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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: 24 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 …
- … And … one 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 …
- … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
- … that Mr Williams was ‘a 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 …
- … Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
- … edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
- … Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
- … to take so sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March …
- … sent an apology for misinterpreting Darwin on this point ( letter from J. D. Dana, 21 July 1874 ); …
- … numbers and sex ratios among the Pitcairn islanders ( letter from William Dealtry, 16 January 1874 …
- … will say that I have pounded the enemy into a jelly’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 April 1874 ). …
- … by none but anatomists; and never mind where it goes’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 16 April 1874 ). …
- … the return on subsequent print runs would be very good ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874 …
- … by the conciseness & clearness of your thought’ ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 20 April 1874 ). …
- … legal action over the ‘scurrilous libel’ on his son ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [27 July 1874] ). …
- … false, scurrilous accusation of [a] lying scoundrel’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] ). …
- … as father and son agonised over the wording of both the letter to the editor and the letter to …
- … relationship with Murray on the outcome ( enclosure to letter from G. H. Darwin, 6 [August] 1874 ) …
- … is refused I’m really no worse off than if I had sent my letter direct to the Editor & it had …
- … previous publications to review me in a hostile spirit’ ( letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874 ). …
Darwin and vivisection
Summary
Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…
Matches: 17 hits
- … me) attack on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … progress of physiology. He reiterated these concerns in a letter to Thomas Henry Huxley ten days …
- … I love with all my heart’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to ?, 19 May [1871] ). As a …
- … farmers and their staff (see Correspondence vol. 14, letter to a local landowner, [1866?] ). …
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … I shall not sleep to-night’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
- … was a sensitive subject within Darwin’s family. In his letter of 14 January 1875 to Huxley, …
- … ones (men of course) or I might get one or two’ (letter from Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe, 14 …
- … to serve as the basis for a petition, and gave it to Huxley (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, …
- … with Huxley, who produced a new sketch for a petition (letter from T. H. Huxley, [4 April 1875] ) …
- … who drafted a memorial, sending it to Darwin on 7 April (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 7 …
- … in order to gather signatures. More alterations were made (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 10 …
- … had already been prepared for the House of Lords (see letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, [11 April …
- … his approval as president of the Royal Society of London (letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 April [1875] …
- … his counsel: ‘we wd do whatever else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). …
- … Sanderson both expressed their dismay at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , …
- … version, and that only minor corrections had been made (letter to Lyon Playfair, 26 May 1875 , …
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: 29 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 ) …
- … 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 ). …
- … who thought it would offend his father ( enclosure to letter from T. H. Huxley, 3 December 1873 ). …
- … to reject what we should feel it a privilege to offer” ( letter from E. F. Lubbock, [before 7 April …
- … from a defunct friend— but he is a deal too sharp” ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [7 April 1873] ). …
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Summary
Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…
Matches: 14 hits
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … another word about it, else I shall not sleep to-night’ ( letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
- … pangenesis. Darwin was taken aback, and swiftly replied in a letter to Nature , insisting that he …
- … deserved credit for his ‘ingenuity and perseverance’ ( letter to Nature , [before 27 April 1871] …
- … for further cross-circulation and ‘Siamesing’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 13 September 1871 ). …
- … Some of the results were promising, but inconclusive (see letter from G. J. Romanes, 14 July 1875 …
- … results will be necessary to convince physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 July 1875 ). …
- … for your work; & I suppose birds can be chloroformed (letter to G. J. Romanes, 27 December …
- … branded physiologists as ‘demons let loose from hell’ ( letter to F. B. Cobbe, [14 January 1875] ) …
- … detail here . He stated his position most frankly in a letter to Henrietta, 4 January [1875] . …
- … point of view I have rejoiced at the present agitation. ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … science of Physiology as doomed to death in this country. ( letter To T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 …
- … are now in the position of a persecuted religious sect’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 June [1876] ) …
- … of the utility of experiment amongst people in general’ ( letter from T. L. Brunton, 12 February …
Origin is 160; Darwin's 1875 letters now online
Summary
To mark the 160th anniversary of the publication of Origin of species, the full transcripts and footnotes of nearly 650 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1875 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1875…
Matches: 7 hits
- … very much more about the wide distribution of my books. ( Letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 June [1875] ) …
- … over the sickening work of preparing new Editions . ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 August [1875] ) …
- … insensible, if the experiment made this possible ( Letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] …
- … me in the vestry of having made false statements ( Letter to John Lubbock, 8 April 1875 ) …
- … Such energy as yours almost always succeeds ( Letter to G. H. Darwin, 13 October [1875] ) …
- … done in science I owe to the study of his great works ( Letter to A. B. Buckley, 23 February 1875 …
- … act which any scientific Socy. has done in my time ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875] ) …
2.23 Hope Pinker statue, Oxford Museum
Summary
< Back to Introduction Henry Richard Hope Pinker’s life-size statue of Darwin was installed in the Oxford University Museum on 14 June 1899. It was the latest in a series of statues of great scientific thinkers, the ‘Founders and Improvers of Natural…
Matches: 7 hits
- … mimicry among insects. Alfred Russel Wallace, in a letter to his daughter dated 27 November 1896, …
- … they were ‘quite common place without being vulgar’. A letter in the Hope Pinker collection of …
- … in Caen limestone references and bibliography Letter from William Darwin to his father …
- … (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press}, vol. 26. Undated letter from ‘Waller’ to Hope Pinker, …
- … of letters, Royal Academy archive, HRHP/LPM/UVW31). Undated letter from H.E. Luxmoore of Eton …
- … Selection (London, Paris, Melbourne: Cassell, 1896). Letter from Poulton to Acland, 25 Nov. 1896, …
- … 2, 1897 ), proof copy, OUM archive, Box 1, HM 1874–1902. Letter, dated ‘Oxford, Dec. 10’ [c. 1896 …
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: 14 hits
- … On 8 January , he told Hooker: ‘I will write a savage letter & that will do me some good, if I …
- … to the Editor … Poor Murray shuddered again & again’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 January …
- … offered to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). …
- … & bless the day That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 …
- … that the originally red half has become wholly white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 …
- … pp. 188–90). He drew attention to this discussion in a letter to George Rolleston, remarking on 2 …
- … Darwin wrote, ‘I beg ten thousand pardon & more’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [ c . February …
- … signed himself, ‘Your affect son … the proofmaniac’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, 1 and 2 May [1875 …
- … both critical and reverential. On 16 July he received a letter from an advocate of women’s …
- … her presentation copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July [1875] ). Such …
- … of my house within the short time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). …
- … and had agreed to see him at Down with Thiselton-Dyer ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 7 July 1875 …
- … lay of hair in eyelashes and on arms, a typically lengthy letter full of personal observations, …
- … examination it was pronounced to be of a ‘high type’ ( letter from Woodward Emery, 17 September …
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 28 hits
- … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
- … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
- … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
- … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
- … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
- … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
- … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
- … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
- … disgrace’ of blackballing so distinguished a zoologist ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 29 January 1876 ) …
- … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
- … her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
- … on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
- … sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
- … to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …
- … in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September …
- … and to promote work he admired. He was so interested in a letter from Fritz Müller in Brazil …
- … with the ants that inhabited the trunk that he sent the letter to Nature for publication. ‘It …
- … communicated this information in an article in Nature ( letter from Johann von Fischer, [before …
- … phyllotaxis by the mutual pressure of very young buds’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 June [1876] ). …
- … Scottish shoemaker and ardent naturalist Thomas Edward ( letter from F. M. Balfour, 11 December …
- … live blood-hound which shall hunt it to the death’ ( letter from James Torbitt, 19 April 1876 …
- … the public to consider Torbitt an untrustworthy fanatic ( letter to James Torbitt, 21 April 1876 ) …
- … request, with the ‘awful job’ of informing the author ( letter to G. G. Stokes, 21 April [1876] ). …
- … thought the paper was ‘not worthy of being read ever’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 28 January 1876 …
- … to William Thiselton-Dyer on 26 April that Tait’s letter about his ‘accursed paper’ had quite …
- … minded Horace, however, who was the first to type a letter, telling George on 1 May (in the only …
- … Henry Lewes for an article on the snail’s heart and a letter to Nature on the use of the …
- … his son, ‘all I can say is do not commit suicide’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [4 June 1876] ). By …
The "wicked book": Origin at 157
Summary
Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 November 1859. To celebrate we have uploaded hundreds of new images of letters, bringing the total number you can look at here to over 9000 representing more than…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 …
What is an experiment?
Summary
Darwin is not usually regarded as an experimenter, but rather as an astute observer and a grand theorist. His early career seems to confirm this. He began with detailed note-taking, collecting and cataloguing on the Beagle, and edited a descriptive zoology…
Matches: 7 hits
- … ‘all kinds of facts’ across a wide range of fields ( letter to W. D. Fox [25 January 1841] ). He …
- … men, with a curb on make far the best observers’ ( letter to C. H. L. Woodd , 4 March 1850 ). He …
- … speculation there is no good & original observation’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 December …
- … of an engineer on his early experiments with Drosera ( letter to Edward Cresy, 12 December …
- … ‘I have become very fond of little experiments’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [21 March 1857] ; …
- … ‘all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 7 May [1855] ). But …
- … at Science … & am never happy except when at work’ ( letter to J. M. Herbert, 25 December [1880 …
