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Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 20 hits
- … On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of …
- … learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
- … the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
- … he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
- … his theory would have been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
- … the only track that leads to physical truth’ (Sedgwick 1860) that most wounded Darwin. Having spent …
- … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
- … a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
- … phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
- … . Fawcett asserted that Darwin’s theory accorded well with John Stuart Mill’s exposition of the …
- … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
- … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
- … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
- … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
- … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
- … to hear Samuel Wilberforce, the bishop of Oxford, reply to John William Draper’s paper giving a …
- … Darwin about further, less dramatic incidents, including John Lubbock’s retort to Wilberforce on the …
- … I shall improve the Book considerably.—’ ( letter to John Murray, 5 December [1860] ). Although he …
- … to convert people under 20 year,’ he told his friend John Innes, ‘though firmly convinced now …
- … good judge coming some little way with me.’ ( letter to John Innes, 28 December [1860] ). …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 21 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
- … implements of early humans (C. Lyell 1859). In September 1860 he visited sites in both France and …
- … species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
- … the age of the human species. The visits by both Lyell and Lubbock reflected the growing interest, …
- … to establish the age of the human race. In 1861, Lubbock joined Thomas Henry Huxley, Busk, …
- … recent geologico-archaeological researches in Denmark’ (Lubbock 1861) for the October 1861 issue. …
- … (kitchen-middens) of ancient Danish settlements. Lubbock reviewed the literature on the topic and …
- … in Danish (Morlot 1859, Forchhammer et al. 1851–5); Lubbock cited Morlot as the source of many …
- … book, Prehistoric times (Lubbock 1865). By 1860, Lyell had begun work on a sixth edition …
- … completed and set in type for Elements of geology in 1860 and then re-set in 1861 for …
- … also added the following note on page 11: *Mr. John Lubbock published, after these sheets …
- … Galton. In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, evidently in response …
- … about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he discussed a …
- … transmutation; he also wrote to Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 …
- … wrote to Henrietta Emma Darwin, ‘whereas after talking to John, he thought him not wrong, after …
- … avoiding any mention of the note in the preface (letter to John Lubbock, 11 June [1865] ). No …
- … on page 11, C. Lyell 1863c (original version) *Mr. John Lubbock published, after these sheets …
- … on page 11, C. Lyell 1863c (revised version) *Mr. John Lubbock published, in the October …
- … Van Riper 1993. 2. Letter from Charles Lyell to John Lubbock, 20 February 1863 (British …
- … 1863b, p. 214). 12. Letter from Hugh Falconer to John Lubbock, 24 May [1864], in (British …
- … written for me by a mutual friend of ours’ (letter from John Lubbock to J. D. Hooker, 23 June 1865, …
John Lubbock
Summary
John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…
Matches: 22 hits
- … John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring …
- … two men lived as close neighbours for most of their lives. Lubbock's father, John William …
- … banking family, and the family seat of High Elms, which Lubbock inherited in 1865, was at the heart …
- … and wide-ranging studies in anthropology and prehistory, John Lubbock’s childhood interest in …
- … mountain must come some Sunday to Mahomet. ( to John Lubbock, 26 March [1867] ) …
- … meetings leave in the documentary record, it is clear that John Lubbock played a significant part in …
- … and strategist. As early as 1857 Darwin wrote to thank Lubbock for saving him from a ' …
- … on variation. Darwin made constant requests of Lubbock, bombarding him with questions and …
- … with me on general issue, or against me. ( to John Lubbock, 14 December [1859] ) …
- … In the weeks immediately after publication, Darwin wrote to Lubbock not once but twice demanding to …
- … opinion of men like you & Hooker & Huxley & Lyell’. Lubbock spoke in Darwin' …
- … Darwin's supporters) in 1864. Pre-historic Times (1865), Lubbock's account of human …
- … to humans. After his election as MP for Maidstone in 1870, Lubbock tried at Darwin’s request to …
- … such as James Torbitt's research into potato blight. Lubbock was one of those consulted on …
- … Descent In Descent of man , Darwin referred to Lubbock’s published work on the secondary …
- … much interest for the good of my internal viscera’ ( to John Lubbock, 21 July [1870] ). It seems …
- … a daughter? or scrupled to carry off anothers wife? ( from John Lubbock, 18 March [1871] ). …
- … complained that he remained 'not a little in the dark' ( to John Lubbock, 26 March [1867] …
- … William, up in a banking career, and Darwin's last known letter to John Lubbock, sent …
- … children were strained. ‘I am afraid our feeling to Sir John’ Francis Darwin later wrote ‘did not …
- … He signed himself, with unusual formality, “My dear Sir John, yours sincerely”. By this stage …
- … down.” In the last year of his life Darwin provided a letter of introduction for Lubbock's …
British Association meeting 1860
Summary
Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…
Matches: 9 hits
- … the Advancement of Science meeting in Oxford, June–July 1860 Several letters in the year 1860 …
- … Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the …
- … treatment for a stomach that had “utterly broken down” (letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [June 1860] ) …
- … 521–4); Charles Lyell (K. M. Lyell ed. 1881, 2: 335–6); John Lubbock (Hutchinson 1914, 1: 50); John …
- … are less well known. The following account of the 1860 meeting of the British Association in …
- … by their precise attribution. Athenæum , 7 July 1860, p. 19: Introduction to the reports …
- … lively during the week. Athenæum , 7 July 1860, pp. 25–6: Thursday session of Section D. …
- … monkey was the gift of speech. Athenæum , 14 July 1860, pp. 64–5: Saturday session, …
- … which seemed independent of all external agents.— Mr. LUBBOCK expressed his willingness to accept …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 24 hits
- … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
- … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
- … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
- … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
- … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
- … of sterility between varieties of Verbascum . When John Scott, foreman of the propagating …
- … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
- … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
- … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
- … to publish on Linum ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), writing up his …
- … buy it. When he submitted the manuscript to his publisher, John Murray, he boasted: ‘I can say with …
- … in the least , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] ). To his …
- … paper for the Natural History Review ( see letter to John Lubbock, 16 [December 1862] ). Aware …
- … plant, Drosera . As he had at Eastborne in the summer of 1860 (see Correspondence vol. 8), Darwin …
- … of the old Beagle crew, Bartholomew James Sulivan, John Clements Wickham, and Arthur Mellersh, …
- … of this, he prescribed strict conditions for a meeting with John Lubbock: ‘if you could … let me go …
- … at 9 o clock I do not think it would hurt me’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 23 October [1862] ). …
- … on botany. Even at the start of their correspondence he told John Scott: ‘Botany is a new subject to …
- … odds & ends of botany & you know far more’ ( letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
- … Lyell, 14 October [1862] ). Moreover, when the physicist John Tyndall, fresh from a summer in the …
- … of Darwin’s circle was in Switzerland in the summer: John Lubbock briefly met up with Tyndall and …
- … discovered prehistoric lake-dwellings ( see letter from John Lubbock, 23 August 1862 ). Lubbock …
- … to view the prehistoric sites near Amiens ( see letter from John Lubbock, 15 May 1862 ), and he …
- … about the antiquity of the human species ( see letter from John Lubbock, 6 January 1862 ). …
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: 22 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] ). …
- … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
- … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
- … who was already ill-disposed towards Owen following his 1860 review of Origin , wrote to Falconer …
- … were himself, Hooker, Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace, and John Lubbock. Honours abroad …
- … of the Royal Society ( see letter from Edward Sabine to John Phillips, 12 November 1863 ). …
- … exercise Darwin was Huxley’s assertion, first made in his 1860 review of Origin , that in order …
- … year with the Hertfordshire nurseryman Thomas Rivers. John Scott Darwin had found a …
- … of hybridity and sterility at the end of the previous year. John Scott, a gardener at the Royal …
- … the results of which were published in 1868 ( see letter to John Scott, 25 and 28 May [1863] ). …
- … hoped would counteract Huxley’s criticism ( letter from John Scott, 23 July [1863] ). Darwin …
- … Darwin had also encouraged him to write ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). In this …
- … that your paper will have permanent value’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ). Scott received …
- … the “Origin” is not at all palatable!’ ( letter from John Scott, [3 June 1863] ). Darwin’s …
- … a position offered in Darjeeling, India ( see letter from John Scott, 22 May 1863 , and letter …
- … and Viola species, had interested Darwin since 1860; it continued to capture his attention ( …
- … to Malvern the following week. Three letters in August from John Goodsir, professor of anatomy at …
- … of all such matters as your stomach’ ( see letter from John Goodsir, 21 August [1863] ; letter …
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: 23 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 cats’ instinctive 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., …
- … expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
- … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
- … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
- … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
- … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
- … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
- … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
- … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
- … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
- … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
- … 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s queries …
- … Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May 1860] Doubleday describes his …
- … - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
- … J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John Murray, to forward a manuscript copy of …
- … writing. Letter 3001 - Darwin to Lubbock, J., [28 November 1860] Darwin …
- … - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 13 hits
- … Soon after Origin was published, Darwin received a letter from Asa Gray offering to arrange an …
- … Darwin responded favourably to Gray’s proposal in his letter of 21 December [1859] ( Correspondence …
- … response to Darwin (see letters from Asa Gray, [10 January 1860], [17 January 1860], and 23 January …
- … had been fixed through the process of stereotyping (see letter from Asa Gray, 23 January [1860] and …
- … of species (two letters to Baden Powell, 18 January 1860), Darwin subsequently changed his mind. On …
- … of species; Darwin sent this off to Gray enclosed in his letter of [8 or 9 February 1860]. He had …
- … (especially that given by Hewett Cottrell Watson in his letter of [3? January 1860]) that Darwin …
- … changes he intended to make in the American edition in the letter to Lyell, 18 [and 19 February 1860 …
- … corrected Second Edition with additional corrections” (letter to Asa Gray, 1 February [1860]). …
- … American edition of Origin was available in July 1860 (see [Gray] 1860b, p. 116). It is …
- … ‘‘a regular, not a casual, phenomenon,’’ or, as Sir John Herschel expresses it, ‘‘a natural in …
- … Charles Darwin Down, Bromley, Kent, Feb. 1860 [Darwin’s …
- … of Origin ( Origin 3d ed., pp. 363–6). See also letter from John Lubbock, [after 28 April …
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 29 hits
- … on a paper on Verbascum (mullein) by CD’s protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. …
- … also a serious dispute between two of Darwin’s friends, John Lubbock and Charles Lyell . These …
- … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
- … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
- … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
- … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
- … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
- … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
- … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
- … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
- … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
- … Appendix II). In May, he invited a new doctor, John Chapman, to Down and began a course of Chapman’s …
- … of illness. Variation , which he had begun in January 1860, and which was intended to explain his …
- … Variation . In March Darwin wrote to his publisher, John Murray, ‘Of present book I have 7 …
- … forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] ). In …
- … will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early …
- … ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was not …
- … questions and suggesting new lines of research. John Scott A similar, though not so …
- … effort took place in the beginning of the year when John Scott, a protégé of Darwin’s whom Darwin …
- … varieties (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). Darwin had …
- … in 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter from John Scott, 21 September [1863] ), and wrote …
- … 1864, despite suffering from sea-sickness ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ). This may have …
- … would take up the work again when he had time ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ); at the …
- … serenity of the Christian world’ (Brewster 1862, p. 3). John Hutton Balfour, though he had sent …
- … 1862 ). According to Hooker, Balfour’s prejudice against John Scott, who had worked under Balfour …
- … At the end of May, the dispute between Charles Lyell and John Lubbock over alleged plagiarism by …
- … in Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix V. In 1865, Lubbock published Prehistoric times , …
- … now ready to make observations for him in India (John Scott) and Brazil (Fritz Müller). Although not …
- … George Henslow, the son of Darwin’s mentor at Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow, from John Traherne …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 21 hits
- … of scientific admirers at Down, among them Robert Caspary, John Traherne Moggridge, and Ernst …
- … Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But …
- … able to write easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). …
- … once daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
- … regime led to Darwin’s being teased by his neighbour, John Lubbock, about the prospect of riding to …
- … work doing me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). …
- … production of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January …
- … of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] …
- … On 21 February Darwin received notification from John Murray that stocks of the third edition of …
- … good deal I think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December …
- … Henry Walter Bates’s article on mimetic butterflies, Lubbock’s observations of diving Hymenoptera …
- … ‘I quite follow you in thinking Agassiz glacier-mad’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September …
- … ten times more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] …
- … George Henslow, the son of his Cambridge mentor, John Stevens Henslow, stayed for two days in April …
- … In June, Darwin was visited by the orchid specialist John Traherne Moggridge, whose work on the self …
- … , translated by Heinrich Georg Bronn, had been published in 1860 and 1863 by the firm E. …
- … Darwin and the New York publisher D. Appleton and Co. in 1860. Unfortunately, Appleton had produced …
- … to the famous Oxford meeting of the British Association in 1860, where the bishop of Oxford, Samuel …
- … out, ‘business would be totally paralysed’. Similarly, John Murray gave as a reason for his decision …
- … ‘gaieties travelling & War Bulletins’ ( letter from John Murray, 18 July 1866 ). I …
- … for the criminal prosecution of the colonial governor Edward John Eyre. In his efforts to suppress …
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
Matches: 20 hits
- … of departure reviews of Origin . The second is a single letter from naturalist A. R. Wallace to …
- … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
- … nature, as he is in a “muddle” on this issue. Letter 3256 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
- … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
- … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
- … of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …
- … of variations. Darwin and Graham Letter 13230 — Darwin, C. R. to Graham, …
- … of people, including members of his own family. Letter 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, …
- … about his “honest & conscientious doubts”. Letter 471 — Darwin, Emma to Darwin, C. …
- … there is a danger in giving up revelation”. Letter 2534 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, …
- … need of an act of intervention to bring change. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
- … with that knowledge which only He can give me.” Letter 5303 — Boole, M. E. to Darwin, C …
- … that his theory be compatible with her faith. Letter 5307 — Darwin, C. R. to Boole, M. …
- … and science should each run its own course. Letter 8070 — Darwin, C. R. to Abbot, F. E. …
- … “with qualifications”, if he wishes. Letter 8837 — Darwin, C. R. to Doedes, N. D., 2 …
- … man’s intellect, “but man can do his duty”. Letter 12041 — Darwin, C. R. to Fordyce, …
- … most correct description of my state of mind”. Letter 12757 — Darwin, C. R. to Aveling, …
- … and School Letter 1536 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, J. W. (b), 11 Oct [1853] Darwin …
- … R. to Down School Board, [Nov–Dec 1873] Darwin, Sir John Lubbock, Ellen Frances Lubbock, and S. …
- … vicar of Down is concerned about the rumours regarding John Robinson [curate of Down]. He will seek …
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: 23 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 …
- … In January, Darwin corresponded with George John Romanes about new varieties of sugar cane produced …
- … 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 ). …
- … Quarterly Review , owned by Darwin’s publisher John Murray, carried an anonymous article on the …
- … 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, …
- … Darwin had a less heated discussion with the painter John Collier on the topic of science and art. …
- … himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 ). Collier had …
- … be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February 1882 ; T. H. Huxley …
- … and admirers. One of the most touching was from John Lubbock, whose interest in natural history at …
- … we adjourned as a small tribute of respect’ (letter from John Lubbock to Francis Darwin, 20 April …
- … or where to begin’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 21 [January 1860] ). Darwin’s former mentor at …
- … when we meet’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 29 January [1860] ). Origin would bring Darwin much …
- … to value great minds’ ( letter from Aleksander Jelski, [1860–82] ). In 1863, the final blow …
- … Origin, a number of Darwin’s friends, Huxley, John Lubbock, and Charles Lyell, each addressed the …
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: 28 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] ). …
- … fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
- … matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864 …
- … long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was …
- … paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing …
- … of the two species with the common oxlip. In a letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly …
- … the ‘splendid case of Dimorphism’ in Menyanthes ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. …
- … this interest. At the start of the year, he received a letter, insect specimens, and an article on …
- … that it was ‘the best medicine for my stomach’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 17 February [1864] ). …
- … of a paper by another of his orchid correspondents, John Traherne Moggridge, who in June sent him …
- … of insect pollinators in 1864 and following years. John Scott again Much of Darwin’s …
- … plight of another of Darwin’s fellow orchid-experimenters, John Scott. Their correspondence had been …
- … five years. Scott felt that his superiors, James McNab and John Hutton Balfour, no longer treated …
- … two years, with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] …
- … is difficult enough to play your part over them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
- … troublesome … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). …
- … indomitable perseverance, and his knowledge’ ( letter to John Scott, 10 June 1864 ). Hooker met …
- … support ‘on the grounds of science’ ( letter to John Scott, 9 April 1864 ), but Scott declined …
- … 1864 ). A notably rambling and long letter arrived from John Beck, a Shrewsbury schoolfellow of …
- … by a merciful deity for the use of humankind ( letter from John Beck, 6 October 1864 ). …
- … his brother Erasmus told him of a subscription fund for John William Colenso, bishop of Natal, South …
- … that a Neanderthal race once extended across Europe. John Lubbock mentioned his forthcoming volume …
- … of the Royal Society, Edward Sabine, to the geologist John Phillips revealed Sabine’s fears that in …
- … ever so little degree the Council’s award’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 21 December [1864] ). In …
Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies
Summary
The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…
Matches: 27 hits
- … of notes on variation at Down House. During the summer of 1860, he had become interested in …
- … presented in Origin . Having learned from his publisher John Murray in November 1860 that a new …
- … will do me & Natural Selection, right good service’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 26–7 Februrary [1861] …
- … ‘barometer’ of scientific opinion, Charles Lyell ( see letter to Charles Lyell, 20 July [1861] ). …
- … selection could not be ‘directly proved’ ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). …
- … out for praise in 1861. He had been disappointed to learn of John Frederick William Herschel’s …
- … Moreover, Darwin found an important philosophical ally in John Stuart Mill. Through Henry Fawcett, a …
- … was ‘the only one proper to such a subject’ ( letter from Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1861] ). Mill in …
- … or against some view if it is to be of any service!’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] …
- … chapter on the imperfection of the geological record ( see letter to George Maw, 19 July [1861] ). …
- … he planned to report ‘at a favourable opportunity’ ( letter from Joseph Leidy, 4 March [1861] ). …
- … laboratory where Nature manufactures her new species’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 28 March [1861] ) …
- … study of natural history was evident. He told Darwin in his letter of [1 December] 1861: …
- … by insect enemies from which the other set is free’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 30 September 1861 ) …
- … be a ‘very valuable contribution to Nat. History.—’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 4 April [1861] ). He …
- … causes &c’, and ‘Monkeys,—our poor cousins.—’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 3 December [1861] ). …
- … recommended that Bates offer the manuscript to the publisher John Murray with a view to obtaining …
- … fourth child, remained desolate over the death in September 1860 of their first-born, Noel, he and …
- … consolation to his friend Hooker whose father-in-law, John Stevens Henslow, died after a brief …
- … in the voyage of the Beagle is well known. As late as 1860, Henslow had defended Darwin against …
- … to contribute to Leonard Jenyns’s Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow (see Correspondence …
- … ). Later in the year, he went even further, writing to John Lindley on 17 October: ‘Orchids have …
- … volume that would reach a wider public. Having approached John Murray with some hesitation, and …
- … Erasmus. Late in May, Darwin’s young friend and neighbour, John Lubbock, a partner with his father …
- … form of typhus fever’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 11 May 1860 ). This hope was realised. By the end …
- … any suitable south-coast introductions for William. Through John Bonham Carter, Darwin arranged for …
- … America that threatened peace in Britain in 1861. The end of 1860 and the beginning of 1861 saw …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 22 hits
- … 1851; the second (DAR 128) continues the list from 1852 to 1860, when, except for a few odd entries, …
- … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
- … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34 —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
- … The Emigrant, Head [F. B. Head 1846] St. John’s Highlands [C. W. G. Saint John 1846] …
- … M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
- … B.M. 6. 6. Black Edin. Longman [Ramsay 1848] St. John’s Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray …
- … Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig 1851]. Sir John Davies. China during the War and Peace …
- … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
- … d . Series. vol 3. p. 1 to 312 30 th Colquhoun (John) The Moor & the Loch [Colquhoun …
- … Buffon [Milne-Edwards 1834–40]. March 5 th St. John’s Highlands [Saint John 1846] 8 …
- … Tone Autobiography [Tone 1826] very amusing March 10 John Galt Autobiography [Galt 1833] poor …
- … 1848] Madam Malguet [Torrens] 1848] —— Lives of John & Alex. Belthune [?Bethune 1840 and …
- … Ireland [Thompson 1849–56]. Vol. I. II & 3 May. St. John’s Tour in Sutherlandshire [Saint …
- … 171] Pagets Travels in Hungary & Transylvania [John Paget 1839]— account of Dogs like …
- … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
- … [Macclintock 1859] [DAR *128: 153] 1860 Owen in Trans. Zoolog. Soc. Vol …
- … of a Naturalist in Australasia. 1. 1. 0 [G. Bennett 1860] Read 114 Village Bells [Manning] …
- … Empire [Huc 1855] Feb 16 th Pagets Hungary [John Paget 1839] —— Bechsteins …
- … 23] 1858 Life of Montaigne by B. St. John [B. Saint John 1858].— Miss …
- … to end of VI. vol.— [DAR 128: 26] 1860 Quatrefages on Maladies of Silk …
- … . 1 & 2. 1854 & 1855.— [DAR 128: 27] 1860 Friends in Council [Helps …
- … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 20 hits
- … handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller, 22 February …
- … for other peoples or vice versa. The Scottish botanist John Scott wrote from Calcutta, 4 May 1868 …
- … Correspondence about Darwin’s Questionnaire (click on the letter dates to see the individual letters …
- … funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the John Templeton Foundation. …
- … Africa)? ] mentioned in JPM Weale letter, but Bowker's answers not found …
- … Bridges, Thomas (b) [Oct 1860 or after] [Keppel …
- … Woolston, Southampton, England letter to W.E. Darwin shrugging …
- … Square W London, England enclosed in a letter from Henry Maudsley …
- … South Africa possibly included in letter from Mansel Weale …
- … Peradeniya, Ceylon enclosed in letter from G.H.K. Thwaites …
- … Egypt] possibly included in letter(s) from Asa Gray Nile …
- … Lake Wellington, Australia letter to F.J.H. von Mueller nodding, …
- … Abbey Place, London, England letter to Emma Darwin baby expression …
- … Penmaenmawr, Conway, Wales letter to Emma Darwin infant daughter …
- … Square W, London, England Enclosed letter from Dr. C. Browne …
- … to East Asia Scott, John 4 May 1868 …
- … India Scott, John 2 July 1869 …
- … W., London, England enclosed in letter from W. W. Reade Hottentots …
- … England (about Australia) encloses letter from Austrialian friend, letter not …
- … forwarded by Smyth; Wilson sent letter to Ferdinand von Mueller Victoria Aborigines …
Discussion Questions and Essay Questions
Summary
There are a wide range of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwin’s correspondence. We have provided a set of sample discussion questions and essay questions, each of which focuses on a particular topic or correspondent in depth.…
Matches: 5 hits
- … people? What sort of things could one say in a letter that could not be said in print, and …
- … theories?[Mary Boole (1864), F. E. Abbot (1871-4), John Fordyce (1879), William Graham (1881)] …
- … What was Darwin’s influence on experimental practice? [John Scott and sexual dimorphism (1862), …
- … (1871-4)] Did Darwin believe in progress? [Lyell (1860, 1881), Hooker (1862), Lubbock (1865), …
- … J. Wedgwood, Asa Gray, J. F. W. Herschel, Charles Lyell (c. 1860--1)] How did Darwin …
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 …
