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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: 26 hits

  • … The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the …
  • … promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ). The profits for Darwin were …
  • … first two printings, Darwin wrote to Murray on 20 March 1871 , ‘It is quite a grand trade to be a …
  • … in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). Reaction …
  • … to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 February 1871 ). The African explorer and …
  • … pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). The geologist William Boyd Dawkins …
  • … to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). Thomas Henry Huxley marvelled that …
  • … tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). Asa Gray remarked, somewhat …
  • … and pointed ears”  (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) Like his previous book,  …
  • … arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 ). Samples of hair arrived from …
  • … his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 April 1871] )). Hinrich Nitsche, ‘the lucky …
  • … orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). Darwin thought he might use the …
  • … poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] ). Animal anecdotes appeared in …
  • … space each morning ( letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 ; letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 …
  • … of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 April 1871] ). Roland Trimen, a long-time …
  • … in the past ( letter from Roland Trimen, 17 and 18 April 1871 ). Candid disagreement …
  • … were raised to a high pitch, as Innes wrote on 26 May 1871 about the darker races arising …
  • … as far as this goes’ ( letter to J. B. Innes, 29 May [1871] ). On religion and morality …
  • … Creator made it’ ( letter from George Morrish, 18 March 1871 ). Darwin received an anonymous …
  • … Descent  ( letter from a child of God, [after 24 February 1871] ). Yet some continued to …
  • … religious feeling’ ( letter from F. E. Abbot, 20 August 1871 ). The Anglican clergyman and …
  • … brethren’ ( letter from George Henslow, 5 December 1871 ). Ernst Haeckel boasted of his month …
  • … the mind on the circulation of the blood. The physiologist Michael Foster offered a lengthy …
  • … that could then produce physiological changes ( letter from Michael Foster, 4 June [1871] ). …
  • … in natural history. He obtained a bottle of curare from Michael Foster in June. Curare was a …
  • … work on organisms without a nervous system ( letter from Michael Foster, [26 June 1871] ). …

Experimenting with emotions

Summary

Darwin’s interest in emotions can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On his return, he started recording observations in a set of notebooks, later labelled '…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … on his behalf. The emotional specimen In 1871, Darwin contacted the German …
  • … round them’ ( letter to A. D. Kindermann, [27 March 1871] ). Darwin had begun collecting …
  • … control? Darwin consulted another leading physiologist, Michael Foster, who had been appointed to …
  • … and the possible effect of mental attention on blood flow, Foster was embarrassed by his ignorance: …
  • … (possibly anatomical) relation” (letter from Michael Foster, 4 June [1871] ). Making …

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: 3 hits

  • … fourth son, Leonard, who had joined the Royal Engineers in 1871, went to New Zealand as photographer …
  • … Dohrn, 16 April and 9 August 1874 ). Darwin also helped Michael Foster to prepare a printed appeal …
  • … to work in the physiological laboratory established by Michael Foster. He then studied under John …

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: 14 hits

  • … Blair, R.H. 11 July 1871 Worcester College for the …
  • … Brooke, C.A.J. 30 April 1871 Sarawak, Borneo …
  • … Chaumont, F.S.B.F. de 11 March 1871 Woolston, …
  • … Crichton-Browne, James 3 April 1871 West Riding …
  • … Donders, F.C. 28 March 1871 Utrecht, Netherlands …
  • … to expressions queries Foster, Michael 4 …
  • … Gray, Asa 14 April 1871 Cambridge, Massachusetts, …
  • … Gray, Asa 10 & 14 March [1871] Cambridge, …
  • … Mivart, G.J. 26 Jan 1871 North Bank, London, England …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 1 Feb 1871 11 St Mary Abbot's …
  • … Rejlander, O.G. [1871] Victoria Street, London, …
  • … Smith, Andrew 1 Feb. 1871 11 Saint Mary Abbot's …
  • … Smith, Andrew 17 April 1871 16 Alexander Square, …
  • … Swinhoe, Robert 14 March 1871 33 Oakley Square, …

Darwin and vivisection

Summary

Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … John Scott Burdon Sanderson, Thomas Lauder Brunton, Michael Foster, and Edward Emanuel Klein, all of …
  • … heart’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to ?, 19 May [1871] ). As a magistrate in Down, he had …
  • … vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871] ). In the same year, Darwin had published …
  • … of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1871 that outlined principles for …

Animals, ethics, and the progress of science

Summary

Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … sleep to-night’ ( letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871] ). In Descent , Darwin described …
  • … perseverance’ ( letter to Nature , [before 27 April 1871] ). When Galton could no longer look …
  • … ‘Siamesing’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 13 September 1871 ). Several years later, proof …
  • … John Scott Burdon Sanderson, Thomas Lauder Brunton, Michael Foster, and Edward Emanuel Klein, all of …