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Climbing plants

Summary

Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … & do not find that it is known, I will perhaps write a letter to you for the  chance  of its …
  • … overwhelmingly focused on taxonomic studies; Hooker and George Bentham were only at the …
  • … days later, Oliver apologised for the tone of his previous letter (‘more seemly if addressed to one …
  • … movements and habits of climbing plants’ was published on 12 June 1865 in a double issue of the …

Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad

Summary

At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
  • … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
  • … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
  • … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
  • … than  Origin had (see  Correspondence  vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
  • … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
  • … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
  • … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … he had ‘gained nothing’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 12–13 March [1863] ). poor miserable …
  • … was gathering support in influential scientific circles. George Bentham devoted the first part of …
  • … could not satisfy himself on all points ( see letter from George Bentham, 21 April 1863 ). …
  • … on species, though so cleverly written’ ( letter to George Bentham, 19 June [1863] ). …
  • … Natural History Review  ( see letter to H. W. Bates, 12 January [1863] ). Darwin added Bates’s …
  • … the Severn Valley Naturalists Field Club ( see letter from George Maw, 19 February 1863 ). Other …
  • … Society ( see letter from Edward Sabine to John Phillips, 12 November 1863 ). Characteristically, …
  • … Oliver for references on phyllotaxy, and setting his son George, the mathematician in the family, to …
  • … also encouraged him to write ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). In this paper, Scott …
  • … a German botanist in Trinidad, and continued writing to George Henry Kendrick Thwaites, the director …
  • … to capture his attention ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). Additionally, Darwin …
  • … noted in ‘Three forms of  Lythrum salicaria ’. George contributed his mathematical …
  • … Huxley, 25 February 1863 , and letter to Charles Lyell, 12–13 March [1863] ). Emma was a …
  • … Malvern Wells, Darwin stopped in London overnight to consult George Busk, former Hunterian Professor …
  • … that even writing the letter was ‘against rules’. George Busk had diagnosed Darwin as having …
  • … specialist at St Thomas’s Hospital, London ( letter from George Busk, [ c. 27 August 1863] ). …

Cross and self fertilisation

Summary

The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … offspring of English fertile plants’ ( To Fritz Müller, 12 May 1870 ). From a fairly early …
  • … 17 March [1867] ). He noted another factor in a letter to Gray, remarking, ‘I am going on with my …
  • … on 30 January 1868. In April 1868, Darwin informed George Bentham, ‘I am experimenting on a …
  • … of orchids are quite intelligible to me’ ( To George Bentham, 22 April 1868 ). A month later, he …
  • … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly …
  • … heights would be useful. He asked his mathematician son George whether it would be ‘an easy …
  • … ( To G. H. Darwin, 8 January [1876] ). George explained the difficulties of lumping different …
  • … if the book had not yet been released ( From Asa Gray, 12 October 1876 ). Darwin sent the sheets, …
  • … as being as faultless as your temper’ ( From Asa Gray, 12 November 1876 ). The book was …
  • … A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long …
  • … Most published reviews that appeared were also positive, but George Henslow, in his review in …

Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 24 hits

  • … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
  • … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
  • … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
  • … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
  • … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
  • … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
  • … protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
  • … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
  • … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
  • … to make observations on American species. Hooker and George Bentham at Kew were also tapped …
  • … on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … resulted from his ‘ enormous  labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
  • … Oliver: ‘I can see at least 3 classes of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), …
  • … result once out of four or five sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). …
  • … one species may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The …
  • … and determined to publish on  Linum  ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), …
  • … d . like to make out this wonderfully complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). …
  • …  book!’, wrote Daniel Oliver on 14 May, and George Bentham pronounced it ‘most valuable’ (letter
  • … ). Moreover, it apparently worked. Gray told Darwin that George Bentham’s presidential address to …
  • … passed so miserable a nine months’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 12 September [1862] ). A family …
  • … his children to help with his botanical observations. George earned his father’s commendation for …
  • … some observations. William, with the help of his brothers George and Francis, who were staying with …
  • … ‘Botany is a new subject to me’ ( letter to John Scott, 12 November [1862] ), but, impressed by …
  • … into Tyndall’s ears’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10–12 November [1862] ). Another of Darwin’s …

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: 27 hits

  • … in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, …
  • … means of changing the races of man’ (Correspondence vol. 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864 …
  • … book would take the form of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 3 July 1868 ). But …
  • … as well say, he would drink a little and not too much’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 15 May [1868] ) …
  • … would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to …
  • … of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
  • … if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
  • … in three parts in the  Pall Mall Gazette , was by George Henry Lewes, well-known in London’s …
  • … reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation …
  • … would strike me in the face, but not behind my back’ ( letter to John Murray, 25 February [1868] ) …
  • … ignorant article… . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] …
  • … ‘he is a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] …
  • … wrote of the colour of duck claws on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d  C. …
  • … proved very fruitful. On 1 May , Darwin received a letter from George Cupples, who was encouraged …
  • … with the enthusiastic breeder, who apologised in a letter of 11–13 May 1868 for his ‘voluminuous …
  • … of science On 27 February , Darwin sent a letter of thanks to the naturalist and …
  • … he later added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). …
  • … to various classes, a dim ray of light may be gained’ ( letter to H. T. Stainton, 21 February [1868 …
  • … as well as of ‘victorious males getting wives’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 25 February [1868] ). …
  • … of females was remarked upon by other entomologists ( letter from Roland Trimen, 20 February 1868 …
  • … and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter sent on 3 April by Henry Doubleday …
  • … advice from the entomologist and librarian at Cambridge, George Robert Crotch, writing to his mother …
  • … Darwin passed Wallace’s pages over to his son George, now a Cambridge-trained mathematician, who …
  • … the expression of natives faces as I meet them,’ wrote George Henry Kendrick Thwaites on 1 April …
  • … for fellowship of the Linnean Society ( letter from George Bentham, [after 29 September 1868] ). …
  • … now in life’. In January, the family learned the news that George’s performance on the mathematical …
  • … defender in England, Thomas Henry Huxley, remarked on 12 September on ‘the terrible “Darwinismus …

Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies

Summary

The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…

Matches: 29 hits

  • … will do me & Natural Selection, right good service’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 26–7 Februrary [1861] …
  • … review published in the July issue of the  Zoologist  by George Maw, for example, singled out …
  • … ‘barometer’ of scientific opinion, Charles Lyell ( see letter to Charles Lyell, 20 July [1861] ). …
  • … selection could not be ‘directly proved’ ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). …
  • … was ‘the only one proper to such a subject’ ( letter from Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1861] ). Mill in …
  • … or against some view if it is to be of any service!’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] …
  • … chapter on the imperfection of the geological record ( see letter to George Maw, 19 July [1861] ). …
  • … he planned to report ‘at a favourable opportunity’ ( letter from Joseph Leidy, 4 March [1861] ). …
  • … laboratory where Nature manufactures her new species’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 28 March [1861] ) …
  • … study of natural history was evident. He told Darwin in his letter of [1 December] 1861: …
  • … by insect enemies from which the other set is free’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 30 September 1861 ) …
  • … be a ‘very valuable contribution to Nat. History.—’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 4 April [1861] ). He …
  • … causes &c’, and ‘Monkeys,—our poor cousins.—’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 3 December [1861] ). …
  • … a view to obtaining ‘large distribution’ for the work ( letter to H. W. Bates, 25 September [1861] …
  • … him on producing ‘a complete and awful smasher’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 January [1861] ). Ever …
  • … but he and Owen would ‘never be friends again’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 January [1861] ). …
  • … fully believe a better man never walked this earth’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 [May 1861] ). …
  • … could perhaps ‘throw some light on Hybridisation’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 16 September [1861] ). …
  • … the diversity & perfection of the contrivances.–-’ ( letter of [28 July–10 August 1861] ). …
  • … had ‘some direct bearing on the subject of species’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] …
  • … whether I am not doing a foolish action in publishing’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1861] …
  • … ‘it is such tedious work comparing skeletons—’ ( letter to Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefage de Bréau …
  • … on the subject had been ‘one long gigantic blunder’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 September [1861] …
  • … £800, and would so ‘be at once an almost rich man’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, [26 May 1861] ). The …
  • … advanced from his inheritance. Negotiations with the banker George Atherley, partner in the …
  • … of what was thought to be ‘a form of typhus fever’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 11 May 1860 ). This …
  • … to take up his new position. William’s description, in his letter of [17 November 1861], of his …
  • … two or three respectable persons on your own account’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 17 [October 1861] …
  • … set forth in  Origin  ( see letter to P. L. Sclater, 12 [March 1861] ). …

Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'

Summary

In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … an illustration of how selection might work in nature ( letter from Charles Lyell, 1–2 May 1856, n. …
  • … the real structure of varieties’, he remarked to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 September [1856 …
  • … ‘& I mean to make my Book as perfect as ever I can.’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 8 February [1857] …
  • … plants, he asked Asa Gray, vary in the United States ( letter to Asa Gray, 2 May 1856 )? What …
  • … plants pretty effectually’ complained Darwin in 1857 ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [2 May 1857] ). …
  • … John Lubbock that his method of calculation was wrong ( letter to John Lubbock, 14 July [1857] ). …
  • … ‘Darwin, an absolute & eternal hermaphrodite’ ( letter to to T. H. Huxley, 1 July [1856] ), …
  • … difficult problem that he took in turn to Watson, Hooker, George Bentham, and the Belfast botanist …
  • … which the bird had naturally eaten have grown well.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 December [1856] …
  • … he wrote to Syms Covington in New South Wales ( letter to Syms Covington, 9 March 1856 ). …
  • … his work on species and the preparation of his manuscript ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 1 May 1857 ) …
  • … a preliminary sketch was apparently first made in a letter written by Lyell from London on 1–2 May …
  • … Hearing about the party afterwards, Lyell reported in a letter to his brother-in-law that, ‘When …
  • … so far, and not embrace the whole Lamarckian doctrine.’ ( letter from Charles Lyell, 1–2 May 1856, …
  • … in his views to explain them in explicit detail in a long letter to Asa Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, …

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: 27 hits

  • … read There appears to be good art. on Entozore 12  by Owen in Encyclop. of Anat. & …
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … all Vols. Marshall’s Rural Economy of Yorkshire, 12 s  [Marshall 1788]—— often quoted by …
  • … Palaces. Fourth Edition with Woodcuts. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo., 12 s . 30  [Jesse 1838] …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … Animals (Deer, Antelopes, &c.) [Jardine 1835–6] 12. Ruminating Animals (Goats, Sheep, …
  • … et Culture. 4to. Avec 10 planches. Amsterdam, 1768. 12 s . 41  Bailliére [Saint-Simon] 1768] …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … of  Vertebrate  animals 54 folio Plates. Maclise 2”12.6. [Maclise 1847] good for woodcuts. (Roy. …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … Malthus on Population [Malthus 1826] Oct 12 th  W. Earle’s 60  Eastern Seas [Earl 1837]. …
  • …  vol. 19 Mungo Parks travels [Park 1799] Feb 12 Sir H. Davy consolations in travel [H. …
  • … [G. Dixon ed. 1789]. Voyages skimmed. Coral Theory 12 th  Dampier [Dampier 1697]. 1 st …
  • … Life [Chesterton 1856] } [DAR *128: 159] Bentham has published list of Pyrenes …
  • … Notes to Jardine & Jesses Selbourne [E. Jesse ed. 1849] George’s Copy Aug. St. Hilaire. …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … L. Ossoy [Walpole 1848] 1 st  vol. —— History George III [Walpole 1845]. 1. vol. —— …
  • … May 28 th . Delineations of the Ox Tribe &c by George Vasey. 1851 [Vasey 1851]. May 28. …
  • … 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 …
  • … 1841 . Oxford.  119: 13b Atkinson, Henry George and Martineau, Harriet. 1851.  Letters …
  • … etc.  2 vols. London.  *119: 12v. Bennett, George. 1860.  Gatherings of a naturalist in …
  • … . Edinburgh and London. [Other eds.] 128: 9 Bentham, George. 1826.  Catalogue des plantes …
  • … ou peu connues . Paris.  *128: 159 Berkeley, George. 1784.  The works of George Berkeley …
  • … [Abstract in DAR 71: 150–1.]  128: 18 Borrow, George Henry. 1843.  The Bible in Spain; or …
  • … which is prefixed a sketch of his life . Edited by George Bentham and John Lindley. London. *119: …

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: 28 hits

  • … of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin …
  • … and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the …
  • … As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the …
  • … observations indoors ( Correspondence  vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin …
  • … gradation by which  leaves  produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
  • … fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
  • … matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864 …
  • … long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was …
  • … in 1864 he drew up the results (see Correspondence vol. 12, Appendix III). Darwin sought to show …
  • …  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing …
  • … of the two species with the common oxlip. In a letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly …
  • … family to collect specimens and make observations. His son George, who later studied mathematics at …
  • … the ‘splendid case of Dimorphism’ in  Menyanthes  ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. …
  • … insects; his correspondence with Gray, Philip Henry Gosse, George Chichester Oxenden, Friedrich …
  • … this interest. At the start of the year, he received a letter, insect specimens, and an article on …
  • … that it was ‘the best medicine for my stomach’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 17 February [1864] ). …
  • … at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1862 with a letter regarding the fertilisation of the …
  • … two years, with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] …
  • … is difficult enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … troublesome … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). …
  • … the conclusion that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ) …
  • … his indomitable perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker …
  • … basis he recommended a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August …
  • … and curators at a great distance. Gray forwarded a letter from Charles Wright, a plant collector in …
  • … support for Darwin’s theory and his work on hybridity that George Bentham expressed in his …
  • … the award going to Darwin (see Correspondence vol. 12 Appendix IV). With the help of supporters …
  • … details of the ensuing debate (see Correspondence vol. 12, Appendix IV) demonstrate how Darwin’s …
  • … ill. In Darwin’s absence, the Copley Medal was received by George Busk and deposited with Darwin’s …