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Language: key letters

Summary

How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871), but he had been interested in the …
  • … to such a stage” Letter 8367: Darwin, C. R. to Wright, Chauncey, 3 June [1872] In …

Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?

Summary

'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . .  What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…

Matches: 4 hits

  • of man and selection in relation to sex , published in 1871, these books brought a strong if
  • paper by the American mathematician and philosopher Chauncey Wright. The republication of Wrights
  • help or advice during the yearIn addition to encouraging Chauncey Wright to publish on Mivarts
  • produce a corresponding effect on my mind’ ( letter to Chauncey Wright, 6 April 1872 ).  A

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: 29 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 …
  • … monkey !’ ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 21 December 1871 ). Descent  was extensively …
  • … independent of all times and all circumstances’ (8 April 1871, p. 5). Darwin condemned the author of …
  • … & classics’ ( letter to John Murray, 13 April [1871] ). But a similar point was made by …
  • … the killing of some members of a hive a duty (Cobbe 1871, pp. 174, 188–9). Darwin was particularly …
  • … by culture, not biology ( letter from John Morley, 30 March 1871 ). Reaction at home …
  • … its master. ( Letter from Hensleigh Wedgwood, [3–9 March 1871] .) Some of Darwin’s …
  • … of  Genesis of species  to be reprinted in London (Wright 1871b). The article was by the American …

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: 2 hits

  • … fourth son, Leonard, who had joined the Royal Engineers in 1871, went to New Zealand as photographer …
  • … Ross, September 1874 ). The American philosopher Chauncey Wright sent a detailed letter …

Darwin on human evolution

Summary

'I hear that Ladies think it delightful reading, but that it does not do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale.' For the first time online you can now read the full texts of nearly 800 letters Darwin wrote and received during 1871,…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Darwin wrote and received more than 800 letters during 1871, the year in which Descent of man , …
  • … and work for this year in  Darwin's life in letters, 1871: An emptying nest . …
  • … re-publication as a pamphlet of the American mathemetician Chauncey Wright's review of …
  • … had published a short paper on the action of earthworms; in 1871, he was able to make exact …
  • … margin: 10px;","class":"media-element file-default"}}]] In 1871, Darwin& …

John Murray

Summary

Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … ‘I hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was
  • planning a third ( Letter 7604 ). In the summer of 1871, Darwin decided to publish on

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings

Summary

‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … under the authority of the Church. After becoming vicar in 1871, Ffinden had opposed their efforts, …
  • … of one his most avid American supporters, the philosopher Chauncey Wright. Wright had published …

Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution

Summary

The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’.  Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … essays (later revised as  Genesis of species (Mivart 1871)), Mivart tried to carve out a position …
  • … Bruce, about the possibility of inserting a question in the 1871 census about cousin marriage. …