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Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
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- … of mind in nature and intuition in man’ (J. Martineau 1871), became one of the first of many to …
The origin of language
Summary
Darwin started thinking about the origin of language in the late 1830s. The subject formed part of his wide-ranging speculations about the transmutation of species. In his private notebooks, he reflected on the communicative powers of animals, their…
Sexual selection
Summary
Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species. So what…
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- … of man and selection in relation to sex . It appeared in 1871. The sight of a feather in …
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…
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- … selection in relation to sex ( Descent ), published in 1871, and the chapter on expression into …
Search tips
Summary
In this section: The three basic searches Using filters to refine search Using facets to refine search results What is (and isn’t) in here? How do I… …Find all letters exchanged with a particular correspondent? …Find letters written by…
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
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- … of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871), but he had been interested in the …
Descent published
Summary
Darwin publishes Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, his first public statement on human evolution. All 2500 copies were sold in a week.
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- … Darwin publishes Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, his first public statement …
Mary Treat
Summary
Mary Treat was a naturalist from New Jersey who made significant contributions to the fields of entomolgy and botany. Over the period 1871–1876, she exchanged fifteen letters with Darwin - more than any other woman naturalist.
Vivisection: BAAS committee report
Summary
Report British Assoc. Edinburgh 1871 p. 144 I No experiment which can be performed under the influence of an anasthetic ought to be done without it. II No painful experiment is justifiable for the mere purpose of illustrating a law or fact already…
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- … Report British Assoc. Edinburgh 1871 p. 144 I No experiment which can be performed under the …
Darwin, cats and cat shows
Summary
One of the more unusual invitations Darwin received was to be a patron of the Crystal Palace cat show, the first nationwide cat show in Britain. The man who first came up with the idea for the show, Harrison Weir, was one of Darwin’s correspondents, as…
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- … of the other judges of the first Crystal Palace show in July 1871, William Tegetmeier and Harrison’s …
Benjamin Renshaw
Summary
How much like a monkey is a person? Did our ancestors really swing from trees? Are we descended from apes? By the 1870s, questions like these were on the tip of everyone’s tongue, even though Darwin himself never posed the problem of human evolution in…
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- … quite these terms. Nevertheless, his Descent of Man (1871) dealt directly with human origins …
Darwin as mentor
Summary
Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…
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- … Letter 7605 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [20 March 1871] Darwin reports booming sales of …
Controversy
Summary
The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…
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- … Disagreement & Respect | Conduct of Debate | Darwin & Wallace The best-known …
Darwin in Conversation exhibition
Summary
Meet Charles Darwin as you have never met him before. Come to our exhibition at Cambridge University Library, running from 9 July to 3 December 2022, and discover a fascinating series of interwoven conversations with Darwin's many hundreds of…
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- … 9 July – 3 December 2022 Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University …
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…
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- … Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Oxford, June–July 1860 …
Marianne North
Summary
Marianne North was born in Hastings where her father became a Liberal MP. Her family supported Marianne’s attempts at singing and painting as suitable activities for a Victorian lady. After her parents died, Marianne sold the family home and began…
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- … aim of painting the flora of different countries. Between 1871 and 1885 Marianne North visited …
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
Summary
This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…
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- … career, to the eve of publication of Descent of Man in 1871. In this period Darwin became a …
Vivisection: Darwin's testimony to the Royal Commission
Summary
Wednesday, 3rd November 1875. Mr. Charles Darwin called in and examined. 4661. (Chairman.) We are very sensible of your kindness in coming at some sacrifice to yourself to express your opinions to the Commission. We attribute it to the great…
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- … of the British Association at their meeting in Edinburgh in 1871? — No; I had nothing to …
William B. Bowles
Summary
As a famous figure in the debates surrounding human evolution, Darwin could be something of a lightning rod for eccentric thinkers with their own ideas about his theories. The idea of a “missing link” compelled one such enthusiast to write to him about the…
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- … the publication of Darwin’s Descent of Man in 1871 in the search for the so-called “missing …
4.19 George Montbard, caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction In this watercolour drawing by Charles Auguste Loye, who called himself George Montbard, Darwin is in a ‘Gallery of ancestors’. He is improbably pictured as a connoisseur in a sleek cut-away tail coat, training his lorgnette on…
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- … a political refugee after being involved in the Commune in 1871. He worked for Vanity Fair, but …
