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Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest

Summary

The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … book since the publication of  Variation  in February 1868, but many of the topics, such as the …
  • … do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
  • … to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
  • … and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
  • … they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
  • … and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
  • … one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
  • … habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears”  (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
  • … ‘will-power’ and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 …
  • … in order to make it darker than the hair on his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 …
  • … together with an image of an orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). …
  • … of himself, adding that it made a ‘very poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] …
  • … each night, returning to its allotted space each morning ( letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 …
  • … without having a high aesthetic appreciation of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 …
  • … endowment of spiritual life’ at some time in the past ( letter from Roland Trimen, 17 and 18 April …
  • … to the white’. Darwin thanked Innes for his ‘pleasant letter’, but asserted his antipathy to human …
  • … myself a good way ahead of you, as far as this goes’ ( letter to J. B. Innes, 29 May [1871] ). …
  • … ‘whereas the baboon is as the Creator made it’ ( letter from George Morrish, 18 March 1871 ). …
  • … could also redeem the wayward author of  Descent  ( letter from a child of God, [after 24 …
  • …  with the most deep and tender religious feeling’ ( letter from F. E. Abbot, 20 August 1871 ). The …
  • … charges of atheism amongst his ‘clerical brethren’ ( letter from George Henslow, 5 December 1871 ) …
  • … only the ‘most guarded expressions’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 January [1871] ). …

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: 26 hits

  • … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
  • … the next generation of the family, with Francis and Amy’s child expected in September. Their joy at …
  • … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
  • … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
  • … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
  • … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
  • … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
  • … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
  • … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
  • … disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
  • … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
  • … her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
  • … on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
  • … sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
  • … expressed in the pangenesis hypothesis, first published in 1868 ( Variation 2: 357–404). Others …
  • … to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …
  • … in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September …
  • … and to promote work he admired. He was so interested in a letter from Fritz Müller in Brazil …
  • … with the ants that inhabited the trunk that he sent the letter to Nature for publication. ‘It …
  • … communicated this information in an article in Nature ( letter from Johann von Fischer, [before …
  • … phyllotaxis by the mutual pressure of very young buds’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 June [1876] ). …
  • … the ‘awful job’ of informing the author ( letter to G. G. Stokes, 21 April [1876] ). Darwin could …
  • … ‘all I can say is do not commit suicide’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [4 June 1876] ). By midsummer, …
  • … a set of sons I have, all doing wonders.’ ( Letter to G. H. Darwin, 13 July [1876]. ) A …
  • … of illness & misery there is in the world’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 26 May [1876] ). A …
  • … we have & you are one of the best of all’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 11 September [1876] ). …

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: 30 hits

  • The death of Hugh Falconer Darwins first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family
  • having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus
  • his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium
  • may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865
  • gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • better, attributing the improvement to Joness diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • he wasable to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In
  • however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was
  • illness and delay, the book was not published until January 1868. 'Climbing plants' …
  • might be more willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865
  • … & I loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ) …
  • it, you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; …
  • needed for references, probably from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June
  • in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 November [1864
  • 1865 that he had just finished hearing it read aloud ( letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August [1865] ). …
  • Linnean Society for publication in Müllers name ( see letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, …
  • so weak that I am not able to do any scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] …
  • coloured varieties (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
  • species arising’ ( Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). …
  • manuscript was published as chapter 27 of  Variation  in 1868. The wider debate
  • … “producingthis and that modification of structure’ (G. D. Campbell 1864, pp. 2756). Campbell
  • Carr of Carrlyon , pronouncing itutter trash after G. Eliot’. Darwin replied ( letter to

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: 25 hits

  • … and trimorphism that he had written between 1861 and 1868 and presented to the Linnean Society of …
  • … of respect and affection’. He hinted as much in his letter of 4 June : ‘you will see I have done …
  • … have shared Hooker’s suspicion of ambitious gardeners ( letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August …
  • … method of recording leaf motion for extended periods. In a letter to Thiselton-Dyer of 11 October …
  • … … tap one of the young leaves with a delicate twig’ ( letter to R. I. Lynch, 14 September 1877 ). …
  • … , or to the vibratory flagella of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). …
  • … in July 1877 (F. Darwin 1877b), and Darwin sent Cohn’s letter vindicating his son’s research to …
  • … several faculties in my own infant.’ Darwin’s study of child development was based on a notebook of …
  • … his sense of form and of motion was exact and lively’ ( letter from W. E. Gladstone, 23 October …
  • … the Westphalian Provincial Society for Science and Art. In a letter to Darwin written before 16 …
  • … the only one full-page in size. Haeckel sent a personal letter of congratulation on 9 February , …
  • … (see Appendix V). The album arrived with a long letter from the director and secretary of the …
  • … reported, ‘but found him as soft & smooth as butter’ ( letter to C. E. Norton, 16 March 1877 ) …
  • … write to Owen & offer himself you & me to dejeuner!!!’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 June …
  • … where I hope it may remain for centuries to come’ ( letter from C. C. Graham, 30 January 1877 ). …
  • … you in the interests of truth, of man and of societies’ ( letter from Marcellin de Bonnal, [1877] …
  • … blood and thus keep back our civilization’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 17 May 1877 ). Bowles …
  • … to hide the absence of humanity beneath’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 18 May 1877 ). More …
  • … with wicked imprecations’ (Trollope 1867; letter to G. J. Romanes, [1 and 2 December 1877] ). …
  • … exhibit is in many cases purely physical’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 10 September 1877 ). Darwin …
  • … them drink so that they become quite tipsy’ ( letter to W. M. Moorsom, 11 September [1877] ). …
  • … people and licensed by the state’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 13 September [1877] ). The only …
  • … Charles Norton, had stayed at Keston Rectory near Down in 1868 and had visited Down House. Darwin …
  • … up to the mark hereafter is another question’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 30 May [1877] ). In the …
  • … by, or could contain, any earth worms’ ( letter from J. G. Joyce, 15 November 1877 ). Even at …

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: 11 hits

  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … minds. Crawford in work on Ava give case & man & child hairy [Crawfurd 1829] …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … 1851]. Packard. A Guide to the Study of Insects 1868. U. States [Packard 1868–9] (an …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … 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 …
  • … 2 vols. London.  119: 5a Packard, Alpheus Spring. 1868–9.  Guide to the study of   …