From Adolf Ernst 17 October 1880
Summary
Observations on earthworms in Venezuela.
| Author: | Adolf Ernst |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Oct 1880 |
| Classmark: | DAR 163: 23 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12764 |
From Archibald Geikie 10 October 1881
Summary
Thanks for Earthworms.
Importance of wind in soil formation and transport.
| Author: | Archibald Geikie |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 26 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13387 |
From T. L. Brunton 17 October 1881
Summary
Thanks CD for a copy of Earthworms.
| Author: | Thomas Lauder Brunton, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 345 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13408 |
From Anthony Rich 13 October 1881
Summary
Thanks for Earthworms.
| Author: | Anthony Rich |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 152 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13397 |
To W. E. Darwin 14 January [1881]
Summary
Discusses earthworm activity
and animal grazing on slopes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Jan [1881] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.6: 171 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13013 |
From Edward Parfitt 31 October 1881
Summary
Corrects Werner Hoffmeister, cited in Earthworms, p. 63: earthworms do not block their holes to keep out Scolopendras but to prevent evaporation.
| Author: | Edward Parfitt |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 15 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13445 |
From Henry Johnson 6 February 1882
Summary
Offers CD gift of slab with fossil annelid tracks.
Does CD know geologist who might give lecture in Dudley?
| Author: | Henry Johnson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Feb 1882 |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 468 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13665 |
To Anthony Rich 4 February 1882
Summary
Exchanges news on health.
Thanks AR for his worm observations.
George Darwin’s work is attracting attention; he intends to try for Plumian Professorship at Cambridge. Adds other news of George and of CD’s sons Leonard and William.
CD has finished his microscopic work and has only to write up two papers for the Linnean Society.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Anthony Rich |
| Date: | 4 Feb 1882 |
| Classmark: | DAR 92: A44–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13659 |
From T. H. Farrer 16 October 1880
Summary
Notes and replies to queries on worm-castings and worm activity on a rubble-covered road.
| Author: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Oct 1880 |
| Classmark: | DAR 63: 42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12762 |
To Walter Baily 28 December 1881
Summary
Statement about a beetle-hunting worm is new to CD.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Walter Baily |
| Date: | 28 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 50957 f. 44) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13584 |
To Francis Darwin [17 April 1873]
Summary
Fears all the seeds are dead. Will try with less vapour of formic acid.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | [17 Apr 1873] |
| Classmark: | DAR 271.3: 7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8866 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … seeds, but then the vapour may have stopped mould. Do not take much trouble about spawn. I …
To Ernst Krause 18 May 1881
Summary
Thanks EK for his article [on CD’s Movement in plants].
Admires EK’s wide interest in science. Would like to send him something to publish in Kosmos.
Fears his new book [Earthworms] will hardly do, but will send sheets when printed so that EK can decide whether any chapter or a part of one will serve. Victor Carus’s consent would be needed for publication in Kosmos, and CD will ask for it.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause |
| Date: | 18 May 1881 |
| Classmark: | The Huntington Library (HM 36215) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13163 |
From Anthony Rich 1 February 1882
Summary
Has observed earthworms drawing pine needles into their burrows.
| Author: | Anthony Rich |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Feb 1882 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 153 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13653 |
To J. H. Gilbert 12 January 1882
Summary
Quantity of nitrogen in castings surprises CD.
Comments on papers: [J. B. Lawes and J. H. Gilbert, "Results of experiments on mixed herbage, pt 1", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 171 (1880): 289–416; Gilbert, Lawes and M. T. Masters, "pt 2: The botanical results", Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 173 (1882): 1181–413].
Has never made sections to see how deep worms burrow – five or six feet is probable. Wishes the problem had arisen when he made his observations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Henry Gilbert |
| Date: | 12 Jan 1882 |
| Classmark: | Rothamsted Research (GIL13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13616 |
To R. F. Cooke 5 October 1881
Summary
Glad book [Earthworms] will soon be published.
G. J. Romanes has copy and often writes reviews for Nature. Probably did not know it was incorrect to publish it prematurely.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Date: | 5 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 295 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13372 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
To Fritz Müller 22 October 1881
Summary
Is in Cambridge with his son, resting
and reading F. M. Balfour’s Comparative embryology [1880–1].
Sent FM a copy of Earthworms.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
| Date: | 22 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 55) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13419 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Co. Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
To Francis Darwin 16 and 17 May 1881
Summary
Some papers have arrived for FD.
Comments on the work of Phillipe van Tieghem who evidently knows nothing of insectivorous plants.
Leslie Stephen’s visit to Down went off well.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 16 and 17 May 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 73 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13159 |
To Henry Johnson 7 February 1882
Summary
Thanks for offer of sandstone with annelid tracks.
Suggests J. W. Judd, "most able of living geologists", as lecturer.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Johnson |
| Date: | 7 Feb 1882 |
| Classmark: | McGill University Library, Rare and Special Collections, Osler, Art and Archives |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13668 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
From C.-F. Reinwald 24 November 1881
Summary
Concerning French translation of Earthworms
and Movement in plants.
| Author: | Charles-Ferdinand Reinwald |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Nov 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 114 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13510 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
From J. H. Gilbert 22 February 1881
Summary
The laboratory has scarcely any experimental evidence on acidity of humus soil and earthworm excreta. Refers CD to some sources of information.
| Author: | Joseph Henry Gilbert |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Feb 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 43 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13063 |
| letter | (364) |
| bibliography | (4) |
| people | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (167) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (12) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (12) |
| John Murray | (12) |
| Darwin, Francis | (10) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (185) |
| Darwin, Francis | (22) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (14) |
| Carus, J. V. | (11) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (10) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (352) |
| Darwin, Francis | (32) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (26) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (22) |
| John Murray | (22) |
| 1837 | (1) |
| 1838 | (3) |
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| 1863 | (4) |
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| 1880 | (29) |
| 1881 | (182) |
| 1882 | (24) |
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…
Matches: 7 hits
- … letters relating to Darwin's 1881 publication Vegetable mould and earthworms . …
- … casting fieldwork. Her work was referenced in Vegetable Mould and Earthworms but she was …
- … fieldwork. Her work is referenced in Vegetable Mould but she was identified only as …
- … fieldwork and observations are referenced in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12742 …
- … referenced the work of "My son Horace" in Vegetable Mould . Letter …
- … habits of worms” referenced anonymously in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12760 - …
- … William’s work is proudly referenced in Vegetable Mould . …
Casting about: Darwin on worms
Summary
Earthworms were the subject of a citizen science project to map the distribution of earthworms across Britain (BBC Today programme, 26 May 2014). The general understanding of the role earthworms play in improving soils and providing nutrients for plants to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin wrote, snappily-titled The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 5 hits
- … As his final published work, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms was a …
- … Papers Darwin, C.R. 1840. On the formation of mould. Transactions of the Geological Society …
- … the hearing power of worms. In Chapter 1 of Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms , Darwin …
- … observe the effect of vibrations upon worms. In Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms Darwin wrote: …
- … vibrations! [1] Charles Darwin, Vegetable Mould and Earth-Worms (London: John …
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: 1 hits
- … Mary Tanner tells Darwin that she has read his Vegetable Mould and Worms “with great …
4.38 Franz Goedecker, caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction In a caricature by the German artist Franz Goedecker, Darwin stands in front of a desk, confronting a monkey with a face resembling his own. It holds his book on earthworms, and is squatting on a copy of a German translation,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Berlin. The reference to The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms fixes …
4.41 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction In October 1881, Darwin was included in Linley Sambourne’s series of ‘Punch’s Fancy Portraits’ of celebrities as No. 54. While the caption recurs to the old theme of Darwin’s views on human ancestry, the drawing contains a more…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to his just-published book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms. This …
Volume 29 (1881) is published!
Summary
In October 1881, Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A slim volume on a subject that many people could understand and on which they had their own opinions, it went…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Darwin’s last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … between species. His last publication, The formation of mould through the action of earthworms …
The full edition is now online!
Summary
For nearly fifty years successive teams of researchers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to track down all surviving letters written by or to Charles Darwin, research their content, and publish the complete texts. The thirtieth and final…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to a review of his latest book, The formation of vegetable mould through the actions of worms , …
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Summary
This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…
Volume 28 (1880) now published
Summary
1880 opened and closed with an irksome controversy with Samuel Butler, prompted by the publication of Erasmus Darwin the previous year. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of Movement in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … began writing his final book, The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms . …
2.3 Wedgwood medallions
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite Darwin’s closeness to the Wedgwood family, he was studiously uninterested in the productions of his maternal grandfather Josiah Wedgwood I, the immensely successful ceramic manufacturer. In a letter to Hooker of January…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the first wax model portraying Darwin; the plaster mould created from it; and a clay relief cast …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in Darwin’s last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , published …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 1 hits
- … sent Murray the manuscript of The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms ( …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 3 hits
2.8 Alphonse Legros medallion
Summary
< Back to Introduction The painter, printmaker and sculptor Alphonse Legros created this bronze medallion with a profile portrait of Darwin in 1881, shortly before the latter’s death. According to a friend of Legros, the writer Thomas Okey, it was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … individually modelled in relief and cast in bronze from a mould by the traditional lost-wax process, …
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Matches: 1 hits
- … on your dark grave,— Away with the delusion, the mould, It is the time of battle, …
1.14 William Richmond, oil
Summary
< Back to Introduction William Blake Richmond’s portrait of Darwin, dating from 1879, celebrated his honorary degree of LL.D (Doctor in Laws), awarded by Cambridge University in 1877. Darwin’s return to his alma mater for the presentation ceremony…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin and his unique public persona simply did not fit the mould of institutional, honorific …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The fourth presented his hypothesis on the formation of mould by earthworms. This explanation of a …
