of Charles Darwin (London: Collins). Barrett, Paul H. et al ed. 1987. Charles Darwin’s …
- … German zoologist. Heathorn, Henrietta. Married Thomas Huxley in 1855. Huxley, Thomas …
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: 15 hits
- … easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had …
- … daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
- … vigour into scientific work, remarking to Fox, ‘I don’t believe in your theory of moderate mental …
- … submitted a preliminary sketch of pangenesis to Thomas Henry Huxley in 1865 (see Correspondence vol. …
- … hybridisers had been a subject of debate between Darwin and Huxley, who had asserted the importance …
- … Shortly after the new edition was published, Darwin wrote to Huxley, ‘do read the Chapt. on …
- … I think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … interview with Mogg’, she wrote in May, ‘He didn’t scold me at all about fusca & lutea & we …
- … come & pay a morning call but that most likely you wdn’t see him & he said he shd be …
- … It is rather horrible to have another self fertiliser, isn’t it?’), as well as the role that she and …
- … clearly admired parts of the book, but he expressed to Huxley and others certain reservations and …
- … weak in his Greek, is something dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] ). …
- … who was sympathetic to Darwin and had previously translated Huxley’s Man’s place in nature , was …
- … as a ‘thinking pump’: ‘I read aloud your simile of H. Spencer to a thinking pump, & it was …
- … prosecution on 2 November 1866. Spencer enclosed a letter by Huxley to the Pall Mall Gazette , …
5935_4582
Summary
From J. D. Hooker 26[–7] February 1868KewFeby 26th/68Dear Darwin I have been bursting with impatience to hear what you would say of the Athenæum Review & who wrote it— I could not conceive who…
Matches: 7 hits
- … opinions on Pangenesis— f4 I was talking it over with Huxley f5 who made a very clever remark …
- … Not one Naturalist in 100 can follow it I am sure. Spencer, Huxley & Lubbock (if he has time) …
- … please return it.—as I have no time to copy it.— J H. CD …
- … by a graduate of the University of Cambridge ([Beverley] 1867) was reviewed in the Athenæum , 8 …
- … [1868] and nn. 7–10. f5 Thomas Henry Huxley. f6 Hooker refers to Herbert Spencer …
- … may be as hazy as the reviewer’s. Huxley’s clever remark on Pangenesis. JDH’s view …
- … Hooker, J. D. Hooker, J. D. Hooker, J. D. Huxley, T. H. Owen, Richard …
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,…
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: 5 hits
- … Darwin had sent the manuscript to the publisher in February 1867, and had spent a good deal of that …
- … Record. Dallas had begun the work in November 1867 and had expected to complete it in a fortnight. …
- … emotional expression. His questionnaire, first sent out in 1867, was circulated to remote parts of …
- … sacrificed to Public life.’ Farrer replied: ‘You don’t know how kind I think your note. This …
- … life time— I am preparing to go into opposition— I can’t stand it’. Diplomas and honorary …
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: 5 hits
- … about the matter was eased when his cause was taken up by Huxley, whose critical notice of Flourens …
- … its death blow’ with the publication of Origin (T. H. Huxley 1864a, p. 567). In 1864, …
- … had continued to grow following the 1863 publication of Huxley’s Evidence as to man’s place in …
- … volume on prehistoric humans to Darwin, and Hooker discussed Huxley’s heated dispute with officers …
- … had there been any failure of justice’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 4 November 1864 ). …
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Summary
One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 6 hits
- … varieties were so fluid that clearly defined species didn’t exist. The answer to the question is … …
- … yet all the genera have 1/2 a dozen synonyms’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February 1849] ). …
- … sterility was a test of species was firmly held by Thomas Huxley, who argued that until Darwin could …
- … would not be ‘beyond the reach of all possible assault’ (T. H. Huxley 1863a, p. 147). In …
- … being able either to breed, or to produce fertile offspring. Huxley’s challenge to create two forms …
- … fertility would not be 'selected'. ( Variation 2: 186–7). One of the reasons that …
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: 1 hits
- … Hermann Müller and the adaptations of insects to flowers (1867), Francis Galton on inheritance …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 3 hits
- … blending and swamped within a larger population ([Jenkin] 1867). Darwin had addressed this criticism …
- … not give up Pangenesis with wicked imprecations’ (Trollope 1867; letter to G. J. Romanes, [1 and 2 …
- … the evening festivities held in his honour (Thomas Henry Huxley delivered a rousing speech at the …
