From J. D. Cooper 13 December 1878
Summary
Sends CD a proof of an illustration reduced on to the block by photography. The method is expensive but scientifically accurate.
| Author: | James Davis Cooper |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Dec 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 202: 20 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11791 |
To Anton Stecker 13 March 1878
Summary
Authorises publication of a Bohemian edition of Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Anton Stecker |
| Date: | 13 Mar 1878 |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11419 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872. [Kovalevsky, Vladimir Onufrievich], …
- … 1872. O vyrazhenii oshchushchenii u cheloveka i zhivotnykh. By Charles Darwin. Translated from the author’s proofs under the editorial direction of Prof. A. Kovalevsky. (Russian translation of Expression. ) St Petersburg: Tipografia F. S. Sushchinskogo. Origin : On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
To G. J. Romanes 19 June [1878]
Summary
GJR may have CD’s MS chapter on instinct. It was abstracted for Origin, but CD probably will not prepare it for publication.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 19 June [1878] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.538) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11560 |
From C.-F. Reinwald 8 October 1878
Summary
Forms of flowers, translated by Édouard Heckel, is published.
Cross and self-fertilisation has only sold 450–500 copies.
Origin sells regularly; he looks forward to a cheaper edition.
| Author: | Charles-Ferdinand Reinwald |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Oct 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 108 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11720 |
To C. G. Semper 26 November [1878]
Summary
Discusses views of Moritz Wagner on modification of species. Two different cases: one in which a species is modified in the same country and cases in which a species splits. Glad CGS is taking up subject.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Carl Gottfried Semper |
| Date: | 26 Nov [1878] |
| Classmark: | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf (slg 60/Dok/59) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11760 |
From R. F. Cooke 26 February 1878
Summary
Asks CD’s opinion on number of copies to be printed of Cross and self-fertilisation [2d ed.]. Now that it is revised, they will stereotype.
Type of Forms of flowers stands, awaiting CD’s corrections, before stereotyping and printing of more copies.
RC regrets delay in supply of Origin.
| Author: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Feb 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 500 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11376 |
From Ellen Harrison to Emma Darwin [January 1878]
Summary
On an elephant’s crying when foot was operated on.
| Author: | Ellen Acland; Ellen Harrison |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | [Jan 1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 108 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11304 |
From J. F. Fisher 13 August 1878
Summary
Discourses on the rights of animals.
| Author: | John Francis Fisher |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Aug 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 121 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11656 |
To W. R. Greg 31 December 1878
Summary
Discusses a chapter on design, written by WRG’s son [Percy Greg, The devil’s advocate (1878)]. Comments on the younger Greg’s criticisms of natural selection and evolution.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Rathbone Greg |
| Date: | 31 Dec 1878 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.557) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11812 |
From F. S. Arnold [2]6 December 1878
Summary
Would like CD to explain how he reconciles two passages in 6th ed. of Origin.
| Author: | Francis Sorell Arnold |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [2]6 Dec 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 148 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11775 |
To F. S. Arnold 31 December [1878]
Summary
Responds to criticism concerning varieties, species, and genera.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Sorell Arnold |
| Date: | 31 Dec [1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 21 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11813 |
To G. D. Campbell 23 September 1878
Summary
Doubts that "the same well-characterized species should be produced in two distinct countries, or at two distinct times".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Douglas Campbell, 8th duke of Argyll |
| Date: | 23 Sept 1878 |
| Classmark: | Nature, 5 March 1891, p. 415 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11706 |
To ? 13 August 1878
Summary
Cannot help with correspondent’s study. CD has a poor ear for music. Recommends Helmholtz’s work.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Unidentified |
| Date: | 13 Aug 1878 |
| Classmark: | Houghton Library, Harvard University (Autograph File, D) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11655 |
From Marinko Radovanović 30 August 1878
Summary
His son, the Serbian translator of the Origin, has died.
| Author: | Marinko Radovanović |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Aug 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11681 |
From Edmund Mojsisovics von Mojsvár 28 April 1878
Summary
Sends the first part [of Die Dolomit-Riffe von Südtirol und Venetien (1878–9)], which explains the coral reefs of the Triassic in terms of CD’s theory and discusses the imperfection of the geological record.
| Author: | Johann August Georg Edmund (Edmund) Mojsisovics von Mojsvár |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Apr 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 226 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11487 |
To Francis Darwin 13 [September 1878]
Summary
Asks what position the sub-peduncles assume when the main flower peduncle of Oxalis is tied so as to be horizontal.
Asks whether FD can find some plants at Kew for CD to trace epinastic and hyponastic movements.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 13 [Sept 1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 46 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11692 |
From Henry Potonié 16 April 1878
Summary
Points out evolutionary comments by Alexander Braun in his Betrachtungen über die Erscheinung der Verjüngung in der Natur 1849–50.
| Author: | Henry Potonié |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Apr 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 58 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11476 |
To Francis Darwin 12 September [1878]
Summary
Julius von Sachs’s views on stomata seem largely correct, but CD cannot understand how leaves can survive submerged for such long periods.
Has been observing Drosera and concludes that none of the movement of the tentacles is caused by growth.
Suggests observations to show role of pulvinus in leaf movement.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Sept [1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 45 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11690 |
To F. B. Goodacre 3 September [1878]
Summary
The geese have arrived. Does not think FBG’s view that the two forms are domestic varieties will hold good. Many ornithologists put them in different genera, and the wild type of each is known.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Burges Goodacre |
| Date: | 3 Sept [1878] |
| Classmark: | Dr John Goodacre (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11686 |
To Francis Darwin 14 July [1878]
Summary
Asks for list of families of sleeping plants. Believes sleep is merely modified circumnutation at a particular time of day.
Porlieria has had no water for some time but shows no sign of flagging.
Describes the response of Thalia flowers to touch.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 14 July [1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 35, 36, 39 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11608 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Acland, Ellen | (1) |
| Arnold, F. S. | (1) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Semper, C. G. | (2) |
| Arnold, F. S. | (1) |
| Campbell, G. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (24) |
| Darwin, Francis | (6) |
| Arnold, F. S. | (2) |
| Semper, C. G. | (2) |
| Acland, Ellen | (1) |
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: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
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: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … If I lived 20 more years, & was able to work, how I sh d . have to modify the “Origin”, & …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the publication of his …
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: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
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: 1 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
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: 1 hits
- … On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If …
John Maurice Herbert
Summary
John Maurice Herbert was a close friend of Darwin’s at Cambridge University. He was affectionately called ‘Cherbury’ by Darwin, a reference to the seventeenth-century philosopher Edward Herbert, Baron Cherbury, who, like John Herbert, hailed from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Maurice Herbert was a close friend of Darwin’s at Cambridge University. He was affectionately …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Earthworms and Wedgwood cousins …
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The following extracts and selected letters explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual …
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … This term is the plain expression of the facts,—Nat. selection is a metaphorical …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species , published in 1877, …
Movement in Plants
Summary
The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The power of movement in plants , published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical …
4.14 'Fun' cartoon, 'That troubles'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Of all the cartoons showing Darwin as an ape, ‘That troubles our monkey again’ by John Gordon Thomson is the only one that hints, albeit playfully, at improper behaviour. Descent of Man had been criticised for its apparent…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Of all the cartoons showing Darwin as an ape, ‘That troubles …
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: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
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: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
