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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: 12 hits

  • … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition …
  • … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
  • … Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
  • … made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
  • … principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 28–9). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical …
  • … than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
  • … is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
  • … tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
  • … males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet …
  • … & contempt—almost hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James …
  • … [her] to translate “Domestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by …
  • … poured boiling oil over the bumptious man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker,  7 September 1869 ). Huxley …

A beginning, & that is something: To J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869]

Summary

  Alison Pearn talks about a letter Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker after finishing corrections to the fifth edition of Origin of Species in 1869.

Matches: 1 hits

  • …   Alison Pearn talks about a letter Darwin wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker after …

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: 15 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] ). …
  • … the origin of species particularly, worried Darwin; he told Hooker that he had once thought Lyell …
  • … wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). …
  • … lack of expertise in the subject. ‘The worst of it is’, Hooker wrote to Darwin, ‘I suppose it is …
  • … difficulty in answering Owen  unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] ). Hugh …
  • … credit to his own research and that of Joseph Prestwich. Hooker wrote: ‘I fear L. will get scant …
  • … of Lyell’s book being written by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] ). …
  • … to see men fighting so for a little fame’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). …
  • … to capture his and others’ attention ( see letter to J. D. Dana, 20 February [1863] , and letter
  • … a letter to the  Athenæum  in response ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] ). He later …
  • … partly composed such  a good letter (!)’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). At the …

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: 20 hits

  • 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 catsinstinctive 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
  • Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • Williams , M. S. to Darwin, H. E., [after 14 October 1869] Darwins niece, Margaret, …
  • of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to Darwin, E., [8 November1872] …
  • Darwins behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to Darwin, [17 December 1872] …
  • little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] …
  • and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] …
  • in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John
  • Men: Letter 385  - Wedgwood, S. E. & J. to Darwin, [10 November 1837] …
  • at Maer Hall, Staffordshire. Letter 1219  - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [3 February
  • The experiments were carried outat the suggestion of Dr Hookerand what little he has ascertained
  • Women: Letter 2345 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [20 October 1858] Darwin
  • style. Letter 2461  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] Darwin
  • Letter 2475  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [2 July 1859] Darwin returns the manuscript of
  • …  - Darwin to  Gunther, A. C. L. G., [21 September 1869] Darwin asks Gunther fora great

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: 18 hits

  • of self-fertility over subsequent generations. In June 1869, Müller remarked, on receiving a new
  • sometimes depends’ ( From Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). By May 1870, Darwin reported that he was
  • his results. In March 1867, he told his close friend Joseph Hooker, ‘The only fact which I have
  • produced by a cross between two distinct plants’ ( To JDHooker, 17 March [1867] ). He noted
  • of France where Moggridge lived for part of the year ( To JTMoggridge, 1 October [1867] ). …
  • … ‘I always supposed until lately that no evil effects w d  be visible until after several
  • flower. ‘How utterly mysterious it is’, he reported to Hooker, ‘that there sh d  be some
  • to impotence when taken from the same plant!’ ( To JDHooker, 21 May [1868] ) Pollen tubes, or
  • Müller ( To Fritz Müller, 28 November 1868 ). In March 1869, Müller reported results of
  • pod were mutually sterile ( From Fritz Müller, 14 March 1869 ). ‘The case of the Abutilon sterile
  • of this plant sent by Müller ( To Fritz Müller, 18 July [1869] ). Darwin sent specimens of plants
  • a new species, & I am honoured by its name’, Darwin told Hooker, ‘It offers an instance, of
  • the season it becomes capable of self-fertilisation’ ( To JDHooker, 23 July [1871] ). Darwin
  • … ). When Darwin began writing in February 1873, he asked Hooker for names of families of several
  • … & I have no idea when it will be published’ ( To JVCarus, 8 May [1873] ). Hermann Müller
  • and not onthe evil effects of Interbreeding’ ( To JVCarus, 2 August [1873] ). In
  • … & Trimorphic plants with new & related matter. ( To JVCarus, 19 March [1874] ). A year
  • ARWallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long

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: 16 hits

  • be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August
  • pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such
  • Andone 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
  • to believe in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18
  • that Mr Williams wasa cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
  • his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874
  • the publishers, he applied first to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, and finally borrowed one from
  • for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); however, he did
  • generous Darwin by his previous anonymous attacks ([Mivart] 1869; 1871c). In his review, Mivart
  • … ‘Im a grown man now’, he reminded Darwin, ‘& sh d . stand on my own footing, & if it is
  • Mivart (see  Correspondence  vol. 20, letter to St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). To Darwin
  • views. In December, he sought advice from Huxley and Hooker, sending them a draft letter that
  • Mivart had written the article ( enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 21 December 1874 ). Huxley
  • to write to Mivart directly after he knew the full result of Hookers and Huxleys representations ( …

Dramatisation script

Summary

Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007

Matches: 22 hits

  • writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring Gray Louis Agassiz, Adam
  • this actor uses the words of Jane Loring Gray, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, …
  • of natural selection to his friend, the botanist, Joseph D Hooker GRAY:   3   Charles
  • year 1839, and copied and communicated to Messrs Lyell and Hooker in 1844, being a part of
  • DARWIN:   7   January 1844. My dear Hooker. I have beenengaged in a very presumptuous work
  • his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention
  • the opportunity I enjoyed of making your acquaintance at Hookers three years ago; and besides that
  • sheet of note-paper! DARWIN11   My dear HookerWhat a remarkably nice and kind
  • be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy itHis letter does strike me as most uncommonly
  • on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year
  • 22   Hurrah I got yesterday my 41st Grass! Hooker is younger than Darwin and Gray by
  • species beforeDARWIN24   My dear Hookeryou cannot imagine how pleased I am
  • on your bowels of immutability. Darwin passes to Hooker a brace of letters 25
  • might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing
  • there is a little rap for you. GRAY:   26   Hooker [is] dreadfully paradoxical to
  • as well as any man. I send itDarwin passes to Hooker an envelope of seeds. …
  • Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which
  • notions of natural Selection and would see whether it or my letter bears any date, I should be very
  • 55   My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter influenced by trumpery feelings. …
  • do a good deal to secure it. Darwin passes Grays letter to Hooker with a cringe. …
  • C DARWIN, 1819 AUGUST 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150
  • 189 JANE LORING GRAY, LETTER TO HER SISTER, 1868 or 1869 190  C DARWIN TO A GRAY 8 MARCH

Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants

Summary

Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863  greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…

Matches: 14 hits

  • purposes’ (see  Correspondence  vol10, letter to JD. Hooker, 24 December [1862] , and
  • book (Down House MS) and  Correspondence  vol5, letter to JD. Hooker, 19 April [1855] ). …
  • its sensitivity to touch (see  Correspondence  vol10, letter to JD. Hooker, 12 [December
  • his employers hothouses over the previous two years. In a letter of 24 December [1862] ( …
  • of prizes & is very observant. He believes that we sh d  succeed with a little patience; …
  • mid-January, and completed by mid-February (see letters to JD. Hooker, 13 January [1863] and
  • he had had, he wouldprobably have made a mess of it’ (letter to GH. Turnbull, [16? February
  • plants for use in a wide variety of experiments. He told Hooker that he waslooking with much
  • addingI shall keep to curious & experimental plants’ (letter to JD. Hooker, 13 January
  • of Westerham, with whom he had dealt over many years. In his letter to Hooker, Darwin mentioned that
  • plants you want before going to Nurserymen’ (letter from JD. Hooker, [15 January 1863] ). …
  • avoid[,] of course I must not have from Kew’ (letter to JD. Hooker, 30 January [1863] ). …
  • comprised two halves kept at different temperatures, and in 1869 Darwin told the botanist William
  • temperatures’ (letter to WC. Tait, 12 and 16 March [1869] ,  Calendar  no. 6661). …

6430_10256

Summary

From Sven Nilsson to J. D. Hookerf1   25 October 1868Lund (Suède)25 Okt. 1868.Monsieur le Professeur! J’ai écrit à deux de mes amis qui ont des connaissances personnelles à la Lapponie, pour avoir les…

Matches: 9 hits

  • From Sven Nilsson to JDHooker f1    25 October 1868 Lund (Suède) 25 Okt1868. …
  • du Renne &c f2    Mais comme la poste va très lentement dici aux regions les plus
  • que veut connaitre M r . Darwin. f4 De lautre partie jespère tôt ou tard pouvoir communiquer
  • de joindre ici la mienne en échange de la Votre, et jespère que Vous avez la bonté de me
  • Footnotes f1 For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol16, Appendix I. …
  • of northern Europe during the Stone Age (Nilsson 1868); see letter to John Lubbock, 15 February
  • From Sven Nilsson to JDHooker f1    25 October 1868 Lund (Sweden) 25 Oct1868
  • Footnotes f1 For a transcription of this letter in its original French, see part II: 8112. …
  • and n10. f6 See Nilsson 18667. In Lubbock 1869, pp5973, John Lubbock disagreed with

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: 20 hits

  • Were women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
  • Tollet for proofreading and criticisms of style. Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. …
  • her to read to check that she can understand it. Letter 7312 - Darwin to Darwin, F. …
  • from all but educated, typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E
  • he seeks her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28
  • in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, …
  • he uses to avoid ownership of indelicate content. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to
  • so as not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to
  • Darwins female readership Letter 5391 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [6 February
  • of the Manchester Ladies Literary Society . Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to
  • the chapter on pangenesis, which is a revelation. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. …
  • Darwin assumes that 'A. B. Blackwell' is a man. Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to
  • him to the psychology of Herbert Spencer. Letter 7624 - Bathoe, M . B. to Darwin
  • his statements on a lack of reasoning in animals. Letter 7644 - Barnard, A. to
  • with her father. Letter 7651 - Wedgwood, F. J. to Darwin, H. E., [1 April 1871] …
  • be suitable. Letter 7411 - Pfeiffer, E. J. to Darwin, [before 26 April 1871] …
  • patience and care. Letter 6110 - Samuelson, J. to Darwin, [10 April 1868] …
  • Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to Darwin, [13 January 1869] Suffragist and
  • is a revelation. Letter 9633 - Nevill, D. F. to Darwin, [11 September 1874] …

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: 21 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 ashort essayon 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] ) …
  • the accursed Index-maker’, Darwin wrote to Joseph Dalton Hooker on 6 January . Darwin had sent
  • would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwins 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] ). …
  • reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation
  • awaythat sparked the most discussion. Darwin wrote to Hooker on 23 February , ‘did you look at
  • thought it was by Gray himself, but Darwin corrected him: ‘D r  Gray would strike me in the face, …
  • editor of the  London and Westminster Review . When Hooker later tried to refute the claims of the
  • a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] ). …
  • on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed tothe Rev d  C. Darwin M.d’; Binstead evidently
  • … (from ?, 6 April 1868). On 21 May , Darwin complained to Hooker, ‘I am bothered with heaps of
  • information on colour changes in the canary (letters from J. J. Weir, [26] March 1868 and 3
  • added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). Sexual
  • role of colour, sound, and smell in attracting females. J. J. Weir reported on 14 April 1868
  • Wallace that he had begun the previous year, writing to Hooker on 21 May , ‘I always distrust
  • circulated to remote parts of the world. A correspondent of Hookers distributed it in Japan ( …
  • paper was read before the Linnean Society on 4 February 1869, but remained unpublished until it

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: 18 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] ). …
  • …  peduncles to test sensitivity, and in his request to Hooker for another specimen: ‘I want it
  • matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864
  • plant morphology. Many of his other correspondents, such as Hooker and Gray, had grown accustomed to
  • long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was
  • the  Lythrum  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] …
  • letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly wrote to Hooker: ‘I will fight you to the death, …
  • on them. Nevertheless, his work in 1864 contributed to his 1869 paper focusing on the role of
  • with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] ). …
  • often at odds with one another: ‘Gardeners are the very dl, & where two or three are gathered
  • enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). Nevertheless
  • that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ). In his
  • a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August 1864] ). Darwin

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: 21 hits

  • … shall be a man again & not a horrid grinding machine’  ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December …
  • … anything which has happened to me for some weeks’  ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ) …
  • … corrections of style, the more grateful I shall be’  ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ) …
  • … who wd ever have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …
  • … abt any thing so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February …
  • … thro’ apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] …
  • … how metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870 …
  • … in thanks for the drawing ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26 November [1868] …
  • … make it scream without hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] ). Darwin …
  • … vol. 17, letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). His views were presented more fully in a …
  • … comparative anatomist through his work on primates. In July 1869, Mivart published the first of a …
  • … & valuable labours on the Primates’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 April [1870] ). He also …
  • … Ape differs from a lump of granite’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 22 April 1870 ). Mivart …
  • … whatever may have been his “origin” ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 25 April 1870 ). In his …
  • … than I could a ball at Buckingham Palace’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 30 June [1870] ). …
  • … persons long married grow like each other’ ( letter from J. J. Weir, 17 March 1870 ). …
  • … in Bastian’s solutions of the same kind’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 July [1870] ). Bastian’s …
  • … on to the last of my uncomfortable days’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 18 February [1870] ). But he had …
  • … to be thus killed by a man of 86’  ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 May [1870] ). On learning of this, …
  • … I know no more than the man in the moon’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 May [1870] ). Horace …
  • … believe in bad motives in others’  ( letter to W. D. Fox, 15 November [1870] ). Fox reassured him, …

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: 24 hits

  • … be well abused’, he wrote to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker on 21 January , ‘for as my son Frank …
  • … for a US edition had been in place since December 1869, while German, Russian, French, and Dutch …
  • … the proof-sheets, rather than waiting for the bound copies. Hooker suggested one of the reasons …
  • … do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
  • … to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
  • … and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
  • … they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
  • … and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
  • … one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
  • … habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears”  (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
  • … ‘will-power’ and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 …
  • … in order to make it darker than the hair on his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 …
  • … together with an image of an orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). …
  • … of himself, adding that it made a ‘very poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] …
  • letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 ; letter from B. J. Sulivan, 11 March 1871 ; letter
  • … a high aesthetic appreciation of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 April 1871] ). …
  • … a good way ahead of you, as far as this goes’ ( letter to J. B. Innes, 29 May [1871] ). On …
  • … tell heavily against natural selection’, Darwin wrote to Hooker on 21 January . Darwin read the …
  • … only the ‘most guarded expressions’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 January [1871] ). …
  • … arrogant, odious beast that ever lived,’ Darwin wrote to Hooker on 16 September . Darwin …
  • … religious bigotry is at the root of it’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 16 September [1871] ). …
  • … laughing. crying grinning pouting &c. &c’, he wrote to Hooker on 21 March . Darwin …
  • … in June, and was married on 31 August. Darwin remarked to Hooker on 23 July , ‘her loss will be …
  • … resemblance to a ‘venerable old Ape’ ( letter from D. Thomas, [after 11 March 1871] ).  …

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: 16 hits

  • … a specimen of the carnivorous  Drosophyllum lusitanicum , Hooker wrote: “Pray work your wicked …
  • … parts of the flower would become modified & correlated” ( letter to T. H. Farrer, 14 August …
  • … it again, “for Heaven knows when it will be ready” ( letter to John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). …
  • … we take notes and take tracings of their burrows” ( letter from Francis Darwin, 14 August [1873] ) …
  • … in importance; and if so more places will be created” ( letter to E. A. Darwin, 20 September 1873 …
  • … our unfortunate family being fit for continuous work” ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September …
  • … at the end of November 1872 and sold quickly. He wrote to Hooker on 12 January [1873] , “Did I …
  • … on any point; for I knew my own ignorance before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] …
  • … could be transmitted to its offspring ( letter from J. T. Moggridge, 1 February 1873 ). …
  • … line of research he had begun with  Hereditary genius  (1869), Galton tried to establish the …
  • … ( letter from E. F. Lubbock, [before 7 April 1873] ). Hooker added: “I have beaten my brains to …
  • … friend— but he is a deal too sharp” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [7 April 1873] ). A group …
  • … forced him to take periodic breaks from work ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 February [1873] ). They …
  • … new facts which I have to compare & judge of” ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 20 December [1873] ). …
  • … intellect; but man can do his duty” ( letter to N. D. Doedes, 2 April 1873 ). Darwin’s …
  • … exact accordance with natural selection” ( letter from M. D. Conway, 10 September [1873] ). …

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: 21 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … 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 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … desires, grant us this our modest request!’ ( letter from J. L. Ambrose, 3 April 1882 ). Darwin …
  • … news to his closest friends. She wrote to Joseph Dalton Hooker the day after Darwin’s death. ‘Our …
  • … were never very violent’ ( letter from Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [20 April 1882] ). In …
  • … of your objections to my views, when we meet’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 29 January [1860] ). …
  • … he attracted many admirers in German-speaking countries. In 1869, his birthday was celebrated by an …
  • … vol. 17, letter from F. M. Malven, 12 February [1869] ). An extract from Darwin’s reply to Malven …
  • … with his’ ( letter to F. M. Malven, [after 12 February 1869] ). Accompanying this extract was the …
  • … some of whom drew substantially on his theory. In 1869, Hermann Müller (brother to Fritz) sent …
  • … theory to flowers and flower-visiting insects; H. Müller 1869)). Darwin was full of admiration and …

Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions

Summary

Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …

Was Darwin an ecologist?

Summary

One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.

Matches: 8 hits

  • … Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern scientific paper quoted …
  • … daresay very well, & for coining new words.’  See the letter The word first appeared …
  • … of the struggle for existence’ (Inaugural lecture 1869; translation by W. C. Allee quoted in …
  • … for atheism, but as Darwin himself acknowledged in a letter to Mary Boole, it was more satisfactory …
  • … as a result of the direct intervention of God.  See the letter We may contrast Darwin’s …
  • … sucks it, must have! It is a very pretty case.’  See the letter Darwin was confident …
  • … nature as she really is.’ It seems from Haeckel’s letter that what most struck him about …
  • … of his great discovery is by contrast extremely modest. In a letter written in 1864 and …

Sexual selection

Summary

Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species.  So what…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … later quoted at length in  Descent . Darwin (whose letter to Brent is missing) seems to …
  • … females are worn not by men but women, and he joked with Hooker about the consequences of both …