skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

Search: contains ""

Darwin Correspondence Project
Search:
scientific_terms::worms in term disabled_by_default
scientific_terms::worms 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
29 Items
Page:  1 2  Next

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

  • … The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , with observations on their habits, …
  • … hard-bound, and sterile. White believed that a monograph on worms would open up a new field in …
  • … he persuaded people to do. Darwin concluded that worms had no sense of hearing when they …
  • … at Chedworth and Cirencester to investigate whether worms possessed the power to lift a pavement. …
  • … the obliteration of ridges and furrows through the action of worms. Meanwhile Amy Ruck, Francis’s …
  • … Alps, and reported that his guide confirmed the existence of worms at that altitude. By the …
  • … of the year admitted that ‘My whole soul is absorbed with worms just at present!’ ( letter to W. T. …
  • … son William, what he hoped his book would reveal is that ‘worms have much bigger souls than anyone …

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: 5 hits

  • … ‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old …
  • … S. H. Haliburton, 13 December 1880 ). Instinct and worms After finishing the …
  • … with his new wife, Ida, in the Alps, Horace spotted worms at high elevations, though he was more …
  • … she would readily look from her well-known affection for worms— I am also becoming deeply attached …
  • … behaviour, which featured largely in Darwin’s study of worms, was a growing field of investigation. …

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: 12 hits

  • … As with many of Darwin's research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire …
  • … from his Beagle voyage, and his last letters about worms were written only months before he died …
  • … friends and contacts near and far to collect information on worms. Some of his most faithful …
  • … The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms was a fitting end to a lifetime of …
  • … The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms. London: John Murray. Chapters 1 and 3 …
  • … home, and mentioning Lucy’s “well-known affection for worms". In her reply, Sophy drew on her …
  • … University: To learn about Darwin’s work on worms, the class collaborated with students at …
  • … experiments Darwin used to understand the hearing power of worms. In Chapter 1 of Vegetable …
  • … the NEC student’s best efforts to incite movement in the worms by playing their instruments, the …
  • … vibrations in any solid object. When the pots containing two worms which had remained quite …
  • … mentioned (along with a few pieces of music). A few of the worms in our experiment retreated slowly …
  • … be easily recreated almost anywhere: all you need are some worms and some instruments. Try it now …

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: 14 hits

  • … quite small book of little moment’. Clever worms This book of ‘little moment’ …
  • … first chapter on habits, which he thought would show that worms had ‘much bigger souls than anyone …
  • … out, Darwin should avoid attributing self-consciousness to worms, and emphasised that consciousness …
  • … Darwin, wishing to test the intelligence of worms, bemoaned the fact that when kept in pots, they …
  • … ). Although results from earlier experiments indicated that worms did learn from experience, Darwin …
  • … remarks on experience, & have shown how far they apply to worms.— It seems to me that they must …
  • … The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms: with observations on their habits …
  • … copies. Galton wrote on 9 October , ‘I wish the worms were not such disagreable creatures to …
  • … intelligence.’ Many others were also intrigued by the worms themselves. Geologists, however, thought …
  • … mould: Archibald Geikie appreciated the action of worms but felt that Darwin underestimated the …
  • … The countess of Derby recalled Darwin saying that ‘“Worms” could revolutionise the world’, and she …
  • … 1881 ). Hooker thanked Darwin for  the ‘diet  of  Worms’, telling him, ‘I must own I have  always …
  • … ‘I am driven almost frantic by the number of letters about worms’, he told Francis Darwin on 9 …
  • … , ‘It seems strange that the geological work done by worms should not have been realised before— but …

4.41 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 2

Summary

< Back to Introduction In October 1881, Darwin was included in Linley Sambourne’s series of ‘Punch’s Fancy Portraits’ of celebrities as No. 54. While the caption recurs to the old theme of Darwin’s views on human ancestry, the drawing contains a more…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms. This was very warmly received by …
  • … a hitherto unconsidered subject – the beneficial role of worms in forming a fertile soil and …
  • … labourer’s smock. Behind his digging fork is a box of ‘worms for bait’. The book lying open on his …
  • … tells Claudius that ‘a certain convocation of politic worms’ are already devouring the body of the …

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: 2 hits

  • … I am driven almost frantic by the number of letters about worms; but amidst much rubbish there are …
  • … The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A …

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … tells Darwin that she has read his Vegetable Mould and Worms “with great pleasure”. She …

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: 3 hits

  • … The formation of   vegetable mould through the action of worms , published in the year before his …
  • … Darwin after his father’s death. Returning to worms The year was not entirely devoted …
  • … year; 'namely the amount of earth brought to the surface by worms’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 …

Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest

Summary

The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … from Mary Treat, 20 December 1871 ). Working on worms Toward the end of the year, …
  • … In November 1871, Darwin estimated the amount of soil that worms could raise annually on an acre of …
  • … The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , published just six months before his …

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: 2 hits

  • …   My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world In …
  • … The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms . Both books explored the …

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

  • … to The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms fixes its date as late in 1881 …

The full edition is now online!

Summary

For nearly fifty years successive teams of researchers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to track down all surviving letters written by or to Charles Darwin, research their content, and publish the complete texts. The thirtieth and final…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … The formation of vegetable mould through the actions of worms , which was still selling well and …

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: 5 hits

  • … ( letter to J. W. Clark, 12 November 1877 ). Worms Aside from plants and infants, …
  • … pains … will you look once again to see how the worms go on.’ Ancient remains and archaeological …
  • … monuments that had gradually sunk from the burrowing of worms. Horace started building a ‘wormograph …
  • … a wall could be penetrated by, or could contain, any earth worms’ ( letter from J. G. Joyce, 15 …
  • … with George in Trinity College, he spotted evidence of worms in one of the courtyards, and asked his …

4.39 'Moonshine' magazine cartoon

Summary

< Back to Introduction Moonshine, the self-styled ‘Best Topical Comic Paper’ published in London, featured Darwin in its series of ‘Days with Celebrities’ in 1881. The idea of the series was to picture the private lives of famous contemporaries.…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … 7 a.m.; Breakfast 8 a.m.; Darwin on the worm, the early worms’ (digging in his garden); ‘the missing …
  • … years, partly due to the popular success of his book on worms.   physical location …

Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications

Summary

This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics.  Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … — The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits …

4.42 'Punch' Sambourne cartoon 3

Summary

< Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s last caricature of Darwin, ‘Man is But a Worm’, was published in Punch’s Almanac for 1882 on 6 December 1881, only four months before Darwin’s death. Like Sambourne’s ‘Punch’s Fancy Portraits. No. 54. Charles…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … apt choice of theme for an almanac – Darwin’s favourite worms evolve into monkeys with long, …

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: 2 hits

  • … chemist Joseph Henry Gilbert was struck by the benefits of worms to soil composition. He asked …
  • … had not studied deep sections of earth, but speculated: ‘worms devour greedily raw flesh & dead …

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

  • … her. Sophy may be the “lady...interested in the habits of worms” referenced anonymously in …
  • … reports that she has “been up on the common after the worms”. She reports her findings and passes on …
  • … discusses William’s findings relating to the action of worms drawing in leaves to their burrows. …

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: 1 hits

  • … The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms  ( Earthworms ) ( Letter 13110 ). …

Living and fossil cirripedia

Summary

Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … but only those on the octopus and on planarian worms are included in his Journal of researches, …
Page:  1 2  Next
letter