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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: 23 hits

  • … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the …
  • … intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August 1874] ). The death of a Cambridge friend, …
  • … and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such reminiscences led Darwin to …
  • … much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). I feel very old & …
  • … old & helpless’  ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] ). Darwin mentioned his poor …
  • … on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October 1874 ). Séances, psychics, and …
  • … Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] ). Later in the month, …
  • … Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). Darwin …
  • … he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874] ). This did …
  • … at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). Back over old ground New …
  • … Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January 1874 , letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 …
  • … sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March 1874] ). The …
  • … I have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). The technical …
  • … and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). The second …
  • … conciseness & clearness of your thought’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 20 April 1874 ). …
  • … the spread of various mental and physical disorders (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In July 1874, an anonymous …
  • … over the ‘scurrilous libel’ on his son ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [27 July 1874] ).  George, …
  • … accusation of [a] lying scoundrel’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] ). He drafted a brief …
  • … with Murray on the outcome ( enclosure to letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874 ): …
  • … to the Editor & it had been refused’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, [6 or 7 August 1874] ). When …
  • … artificial gastric juice  for about a week ( letter from E. E. Klein, 14 May 1874 ). John Burdon …
  • … nephew, the fine-art specialist Henry Parker ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 17 [March 1874] ). He …
  • … could not weary the German public ( letter to H. E. Litchfield,  21 [March 1874] ). …

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: 10 hits

  • selection is somewhat under a cloud’, he wrote to JETaylor on 13 January , and he complained
  • the theories of natural and sexual selection to bees (HMüller 1872), and with his reply Darwin
  • for myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to THHuxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was far
  • origins of music provided by her husband, Richard Buckley Litchfield ( letter to HELitchfield, …
  • … 'I know that I am half-killed myself’ ( letter to HELitchfield, 25 July 1872 ). A
  • a week later ( enclosure to letter from John Lubbock to WEGladstone, 20 June 1872 ).  Darwin
  • Charlton Bastians recent book on the origin of life (HCBastian 1872; Wallace 1872d) left him
  • Ruck, the sister of an old schoolfriend; he married Amy in 1874Francis, still a medical student
  • pleasant letters & never answer them’ ( letter to THHuxley, 22 October [1872] ). But not
  • than usual. One such old friend was Sarah Haliburton, née Owen, to whose sister, Fanny, Darwin had

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: 1 hits

  • … can be chloroformed (letter to G. J. Romanes, 27 December 1874 ). In the previous sections …

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: 13 hits

  • in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the
  • experiments on live animals in Britain. In December 1874, Darwin was asked to sign a memorial
  • on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] ). …
  • physiologists to present their own petition (letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 ). In
  • prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You ask about
  • not sleep to-night’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871] ). In
  • who produced a new sketch for a petition (letter from T. H. Huxley, [4 April 1875] ). This was
  • of Lushington and Darwins son-in-law Richard Buckley Litchfield. On 11 April, Darwin learned
  • to Down, however, it was decided to draft a formal bill. Litchfield drew up a sketch that was
  • … ‘we wd do whatever else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). After further
  • of the documents contain marginal notes and revisions in Litchfields hand. The changes made to the
  • for each offence. This version also contained notes in Litchfields hand for an alternative title
  • expressed their dismay at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , letter from J. …

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Summary

George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … started ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] ). Darwin took Emma to a Sunday afternoon at …

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: 8 hits

  • … attack upon Darwin’s son George, in an anonymous review in 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, …
  • … had also considered taking up the issue with Murray in 1874, even threatening to break off future …
  • … laid to rest, another controversy was brewing. In December 1874, Darwin had been asked to sign a …
  • … botanical research and had visited Down House in April 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letters …
  • … A scientific friendship had developed between the men in 1874, and this was enhanced by Romanes’s …
  • … white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 November 1874] ).   Testing Pangenesis …
  • … Eeles Dresser. ‘The horror was great’, Henrietta Emma Litchfield wrote to her brother Leonard on 14 …
  • … had learned of Lyell’s failing health from Hooker in 1874 and January 1875. On 22 February, he was …

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: 3 hits

  • … he is a good deal depressed about himself’ (letter from H. E. Litchfield to G. H. Darwin, 17 March …
  • … is very calm but she has cried a little’ (letter from H. E. Litchfield to G. H. Darwin, [19 April …
  • … father confessor. ( Letter from Charles Lyell, 1 September 1874 .) Darwin’s fame continued …

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: 1 hits

  • … Mivart made a slanderous attack on George Darwin in late 1874 in an anonymous article, which …

Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep

Summary

In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … and an earlier effort to promote his scheme at the 1874 meeting of the British Association in …