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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: 1 hits

  • … observe differences in morphology and behavior and discuss breeding decisions with the fancier! …

Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I

Summary

Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared.  Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … cattle farmers, and racehorse owners, who used selective breeding to enhance desirable traits in …
  • … the picking out of individuals with any desired quality, and breeding from them, and again picking …
  • … I like term is that it is constantly used in all works on Breeding, & I am surprised that it is …

William Yarrell

Summary

William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on British birds and fish, writing standard reference works on both.  He was a member of several science and natural history societies, including the Linnean Society…

Matches: 1 hits

  • …   When Darwin wanted to study the effects of artificial breeding, it was Yarrell who pursuaded …

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: 4 hits

  • … when he had his ‘theory to work by’, his interest in breeding became much stronger, with emphasis …
  • … Darwin read in August 1838 suggested to him that animal breeding could serve as an experimental …
  • … subject) . Darwin himself later, in 1855–8, undertook breeding experiments with domestic poultry …
  • … and W. D. Fox, who were knowledgeable about plant and animal breeding. For other correspondents he …

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: 12 hits

  • … Derby [J. E. Gray 1846–50] ( Royal. Soc ) many facts on breeding &c &c Grabas. …
  • … Wells Lectures on Instinct [Wells 1834] Cline on the breeding of animals [Cline 1829] …
  • …   Agriculture of New York ] by looking at index— about breeding of animals— Sir J. Lubbock. member …
  • … notebook. 84  John Lindley described plant breeding experiments performed by Lord …
  • … preliminary report on the creation of a new true-breeding spineless hybrid of  Ulex europaeus , a …
  • … history,   management, habits, food, diseases, treatment, breeding, and the   methods of …
  • … 119: 9a Cline, Henry. 1829.  Observations on the breeding and form   of domestic animals …
  • … Eaton, John Matthews. 1852.  A treatise on the art of   breeding and managing tame, domesticated, …
  • … 1829.  The horse in all his varieties and   uses; his breeding … and management . London. …
  • … and   observations on the principles and practice of breeding . Edinburgh and London. [Darwin …
  • … on cattle, shewing the most   approved methods of breeding, rearing, and fitting for use . London …
  • … enlarged; to which is added the breeder’s   guide, or breeding in all its branches.  2 vols. …

Species and varieties

Summary

On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … of developing from a particular stock, by selective breeding, two forms, which should either be …

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: 3 hits

  • … pressed Darwin for his views on religion, selective breeding for human improvement, and the role of …
  • … referred him to recent work by Francis Galton on selective breeding. He still thought that …
  • … to spend time and money for the public good. His method of breeding also drew explicitly on Darwin’s …

Essay: Natural selection & natural theology

Summary

—by Asa Gray NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY. Atlantic Monthly for July, August, and October, 1860, reprinted in 1861. I Novelties are enticing to most people; to us they are simply annoying. We cling to a long-accepted…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … which at the outset illustrates the advantages of good breeding, and which makes the most ‘of every …

Review: The Origin of Species

Summary

- by Asa Gray THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (American Journal of Science and Arts, March, 1860) This book is already exciting much attention. Two American editions are announced, through which it will become familiar to many…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … In following these indications, watching opportunities, and breeding only from those individuals …
  • … by high feeding, or high cultivation and prolonged close breeding, would promptly disappear; and the …
  • … soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five …
  • … to assume that it breeds when thirty years old, and goes on breeding till ninety years old, bringing …
  • … the world; if the statements of the rate of increase of slow-breeding cattle and horses in South …

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: 1 hits

  • … crossing among plant species and varieties than from animal breeding. With Lyell also questioning …
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