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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
- … and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved …
- … A large portion of the letters Darwin received in 1873 were in response to The expression of the …
- … to have observed” ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 January [1873] ). Drosera was the main focus of …
- … leaf & branch!” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ). Darwin found that the …
- … copy of the Handbook for the physiological laboratory (1873), a detailed guide to animal …
- … Thomas Lauder Brunton, a specialist in pharmacology, and John Scott Burdon Sanderson, a professor at …
- … Darwin’s other main focus of botanical investigation in 1873 was cross- and self-fertilisation, work …
- … & correlated” ( letter to T. H. Farrer, 14 August 1873 ). Darwin worried, however, that …
- … “for Heaven knows when it will be ready” ( letter to John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). Keeping …
- … their burrows” ( letter from Francis Darwin, 14 August [1873] ). In September, Darwin …
- … will be created” ( letter to E. A. Darwin, 20 September 1873 ). Erasmus, who had studied medicine …
- … work” ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September [1873] ). Shortly afterwards, it was arranged for …
- … 1872 and sold quickly. He wrote to Hooker on 12 January [1873] , “Did I ever boast to you on the …
- … anonymously in the Edinburgh Review in April ([Baynes] 1873). Darwin asked one of his Scottish …
- … before hand” ( letter to George Cupples, 28 April [1873] ). Readers' lives …
- … letter from L. M. Forster to H. E. Litchfield, 20 February 1873 ). The surgeon Francis Stephen …
- … ( letter to F. S. B. F. de Chaumont, 3 February [1873] ). Some readers proposed alternative …
- … that accompanied sexual intercourse? (letter from ?, [1873?]). The Scottish physician William Main …
- … with the reverse—” ( letter from William Main, 2 April 1873 ). The zoologist Henry Reeks suspected …
- … with leading physiologists such as David Ferrier and John Hughlings Jackson. Darwin declined to …
- … Instinct In February, Darwin received a letter from John Traherne Moggridge on the nature of …
- … fund was first suggested in early April by Katharine Murray Lyell in conversation with Emma Darwin, …
- … A group of Huxley’s close friends, including Hooker, John Lubbock, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, …
- … edition was called for. There were commercial advantages for Murray in bringing out a substantially …
- … your own power & usefulness”, citing the examples of John Stuart Mill and Charles Lyell, who …
- … from Ernst Meitzen, 17 January 1873 ). A poor-law officer, John Farr, wrote: “Faith like Species, …
- … more permanent than species are permanent” ( letter from John Farr, 7 July 1873 ). Further …
- … closer to home, when he was graced by an invitation from John Jenner Weir to act as a patron of the …
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: 17 hits
- … 5 December 1871 ). When Darwin began writing in February 1873, he asked Hooker for names of …
- … system to follow ( To J. D. Hooker, 17 February 1873 ). Despite also working on experiments with …
- … with this & get it published’ ( To Asa Gray, 11 March [1873] ). In April 1873, the …
- … plagued by foreign Translators, Reviewers, &c.’ ( To John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). In reply to …
- … when it will be published’ ( To J. V. Carus, 8 May [1873] ). Hermann Müller also wrote from …
- … my further working’ ( From Hermann Müller, 10 June 1873 ). Darwin, in turn, had found Müller’s …
- … them by different routes’ ( To Hermann Müller, 30 May 1873 ). Although Darwin had completed a …
- … must turn to the vegetable kingdom’ In June 1873, Delpino informed Darwin that …
- … to avoid crossing ( From Federico Delpino, 18 June 1873 ). Darwin was intrigued. ‘I am very glad …
- … Bees’, he told Delpino ( To Federico Delpino, 25 June [1873] ). Darwin’s suspicion that sweet peas …
- … his crossing experiments through the early summer, by August 1873, Darwin decided to shift focus …
- … effects of Interbreeding’ ( To J. V. Carus, 2 August [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a …
- … conditions of life’ ( To Nature , 20 September [1873] ). Just as the free-swimming barnacle …
- … of their parents’ ( To Fritz Müller, 25 September 1873 ). But by March 1874, some doubts seemed to …
- … not expect that more than 6 or 700 would sell.’ ( To John Murray, 15 November 1876 ). In fact, …
- … ( From R. F. Cooke, 16 March 1877 ). In November 1877, Murray suggested stereotyping the book, but …
- … W. Rimpau, 10 December 1877 ). By the end of February 1878, Murray was ready to print the second …
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: 26 hits
- … Andrew Clark, whom he had been consulting since August 1873. Darwin had originally thought that …
- … had suggested a new edition of the coral book in December 1873, when he realised the difficulty a …
- … vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 December [1873] ). Darwin himself had some trouble …
- … had been in two volumes and had cost twenty-four shillings.) Murray’s partner, Robert Francis Cooke, …
- … of human evolution and inheritance himself. In August 1873, he had published in the Contemporary …
- … Quarterly Review discussing works on primitive man by John Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor. It …
- … of anonymous reviews. Its proprietor was none other than John Murray, Darwin’s publisher. So …
- … wording of both the letter to the editor and the letter to Murray to accompany it. The depth of …
- … a new publisher’ and advised that Darwin should not push Murray to the point of cutting off …
- … [6 or 7 August 1874] ). When the letter was finally sent to Murray, Darwin referred only to their …
- … ‘asking a favour ‘. He explained why he had written to Murray and not the editor of the Quarterly …
- … to review me in a hostile spirit’ ( letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874 ). Darwin was …
- … St G. J. Mivart, 11 January [1872] ). To Darwin’s relief, Murray replied immediately: ‘I have lost …
- … number of the Review & in the same type’ ( letter from John Murray, 12 August 1874 ). George …
- … anonymous reviews. While staying with Hooker over Christmas, John Tyndall, professor at and …
- … as ‘the natural outflow of his character’ ( letter from John Tyndall, 28 December 1874 ). …
- … the use of the Down schoolroom as a winter reading room in 1873 (see Correspondence , vol. 21, …
- … to purchase the wooded land, which he had been renting from John Lubbock, led to a straining of …
- … the sale was agreed in April for £300 ( letter from John Lubbock, 2 April 1874 ), a high price …
- … for about a week ( letter from E. E. Klein, 14 May 1874 ). John Burdon Sanderson sent the results …
- … ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 20 July [1874] ). In 1873, Hooker had begun a series of …
- … of other insect-eating plants. The surgeon and botanist John Ralfs sent Utricularia from …
- … in order to work on its difficult structures ( letter to John Ralfs, 13 July [1874] ). The …
- … vol. 21, letter from Francis Darwin, [11 October 1873] ). Darwin wasted several weeks in …
- … Moulinié, who had died after a period of ill health in 1873. Edmond Barbier corrected defects in …
- … was a copy of Joseph Simms’s book on physiognomy (Simms 1873), which contained Darwin’s portrait to …
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: 6 hits
- … target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
- … chapters of Origin of Species to his publisher, John Murray. He hopes that his views are …
- … her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 September …
- … perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, J., [29 September 1870] …
- … - Forster, L. M . to Darwin, H. E., [20 February 1873] Henrietta’s friend, Laura, …
- … - Innes, J. B. to Darwin, [31 August 1868] John Innes reports that he has read …
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: 11 hits
- … George Darwin's article on marriage In August 1873, George had published an article …
- … July 1874, Mivart published an anonymous review of works by John Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor in …
- … also wondering whether he should break off relations with John Murray, his own publisher and also …
- … paper, which Darwin pointed out was not the kind of thing Murray would be likely to wish to …
- … and Darwin were also collaborating over Darwin’s letter to Murray, in which Darwin was to ask Murray …
- … between the two of them. Darwin sent George’s letter to Murray with his letter of 11 August 1874 …
- … courteous response, agreeing to all he asked ( letter from John Murray, 12 August 1874 ). …
- … by me, published in the ‘Contemporary Review’ for August 1873, and entitled ‘On Beneficial …
- … dangerous and pernicious. Darwin thanked Murray for sending him the issue of the …
- … having been used in a Pickwickian sense’ ( letter to John Murray, 18 October 1874 ). In other …
- … the president, George Allman: he had already spoken to John Tyndall ( letter from John Tyndall, 28 …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 13 hits
- … .’ Hooker also directed some of his anger toward John Murray, the publisher of the …
- … that I should give the cold shoulder to the Editor … Poor Murray shuddered again & again’ ( …
- … Instead of supporting her, he worked closely with Huxley and John Burdon Sanderson to draft an …
- … Edward Emanuel Klein, a German histologist who worked with John Burdon Sanderson at the Brown Animal …
- … of the book’s appeal to readers, for he warned Murray on 29 April that it might ‘sell very …
- … to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). In …
- … plants 2d ed. was delayed until November, allowing Murray to advertise it at his annual sale. In …
- … further research on the effects of grafting by George John Romanes. A scientific friendship had …
- … heavily on his son Francis, who had made the decision in 1873 to abandon his medical studies and …
- … and the local vicar George Sketchley Ffinden resurfaced. In 1873, Charles and Emma Darwin and the …
- … 24 December , Emma wrote triumphantly to the former vicar, John Brodie Innes, that a new reading …
- … within the short time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). Finally it …
- … on the digestive properties of Nepenthes since 1873. ‘You are aware that Dr Hooker has worked …
Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 3 hits
- … including photography, anthropometry, and fingerprinting. In 1873, he proposed founding a society to …
- … difficult to judge on these latter heads” ( 4 January [1873] ). Like most of his contemporaries, …
- … particular inherited talents, except for business ( 28 May 1873 ). Galton grew increasingly …
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: 12 hits
- … Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, [1873] Ellen Lubbock, wife of naturalist …
- … Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 July 1873] Mary Treat reports in detail on her …
- … 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s queries …
- … Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 July 1873] Mary Treat provides a detailed …
- … - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
- … challenging ideas. Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
- … editorial criticism of a paper written by English naturalist John Lubbock. In addition to offering …
- … 9156 - Wallace, A. R . to Darwin, [19 November 1873] Wallace reassures Darwin that …
- … 9157 - Darwin to Da rwin, G. H., [20 November 1873] Darwin offers the work of …
- … - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
- … Letter 8719 - Darwin to Treat, M., [1 January 1873] Darwin gives Mary Treat close …
- … 9157 - Darwin to Da rwin, G. H., [20 November 1873] Darwin offers the work of …
4.7 'Vanity Fair', caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction A letter to Darwin from his publisher John Murray of 10 May 1871 informed him, ‘Your portrait is earnestly desired – by the Editor of Vanity Fair. I hope Mr Darwin may consent to follow the example of Murchison – Bismark [sic] …
Matches: 4 hits
- … A letter to Darwin from his publisher John Murray of 10 May 1871 informed him, ‘Your portrait is …
- … Pellegrini and the versatile French painter James Tissot. John Murray evidently thought that …
- … (‘Men of the Day’, no. 57, ‘Old Bones’, 1 March 1873) (EH88202629). A printed caption has been added …
- … Vanity Fair , no. 152 (30 Sept. 1871), p. 107. Letter from John Murray to Darwin, 10 May 1871 (DCP …
Insectivorous Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Plants that consume insects Darwin began his work with insectivorous plants in the mid 1860s, though his findings would not be published until 1875. In his autobiography Darwin reflected on the delay that…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. London; John. Murray. You can download the …
- … Darwin, Charles. 1875. Insectivorous Plants. London: John Murray. Chapters 17 and 18 …
- … Plants Letter 3853 - Charles Darwin to John Scott, 11 December 1862 This …
- … 28 September 1860 Darwin writes to his friend John Stevens Henslow about his …
- … Letter 9005 - Charles Darwin to Mary Treat, 12 August 1873 Darwin writes to Treat to …
Francis Darwin
Summary
Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished scientist. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, initially studying mathematics, but then transferring to natural sciences. Francis completed…
Matches: 1 hits
- … work” (letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September [1873] ). Shortly afterwards, it was arranged for …
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: 10 hits
- … from correspondents in response to the work, and by 1873 began preparing a second edition, which …
- … because Darwin never published on bloom. In August 1873, while on holiday in Southampton at the home …
- … by bloom, but his main preoccupation in the summer of 1873 was his experimental work on …
- … themselves from the injurious effects of water. By November 1873, he was already devising …
- … Movements of Plants’, he told Robert Cooke of John Murray publishers, before suggesting ‘The …
- … about the number of copies they should print ( letter to John Murray, 10 July 1880 ). Moreover, …
- … good deal more’ than any of Darwin’s previous works, Murray was willing to publish on the usual …
- … as soon as stereotypes of the text were available from Murray ( letter from D. Appleton & Co., …
- … publication will not cost me quite so much as I expected. Murray has sold 800 copies. The Times …
- … to his son George, ‘ Hurrah for the old bloody Times, Murray says 500 copies urgently required ’. …
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: 6 hits
- … and amphibians, while Roland Trimen in South Africa and John Jenner Weir in London sent more …
- … incorporating his latest revisions (Moulinié trans. 1873). Reinwald and Moulinié had been engaged …
- … and broadening the forums in which Darwinism was discussed. John Murray brought out the first issue …
- … a higher tone of Criticism than that now prevailing’. Here Murray was alluding particularly to the …
- … wish your Periodical all success’, Darwin wrote to Murray, ‘I wish it had been weekly, as then …
- … that to me would have been a pleasing sight’ ( letter to John Murray, [after 18 September 1869] ). …
Joseph Simms
Summary
The American doctor and author of works on physiognomy Joseph Simms wrote to Darwin on 14 September 1874, while he was staying in London. He enclosed a copy of his book Nature’s revelations of character (Simms 1873). He hoped it might 'prove…
Matches: 6 hits
- … of his book Nature’s revelations of character (Simms 1873). He hoped it might 'prove …
- … flat feet were indicative of small secretiveness (Simms 1873, p. 154). A ‘broad foot’ indicated …
- … destroy: the propensity to mar, deface, or destroy' (Simms 1873, p. 166). Unfortunately, …
- … in 1854. In 1866 he sought training in anatomy from John William Draper, founder of the University …
- … The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London: John Murray. Simms, Joseph. 1873 …
- … as manifested in the human form and countenance . New York: Murray Hill. …
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
Matches: 1 hits
- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
Matches: 4 hits
- … physiology ’, he consulted his former Cambridge teacher John Stevens Henslow. But Henslow knew …
- … at the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution, London. In 1873 Darwin wrote to the Institute’s …
- … plants together in the same book but his publisher John Murray found the manuscript so large that …
- … himself ‘ The proofmaniac ’. Darwin agreed with Murray on an initial print run of 1250 , …
Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…
Matches: 7 hits
- … scientific interests. Indeed, Darwin’s Cambridge mentor, John Stevens Henslow, and his friend and …
- … the work of Non-conformist preachers in the village. John Brodie Innes Many of the …
- … Innes, [8 May 1848] and n. 2). Darwin praised Innes to John William Lubbock, the principal …
- … clergyman was unsuitable for entirely different reasons. John Warburton Robinson seemed not to be an …
- … (letter to Down School Board, [after 29 November 1873] ). Ffinden fiercely resented Darwin for …
- … to such strained relations that Darwin’s neighbour, John Lubbock, was forced to send a series of …
- … chapter . Edited by Francis Darwin. 3 vols. London: John Murray. 1887–8. Moore, James. 1985. …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
3.7 Leonard Darwin, photo on verandah
Summary
< Back to Introduction Like the anonymous photograph of Darwin on horseback in front of Down House, Leonard Darwin’s photograph of him sitting in a wicker chair on the verandah was originally just a family memento. However, as Darwin’s high…
Matches: 5 hits
- … no record of when he had taken it. It cannot be earlier than 1873, since the verandah at Down House …
- … followed by some scholars such as Julius Bryant. However, John van Wyhe proposes 1878, as Emma …
- … of naturalness and monumental dignity in Boehm’s concept. John van Wyhe has discovered another …
- … 1872, possibly 1880 computer-readable date c.1873-01-01 to 1880-12-31 medium …
- … Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , 3 vols (London: John Murray, 1887), vol. 2, frontispiece, and …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
