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Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 22 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now …
- … and also a meeting with Herbert Spencer, who was visiting Darwin’s neighbour, Sir John Lubbock. In …
- … all but the concluding chapter of the work was submitted by Darwin to his publisher in December. …
- … hypothesis of hereditary transmission. Debate about Darwin’s theory of transmutation …
- … alleged evidence of a global ice age, while Asa Gray pressed Darwin’s American publisher for a …
- … for the Advancement of Science. Fuller consideration of Darwin’s work was given by Hooker in an …
- … frustrations were punctuated by family bereavement. Two of Darwin’s sisters died, Emily Catherine …
- … from painful illness. Diet and exercise Among Darwin’s first letters in the new year …
- … every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had first consulted Jones in July …
- … ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). Darwin began riding the cob, Tommy, on 4 …
- … day which I enjoy much.’ The new exercise regime led to Darwin’s being teased by his neighbour, John …
- … John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 ). More predictably, however, Darwin immediately converted his renewed …
- … Since the publication of Origin in November 1859, Darwin had continued gathering and organising …
- … you go on, after the startling apparition of your face at R.S. Soirèe—which I dreamed of 2 nights …
- … so you are in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [ c . 10 May 1866] ). Henrietta’s …
- … teleological development ( see for example, letter to C. W. Nägeli, 12 June [1866] ). Also in …
- … common broom ( Cytisus scoparius ) and the white broom ( C. multiflorus ) in his botanical …
- … and June on the subject of Rhamnus catharticus (now R. cathartica ). Darwin had become …
- … of separate sexes. William gathered numerous specimens of R. catharticus , the only species of …
- … replied with a modified list, adding Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin , and a recent fossil discovery in …
- … selection, and with special creation ( letter from W. R. Grove, 31 August 1866 ). Hooker later …
- … indeed at poor Susan’s loneliness’ ( letter from E. C. Langton to Emma and Charles Darwin, [6 and 7 …
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: 23 hits
- … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the …
- … in relation to Sex’. Always precise in his accounting, Darwin reckoned that he had started writing …
- … gathered on each of these topics was far more extensive than Darwin had anticipated. As a result, …
- … and St George Jackson Mivart, and heated debates sparked by Darwin’s proposed election to the French …
- … Finishing Descent; postponing Expression Darwin began receiving proofs of some of the …
- … ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ). Darwin was still working hard on parts of the …
- … style, the more grateful I shall be’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). She had …
- … , the latter when she was just eighteen years of age. Darwin clearly expected her to make a …
- … have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). Henrietta …
- … so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February 1870] ). …
- … philanthropist Frances Power Cobbe. At Cobbe’s suggestion, Darwin read some of Immanuel Kant’s …
- … ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] ). Cobbe accused Darwin of smiling in his beard with …
- … as animals: ears Despite Cobbe’s plea, most of Darwin’s scientific attention in 1870 was …
- … fairy in Shakespeare’s A midsummer night’s dream. Darwin obtained a sketch of a human ear from …
- … of a pointed tip projecting inward from the folded margin. Darwin, who had posed for the sculptor in …
- … this volume, letter to Thomas Woolner, 10 March [1870] ). Darwin included Woolner’s sketch in …
- … muscles A more troubling anatomical feature for Darwin was the platysma myoides, a band of …
- … of fright’, and one of his photographs, later used by Darwin in Expression , showed a man whose …
- … letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March 1870 ). Indeed, Darwin noted the same longitudinal …
- … Researching expression: questions and questionnaires Darwin’s research on emotions continued …
- … of the source of the Niger river. Reade was sceptical of Darwin’s view that standards of beauty were …
- … who sent a sketch of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). He also wrote to …
- … (in retrograde direction) naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 25 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
- … … of having grown older’. This portrait, the first of Darwin with his now famous beard, had been …
- … 52 hours without vomiting!! In the same month, Darwin began to consult William Jenner, …
- … prescribed a variety of antacids and purgatives, and limited Darwin’s fluid intake; this treatment …
- … the dimorphic aquatic cut-grass Leersia . In May, Darwin finished his paper on Lythrum …
- … he had set aside the previous summer. In October, Darwin let his friends know that on his …
- … to the surgeon and naturalist Francis Trevelyan Buckland, Darwin described his symptoms in some …
- … November and December were also marked by the award to Darwin of the Royal Society’s Copley Medal; …
- … been unsuccessfully nominated the two previous years. As Darwin explained to his cousin William …
- … it was conferred, brought a dramatic conclusion to the year. Darwin also wrote to Fox that he was …
- … progress’ in Britain. Challenging convention Darwin’s concern about the acceptance of …
- … vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin wrote to Hooker: ‘The only approach to work …
- … produce tendrils However, the queries that Darwin, describing himself as ‘a broken-down …
- … tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). Darwin’s excitement about his …
- … ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] ). When Darwin asked Oliver whether the tendrils of …
- … for his teacherly tone, explaining that he had felt that Darwin had misunderstood some accepted …
- … ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864] ). Though Darwin replied with his typical humility …
- … habits of climbing plants’ (‘Climbing plants’), which Darwin submitted to the Linnean Society in …
- … was often the case, he was interested in transitional forms. Darwin came to think, for example, that …
- … and tendril-bearers. At the end of his paper, Darwin used species from the genus Lathyrus …
- … the tendrils then revert to leaves, as in L. nissolia . Darwin wrote (‘Climbing plants’, p. 115): …
- … In addition to his work on climbing plants, Darwin engaged in 1864 in botanical observations and …
- … 5 September 1864 ). Fritz Müeller sent his book, Für Darwin , and Darwin had it translated by a …
- … but Lyell says when I read his discussion in the Elements [C. Lyell 1865] I shall recant for fifth …
- … on intellectual & moral qualities’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 25 hits
- … On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If any …
- … he ought to do what I am doing pester them with letters.’ Darwin was certainly true to his word. The …
- … and sexual selection. In Origin , pp. 87–90, Darwin had briefly introduced the concept of …
- … process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, Darwin claimed that sexual selection was ‘the …
- … to the stridulation of crickets. At the same time, Darwin continued to collect material on …
- … his immediate circle of friends and relations. In July 1868 Darwin was still anticipating that his …
- … which was devoted to sexual selection in the animal kingdom. Darwin described his thirst for …
- … in January 1868. A final delay caused by the indexing gave Darwin much vexation. ‘My book is …
- … 1867 and had expected to complete it in a fortnight. But at Darwin’s request, he modified his …
- … the text. This increased the amount of work substantially. Darwin asked Murray to intervene, …
- … … though it would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from …
- … blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). Darwin sympathised, replying on 14 January …
- … as stone, if it were not quite mollified by your note’. Darwin enclosed a cheque to Dallas for £55 …
- … it was by Gray himself, but Darwin corrected him: ‘D r Gray would strike me in the face, but not …
- … . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] ). The review was …
- … April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d C. Darwin M.d’; Binstead evidently assumed …
- … I did not see this, or rather I saw it only obs[c]urely, & have kept only a few references.’ …
- … as life he wd find the odour sexual!’ ( letter to A . R. Wallace, 16 September [1868] ). Francis …
- … south of France to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood on 9 Novembe r, describing sphinx moths that were …
- … question of the “Origin of Species”’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 4 October 1868 ). …
- … hands of the enemies of Nat. Selection’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 8 [April] 1868 ). …
- … mission stations in Victoria, Australia ( letter from R. B. Smyth, 13 August 1868 ); lengthy …
- … of her two-month old daughter Katherine ( letter from C. M. Hawkshaw to Emma Darwin, 9 February …
- … rest mostly on faith, and on accumulation of adaptations, &c) … Of course I understand your …
- … who wished to pay ‘his devotions at the shrine of D r . Darwin’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 27 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
- … appeared at the end of 1866 and had told his cousin William Darwin Fox, ‘My work will have to stop a …
- … material on emotional expression. Yet the scope of Darwin’s interests remained extremely broad, and …
- … plants, and earthworms, subjects that had exercised Darwin for decades, and that would continue to …
- … Carl von Nägeli and perfectibility Darwin’s most substantial addition to Origin was a …
- … a Swiss botanist and professor at Munich (Nägeli 1865). Darwin had considered Nägeli’s paper …
- … principal engine of change in the development of species. Darwin correctly assessed Nägeli’s theory …
- … in most morphological features (Nägeli 1865, p. 29). Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now …
- … are & must be morphological’. The comment highlights Darwin’s apparent confusion about Nägeli’s …
- … ‘purely morphological’. The modern reader may well share Darwin’s uncertainty, but Nägeli evidently …
- … pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical examples he could use …
- … problems of heredity Another important criticism that Darwin sought to address in the fifth …
- … prevailing theory of blending inheritance that Jenkin and Darwin both shared, would tend to be lost …
- … ( Origin 5th ed., pp. 103–4). The terminology that Darwin and others employed in these matters ( …
- … ‘I must have expressed myself atrociously’, Darwin wrote to Alfred Russel Wallace on 2 February , …
- … now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , and …
- … of Origin was the result of correspondence between Darwin and the geologist James Croll. In the …
- … but it was his theory of alternate ice ages that piqued Darwin’s interest the most. He wrote, ‘this …
- … of information which I have sent prove of any service to M r . Darwin I can supply him with much …
- … & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). More …
- … and the bird of paradise (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ), and …
- … an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
- … species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February 1869 ). In a …
- … genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March 1869 ). This …
- … Sweetland Dallas’s edition of Fritz Müller’s Für Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869). The book, an …
- … creation, if he is not completely staggered after reading y r essay’. The work received a …
- … whole meeting was decidedly Huxley’s answer to D r M c Cann. He literally poured boiling oil …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 25 hits
- … The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one …
- … a family Busy as he was with scientific activities, Darwin found time to re-establish family …
- … close contact. In November 1838, two years after his return, Darwin became engaged to his cousin, …
- … daughter, Anne Elizabeth, moved to Down House in Kent, where Darwin was to spend the rest of his …
- … his greatest theoretical achievement, the most important of Darwin’s activities during the years …
- … identifications of his bird and fossil mammal specimens, Darwin arrived at the daring and momentous …
- … ideas on a wide range of topics. Then, in September 1838, T. R. Malthus’ An essay on the principle …
- … in species. With this new theoretical point of departure Darwin continued to make notes and explore …
- … present in the version of 1859. Young author Darwin’s investigation of the species …
- … the Beagle had returned to England, news of some of Darwin’s findings had been spread by the …
- … great excitement. The fuller account of the voyage and Darwin’s discoveries was therefore eagerly …
- … suitable categories for individual experts to work upon, Darwin applied himself to the revision of …
- … of the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle. Darwin’s volume bore the title Journal …
- … visited by H.M.S. Beagle . Also in November 1837, Darwin read the fourth of a series of papers to …
- … to the Society of 9 March 1838), had been developed by Darwin from a suggestion made by his uncle, …
- … Sedgwick, [after 15 May 1838] ). The new research Darwin undertook after 1837 was an …
- … Fossil Mammalia , by Richard Owen; Mammalia , by G. R. Waterhouse; Birds , by John Gould; …
- … publications. The beetles were described by F. W. Hope, G. R. Waterhouse, and C. C. Babington; the …
- … all crosses between all domestic birds & animals dogs, cats &c &c very valuable—' …
- … on literature in this field and on friends like Henslow, T. C. Eyton, and W. D. Fox, who were …
- … the practice of systematists. As the correspondence with G. R. Waterhouse during the 1840s shows, …
- … same, though I know what I am looking for' ( Letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [26 July 1843] ). …
- … to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [ c. February 1839] ). These are not …
- … [20 February 1840] , ‘as usual has been my enemy—but D r . Holland tells me he thinks it is only …
- … relation of fossil with recent. the fabric falls!' (Notebook C : 76–7). …
Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
Summary
The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…
Matches: 21 hits
- … letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The …
- … life but I trust happy The anguish felt by Darwin is painfully expressed in letters …
- … speak of her again. Yet the family gradually recovered, Darwin’s monographs were printed, and Darwin …
- … to the cirripedes. Before turning to his species work, Darwin somewhat ruefully recorded in his …
- … monographs by natural history societies, though welcomed by Darwin, did not run smoothly. …
- … the Correspondence describes the major achievements of Darwin’s cirripede work as a whole and …
- … societies, which were supported by subscriptions, was that Darwin’s volumes were not publicly …
- … in Germany at the forefront of work in invertebrate zoology, Darwin began a correspondence with …
- … provided the foundations for a relationship with Darwin that soon developed into a valued friendship …
- … April 1854, when his cirripede study was drawing to a close, Darwin re-entered London scientific …
- … with lots of claret is what I want Perhaps Darwin’s decision to take a more active …
- … to substantiate it is manifest in the correspondence. Darwin’s friends and colleagues were …
- … outspoken young naturalists like Huxley, reacted eagerly to Darwin’s suggestions, although not …
- … for the geographical distribution of animals and plants. Darwin began a series of researches on the …
- … with the effects of known changes in climate and geology. Darwin boldly rejected the popular idea of …
- … Some of the most interesting letters in this volume set out Darwin’s practical researches and …
- … Variation and extinction The other main focus of Darwin’s research centred on determining the …
- … seeds and bees An interest in variation naturally led Darwin to study the works of plant …
- … views concerning decreased fertility of hybrids, Darwin began in the spring of 1855 a series of …
- … a subject to which he returned in later years. Darwin also undertook experiments relating to …
- … classification Hybridism, domestic animals & plants &c &c &c) to see how far they …
Darwin on childhood
Summary
On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his early childhood. Life. Written August–– 1838 My earliest recollection, the date of which I can approximately tell, and which must have been before…
Matches: 7 hits
- … On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his …
- … [4] 1817. 8½ old went to M r Cases school.–– I remember how very much I was …
- … or before I had smattered in botany, & certainly when at M r Case’s school I was very fond of …
- … like a tragedy.–– I recollect when at M r Cases, inventing a whole fabric to show how fond …
- … any mental pursuits excepting those of collecting stones &c.––gardening, & about this time …
- … ships. —— In midsummer of this year I went to D r . Butlers school.–– I well recollect the …
- … 56–62. A modernised transcription was published by Francis Darwin in More Letters of Charles Darwin. …
The evolution of a misquotation
Summary
We gave you six things Darwin never said (despite what you may read elsewhere). None of the fake soundbites is more insidious than the first: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is…
Matches: 8 hits
- … We gave you six things Darwin never said (despite what you may read elsewhere). …
- … Academy of Sciences (though the original attribution to Darwin has since been removed). …
- … on Nick’s blog , the source is the writings of Leon C. Megginson, Professor of Management and …
- … Megginson wrote in 1963: According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most …
- … things I heard him say went something like this: Charles Darwin didn’t say that only the strong …
- … the Russian zoologist Karl Kessler, and his statements about Darwin clearly reflect that. At …
- … This fake quote started life as a discussion of Darwin’s views in a 1960s textbook, Civilisation …
- … the earlier textbook) in The Living Clocks , by Ritchie R. Ward (1971), and escaped into the wild …
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
