skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

Search: contains ""

400 Bad Request

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.


Apache Server at dcp-public.lib.cam.ac.uk Port 443
Search:
in keywords
65 Items
Page:  1 2 3 4  Next

Sexual selection

Summary

Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species.  So what…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … Although natural selection could explain the differences  between  species, Darwin realised …
  • … same  species.  So what accounted for these 'secondary sexual characteristics'? The …
  • … of a secondary mechanism operating alongside natural selection - a mechanism he called 'sexual
  • … that obviously relates to his emerging ideas about sexual selection before he published a brief and …
  • … such as the horns on a stag or the spurs on a cock. Sexual selection, he wrote, depends 'not on …
  • … natural weapons, Darwin identified another vital factor in sexual selection: ‘charm’. The two sexes …
  • … the scenes, Darwin debated the evidence for the operation of sexual selection with a small group of …
  • … through their letters, Wallace maintained that natural selection was more important in the …
  • … females had acquired their dull coloration through natural selection as a protection when nesting. …
  • … coloration, but continued to emphasise the importance of sexual selection, particularly in humans …
  • … insects to crustacea to mammals, that seemed to fit with sexual selection.  But it was not until his …
  • … to establish just how far through the animal kingdom sexual selection operated. Typical is his query …
  • … . . . what I want to know is how low in the scale sexual differences occur which require some degree …
  • … , the full title of which is The descent of man and selection in relation to sex .  It appeared …
  • … his opinion that the spreading of the peacock's tail was a 'sexual ask' to which the …
  • … such elaborate plumage could have been acquired, through sexual selection, in small successive steps …
  • … As early as 1864 Darwin was fully convinced not only that sexual selection operated, but that it had …

Descent

Summary

There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex ( Descent ). …
  • … utter confidence that humans had been subject to natural selection , coupled with reluctance to …
  • … the antiquity of man deduced from the theory of “natural selection”’[Wallace 1864d]. Darwin already …
  • … from 8–10 per diem,—chiefly getting up facts on sexual selection ’ Once he had decided on …
  • … ‘I am’ he wrote ‘working up what I have called “ sexual selection”, & am sadly in want of facts …
  • … had been Tegetmeier’s own. ‘ The subject of sexual selection grows bigger & bigger as …
  • … was no nearer publication, Darwin described the subject of sexual selection successively and with …
  • … butterflies and moths had not been ‘made dull-coloured by selection’, which Bates thought would …
  • … Darwin’s argument about the relative roles of natural and sexual selection in general, and the …
  • … you, & this to me is the heaviest blow possible) that sexual selection has been the main agent …
  • … colours had been acquired by the females through natural selection as a protection against …
  • … . ‘I am undergoing severe distress about the protection & sexual selection’ Darwin wrote to …
  • … his ‘heresies’, but continued: ‘ On the subject of “sexual selection” & “protection” you do not …
  • … of three parts: ‘I. The Descent of Man ; II On Sexual Selection ; and III. On Expression of …

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: 16 hits

  • … largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection. In  Origin , …
  • … letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, Darwin claimed that sexual selection was ‘the most powerful …
  • … A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human …
  • … two volumes, nearly two-thirds of which was devoted to sexual selection in the animal kingdom. …
  • … had just resumed the systematic collection of materials on sexual selection, and he asked Weir to …
  • … none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). Sexual selection On 11 February , …
  • … initially thought that in most animals in which secondary sexual characters were prominent, the …
  • … well as contests between males, were the driving forces of sexual selection (see  Descent  1: 262) …
  • … Cerambyx moschatus for as sure as life he wd find the odour sexual!’ ( letter to A . R. Wallace, 16 …
  • … and vigourous male’ irrespective of colour. Sexual selection v. natural selection: the debate …
  • … been made less conspicuous through the operation of natural selection. Darwin resumed the debate …
  • … that I am undergoing severe distress about the protection & sexual selection: this morning I …
  • … alluding to the great expansion of his manuscript on sexual selection, replied on 23 September , …
  • … Darwin and Wallace about the power and limits of natural selection were further underscored in a …
  • … outcome of complex factors, not the direct result of natural selection ( Variation  2: 185–9). …
  • … McLachlan, who supplied Darwin with much information on sexual selection, commented on 21 February …

Eliza Burt Gamble

Summary

Women have interpreted and applied evolutionary theory in arguments about women’s nature for over a century. Eliza Burt Gamble (1841-1920) was a pioneer in this endeavor. Gamble was an advocate of the Woman Movement, a mother, a writer, and a teacher from…

Matches: 12 hits

  • … for her recognition of the significance of female choice in sexual selection, her use of …
  • … in science. By reinterpreting Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, Gamble even argued for the …
  • … of in her argument for female superiority was the theory of sexual selection. Darwin defined sexual
  • … reproduction itself. [1]  According to Darwin, secondary sexual characteristics resulted from male …
  • … [2] As a result of this process, those males with sexual characteristics that females …
  • … and Darwin both worked with the principles of evolution and sexual selection, they disagreed on the …
  • … on the other hand, suggested that through evolution and sexual selection the female sex had become …
  • … felt that the “power of choice” exhibited by females in sexual selection implied “a degree of …
  • … [7] Gamble suggested that, as a result of female choice in sexual selection, men could not have …
  • … difficult to understand the processes by which man, through Sexual Selection, has become superior to …
  • … [1]   Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex , Vol. I (New …
  • … [4]  Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex , Vol. II (London …

John Beddoe

Summary

In 1869, when gathering data on sexual selection in humans, Darwin exchanged a short series of letters with John Beddoe, a doctor in Bristol. He was looking for evidence that racial differences that appear to have no benefit in terms of survival - and…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … papers. Darwin was gathering data about sexual selection in humans. In particular he was …
  • … survival - and therefore could not be explained by natural selection - could instead have been …
  • … since 1863. The surviving letters are with Darwin's notes on sexual selection. There are also …

Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … later publications. The promotion of his theory of natural selection also continued: Darwin’s own …
  • … the view that its final proof awaited the production, by selection from a common stock, of forms …
  • … ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). Two sexual forms: Primula and Linum …
  • … the sterility of own-form crosses. He told Gray: ‘Taking sexual power as the criterion of difference …
  • … as a paper for the Linnean Society. And three sexual forms in Lythrum and Catasetum …
  • … explained that the three flowers represented the three sexual forms (male, female, and hermaphrodite …
  • … Darwin’s first detailed exposition of the power of natural selection. He made the point to Hooker ( …
  • … for fertilisation by insects, & therefore the result of n. selection’. The book was intended to …
  • … way of inducing sceptics to accept the truth of natural selection through the back door ( letter to …
  • … 2–3 July 1862 ). Henry Walter Bates Natural selection was also to receive support …
  • … returned after many years in the Amazon, had invoked natural selection as the mechanism to account …
  • … about the relative effects on species of natural selection and the direct action of external …
  • … a man as Bates (& yourself) believing more fully in nat. selection, than I think I even do …
  • … and production of species? what the role of natural selection? Hooker’s peremptory criticism that in …
  • … be affected by crossing, physical conditions, and natural selection ( letter to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … expressed admiration but stopped short of endorsing natural selection ( letter from Alphonse de …
  • … more openly to evolutionary views, though not to natural selection ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, …

Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute

Summary

Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … on Man’. The focus of the essay was to be the role of sexual selection in forming human races, and …
  • … grew into another two-volume work,  The descent of man and selection in relation to sex  ( …
  • … in  On the origin of species by means of natural selection  ( Origin ) and in  On the various …
  • … Inheritance, Reversion, Crossing, Interbreeding, and Selection under Domestication’. Having just …
  • … if proved, would be evidence of ‘the essential identity of sexual and asexual reproduction’, Darwin …
  • … in which he asked for information on two subjects – ‘sexual selection’ and ‘expression of …
  • … continued to arrive. Polite disagreement ‘Sexual selection’ was the other ‘new’ …
  • … In  Variation , Darwin had discussed changes in secondary sexual characters under domestication, …
  • … Blyth dated 19 February 1867 , Darwin had written, ‘Sexual Selection. — too many questions to ask’. …
  • … a compliment to Blyth: ‘I have picked up more facts on sexual characters … from your writings than …
  • … more specific about what he wanted, asking for examples of sexual differences that did not relate to …
  • … April 1867 , Müller supplied Darwin with information about sexual differences in crustaceans, …
  • … that bright colours in male butterflies resulted from sexual selection was implicit. Wallace’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: 28 hits

  • … —by Asa Gray NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY. Atlantic …
  • … the new book ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ left an uncomfortable …
  • … as one sheep follows another, the chapter on ‘Natural Selection,’ Darwin’s  cheval de bataille , …
  • … go on improving and diversifying for the future by natural selection, could we even take up the …
  • … there is some truth on both sides. ‘Natural selection,’ Darwin remarks, ‘leads to divergence …
  • … not likely to work much harm for the future. And if natural selection, with artificial to help it, …
  • … out of use, and become extinct species: this is  Natural Selection . Now, let a great and …
  • … not necessarily exclude the other. Variation and natural selection may play their part, and so may …
  • … time is of any account— for variation and natural selection to work out some appreciable results in …
  • … of that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main, but not …
  • … Darwin impersonates under the now familiar name of Natural Selection, allows that the exposition …
  • … insist, were resolved by divergent variation and natural selection into) common fishes, destitute of …
  • … we know in the physiology of genuine reproduction—that of sexual cooperation—has its exceptions in …
  • … organs of an animal through cumulative variation and natural selection. Think of such an organ as …
  • … doubted. We believe that species vary, and that ‘Natural Selection’ works; but we suspect that its …
  • … condition—so it may be surmised that variation and natural selection have their struggle and …
  • … of importance, and might have been acquired through natural selection; as it is, I have no doubt …
  • … of the origination of species through variation and natural selection ‘repudiates the whole doctrine …
  • … theory of diversification through variation and natural selection would essentially alter the …
  • … multiplying the better variations times enough, and natural selection securing the improvements] a …
  • … plain by gravitation (here the counterpart of natural selection) may have worn their actual channels …
  • … is a result of design or of chance. Variation and natural selection open no third alternative; they …
  • … import atheism into your conception of variation and natural selection, you can readily exhibit it …
  • … hypothesis with design in Nature is made when natural selection is referred to as picking out those …
  • … Finally, it is worth noticing that, though natural selection is scientifically explicable, variation …
  • … or may destroy the variations man may use or direct them but selection whether artificial or natural …
  • … the parallel, and get some good illustrations of natural selection from the history of architecture, …
  • … that there are any wild varieties, to speak of, for natural selection to operate upon. We cannot …

Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions

Summary

Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …

Darwin on race and gender

Summary

Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual selection was …
  • … species Darwin believed that the same process of sexual selection operated in early humans, …
  • … University Press. Perez Sheldon, Myrna. 2021. Sexual selection as race making. British …
  • … 2: 326–9. Evans, S. ed. 2017. Darwin and women: a selection of letters .  Cambridge: …
  • … Richards, Evelleen. 2017. Darwin and the making of sexual selection . Chicago: University of …

John Lubbock

Summary

John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … referred to Lubbock’s published work on the secondary sexual characteristics of insects, on language …
  • … struggled to reconcile with his case for the role of sexual selection in the origins of racial …

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: 15 hits

  • … ). He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he …
  • … and revising chapters for  The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex  ( Descent ), …
  • … to  Origin  was a response to a critique of natural selection by Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli, a Swiss …
  • … for his personal use. While not entirely dismissing natural selection, Nägeli had assigned it an …
  • … critique inspired many to reassess their support for natural selection (see Cittadino 1990, pp. 122 …
  • … while the function of leaves could be modified by natural selection, their arrangement, which he …
  • … to work on  Descent . He continued to receive material on sexual selection in various species from …
  • … 21 June 1869 ).  Details on mating behaviour and sexual characteristics continued to flood …
  • … the work was in sight. He was now polishing his chapters on sexual selection, and beginning to …
  • … in 1872, more than a year after  Descent . Natural selection and humans: differences with …
  • … first time  on some limitations to the power of natural selection. [These] are the expression of a …
  • … of language – could not have evolved through natural selection, because they conferred no advantage …
  • … about his co-authorship of the theory of descent by natural selection: ‘you are the only man I ever …
  • … in 1869 was focused on questions of human evolution and sexual selection, he continued to pursue his …
  • … modern naturalist; author of the “Theory of Natural Selection”’. Darwin was full of praise …

Forms of flowers

Summary

Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species …
  • … primarily because ‘there is as yet no proof that, by selection, modifications having the …
  • … Darwin’s hypothesis was that the variations in the sexual organs were indicative of a transition …
  • … in the species of Primula , and on their remarkable sexual relations’ ('Dimorphic condition …
  • … both male and female parts) with apparently well-developed sexual organs, but also apetalous, closed …
  • … ‘On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in several species of the …
  • … that the title alone will be read ’. The paper, ‘On the sexual relations of the three forms of …
  • … suggested a more accurate term with which to refer to the sexual system of dimorphic and trimorphic …
  • … chapter of Variation , his study of human evolution and sexual selection. This research would …

Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'

Summary

In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … never relinquishing the belief that his theory of natural selection could explain the structure of …
  • … before the public. His book was to be called  Natural selection . Determined as he was to …
  • … in the School of Mines in London. Natural Selection Not all of Darwin’s manuscript …
  • … on pigeons, were intended to provide an illustration of how selection might work in nature ( letter …
  • … Asking questions; getting answers Since natural selection could not act without varieties to …
  • … that variation, providing abundant raw material for natural selection, led to adaptation and thence …
  • … in individual organisms arose predominantly as the result of sexual reproduction between the parents …
  • … Darwin’s researches into the purpose and results of sexual reproduction were pursued, as in all his …
  • … direct competitor or about to pre-empt his views on natural selection. All the available material …
  • … took this opportunity to explain his theory of natural selection to Lyell. Yet the suggestion of …

4.29 Richard Grant White, 'Fall of man'

Summary

< Back to Introduction At about the same time as The Hornet pictured Darwin as ‘A Venerable Orang-Outang’, a novella by the American journalist and critic Richard Grant White offered a more scurrilous take on The Descent of Man. The Fall of Man: Or,…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … Lecture upon the Darwinian Theory of Development by Sexual Selection was published in London, New …
  • … on the notion of female desire involved in the theory of sexual selection, and on the deep-rooted …
  • … Lecture upon the Darwinian Theory of Development by Sexual Selection, by a Learned Gorilla. Edited …
  • … like a work of art than of nature”: Darwin, beauty and sexual selection’, in Diana Donald and Jane …

Darwin in public and private

Summary

Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … selected letters explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and …
  • … 1) “And this leads me to say a few words on what I call Sexual Selection. This depends, not on a …
  • … On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the …
  • … belong to the opposite sex…” The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex , (London: John …
  • … it is not surprising that he should have gained the power of selection…” Descent (1871), vol. 2, …

Gaston de Saporta

Summary

The human-like qualities of great apes have always been a source of scientific and popular fascination, and no less in the Victorian period than in any other. Darwin himself, of course, marshalled similarities in physiology, behaviour and emotional…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … although he hesitated to accept their interpretation of the sexual motives of these apes: …
  • … But that this actually happens, and happens, moreover, from sexual reasons, is an assertion which …
  • … view of the proper place for discussing cross-species sexual attraction. Certainly, the slightly …
  • … how his own work could be interpreted. But the question of sexual attraction across species was, and …
  • … not too close a descent. With something as intimate as sexual attraction, and all the emotional …
  • … de Saporta hit uncomfortably close to home. In the realm of sexual attraction, it was perhaps best …
  • … Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex . London: John Murray, 1871. …

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: 7 hits

  • … traced back to his never-completed `big book’,  Natural selection , begun in 1856.  Coming hard on …
  • … on ‘miscellaneous objections to the theory of natural selection’, Darwin refuted point by point …
  • … in particular on the debate over the role of natural and sexual selection in human evolution, …
  • … bee' Darwin discussed the reception of his theory of sexual selection, about which he …
  • … that delighted him by applying the theories of natural and sexual selection to bees (H. Müller 1872) …
  • … , might offend Darwin with its satirical approach to natural selection.  But Darwin was intrigued …
  • … Darwin and Wallace on the relative importance of natural and sexual selection, and in particular on …

Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health

Summary

On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’.  Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … of dimorphic plants with William’s help; he also ordered a selection of new climbing plants for his …
  • … sequel to  On the origin of species by means of natural selection  ( Origin ) that he had set …
  • … the Copley Medal because it indicated that ‘Natural Selection [was] making some progress’ in Britain …
  • … of time. Darwin remarked on the similar role of sexual structures in causing sterility both …
  • … by maintaining a level of variation upon which natural selection could act. In his ongoing quest to …
  • … previous year on different forms of Catasetum  (‘Three sexual forms of  Catasetum tridentatum   …
  • … Giving an account of how the theory of natural selection had been prefigured in German thought, …
  • … passages in which he had indicated his support for natural selection. News from France was …
  • … Paul Janet, who discussed  Origin , but accepted natural selection only under certain conditions. …
  • … in America to find evidence for the theory of natural selection. Darwin was interested in Walsh’s …
  • … to the geological discussions of the 1860s. Natural selection and humans The …
  • … the antiquity of man deduced from the theory of “natural selection”’, Darwin’s response revealed his …
  • … paper as the first published application of natural selection to humans, and Darwin proclaimed it as …
  • … of human divergence from the apes, proposing that natural selection then acted over a long period of …
  • … and moral faculties that had been most affected by natural selection in humans, was new to Darwin. …
  • … 28 [May 1864] . Darwin suggested a greater role for natural selection than Wallace had, endorsing a …
  • … at Wallace’s modesty in referring to the theory of natural selection as Darwin’s, without …
  • … ‘I shall always maintain it [the theory of natural selection] to be actually yours & your’s only …
  • … expanded on when he published  The descent of man , and selection in relation to sex ( Descent ) …
  • … Wallace for the Society’s Royal Medal: ‘his Nat. Selection would, I suppose, rather go against him …
  • … November [1864] ). Darwin and Wallace’s theory of natural selection had been at least partly …
  • … felt ‘no shadow of doubt on the future progress of Natural Selection’ ( letter to Edward Sabine, 4 …
  • … Darwin received news of support for natural selection largely in the form of letters during 1864; …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … naturalist A. R. Wallace to Darwin on design and natural selection. The third is a single letter …
  • … to have brought in and contrasted natural and artificial selection. He says that it seemed so …
  • … a lengthy analysis of sources of misunderstanding of natural selection. He worries about the …
  • … term “survival of the fittest” instead of “Natural Selection”. Wallace urges Darwin to stress …
  • … animals, are at all trustworthy. He also believes natural selection is doing more for progress of …
  • … and teacher Mary Boole asks whether Darwin believes natural selection obviates man’s ability to be …
  • … Boole’s questions about religious implications of natural selection, but would prefer to believe …
  • … [to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864)] on beauty and sexual selection. He discusses humming …
  • … Darwin’s theory. He believes beauty in nature is caused by sexual selection, but there is quite a …
  • … book [ Reign of law (1867)], particularly on beauty and sexual selection. However, he believes …
Page:  1 2 3 4  Next
letter