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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: 3 hits
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] ). …
- … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
- … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
- … the public in this way ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, [7 May 1863] , and Appendix VII). He also …
- … 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] ). …
- … [1863] , and letter from Julius von Haast, 21 July [–7? August] 1863 ). Darwin was subsequently …
- … the Severn Valley Naturalists Field Club ( see letter from George Maw, 19 February 1863 ). Other …
- … Oliver for references on phyllotaxy, and setting his son George, the mathematician in the family, to …
- … paper with satisfaction ( see letter to John Scott, 7 November [1863] ). Scott had referred …
- … a German botanist in Trinidad, and continued writing to George Henry Kendrick Thwaites, the director …
- … noted in ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria ’. George contributed his mathematical …
- … he could send him to the war ( see letter from Asa Gray, 7 July 1863 ). Darwin shared this letter …
- … 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] ). …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Darwin began to receive remarks on his Primula paper. George Bentham confessed, ‘ Your …
- … be a gem ’. During this time, Darwin also took up Bentham’s suggestion to study the small …
- … (p. 82) and clarified the meaning to Fritz Müller in a letter in September 1866, ‘ What I meant in …
- … than in the short-styled form ’, Darwin annotated this letter, wondering, ‘Would it be worth while …
- … apetalous unopened flowers, like those of Viola , that Bentham had pointed out fifteen years …
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: 10 hits
- … 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 …
- … add new researches on this subject. ( To J. V. Carus 7 February 1875 ). In fact, Darwin had …
- … 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 …
- … first grandchild, a son born to Amy and Francis Darwin on 7 September, suddenly turned to tragedy …
- … 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 …
Orchids
Summary
Why Orchids? Darwin wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…
Matches: 14 hits
- … like no other. In June 1855, Darwin added a postscript to a letter to his close friend Joseph Dalton …
- … a period of intense orchid research, but June 1858 brought a letter that changed Darwin’s focus …
- … referred to it, appeared in May 1862 ( Orchids ). A letter to Hooker, on 5 June [1860] …
- … think of the case.’ Indeed, Darwin had just sent a long letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle asking …
- … of the question your being able to insert the whole [of the letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle ] in …
- … of Orchids have been found adhering. ’ The complete letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle was …
- … 1860. Looking even further afield, Darwin sent a copy of the letter to Asa Gray, remarking, ‘ …
- … see, a curious contradiction in structure. ’ The letter to Asa Gray highlights an important …
- … went on to describe in detail. He even dared to challenge George Bentham’s classification of the …
- … of the functional significance of this structure in a letter to More on 5 August 1860, ‘ Dr. H. is …
- … suffered a dangerous relapse in the interim, he wrote a long letter to his American friend Asa Gray, …
- … Darwin quickly arranged for his illustrator to begin work. George Brettingham Sowerby Jr arrived at …
- … out separate sexes in Catasetum and Myanthus . In a letter to Daniel Oliver in December …
- … shall not fail to inform them of your general results. ’ George Bentham recognised the wider …
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, …
- … 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 …
- … Darwin was clearly impressed by Lewes’s reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter …
- … 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 …
- … 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 …
- … undergoing vaccination ( letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 April 1868] ). Francis was also drafted into …
- … for fellowship of the Linnean Society ( letter from George Bentham, [after 29 September 1868] ). …
- … desire to penetrate Truth’ ( letter from Ernest Faivre, 7 April 1868 ). Armand de Quatrefages, who …
- … now in life’. In January, the family learned the news that George’s performance on the mathematical …
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: 26 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] ). …
- … The case clearly excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I …
- … that the case warranted a paper for the Linnean Society ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] …
- … that had given him ‘great pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he …
- … 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 …
- … the distant events to life ( see letter to Asa Gray, 26[–7] November [1862] ). When Darwin …
- … 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 …
- … than almost anywhere else’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ). he is so …
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: 22 hits
- … at the end of Congo voyage [R. Brown 1818]. (Hooker 923) 7 read Decandolle Philosophie …
- … 1835] read Marcel de Serres Cavernes d’Ossements 7 th Ed. 10 8 vo . [Serres 1838] …
- … de S t Hilaire 1832 [I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1832–7] contains all his fathers views Quoted by …
- … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
- … 3 vols. 8vo. et atlas de 20 planches. ibid, 1832–36. £1 7 s . 25 [I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire …
- … 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] …
- … 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 …
- … 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 …
- … eastern and mid-western states. In his letter to Darwin of 7 November 1864, Walsh denounced Agassiz …
- … of Herbert Spencer’s Principles of biology (1864–7). Also unsure about Spencer’s work, Hooker …
- … support for Darwin’s theory and his work on hybridity that George Bentham expressed in his …
- … particularly when Hugh Falconer suggested in his letter of 7 November [1864] that half the …
- … of supporters on the Council, including Hugh Falconer and George Busk, who had nominated him, the …
- … ill. In Darwin’s absence, the Copley Medal was received by George Busk and deposited with Darwin’s …
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: 16 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 …
- … and went up to London to see Lyell to discuss it further ( letter to Charles Lyell, 3 May [1856] ) …
- … 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, …
