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Correlation of growth: deaf blue-eyed cats, pigs, and poison
Summary
As he was first developing his ideas, among the potential problems Darwin recognised with natural selection was how to account for developmental change that conferred no apparent advantage. He proposed a ‘mysterious law’ of ‘correlation of growth’ where…
Climbing Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…
Matches: 10 hits
- … of On the Origin of Species , Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication , The …
- … of these works, On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants , shows the keen interest Darwin …
- … Darwin reflected on the publication journey of his climbing plants monograph: "In the autumn of …
- … Darwin, Charles. On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants , Chapter 1. Papers …
- … Letters Letter Packet: Climbing movement in plants Letter 10214 - …
- … about the mechanism by which tendrils from climbing plants begin to spiral after clasping an object. …
- … that he plans to publish with his old papers on climbing plants. Letter 8656 - Asa …
- … for Darwin to try on the coiling of tendrils of climbing plants. He thanks Darwin for the copy of …
- … DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is it about climbing plants that fascinates Darwin? Why do you …
- … To learn about Darwin’s work on climbing plants, the class took a field trip to the Arnold …
Orchids
Summary
Why Orchids? Darwin wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…
Matches: 5 hits
- … speak of adaptation being rarely visible though present in plants: I have just recently been looking …
- … For this reason, Darwin increasingly wrote to ask for field observations as well as specimens, …
- … understand the description, & without examining the live plants, with reference to visits of …
- … & you know they have been produced on same plants. ’ As 1861 drew to a close, …
- … two chapters but they are quite enough to show what a new field for observing the wonderful …
1877 letters now online
Summary
Flowers, bloom, a son married . . . and a suspended monkey in Cambridge at Darwin's honorary LLD ceremony. The transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters written to and from Darwin in 1877 are now online. Read more about Darwin's life in 1877…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Darwin compared the fertility of individual flowers and plants across a range of common species. He …
- … of flowers , Darwin took up the problem of ‘bloom’ in plants. This waxy or powdery coating on the …
- … on bloom, Darwin resumed observations on the movement of plants in response to different conditions. …
- … well as the sleep movements of leaves and leaflets in some plants. Research on movement in plants …
- … but its separate publication placed the work in the emerging field of child psychology, and the …
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: 8 hits
- … a substantial portion of the text, drawing upon his field notes for geological and geographical data …
- … described in Chancellor et al . 1986. Only the plants were neglected. During the voyage …
- … letters to Henslow show a gradual realisation that his plants would not be described unless they …
- … hand were discovered that contain lists of Darwin’s plants (see D. M. Porter 1981). Charles …
- … period of this volume he relied mainly on literature in this field and on friends like Henslow, T. C …
- … enough did a good deal of species work.’ The last field trip One major consequence of …
- … required. The trip to North Wales in June 1842 was his last field trip: thereafter his geological …
- … in his later work on the geographical distribution of plants, when he conducted numerous experiments …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 24 hits
- … over the sickening work of preparing new Editions Plants always held an important place …
- … Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants.’ Darwin had worked on the subject …
- … another manuscript, the second edition of Climbing plants , which he hoped to publish in a single …
- … of the Linnean sickened him much more than insectivorous plants. As he confessed to Hooker on 12 …
- … it is most painful as I liked the man.’ Poisons, plants, and print-runs Darwin’s …
- … to his research on the digestive properties of insectivorous plants. This work had led to …
- … Indeed, some of the experiments that Darwin performed on plants, such as the application of salts, …
- … of Brunton and Fayrer’s experiments to Insectivorous plants , pp. 206–9, remarking on the …
- … those who had assisted him, and various experts in the field. One of the most enthusiastic responses …
- … service.’ The trapped insects were observed in the field, and some of Darwin’s experiments on …
- … to dozens of eager students.’ The cunning ways in which plants lured insects to their death were …
- … ground Darwin had originally planned Insectivorous plants to be published together with a …
- … text was judged too large for one volume. Climbing plants 2d ed. was delayed until November, …
- … June, shortly after the proof corrections of Insectivorous plants were finished. An …
- … work.’ Romanes bisected root vegetables and tuberous plants, and boasted about a ‘beautifully …
- … February 1875?] ). By May, having finished Insectivorous plants , and moved on to Variation …
- … 1875a), and started at once to translate Insectivorous plants (Carus trans. 1876a). The German …
- … with Darwin the previous year about insectivorous plants, and had lent him several tropical …
- … to accompany her presentation copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July …
- … umbilical cord was analogous to the spiral form of twining plants (letters from Lawson Tait, 16 …
- … August, he published a favourable review of Insectivorous plants for the Spectator , and took …
- … of his public support for pangenesis and Insectivorous plants , but he had reservations about the …
- … eventually able to resume observational work on his beloved plants, the year did not end quietly. In …
- … and was found at his desk with a copy of Insectivorous plants open beside him, and specimens of …
Variation under domestication
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A fascination with domestication Throughout his working life, Darwin retained an interest in the history, techniques, practices, and processes of domestication. Artificial selection, as practiced by plant and…
Matches: 3 hits
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: 14 hits
- … She also mentions her attempts to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter …
- … work on butterflies and offers to observe birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. …
- … sends Darwin observations made by her and her father of plants and insects. Men: …
- … Darwin thanks Hooker for posting to him a number of plants to aid his work on Climbing Plants …
- … she has made during a half-mile stroll. The best plants, she finds, are found “in exposed places”. …
- … M. to Darwin, [3 April 1876] Mary Treat describes a field trip in Florida. She sends …
- … She also mentions her attempts to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter …
- … some of the plant experiments described in Insectivorous Plants. Sophia describes her own …
- … botanist Friedrich Hildebrand details his experiments with plants, probably undertaken in his lab at …
- … culminated in the publication of The Movement of Plants in 1880 and his “assistance” …
- … of assistance with the examination of a large collection of plants. Hooker will gladly accept Darwin …
- … useful addition” to his discussion of self-impotent plants in Variation . Darwin asks …
- … work on butterflies and offers to observe birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. …
- … culminated in the publication of The Movement of Plants in 1880 and his “assistance” …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 5 hits
- … the long-awaited publication of Variation in animals and plants under domestication . Having been …
- … of a wide range of experts on different domestic animals and plants, often indicating that the …
- … the proportions of the sexes in Land and Water , the Field , and Gardeners’ Chronicle . …
- … and ‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’. They were read before the Linnean …
- … de Saporta similarly hoped that his own work on fossil plants would contribute ‘to the advancement …
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: 9 hits
- … – and in more ways than one – in establishing the modern field of ecology, the assumptions and …
- … natural world and inspired an experimental tradition in the field. Modern ecology A …
- … Haeckel’s primary inspiration for his description of the field of what he called ecology. ‘Ecology …
- … Angræcum and other deep tubular flowers, those individual plants of the Angræcum which had the …
- … probosces up to the very base, would be fertilised. These plants would yield most seed, and the …
- … Charles. 1865. On the movements and habits of climbing plants . By Charles Darwin. London: …
- … & Norgate. Darwin, Charles. 1875. Insectivorous plants . London: John Murray. …
- … kingdom; or, the structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system. …
- … Sachs, Julius von. 1887. Lectures on the physiology of plants . Translated by H. M. Ward. Oxford: …
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: 17 hits
- … working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication , …
- … become an honorary member of the Severn Valley Naturalists Field Club ( see letter from George Maw, …
- … ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and more plants Phyllotaxy …
- … impetus for Darwin to continue the work on dimorphic plants, and on cross and hybrid sterility, that …
- … suffrage movement, began writing to him in 1863 with field observations and specimens of the …
- … Hooker, 29 May [1863] ). The new hothouse: tropical plants Darwin continued his own …
- … hothouse in February; this enabled him to grow more tropical plants than before (see …
- … the same species crossing with one another in a variety of plants. With additional study of …
- … on orchids, melastomas, and other tropical and sub-tropical plants with observers from warmer parts …
- … with a change in fertility when crossed with other plants in the same species ( see letter to Isaac …
- … self fertilisation , both published in the 1870s. Plants that move Darwin regularly …
- … August [1863] ). He acquired tropical ‘tendrilliferous’ plants that could grow in his hothouse from …
- … of movement of tendrils, stems, and leaves in different plants ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, [31 …
- … observations would be to the later publications ‘Climbing plants’ and Movement in plants . At the …
- … in watching these ‘wonderfully crafty & sagacious’ plants was cut short in September by his …
- … large body of facts’ on variation in domestic animals and plants ( Variation 1: 1). He then …
- … had been pressed into service to make observations in the field on dimorphic plant species. William …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 14 hits
- … I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation …
- … heat loss. ‘I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from …
- … Linnaus. But we have killed or badly injured a multitude of plants.’ Movement in plants …
- … through the soil in the shape of an arch ( Movement in plants , pp. 96–7). As usual, staff at the …
- … leaf-stalk: the pulvinus, a cellular mass present in some plants that expands first on one side, …
- … organ rather than to circumnutation (see Movement in plants , pp. 112–13). He explained to …
- … chapter to the sensitivity of the apex in Movement in plants . This was a point on which he …
- … to Francis Darwin, [11 May 1878] ). Having found plants responsive to touch, light, heat, …
- … the observation will prove erroneous) that certain sensitive plants were excited into movement, by a …
- … Francis apparently played the musical instrument to various plants. To confirm the results, Darwin …
- … of sound, but the piercing blast had no effect. ‘The plants, ill-luck to them, are not sensitive to …
- … Francis was away, Darwin sent regular reports about their plants, and longed for conversation: …
- … Darwin always regarded himself as an outsider to the field because he had never done the taxonomic …
- … the Philadelphia Soc. says in a somewhat sneering tone that plants behave differently in one country …
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: 29 hits
- … mems. sur les veget. et anim: on sleep & movements of plants £ 1 ..s 4. [Dutrochet 1837] …
- … with profound care abortive organs produced in domesticated plants what function has ceased to be …
- … Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on Geog. distrib: of Brit: plants [H. C. Watson 1835] read …
- … maps by Copenhagen Botanists [?Schouw 1823] of range of plants. 13 Books quoted by Herbert …
- … Britann: [Sweet 1826]— has remarks on acclimatizing of plants. Herbert [Herbert 1837] p. 348 …
- … in a metaphys. point of view Henslow has list of plants of Mauritius with locality in wh. …
- … in Syria [Volney 1787].—vol I. p. 71. account of Europæan plants transplanted Crawford Eastern …
- … 1784] in Geograph. Soc. M r Winch catalogue of plants of Northumberland, Cumberland & …
- … 27) as good— Decandoelle has chapter on Sensitive Plants in his Physiology [A. P. de Candolle …
- … Soulange Bodin has somewhere written on exact adaptation of plants to soil [?Soulange-Bodin 1827]. …
- … according to Hooker has written on topography of N. American plants. [?Michaux 1803].— M r …
- … Archif fur Naturgeschicte. 33 1836. Meyen on distrib of plants in Himallaya & high Peru …
- … Appendix [Brown 1818] excellent table of Canary island Plants Home’s Hist. of Man [Home1774] …
- … 1724] (nothing) scarcely —— 10 Johnson’s Field Sports of India [D. Johnson 1822] (nothing) …
- … [DAR 119: 15a] 1844 & 5 Oct 20. Lloyd Field Sports of N. of Europe [L. Lloyd …
- … [Glöger 1833].— Dec r . 1 Meyens Geography of Plants [Meyen 1846]. —— 12 th …
- … 1852]. 86 p.p. 364. 8 vo (Much on Distribution of Plants & means of) D’orbigny …
- … important 92 The Geographical Distrib. of Plants & Animals by C. Pickering Chapman …
- … Read Hornschuck Essay on the Sporting of Plants. in the ‘Flora’ or separate [Hornschuch 1848] …
- … *128: 159] Bentham has published list of Pyrenes plants [Bentham 1826]. I daresay he w d …
- … on Pointer & Retriever &c Williamson Oriental Field Sports [Williamson 1807] …
- … (probably worth reading) Read O. Heer on fossil Plants of Tertiary Carboniferous strata, …
- … of hunting, shooting, fishing, racing, and other field sports and athletic amusements of the …
- … *128: 157 Johnson, Daniel. 1822. Sketches of field sports as followed by the natives …
- … 78–80.] 128: 23 Lloyd, Llewellyn. 1830. Field sports in the north of Europe; …
- … 1841. The Old Red Sandstone; or, new walks in an old field . Edinburgh. [Other eds.] …
- … A tour in Sutherlandshire, with extracts from the field books of a sportsman and a naturalist. …
- … Selections from the despatches and general orders of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington . By …
- … 119: 5a, 17b Williamson, Thomas. 1807. Oriental field sports; being a complete … …
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: 8 hits
- … The charm of the place to me is that almost every field is intersected (as alas is our’s) by one or …
- … he was living at Downe. He observed the interactions of plants and insects in the natural and semi …
- … his home. In his garden and greenhouses, he cultivated plants from seeds obtained from around the …
- … sensitivity in climbing, twining, and carnivorous plants; and competition between species. His last …
- … for Botany tell him to make a perfect list of some little field or wood……instead of the awful abyss …
- … June [1855] : Darwin describes the systematic collection of plants in a single habitat (now …
- … Recent observations have demonstrated that the range of plants in the meadow remains much as it was …
- … 25 [June 1863] : describing the light-sensing behaviour of plants on his windowsill. On co …
Books on the Beagle
Summary
The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.
Matches: 5 hits
- … However, from the Beagle correspondence, CD’s diary, field notebooks, and the extensive …
- … During the voyage pencil was used almost exclusively in the field notebooks when travelling ashore. …
- … a ‘Spanish story book’ ( Voyage , p. 196). In another field notebook, at Cape Town in May 1836, he …
- … Other sources used are the manuscripts at Down House of the field notebooks and the journal CD kept …
- … Kurt Polycarp Joachim. Elements of the philosophy of plants . Edinburgh, 1821. (DAR 30.2: …
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
ESHS 2018: 19th century scientific correspondence networks
Summary
Sunday 16 September, 16:00-18.00, Institute of Education, Room 802 Session chair: Paul White (Darwin Correspondence Project); Discussion chair: Francis Neary (Darwin Correspondence Project) This session marks the formal launch of Ɛpsilon …
Matches: 7 hits
- … Darlington, who, while not in the upper echelons in the field, was still a noteworthy correspondent …
- … available, so providing a fuller picture of how the study of plants developed in the 19th century. …
- … of Benjamin Smith Barton who encouraged his interest in plants. Darlington then practiced medicine …
- … Since European botanists were eager to receive plants from the New World that might not have been …
- … who published the first book by an American on native plants printed in America. Years before this, …
- … of Mines. She is currently at work on two projects about plants: a digital project on plants and …
- … practising archivist for over 40 years and researcher in the field of social and cultural …
John Stevens Henslow
Summary
The letters Darwin exchanged with John Stevens Henslow, professor of Botany and Mineralogy at Cambridge University, were among the most significant of his life. It was a letter from Henslow that brought Darwin the invitation to sail round the world as…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Henslow that had fostered Darwin's interest in a range of plants and animals, and inspired …
- … experts, though the task of classifying the Beagle plants was eventually passed on to Joseph …
- … Adam Sedgwick, Professor of Geology, who introduced him to field studies. In 1819 Henslow carried …
- … 1821, and by the end of the year had collected 263 flowering plants. In 1822, Henslow was appointed …
- … continued to rely on Henslow for information on a variety of plants, and wrote of him after his …
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.…
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: 11 hits
- … and the meeting adjourned, leaving Darwin ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. …
- … inheritance in fowls, of the intercrossing among sweet-pea plants, of variation in the nests of bees …
- … had observed the role of insects in the fertilisation of plants. In the spring and summer of 1860, …
- … hence agents effecting cross-pollination between different plants) necessitated meticulous …
- … morning been looking at my experimental Cowslips & find some plants have all flowers with long …
- … anyhow I will mark with sticks the so-called male & female plants & watch their seeding. It …
- … a paper of 1862 and in The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species (1877). …
- … history, he tested the sensitivity of various insectivorous plants to a large variety of substances, …
- … of the astonishing sensitivity of the leaves of these plants to minute quantities of nitrogenous …
- … work was not published until 1875, when Insectivorous plants appeared. These studies …
- … to botanical research was striking even to experts in that field who were favourably disposed to his …
