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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: 18 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the …
- … mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A vicious dispute over an anonymous …
- … von Humboldt’s 105th birthday, Darwin obliged with a reflection on his debt to Humboldt, whom he had …
- … one of the greatest men the world has ever produced. He gave a wonderful impetus to science by …
- … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
- … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
- … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
- … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
- … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … researcher Frederick William Henry Myers, and Thomas Henry Huxley, who sent a long report to Darwin …
- … 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 …
- … sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March 1874] ). The …
- … additions to Descent was an eight-page note written by Huxley with the aim of ending a dispute …
- … ape and human brains, he asked for a clarifying note from Huxley (Desmond and Moore 2004, pp. xxxv …
- … 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 ). …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 11 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
- … views of those associated with him, his reluctance to enter a public debate, the fierce loyalty of …
- … to liberty of marriage’ in the Contemporary Review (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In this article, George …
- … future to affect personal liberty in the matter of marriage. A better understanding of the …
- … the possibility of creating an elite who would intermarry as a way of improving the race; George …
- … appeared to have created very little stir, until, in July 1874, Mivart published an anonymous review …
- … it for publication in the next issue of the Quarterly ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 29 July 1874 …
- … kind of thing Murray would be likely to wish to circulate ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] …
- … them explicitly, he might be thought to endorse them ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 5 August 1874 ). …
- … the form of an apology without actually apologising. Huxley intervenes In December, …
- … on George ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December 1874 ). Huxley met Mivart at an evening meeting, …
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: 21 hits
- … Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively …
- … Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August …
- … silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to …
- … observations of cats’ instinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
- … to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to …
- … be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to …
- … Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L …
- … to Darwin’s queries about Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 …
- … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
- … Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] …
- … 9426 - Story-Maskelyne , T. M. to Darwin, [23 April 1874] Thereza Story-Maskelyne …
- … Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to Darwin, [September 1874] Theodosia Marshall sends …
- … patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [16 July 1863] …
- … 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 …
- … 9606 - Harrison, L. C. to Darwin, [22 August 1874] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, sends a …
- … Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to Darwin, [September 1874] Theodosia Marshall details …
- … Letter 9485 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [8 June 1874] Mary Treat details her experiments …
- … can understand it. Letter 3896 - Darwin to Huxley, T. H, [before 25 February 1863] …
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: 24 hits
- … about species, and botanical research had often been a source of personal satisfaction, providing …
- … intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for some nine months. …
- … ‘I am slaving away solely at making detestably bad English a very little less bad.’ The …
- … edition of Climbing plants , which he hoped to publish in a single volume along with the material …
- … by various controversies. January saw the conclusion of a long-running dispute with the zoologist St …
- … year, he campaigned vigorously against the blackballing of a young zoologist, Edwin Ray Lankester, …
- … attack upon Darwin’s son George, in an anonymous review in 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, …
- … On 8 January , he told Hooker: ‘I will write a savage letter & that will do me some good, if I …
- … codes of conduct and communication in scientific society. Huxley chose journalism, depicting the …
- … to the Editor … Poor Murray shuddered again & again’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 January …
- … laid to rest, another controversy was brewing. In December 1874, Darwin had been asked to sign a …
- … Instead of supporting her, he worked closely with Huxley and John Burdon Sanderson to draft an …
- … appoint a Royal Commission to advise on future legislation. Huxley served on the commission, which …
- … , p. 183). Darwin learned of Klein’s testimony from Huxley on 30 October 1875 : ‘I declare to you …
- … botanical research and had visited Down House in April 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letters …
- … offered to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). …
- … & bless the day That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 …
- … A scientific friendship had developed between the men in 1874, and this was enhanced by Romanes’s …
- … that the originally red half has become wholly white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 …
- … pp. 188–90). He drew attention to this discussion in a letter to George Rolleston, remarking on 2 …
- … Darwin wrote, ‘I beg ten thousand pardon & more’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [ c . February …
- … signed himself, ‘Your affect son … the proofmaniac’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, 1 and 2 May [1875 …
- … a review of William Dwight Whitney’s work on language (G. H. Darwin 1874c). George had taken the …
- … career, having studied under George Rolleston at Oxford and Huxley at South Kensington, with …
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: 26 hits
- … What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 November [1872] …
- … the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye to the crafting of his legacy. …
- … animals in November, the year marked the culmination of a programme of publication that can be …
- … in relation to sex , published in 1871, these books brought a strong if deceptive sense of a job …
- … himself without writing anything more on 'so difficult a subject, as evolution’ ( letter to A. …
- … earthworms in shaping the environment. The former led to a series of books and papers, and the …
- … years before. In his private life also, Darwin was in a nostalgic frame of mind, picking up …
- … June the previous year. He intended the edition to be a popular one that would bring his most …
- … should be affordable: ‘do you not think 6s is too dear for a cheap Edit? Would not 5s be better? . . …
- … best efforts, set the final price at 7 s. 6 d. ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 February 1872 ) …
- … condition as I can make it’, he wrote to the translator ( letter to J. J. Moulinié, 23 September …
- … translation remained unpublished at the end of the year ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 23 November …
- … to the comparative anatomist St George Jackson Mivart ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January …
- … comparison of Whale & duck most beautiful’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 3 March 1872 ) …
- … enclosed a copy of an article replying to Thomas Henry Huxley’s scathing review of Genesis of …
- … a person as I am made to appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 5 January 1872 ). …
- … Darwin would renounce `fundamental intellectual errors’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 6 January …
- … was silly enough to think he felt friendly towards me’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 8 January [1872 …
- … hoping for reconciliation, if only `in another world’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 10 January …
- … the theories of natural and sexual selection to bees (H. Müller 1872), and with his reply Darwin …
- … for myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was far …
- … by her husband, Richard Buckley Litchfield ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 13 May 1872 ). Delivery …
- … 'I know that I am half-killed myself’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 25 July 1872 ). A …
- … Charlton Bastian’s recent book on the origin of life (H. C. Bastian 1872; Wallace 1872d) left him …
- … Ruck, the sister of an old schoolfriend; he married Amy in 1874. Francis, still a medical student …
- … 23 December 1872, CD note ), and he exclaimed to Thomas Huxley that he would like a society formed, …
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: 23 hits
- … chlorophyll by examining thin slices of plant tissue under a microscope. When not experimenting, he …
- … more weak than usual. To Lawson Tait, he remarked, ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly …
- … early April, he was being carried upstairs with the aid of a special chair. The end came on 19 April …
- … 1881. But some of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater …
- … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
- … the nature of their contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. …
- … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
- … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
- … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
- … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
- … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
- … 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 G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). Huxley urged Darwin to consult another …
- … say automaton ) critically’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 25 March 1882 ). Darwin was very …
- … more automata in the world like you’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 27 March 1882 ). Darwin did …
- … 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 …
- … I cannot tell how or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin’s …
- … father confessor. ( Letter from Charles Lyell, 1 September 1874 .) Darwin’s fame continued …
- … 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 …
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: 17 hits
- … he described how his own regard for animals had developed to a point where, still a young man, he …
- … greatly in the 19 th century as physiology became a profession and an integral part of medical …
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a subject which makes me sick with horror, …
- … who licked the hand of the operator; this man, unless he had a heart of stone, must have felt …
- … came in 1870-71 when his cousin Francis Galton undertook a long series of experiments on rabbits. …
- … pangenesis. Darwin was taken aback, and swiftly replied in a letter to Nature , insisting that he …
- … deserved credit for his ‘ingenuity and perseverance’ ( letter to Nature , [before 27 April 1871] …
- … from the cold), Darwin offered to give the poor creatures a home at Down, only to return them to …
- … Some of the results were promising, but inconclusive (see letter from G. J. Romanes, 14 July 1875 …
- … results will be necessary to convince physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 July 1875 ). …
- … for your work; & I suppose birds can be chloroformed (letter to G. J. Romanes, 27 December …
- … branded physiologists as ‘demons let loose from hell’ ( letter to F. B. Cobbe, [14 January 1875] ) …
- … detail here . He stated his position most frankly in a letter to Henrietta, 4 January [1875] . …
- … point of view I have rejoiced at the present agitation. ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … science of Physiology as doomed to death in this country. ( letter To T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 …
- … are now in the position of a persecuted religious sect’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 June [1876] ) …
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: 16 hits
- … in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the …
- … The prosecution was unsuccessful, but it gave rise to a series of campaigns to increase public …
- … me) attack on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … drew on his own family circle for assistance in preparing a bill for Parliament. Darwin …
- … laboratory (Klein et al . 1873), which became a focus of criticism in the debates because it …
- … I love with all my heart’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to ?, 19 May [1871] ). As a …
- … farmers and their staff (see Correspondence vol. 14, letter to a local landowner, [1866?] ). …
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … I shall not sleep to-night’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
- … was a sensitive subject within Darwin’s family. In his letter of 14 January 1875 to Huxley, …
- … In drafting the bill on vivisection, he consulted with Huxley and Burdon Sanderson, with legal …
- … was to serve as the basis for a petition, and gave it to Huxley (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, …
- … through several revisions. Darwin discussed the matter with Huxley, who produced a new sketch for a …
- … bill. Litchfield drew up a sketch that was approved by Huxley, Burdon Sanderson, and John Simon, a …
- … ‘we wd do whatever else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). After further …
- … expressed their dismay at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , letter from J. …
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: 27 hits
- … Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of experiments to trace these subtle …
- … the mental faculties of the two-year-old with those of a monkey. Another diversion from botanical …
- … up the cause of an Irish businessman who hoped to produce a disease-resistant variety that would rid …
- … agent of progress. The year closed with remarkable news of a large legacy bequeathed to Darwin by a …
- … Hooker, ‘or as far as I know any scientific man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1878] ). …
- … to botanical observation and experiment. He had begun a systematic study of plant movement in 1877, …
- … position assumed by leaves at night (nyctitropism) was a protection against heat loss. ‘I think we …
- … me much & has cost us great labour, as it has been a problem since the time of Linnaus. But we …
- … the first shoots and leaves of young plants. ‘I shall die a miserable, disgraced man if I do not …
- … or arched.… Almost all seedlings come up arched’ ( letter to Sophy Wedgwood, 24 March [1878–80] ). …
- … when he finds out that he missed sensitiveness of apex’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [11 May 1878] …
- … Darwin complained. ‘I am ashamed at my blunder’ ( letter to John Tyndall, 22 December [1878] ). …
- … accursed German language: Sachs is very kind to him’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 18 June …
- … have nobody to talk to, about my work, I scribble to you ( letter to Francis Darwin, 7 [July 1878] …
- … but it is horrid not having you to discuss it with’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, 20 [July 1878] ). …
- … determine whether they had chlorophyll, Francis reported ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 …
- … ‘There is one machine we must have’, Francis wrote ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 17 July …
- … ‘He seems to me to jump to conclusions rather’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [before 3 August 1878] …
- … the pot-plant every day & never the bedded out one’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, [after 7 July …
- … as fundamental to expertise. ‘It is funny’, he wrote to Huxley on 11 August , ‘the Academy having …
- … god with the ‘eternity of matter’ ( letter from H. N. Ridley, [before 28 November 1878] ). Darwin …
- … myself about such insoluble questions’ ( letter to H. N. Ridley, 28 November 1878 ). Darwin …
- … without utterly demolishing it’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 28 January 1878 ). The matter was …
- … and an earlier effort to promote his scheme at the 1874 meeting of the British Association in …
- … seminal generations’ ( enclosure to letter to T. H. Farrer, 7 March 1878 ). In the end, the …
- … vanish like the chaos before the wind’ ( letter from T. H. Noyes, 19 November 1878 ). A …
- … months before the offer, Rich had consulted Thomas Henry Huxley about the prospect of making Darwin …
Moral Nature
Summary
In Descent of Man, Darwin argued that human morality had evolved from the social instincts of animals, especially the bonds of sympathy and love. Darwin gathered observations over many decades on animal behavior: the heroic sacrifices of social insects,…
Matches: 19 hits
- … in his private notebooks: Looking at Man, as a Naturalist would at any other Mammiferous …
- … instincts, and perhaps others.... These instincts consist of a feeling of love & sympathy or …
- … regard for others were beneficial to animal communities as a whole, and helped them to survive in …
- … save another. Letters Letter 7048 : Darwin, W. E., to Darwin, …
- … the result of association and depending upon intellect to a great extent. It is very extraordinary …
- … allowing the moral faculty to be inheritable, but rather in a muddle on the whole subject" …
- … (Morley 1871). Darwin admired the review, and initiated a correspondence about the power of natural …
- … what I should call Social Selection--i.e., the selection by a community, through its current opinion …
- … but 'in the air' from generation to generation." Letter 7685 : Darwin to …
- … think that there is any evidence that man ever existed as a non-social animal." …
- … moral faculty is capable of springing up 'spontaneously' in 'a certain small degree& …
- … for broaching new doctrines as to the moral sense, at a time when Paris is aflame". …
- … two men may look at the same points ... the one man a great philosopher looking exclusively into his …
- … metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?" Letter 7470 : Wedgwood, …
- … to one's future conduct. The source of the dogs shame is ... a consciousness of his masters …
- … pointer, Darwin insisted that conscience arose through a conflict between enduring social feelings …
- … dissatisfied with himself & regret his conduct." Letter 9377 : Darwin, C. R. to …
- … the same so-called instinctive nature as before?" Letter 12610 : Preston, S. T. to …
- … or random) is Self or Self-Interest." Letter 12615 : Darwin, C. R. to Preston, …
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: 18 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 …
- … M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
- … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
- … in a Medical Journal which Hooker has & lent to Henslow Huxley [DAR *128: 178] …
- … [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 …
- … design . (Bridgewater Treatise no. 4.) London. [9th ed. (1874) in Darwin Library.] 119: 5a …
- … eds.] 119: 11a Blacklock, Ambrose. 1838. A treatise on sheep; with the best means …
- … ——. 1840. An encyclopædia of rural sports; or, a complete account, historical, practical, …
- … 1844. Algeria, past and present. Containing a description of the country … with a review of …
- … Artaud. 2 vols. Metz. 128: 24 ——. 1807. A short system of comparative anatomy . …
- … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832. A letter in vindication of the principles of …
- … Narrative of a voyage round the world, performed in H.M.S. Sulphur, 1836–42 . 2 vols. …
- … ——. 1853. A visit to the Indian Archipelago, in H.M.S. Mæander, with portions of the private …
- … … Together with a narrative of the operations of H.M.S. Iris. 2 vols. London. *119: 22 …
