skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

Search: contains ""

Darwin Correspondence Project
Search:
animals::earthworms in term disabled_by_default
animals::earthworms in term disabled_by_default
0 Items

Sorry, no results...

Try modifying your search:

 
NB: Searches are not case sensitive and will find both singular and plural of any term
Examples:
floweringfind the word ‘flowering’
flowering plantfind documents containing both ‘flowering’ and ‘plant(s)’
"flowering plant"find the phrase ‘flowering plant(s)’
pl*t find any word beginning ‘pl’ followed by zero or more characters, and ending ‘t’
*plant find any word ending with ‘plant(s)’
plant* find any word beginning ‘plant’
Search:
in keywords
28 Items
Page:  1 2  Next

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: 14 hits

  • … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Earthworms and Wedgwood cousins …
  • … working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the …
  • … his most faithful informants and observers of the actions of earthworms were members of his own …
  • … for the history of life Darwin chose to study earthworms in order to fill out the details …
  • … Darwin's creative experimental methods. Darwin's study of earthworms was a treatise on the …
  • … requesting her and her sister Lucy’s aid in observing earthworms on the heath near their home, and …
  • … about the weather, Lady Derby remarks on her interest in earthworms and its significance. …
  • … Darwin likens the views of a disbeliever who reviewed Earthworms to those of the thinkers who …
  • … EXPERIMENT To observe earthworms as Darwin did, you will need: - several small …
  • … and someone to play it Method: Put the earthworms into the clay pots, about 20-30 …
  • … behavior to start the experiment? Play music for the earthworms. Do they react? Why do you …
  • … to the letter selections for this module? Do the earthworms react to vibrations that touch …
  • … piccolo, and a piano and our class brought two pots full of earthworms. Using these materials, we …
  • … work, the students placed two thin plastic pots full of earthworms atop a piano. The NEC pianist …

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: 3 hits

  • … to Darwin's 1881 publication Vegetable mould and earthworms . Selected …
  • … Her work was referenced in Vegetable Mould and Earthworms but she was identified only as “a …
  • …   Letters relating to Earthworms Letter 7428 - Wedgwood, F. …

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: 7 hits

  • … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
  • … not experimenting, he was busy engaging with readers on Earthworms , the relationship between …
  • … heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). Earthworms and evolution Darwin’s …
  • … sun went round the earth’. Particular points in Earthworms were taken up by individual …
  • … and letter to J. H. Gilbert, 12 January 1882 ). In Earthworms , p. 305, Darwin had remarked on …
  • … ). The last years also saw Darwin return to work on earthworms, reconnecting with …
  • … 19, letter to Henry Johnson, 23 December 1871 , and Earthworms , pp. 221–8). Darwin resumed …

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: 13 hits

  • … he had nothing else to do. He had finished his book on earthworms in April and was filled with …
  • … part of the year. The enthusiastic reception of his book on earthworms, published in October, was a …
  • … Dispute with Butler In January, Darwin’s work on earthworms was interrupted by Samuel Butler …
  • … This book of ‘little moment’ was Darwin’s work on earthworms. By late January, Darwin was ‘wholly …
  • … March , Darwin sent his discussion of the mental powers of earthworms with his ‘sort of definition’ …
  • … from G. J. Romanes, 7 March 1881 ). The difficulty with earthworms was that their actions stood …
  • … 12 April 1881 ). On 18 May he described his work on earthworms to Krause : ‘The subject is of no …
  • … that intensified his reaction to the news that his book on earthworms would not be published until …
  • … letter from E. B. Aveling, 27 September [1881] ). Earthworms : sales and reactions …
  • … on 18 October , admitted that he had hitherto regarded earthworms from a gardener’s point of view …
  • … their utility & importance’. The rapid sales of Earthworms , especially compared to …
  • … received.’ By the end of 1881, six thousand copies of Earthworms had been printed. Readers also …
  • … While many of Darwin’s followers saw the publication of Earthworms as a sign of his continued …

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: 8 hits

  • Earthworms featured in the news announcement in May 2014 that a citizen …
  • … project had been launched to map the distribution of earthworms across Britain (BBC Today …
  • … published in 1881. Despite Darwin’s fears that a book on earthworms might prove a failure, it became …
  • … letter to W. T. Preyer, 17 February [1870 ])) that without earthworms aerating the soil and …
  • … argued that all fields had passed through the intestines of earthworms. Although his monograph was …
  • … calculating the volume of earth raised to the surface by earthworms (a stonking 161 tons per acre …
  • … the inventive methods he devised for studying the habits of earthworms, and the variety of strange …
  • … acquired casts from India and Australia. His interest in earthworms never waned, but it was not …

Volume appendices

Summary

Here is a list of the appendices from the print volumes of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin with links to adapted online versions where they are available. Appendix I in each volume contains translations of letters in foreign languages and these can…

Matches: 1 hits

Darwin & Geology

Summary

The lessons Darwin learned from Adam Sedgwick at Cambridge, and in the field in North Wales, stood him in good stead during the Beagle voyage. While he was attached to the Beagle from 1831 to 1835, Darwin actually spent about two-thirds of his time ashore,…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Downe in Kent were as good a field site as any: the power of earthworms to modify the landscape. …

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

  • … publication,  The formation of mould through the action of earthworms  (1881), was based on …

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: 2 hits

  • … of vegetable mould, through the action of worms  ( Earthworms ) ( Letter 13110 ). Darwin was …
  • … ([after 25 October 1881?] Letter 13433 ). Earthworms  was Darwin’s final book. In one …

Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms

Summary

‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … on  14 November 1880 . Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just …
  • … , Darwin began writing what would be his final book, Earthworms . ‘My essay will be barely …
  • … on his 70th birthday, and some of his recent work on earthworms. He then retired from faintness and …

Power of movement in plants

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Family experiments Darwin was an active and engaged father during his children's youth, involving them in his experiments and even occasionally using them as observational subjects. When his children…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … specialised books (including his books on orchids and earthworms ), this monograph was …

Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts

Summary

At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of  Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … geology, barnacle morphology, insectivorous plants, and earthworms, subjects that had exercised …
  • … paper ‘Formation of mould’ of the astonishing role of earthworms in the formation of the soil ( …

Darwin’s Networks

Summary

Darwin wrote to around 2000 people all over the world to help him tackle some fundamental questions about life on earth. Discover how Darwin's ideas spread in North America and how he researched artificial selection practised by animal and plant…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … friends and colleagues to investigate topics as diverse as earthworms and family dogs, to help him …

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

  • … with a face resembling his own. It holds his book on earthworms, and is squatting on a copy of a …

Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours

Summary

Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … to changing conditions. He also worked intermittently on earthworms, for the most part gathering …

Universities

Summary

Letters as a primary source [[{"fid":"493","view_mode":"default","type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":600,"width":600,"class…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … scientific areas that Darwin worked on. Explore barnacles to earthworms, biogeography to floral …

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

  • … Darwin the previous year. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, …

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

  • … part of the year. The enthusiastic reception of his book on earthworms, published in October, was a …

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

  • … powers of movement and digestion in plants, and the role of earthworms in shaping the environment.  …

Was Darwin an ecologist?

Summary

One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.

Matches: 1 hits

  • … at Down also have ecological resonances: the activities of earthworms; the mix of species in a plot …
Page:  1 2  Next
letter