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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: 9 hits

  • … 17 March [1867] ). He noted another factor in a letter to Gray, remarking, ‘I am going on with my …
  • … of self-fertilisation’ ( To J. D. Hooker, 23 July [1871] ). Darwin also informed Müller of this …
  • … in his hothouse ( To Fritz Müller, 2 August [1871] ). By late 1871, Darwin was already …
  • … plants during several successive generations’ ( To Federico Delpino, 22 November 1871 ). Delpino …
  • … importance for agriculture and horticulture ( From Federico Delpino, 5 December 1871 ). When …
  • … turn to the vegetable kingdom’ In June 1873, Delpino informed Darwin that gardeners in …
  • … yet are sometimes visited by Bees’, he told Delpino ( To Federico Delpino, 25 June [1873] ). …
  • … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly …
  • … A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long …

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: 29 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] …
  • … patients, but it did not confirm Duchenne’s findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March …
  • … muscle’, he complained, ‘is the bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). …
  • … to their belief that all demons and spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870 …
  • … . . Could you make it scream without hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] …
  • … or crying badly; but I fear he will not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] …
  • … Lucy Wedgwood, who sent a sketch of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). …
  • … is the inclination to finish my note on this subject’  ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). …
  • … the previous year (see  Correspondence  vol. 17, letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). His …
  • … (in retrograde direction) naturalist’ (letter to A. R.Wallace, 26 January [1870]). …
  • … towards each other, though in one sense rivals’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870] ). …
  • … version of the theory of descent by natural selection in a letter to Darwin, prompting much anxiety …
  • … But who is to criticise them? No one but yourself’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 20 May 1870 ). …
  • … me to be able to say that I  never  write reviews’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, [22 May 1870] ). …
  • … design. Darwin commented on Mivart’s essay in a letter to William Henry Flower: ‘I am glad …
  • … time wd be wasted if I once began to answer objectors’ ( letter to W. H. Flower, 25 March [1870] ) …
  • … laborious & valuable labours on the Primates’ ( letter to St G. J. Mivart, 23 April [1870] ). …
  • … Ape than such an Ape differs from a lump of granite’ ( letter from St G. J. Mivart, 22 April 1870 …
  • … essays (later revised as  Genesis of species (Mivart 1871)), Mivart tried to carve out a position …
  • … to topics of long-standing interest. The Italian botanist Federico Delpino sent a description of a …
  • … in the carina and attached to the insects ( letter from Federico Delpino, 20 May 1870 ). Co …
  • … Bruce, about the possibility of inserting a question in the 1871 census about cousin marriage. …

Race, Civilization, and Progress

Summary

Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … he had witnessed man in his most "primitive wildness" ( letter to Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … of botany at Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow. Letter 204 : Darwin to Henslow, J. S., …
  • … 1833 which took effect in the following year. Letter 206 : Darwin to Darwin, E. C., 22 …
  • … of the polygenist theory of human descent. Letter 4933 : Farrar, F. W. to Darwin, …
  • … about the state of civilization of the natives. Letter 5617 , Darwin to Weale, J. P. M …
  • … wonderful fact in the progress of civilization" Letter 5722 , Weale, J. P. M. to …
  • … of Species , Darwin discussed his views on progress in a letter to Charles Lyell, insisting that …
  • … scientific supporters, including Lyell, the Italian botanist Federico Delpino and the American …
  • … of life" ( Origin , 6 th ed, p. 98). Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C …
  • … not profit it, there would be no advance.— " Letter 6728 : from Charles Lyell, 5 …
  • … but may guide the forces & laws of Nature." Letter 6866 : From Federico Delpino …
  • … in this inner principle, inborn in all things." Letter 8658 : to Alpheus Hyatt, 4 …
  • … Wallace, and the philosopher William Graham. Letter 2503 : Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, C., …
  • … the less intellectual races being exterminated." Letter 3439 : Darwin to Kingsley, …
  • … race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank." Letter 4510 : Darwin to Wallace, …
  • … entirely on intellectual & moral qualities. Letter 13230 : Darwin to Graham, …
  • … [ available at archive.org ] and Primitive Culture (1871) [ available at archive.org ] …

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: 26 hits

  • … & 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 ). …
  • 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 Crolls theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed
  • a very long period  before  the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll31 January [1869] …
  • data to go by, but dont think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
  • I d  have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
  • completed revisions of theeverlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was
  • him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George
  • with his noisy courting of the female in the garden ( letter from Frederick Smith, 8 October 1869
  • doubted her ability to recognise the different varieties ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 25 February
  • weary of everlasting males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November
  • with much more of the same description’ ( enclosure to letter from Henry Maudsley, 20 May 1869 ). …
  • in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869
  • orang-utan, and the bird of paradise  (Wallace 1869a; letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 March [1869] ) …
  • does himself an injustice & never demands justice’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 14 April 1869 ). …
  • geological structures of the South American cordillera ( letter to Charles Lyell, 20 May 1869 ), …
  • of the same species that Darwin had investigated in depth ( letter from C. F. Claus, 6 February
  • role of earthworms in the formation of the soil ( letter to  GardenersChronicle , 9 May [1869] …
  • sundew), a genus that he had studied in the early 1860s ( letter to W. C. Tait, 12 and 16 March
  • for either the fourth or the fifth English editions ( see letter from Victor Masson, 29 September
  • not employ [her] to translateDomestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). …
  • before offering my book to English readers.—’ ( letter from Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). …
  • of Darwins work, an article by the Italian botanist Federico DelpinoThe article addressed

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: 30 hits

  • … selection in relation to sex  ( Descent ), published in 1871, and the chapter on expression into …
  • … in 1867 were Hermann Müller and Anton Dohrn in Germany, and Federico Delpino in Italy, who provided …
  • … suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] …
  • … to the printer, but without the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to …
  • … books,  Descent  and  Expression . In the same letter, Darwin revealed the conclusion to his …
  • … variation of animals and plants under domestication . In a letter to his son William dated 27 …
  • … of his brother’s embryological papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although …
  • … . Indeed, he told his publisher, John Murray, in a letter of 4 April [1867] , not to send …
  • … tell me, at what rate your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This …
  • … & sent to him, he may wish to give up the task’ ( letter to Carl Vogt, 12 April [1867] ). …
  • … fit person’ to introduce the work to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). …
  • … Vogt should translate my book in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). …
  • … varieties at the eye, which resulted in a mottled hybrid ( letter from Robert Trail, 5 April 1867 …
  • … seems to me, if true, a wonderful physiological fact’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • … it will be a somewhat important step in Biology’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] ). …
  • … if you attack it & me with unparalleled ferocity’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 November [1867] …
  • … own discretion; anyhow most ought to be introduced’ ( letter to W. S. Dallas, 8 November [1867] ). …
  • … however, & I cannot get on so quickly as I could wish’ (letter from W. S. Dallas, 20 November …
  • … with me about 27 years old In a letter of 22 February [1867] to Fritz Müller in …
  • … chapter on the cause or meaning of Expression.’ With this letter Darwin enclosed a list of questions …
  • … ‘Queries about Expression’. In a postscript to the letter he added, ‘But you must not plague …
  • … that Darwin send his queries to foreign newspapers. The letter also reveals that he did not share …
  • … work in some “supplemental remarks on expression”’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [12–17] March [1867] …
  • … of no one to send them to, so do not want any more’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 April [1867] ). …
  • … for the year 1867. In his 15 April [1867] letter to Gray , Darwin commented, ‘I have been …
  • … further ( Variation  2: 75). In notes for his reply to a letter from Edward Blyth dated 19 …
  • … on sexual differences in mammals and birds. In his letter to Fritz Müller of 22 February [1867] , …
  • … topic on a theoretical level was Alfred Russel Wallace. In a letter to Wallace written on 23 …
  • … in his aviary to see whether this was the case ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1867] ). …
  • … at a fundamental level. In his response to Wallace ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 26 February [1867] ) …

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: 28 hits

  • … I omitted to observe, which I ought to have observed” ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 January [1873] …
  • … work your wicked will on it—root leaf & branch!” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ) …
  • … Müller in Brazil, Friedrich Hildebrand in Germany, and Federico Delpino in Italy that suggested that …
  • … 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 …
  • … on any point; for I knew my own ignorance before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] …
  • … “he would fly at the Empr’s throat like a bulldog” ( letter from L. M. Forster to H. E. Litchfield, …
  • … force & truth of the great principle of inheritance!” ( letter to F. S. B. F. de Chaumont, 3 …
  • … the heavy breathing that accompanied sexual intercourse? (letter from ?, [1873?]). The Scottish …
  • … with up lines; & sadness & decay with the reverse—” ( letter from William Main, 2 April …
  • … with the advance of civilisation and good breeding ( letter from Henry Reeks, 3 March 1873 ). …
  • … have never felt an inclination to have a second dose” ( letter from Robert Swinhoe, 26 March 1873 …
  • … of an orbital one produces snapping of the jaws” ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 16 April 1873 …
  • … that illustrated the physiognomy of the disease ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 30 December 1873 …
  • … by an individual could be transmitted to its offspring ( letter from J. T. Moggridge, 1 February …
  • … a related discussion in  Nature  magazine, forwarding a letter from William Huggins on a case of …
  • … Kepler who was fearful of butchers and butcher’s shops ( letter to  Nature , [before 13 February …
  • … smell. Darwin joined the debate, writing to  Nature  ( letter to  Nature , [before 13 March …
  • … The debate later shifted to ants when Darwin forwarded a letter from the mining engineer James …
  • … disperse wildly after he had smashed some with his finger ( letter to  Nature , [before 3 April …
  • … danger by seeing the corpses of a fellow species” ( letter to  Nature , [before 24 July 1873] ). …
  • … cousin’s aims but regarded the project as “utopian” ( letter to Francis Galton, 4 January [1873] ) …
  • … in correspondence, and investing money very well” ( letter to Francis Galton, 28 May 1873 ). Among …
  • … his father’s virtues: “sober, honest & industrious” ( letter to Francis Galton, 28 May 1873 ). …
  • … vicar, George Sketchley Ffinden, who had been appointed in 1871. Darwin had usually been on good …