Darwin Correspondence Project

If, as we saw in an earlier post, evolutionary theory could account for the peculiarities and embellishments of men’s dress, what about women’s fashion? In “Development in Dress,” George Darwin argued that the apparent fancy points of men’s coats, hats, and cloaks ultimately derived from manly pursuits like horseback riding and sword fighting.   Given this emphasis [...]

One of the most fascinating things about Darwin’s science is how he used simple experiments to help him understand larger ideas. While Darwin was travelling around the world on HMS Beagle, he asked himself, why would plants on islands be similar to those on the mainland? He was not satisfied by the explanation given by [...]

Why do hats have hatbands? Why are there buttons on a cuff, or tails on a coat? What does a peacock have in common with a pocket flap? According to Charles Darwin’s son George, the answer to all these questions lies in evolutionary theory.   Shortly after his father published The Descent of Man, George [...]

Imagine going to dinner with Charles and Emma Darwin and, the minute you get through the door, being dragged off by the famous scientist to take part in one of his experiments. That is exactly what happened to a series of visitors between March and November 1868 when Darwin was researching for his book The [...]

Mary Treat was a Naturalist from New Jersey and a major contributor to botanical and entomological developments of the nineteenth century. Over the period 1871 – 1876 she exchanged fifteen letters with Darwin – more than any other woman Naturalist.   As Tina Gianquitto’s research into Treat’s published materials has shown, in the public context Treat crafted [...]