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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: 24 hits

  • … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished …
  • … used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwin’s letters; the full transcript …
  • … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwin’s alterations. The spelling and …
  • … book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been …
  • … a few instances, primarily in the ‘Books Read’ sections, Darwin recorded that a work had been …
  • … of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the …
  • … own. Soon after beginning his first reading notebook, Darwin began to separate the scientific …
  • … of species. In 1876, long after this period of Darwin’s life was over, he frankly admitted: ‘When I …
  • … Decemb. Advertised . David Low “Treatise on Domestic Animals”; also Illustrations of the …
  • … Sir. W. Jardines. Naturalist Library. Vol 26—Account of Domestic &  Foreign  Bees [Jardine ed. …
  • … Magazine [ Gardener's Magazine and Register   of Rural & Domestic Improvement ] …
  • … of Poets [S. Johnson 1779]. Erasmus—— Lavater. Life & Correspondence [?Heisch 1842] …
  • … *119: 14] Butler’s Analogy [Butler 1736] Life & corresp. of Beethoven [Schindler …
  • … of Shipwreck in China [J. L. Scott 1841] Lockarts Life of Burns [Lockhart 1828] Seguir …
  • … Ranke’s Popes [Ranke 1840].— Southeys life of Wesley [Southey 1820].— Middlton Life of …
  • … 1844. Newby [Blofeld 1844]. Athenæum says account of domestic animals. Boston Nat: Hist: Soc: …
  • … Elements of Geology [Lyell 1838] Gibbon’s Life of himself [Gibbon 1827] Hume’s life of …
  • … 63 [DAR 119: 5a] Mar 26 Treatise on Domestic Pigeons [J. Moore] 1765] Ap …
  • … Magaz. [ Gardener's Magazine and   Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement ] Vol 7 th …
  • … Magazine [ Gardener's Magazine   and Register of Rural & Domestic Improvement ] …
  • … The life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco White, written by himself;   with portions of his …
  • … of the life and writings of Edward   Gibbon, composed by himself, and illustrated by and from his …
  • … Memoirs of the late Thomas   Holcroft, written by himself and continued to the time of   his …
  • … 1777.  The life of David Hume, Esq. written by   himself . London. [Other eds.]  119: 2a …

Dining at Down House

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…

Matches: 15 hits

  • Questions | Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life
  • and they partook in his scientific endeavours. One of Darwin's defining characteristics
  • through his correspondence. Letters written to and from Darwin, as well as those exchanged between
  • provides into the bright and engaging personalities of the Darwin children and of family life in the
  • SOURCES Book Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species . 1859. London: John
  • Dining at Down House Letter 259Charles Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 13 October
  • South American cities, cultures, geography, flora and fauna) Darwin complains to his sister Caroline
  • while ill. Letter 465Emma Wedgwood (Emma Darwin) to Charles Darwin, [30 December 1838] …
  • desire that he not be aholiday husband...always making himself agreeablefor her sake. …
  • publisher, T. G. Appleton. Darwin, who is too ill to write himself, wishes to thank Appleton for
  • many attending physicians. Charles has taken todoctoring himselfin an attempt to improve his
  • week's letters change your perception of Darwin's personal life? 2. How did Darwin& …
  • a Down House dinner! To get a taste of Darwin's life at Down House, recreate recipes
  • to learn more about Darwins family and digestive life through his letters. They were particularly
  • that he not be aholiday husbandalways making himself agreeablefor her sake. Here is the

Dramatisation script

Summary

Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007

Matches: 24 hits

  • Re: DesignAdaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and othersby Craig
  • as the creator of this dramatisation, and that of the Darwin Correspondence Project to be identified
  • correspondence or published writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring
  • Actor 1Asa Gray Actor 2Charles Darwin Actor 3In the dress of a modern day
  • Agassiz, Adam Sedgwick, A Friend of John Stuart Mill, Emma Darwin, Horace Darwinand acts as a sort
  • the play unfolds and acting as a go-between between Gray and Darwin, and between the audience and
  • but, despite this, he sends out copies of his Review of the Life of Darwin. At this time in
  • had seemed some threatening of a cold, but he pronounced himselfGRAY: Perfectly
  • for two friends in England, copies of hisReview of the Life of Darwin’… pencilling the address so
  • Joseph D Hooker GRAY:   3   Charles Darwinmade his home on the border of the little
  • are kept in check by a constitutional weakness. DARWIN: A plain but comfortable brick
  • stomach. GRAY: … he lived the secluded but busy life which best suited his chosen pursuits
  • most charming of hosts. DARWIN:   6   My life goes on like Clockwork, and I am fixed
  • discovery. I never expected to make out a grass in all my life. So Hurrah! It has done my stomach
  • never be, strong enough, except for the quietest routine life in the country. GRAY:   …
  • othersTo be brief: I assume that species arise like our domestic varieties with much extinction; …
  • And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father [and the
  • sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. …
  • Now this is just the subject on which he knows, for in his life he has never examined a single
  • to the conflict in Nature among races in the struggle for life, which Mr Darwin describesThe views
  • I gave him the most tremendous thrashing he ever got in his life. In the presence of nearly 1000
  • GRAY:   128   It is the old question of struggle for lifeThe weak must go to the wall… …
  • Gray knows no more of the philosophy of thestruggle for lifethan the Bishop of Oxford does. …
  • An English poet wrote that he awoke one morning and found himself famous. When this happened to

Before Origin: the ‘big book’

Summary

Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…

Matches: 25 hits

  • Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the …
  • … day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles ( Darwin's Journal ). He had long …
  • … to paper in a more substantial essay. By this point, Darwin had also admitted to his close friend …
  • … he acknowledged, ‘ like confessing a murder ’. While Darwin recognised he had far more work to do …
  • … been ‘steadily reading & collecting facts on variation of domestic animals & plants & on …
  • … reaction to the transmutation theory it contained convinced Darwin that further evidence for the …
  • … before his species theory would be accepted. He declared himself to be both ‘ flattered & …
  • … of Vestiges to him. It took another ten years before Darwin felt ready to start collating his …
  • … six months before he started sorting his species notes, Darwin had worried that the process would …
  • … explodes like an empty puff-ball ’, he told Hooker. Darwin’s concern may have stemmed from …
  • … immutability of species ’, he told his cousin William Darwin Fox. Experimental work …
  • … set up to provide crucial evidence for his arguments. Fox, Darwin assumed, would have bred pigeons …
  • … intensely bred to exaggerate particular characters, would, Darwin believed, clearly exhibit the …
  • … Henrietta . In April 1855, at the same time as Darwin began his pigeon breeding programme, …
  • … Hoping to benefit from Hooker’s botanical expertise, Darwin inquired: ‘ will you tell me at a …
  • … land bridges suggested by the naturalist Edward Forbes. Darwin declared to Hooker in July 1856 ‘y …
  • … to me, & yet I cannot honestly admit the doctrine ’. Darwin thought Forbes’ hypothesis ‘ an …
  • … of untying it. ’ Persuading men of science Darwin’s patient untying of the knot of …
  • … been doing. … I  assume  that species arise like our domestic varieties with  much  extinction; …
  • … about the permanence of species.— By 1857, Darwin had found the confidence to describe his …
  • … of fellow naturalists. Gray’s response was everything Darwin must have hoped for. Stating that his …
  • … definiteness of species’, Gray expressed his interest in Darwin’s work because it began with ‘ good …
  • … voyage, ‘ it treats on the origin of varieties of our domestic animals and plants, and on the …
  • … priority. Exhausted and distraught with grief, Darwin himself was pessimistic: ‘ I daresay all is …
  • … 105: 249-52 Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1905. My life: a record of events and opinions. 2 vols. …

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: 11 hits

  • … fascination with domestication Throughout his working life, Darwin retained an interest in …
  • … under natural selection may have taken place. Therefore, Darwin studied the work of cattle, sheep, …
  • … University. Pigeons as a window into variation Darwin homed in on pigeons as a prime …
  • … . From his correspondence on the subject, we learn that Darwin himself bred pigeons in an effort to …
  • … whom shared their observations and even their specimens with Darwin—in order to collect all the …
  • … SOURCES Books Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species . 1859. London: John …
  • … under domestication Letter 1651 — Darwin to Fox, W.D., 19 March [1855] …
  • … the immutability of species. Letter 1686 — Darwin to Fox, W.D., 23 May [1855] …
  • … Tegetmeier could send him. Letter 1794 — Darwin to Layard, E.L., 9 Dec 1855 …
  • … all facts regarding the variation and origin of species. Darwin asks if Layard would send skins of …
  • … skins of Indian or Ceylon breeds of pigeons, in order that Darwin might add them to his study of the …

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: 22 hits

  • … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
  • … Henry Wallis on 31 March , stating that he would restrict himself to ‘more confined & easy …
  • … a very old man, who probably will not last much longer.’ Darwin’s biggest fear was not death, but …
  • … sweetest place on this earth’. From the start of the year, Darwin had his demise on his mind. He …
  • … provision for the dividing of his wealth after his death. Darwin’s gloominess was compounded by the …
  • … and new admirers got in touch, and, for all his fears, Darwin found several scientific topics to …
  • … Evolution old and new when revising his essay on Erasmus Darwin’s scientific work, and that Darwin
  • … memory in November 1880 and in an abusive letter about Darwin in the St James’s Gazette on 8 …
  • … in a review of Unconscious memory in Kosmos and sent Darwin a separate letter for …
  • … Butler wished to boast publicly that his quarrel was with Darwin, agreed. Unsure how to address …
  • … mad on such a small matter’. The following day, Darwin himself wrote to Stephen, admitting that it …
  • … that Darwin feared he had redirected Butler’s wrath upon himself. ‘Good Lord how he will hate you’, …
  • … pension. ‘I hardly ever wished so much for anything in my life as for its success’, Darwin told …
  • … of proofs, prompted him to think about how he would occupy himself on his return. ‘The horrid pain …
  • … happy & contented,’ he told Wallace on 12 July , ‘but life has become very wearysome to me.’ …
  • … in which he was held. ‘I’d give one year of my life for one hours conversation with you’, a Swedish …
  • … on evolution because he had never given a lecture in his life; he avoided invitations to contribute …
  • … of the creation; & am amazed to find that they have a domestic life & public duties!’ ( …
  • … were prompted by the publication of Charles Lyell’s Life, letters, and journals in November. …
  • … & kinder welcome. That was nearly 40 years ago!’ Darwin, himself, told Thomas Farrer on 28 …
  • … was not, I think, a happy man & for many years did not value life, though never complaining. I …
  • … of £1000 each to Hooker and Huxley to acknowledge his ‘life-long affection & respect for them’. …

Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter

Summary

The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The …
  • … Our poor dear dear child has had a very short life but I trust happy The anguish felt …
  • … speak of her again. Yet the family gradually recovered, Darwin’s monographs were printed, and Darwin
  • … to the cirripedes. Before turning to his species work, Darwin somewhat ruefully recorded in his …
  • … monographs by natural history societies, though welcomed by Darwin, did not run smoothly. …
  • … the  Correspondence  describes the major achievements of Darwin’s cirripede work as a whole and …
  • … societies, which were supported by subscriptions, was that Darwin’s volumes were not publicly …
  • … in Germany at the forefront of work in invertebrate zoology, Darwin began a correspondence with …
  • … provided the foundations for a relationship with Darwin that soon developed into a valued friendship …
  • … was extended into the political realm of scientific life in London, as revealed in a series of …
  • … April 1854, when his cirripede study was drawing to a close, Darwin re-entered London scientific …
  • … with lots of claret is what I want Perhaps Darwin’s decision to take a more active …
  • … barnacle volume had been returned to the printer, he threw himself into new and revived lines of …
  • … to substantiate it is manifest in the correspondence. Darwin’s friends and colleagues were …
  • … outspoken young naturalists like Huxley, reacted eagerly to Darwin’s suggestions, although not …
  • … and fanciers. His reading expanded to include works on domestic animals by Edmund Saul Dixon and …
  • … how ignorant I find I am To acquire specimens of domestic poultry and ducks, Darwin also …
  • … distribution, palæontology, classification Hybridism, domestic animals & plants &c &c …
  • … researches and inculcated in him a firm belief that he could himself find the evidence in nature …

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: 26 hits

  • …   On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If any …
  • … he ought to do what I am doing pester them with letters.’ Darwin was certainly true to his word. The …
  • … and sexual selection. In  Origin , pp. 87–90, Darwin had briefly introduced the concept of …
  • … process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, Darwin claimed that sexual selection was ‘the …
  • … 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as …
  • … his network of informants, especially among breeders of domestic animals. His contacts, old and new, …
  • … to the stridulation of crickets. At the same time, Darwin continued to collect material on …
  • … his immediate circle of friends and relations. In July 1868 Darwin was still anticipating that his …
  • … which was devoted to sexual selection in the animal kingdom. Darwin described his thirst for …
  • … in January 1868. A final delay caused by the indexing gave Darwin much vexation. ‘My book is …
  • … 1867 and had expected to complete it in a fortnight. But at Darwin’s request, he modified his …
  • … the text. This increased the amount of work substantially. Darwin asked Murray to intervene, …
  • … … though it would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from …
  • … blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). Darwin sympathised, replying on 14 January …
  • … as stone, if it were not quite mollified by your note’. Darwin enclosed a cheque to Dallas for £55  …
  • … about the authorship. John Murray thought it was by Gray himself, but Darwin corrected him: ‘D r …
  • … the contributions of a wide range of experts on different domestic animals and plants, often …
  • … on all sorts of subjects.’ The topic of variation in domestic animals seemed to prompt an outpouring …
  • … at Cambridge lots of Cerambyx moschatus for as sure as life he wd find the odour sexual!’ ( letter …
  • Darwin felt as though his stomach was firmly in a vice. ‘Life is too short for so long a discussion’ …
  • … to observe whether elephants wept when trumpeting, and had himself watched elephants cry (letters to …
  • … has been sacrificed or partly sacrificed to Public life.’ Farrer replied: ‘You don’t know how kind I …
  • … theory against its recent critics, Hooker also found himself decried as one who had ‘spent his life
  • … Robinson, proved no better. He immediately absented himself for three months, and then was rumoured …
  • … on 26 November , was ‘the Chief thing left to us now in life’. In January, the family learned the …
  • … the rare happiness to see your ideas triumphant during your life time— I am preparing to go into …

Darwin in letters, 1844–1846: Building a scientific network

Summary

The scientific results of the Beagle voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but he broadened his continuing investigations into the nature and origin of species. Far from being a recluse, Darwin was at the heart of British scientific society,…

Matches: 21 hits

  • … results of the  Beagle  voyage still dominated Darwin's working life, but throughout these …
  • … species and varieties. In contrast to the received image of Darwin as a recluse in Down, the letters …
  • … Down House was altered and extended to accommodate Darwin’s growing family and the many relatives …
  • … The geological publications In these years, Darwin published two books on geology,  Volcanic …
  • … papers for all these organisations. Between 1844 and 1846 Darwin himself wrote ten papers, six of …
  • … 2, letter to A. Y. Spearman, 9 October 1843, n. 1). Darwin's inner circle: first …
  • … letters between the two men survive, fully documenting a life-long friendship. species …
  • … friends, with the addition of Hooker, were important to Darwin for—among other things—they were the …
  • … scientific issues that arose out of his work on species. Darwin discussed his ideas on species …
  • … Only two months after their first exchange, early in 1844, Darwin told Hooker that he was engaged in …
  • … steadily reading & collecting facts on variation of domestic animals & plants & on the …
  • … correspondence that his close friends were not outraged by Darwin’s heterodox opinions and later in …
  • … But although eager for the views of informed colleagues, Darwin was naturally protective of his …
  • …  vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 [February 1847]). Darwin can be seen as a cautious strategist, …
  • … candidate, known to be working on species and varieties, was Darwin himself: as he told his cousin …
  • … the book to him. But, as his letters to Hooker show, Darwin carefully considered and then rejected …
  • … Perhaps the most interesting letter relating to Darwin’s species theory, which also bears on his …
  • … the time too ill even to write letters, Darwin felt that his life was only too likely to be cut …
  • … each other. The letters also document aspects of Hooker’s life: his search for a paid position, …
  • … with the male virtually a parasite on the female, a complex life-cycle, and difficult taxonomic …
  • … The cirripedes were to remain central to Darwin’s working life for the next eight years. …

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: 26 hits

  • … The case is a sore puzzle to me.— Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 10 December [1866] . …
  • … One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the …
  • … work in ecology. Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern …
  • … in seeds that have no nutritive value. Other subjects that Darwin worked on at Down also have …
  • … the mix of species in a plot of grass; pollination. Was Darwin, then, an early ecologist? The …
  • … was becoming well enough established in universities that Darwin’s ‘held together with a piece of …
  • … laboratory institute in Würzburg, criticised Darwin’s experiments on movement in root radicles as …
  • … As a gentleman amateur, observing his surroundings, Darwin seems to fit easily into an earlier …
  • … between organisms over time – were highly innovative. Darwin’s own experiments challenged the old, …
  • … clearly did not mark an epoch in the history of science; Darwin and some of his correspondents …
  • … ‘The number of new words … is something dreadful’, Darwin wrote to T. H. Huxley on 22 December …
  • … world only from the late nineteenth century onwards. Darwin himself never used the word, either in …
  • … also a horizontal dimension, the question of what Darwin himself thought he was doing. In …
  • … context Darwin would probably have described himself primarily as a naturalist, which is what …
  • … correct natural history’ (p. 95, 7th edition, 1836). White himself does not spell out why such a …
  • … of this bird is so incomparably adapted to its mode of life, that in no instance do we see the …
  • … that place and would no doubt continue to do so, unless God himself devised a better plan. The study …
  • … is not, in itself, an argument for atheism, but as Darwin himself acknowledged in a letter to Mary …
  • … natural selection in relation to their general conditions of life, either in the larval or mature …
  • … in the history of ecology that it is easy to think of Darwin himself as primarily a grand, and …
  • … caution is evident in his correspondence with Haeckel, himself a passionate theorist who revelled in …
  • … confident Darwin’s work would cause. Haeckel acknowledged himself to have been profoundly influenced …
  • … of  details  and the analysis of particulars’; he was himself particularly interested in the …
  • … how each form became so excellently adapted to its habits of life. I then began systematically to …
  • … or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life  . London: John Murray. …
  • … Richards, Robert J. 2008.  The tragic sense of life: Ernst Haeckel and the struggle over …

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: 25 hits

  • … The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle  voyage was one …
  • … a family Busy as he was with scientific activities, Darwin found time to re-establish family …
  • … close contact. In November 1838, two years after his return, Darwin became engaged to his cousin, …
  • … daughter, Anne Elizabeth, moved to Down House in Kent, where Darwin was to spend the rest of his …
  • … his greatest theoretical achievement, the most important of Darwin’s activities during the years …
  • … identifications of his bird and fossil mammal specimens, Darwin arrived at the daring and momentous …
  • … transmutation as a working hypothesis he immediately set himself to collect data and to make notes …
  • … in species. With this new theoretical point of departure Darwin continued to make notes and explore …
  • … present in the version of 1859. Young author Darwin’s investigation of the species …
  • … the  Beagle  had returned to England, news of some of Darwin’s findings had been spread by the …
  • … great excitement. The fuller account of the voyage and Darwin’s discoveries was therefore eagerly …
  • … suitable categories for individual experts to work upon, Darwin applied himself to the revision of …
  • … of the surveying voyage of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle. Darwin’s volume bore the title  Journal …
  • … visited by H.M.S. Beagle .  Also in November 1837, Darwin read the fourth of a series of papers to …
  • … to the Society of 9 March 1838), had been developed by Darwin from a suggestion made by his uncle, …
  • … Sedgwick, [after 15 May 1838] ). The new research Darwin undertook after 1837 was an …
  • … Society. During the  Beagle  voyage Darwin had declared himself to be a ‘zealous disciple’ of …
  • … we know from the existence of drafts, printed versions in Life and Letters , and from excerpts …
  • … 1875 and 1881, when she was collecting material for her  Life, letters and journals of Sir Charles …
  • … of offspring of all crosses between all domestic birds & animals dogs, cats &c &c very …
  • … includes a review of literature on the subject) . Darwin himself later, in 1855–8, undertook …
  • … Wedgwood in January 1839. His hopes and fears about married life are displayed in a series of notes …
  • … separate ‘acts’ or interventions. Darwin later in life remembered that up to the time of the  …
  • … more like those that were to plague him for the rest of his life. ‘My stomach’, he wrote to …
  • … unrelated, all had a place in the task Darwin had set for himself when, in the spring of 1838, he …

Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin

Summary

The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence …
  • … Russel Wallace. This letter led to the first announcement of Darwin’s and Wallace’s respective …
  • … the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise  On the origin of …
  • …  exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
  • … Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal world and the …
  • … The 'big book' The year 1858 opened with Darwin hard at work preparing his ‘big …
  • … his ninth chapter, on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to prepare the …
  • … appropriate. The correspondence shows that at any one time Darwin was engaged in a number of …
  • … The chapter on instinct posed a number of problems for Darwin. ‘I find my chapter on Instinct very …
  • … ). In addition to behaviour such as nest-building in birds, Darwin intended to discuss many other …
  • … celebrated as a classic example of divine design in nature. Darwin hypothesised that the instinct of …
  • … of construction as it took place in the hive. As with Darwin’s study of poultry and pigeons, …
  • … founder and president of the Apiarian Society, provided Darwin with information and specimens. His …
  • … For assistance with mathematical measurements and geometry, Darwin called upon William Hallowes …
  • … from the  Beagle voyage; on his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin; and his son William. Even his …
  • … bees and bee-hives. Variation and reversion Darwin also continued the botanical work …
  • … of smaller genera? The inquiry was of great importance to Darwin, for such evidence would support …
  • … alike, & if you condemned that you w d . condemn all—my life’s work—& that I confess made …
  • … to trace the original ancestral types from which modern domestic breeds of animals have been …
  • … of what he believed to be the original progenitor of domestic fowls,  Gallus bankiva . Similarly, …
  • … letter to Lyell, at the prospect of losing priority for his life’s work. The story has often …
  • … or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life ’. Reviews and reactions: …
  • … understanding and helpful advocates, Lyell never could bring himself fully to accept that man could …
  • … a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas w h . he himself had made’ ( letter from …
  • … advice now that William was beginning to make his own way in life. Back in Down, family life was …

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: 25 hits

  • … indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his …
  • … promotion of his theory of natural selection also continued: Darwin’s own works expanded on it, …
  • … a keen interest in the progress of his views through Europe, Darwin negotiated, in addition to a …
  • … of  Origin  in French. His work on variation in domestic animals and plants, the first part of the …
  • … the family over the summer. But towards the end of the year, Darwin was able once more to turn his …
  • … of the Scottish press hissed). Huxley, while advocating Darwin’s theory, had again espoused the view …
  • … experimental production of new ‘physiological’ species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this …
  • … delivered a series of lectures to working men that reviewed Darwin’s theory, and sent copies to …
  • … about the vars. of Tobacco.' At the end of the year, Darwin seemed resigned to their …
  • … common man This correspondence with Huxley made Darwin keener than ever to repeat the …
  • … began writing long, intelligent, and informative letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission …
  • … ). Two sexual forms: Primula and Linum Darwin’s views on the phenomenon of …
  • … when crossed with another plant of the reciprocal form. Darwin concluded that the two forms existed …
  • … in  Primula ’, p. 92 ( Collected papers  2: 59)). Darwin later recalled: ‘no little discovery of …
  • … , p. 134). On completion of his  Primula  paper, Darwin repeated his crosses through a …
  • … George Bentham at Kew were also tapped for their knowledge. Darwin, initially hopeful, became …
  • … one by one 6700 seeds of Monochætum!!’ By October, Darwin was flagging and declared to Gray: ‘I am …
  • … of the most remarkable & admirable papers I ever read in my life’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 20 …
  • … [ c. 16 April 1862] )—he continued to interest himself in the preparation of translations of his …
  • … Gray’s letters about the war brought the distant events to life ( see letter to Asa Gray, 26[–7] …
  • … a few days later, he had found something with which to amuse himself and pass the time—the …
  • … he resumed work on his long-promised book about variation in domestic animals and plants—the first …
  • … with Darwin assuring him that such work would make his life ‘much happier’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin
  • … me Darwin was certainly making a reputation for himself as a botanist. Hooker, whose …
  • … the fossil record was ‘only the skimmings of the pot of life’? ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 May …

Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies

Summary

The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. By then, he had …
  • … he was hard at work on his study of the variations in domestic animals and plants, the first part of …
  • … propagation, hybridism, and other phenomena that, as Darwin said in his  Autobiography , he had …
  • … provide an unusually detailed and intimate understanding of Darwin’s problem-solving method of work …
  • … 1860 that a new edition of  Origin  was called for, Darwin took the opportunity to include in the …
  • … of natural selection. With this work behind him, Darwin took steps to convince those who …
  • … ( letter to Asa Gray, 26–7 Februrary [1861] ). Darwin drew up a carefully thought-out list of …
  • … pamphlet (see Correspondence vol. 9, Appendix III). However, Darwin himself remained unconvinced by …
  • …  began to decline later in the year, scientific interest in Darwin’s views continued unabated and …
  • … the third edition and the comments of naturalists with whom Darwin corresponded, showed that a …
  • … the theory of natural selection for their particular fields. Darwin relished these explorations, …
  • … the  Zoologist  by George Maw, for example, singled out Darwin’s explanation of the numerous …
  • … remained notable instances of design in nature. Although Darwin, in his subsequent correspondence …
  • … letter to Charles Lyell, 20 July [1861] ). One reason for Darwin’s interest in this piece may have …
  • … and embryological relationships between organisms. Darwin also found the review by the young …
  • … ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). Darwin continued to stress to his …
  • … Gaining allies It is not surprising, then, that Darwin was pleased that the methodology …
  • … maintaining that nature offered more evidence of design than Darwin was willing to admit. With the …
  • … logic  (Mill 1862, p. 18 n.). Later in the summer Fawcett himself made Darwin’s methodology the …
  • … Henslow had been a uniquely important figure in Darwin’s life. Not only had Henslow taught him the …
  • … criticism from Adam Sedgwick and Richard Owen. Darwin himself was able to recall poignantly other …
  • … have interested me more than almost anything in my life’. Darwin pursued this study doggedly …
  • … Appendix IX. Jobs for the boys In his personal life too Darwin found himself having to …
  • … provides a delightful account both of a Victorian banker’s life and of the apparent suitability of …
  • … year to exhibit a sense of contentment, with both his family life and his scientific work. He was …

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: 30 hits

  • a work like this, to which twenty of the best years of the life of a most able naturalist have been
  • summarily upon the subject, can be expected to divest himself for the nonce of the influence of
  • to the conflict in Nature among races in the struggle for life, which Mr. Darwin describes; through
  • with a doctrine so thoroughly naturalistic as that of Mr. Darwin. Though it is just possible that
  • view the well-known theory of Agassiz and the recent one of Darwin diverge in exactly opposite
  • as it numbered at any subsequent period. Mr. Darwin, on the other hand, holds the orthodox
  • world as equally primordial, equally supernatural; that of Darwin, as equally derivative, equally
  • back the series of cause and effect as far as possible, Darwins aim and processes are strictly
  • But, however originated, and whatever be thought of Mr. Darwins arduous undertaking in this respect
  • to trouble,’ and how incessant and severe the struggle for life generally is, the present volume
  • of individuals and species on the earths surface. Mr. Darwin thinks that, acting upon an inherent
  • theories, but struck with the eminent ability of Mr. Darwins work, and charmed with its fairness, …
  • species, according to the bent of the naturalists mind. Darwins theory brings us the other way to
  • tried to overmaster other species in the great battle for life. The limbs divided into great
  • degree connects by its affinities two large branches of life, and which has apparently been saved
  • by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and
  • species. In his instructive section on the breeds of the domestic pigeon, our author remarks that
  • … ‘ I have discussed the probable origin of domestic pigeons at some, yet quite insufficient, length; …
  • struck me much; namely, that all the breeders of the various domestic animals and the cultivators of
  • in the long lines of descent, yet admit that many of our domestic races have descended from the same
  • than any other to the action of changed conditions of life. The tendency to vary certainly appears
  • influence predominates, the variation disappears with the life of the individual. If that of the
  • he plants the seed of a favorite fruit, preserves a favorite domestic animal, drowns the uglier
  • and greater size or excellence. It is said that all domestic varieties, if left to run wild, …
  • to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficultat least I have
  • live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these
  • seasons. Still more striking is the evidence from our domestic animals of many kinds which have run
  • great differences in the natural tendencies of our domestic animals: one cat, for instance, taking
  • of them moderately, others with vehemence. Mr. Darwin himself admits, with a candor rarely displayed
  • study and understand even imperfectlyas for instance man himselfmankind has already spent

Francis Galton

Summary

Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…

Matches: 12 hits

  • … and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather …
  • … a natural historical narrative of the journey (Galton 1853). Darwin enjoyed and admired Galton’s …
  • … Hereditary Genius (1869), which contained an entry on the Darwin family, including the “author of …
  • … for subjects of natural history”. Shortly after Darwin published his preliminary hypothesis …
  • … on rabbits to test the theory. He reported regularly to Darwin on these experiments, which involved …
  • … Royal Society claiming that his results tended to disprove Darwin’s theory (Galton 1871). This …
  • … 1871 ). His views on inheritance continued to diverge from Darwin’s, however. He studied cases of …
  • … Galton shared his views in several lengthy letters, but Darwin struggled with the abstract reasoning …
  • … and infirmities, with the aim of improving the population. Darwin was less optimistic about such a …
  • … ( 4 January [1873] ). Like most of his contemporaries, Darwin continued to believe in the …
  • … men of science: their nature and nurture (Galton 1874), Darwin insisted that he had no particular …
  • … London in 1904. He died in 1911, having spent most of his life in London.   …

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: 24 hits

  • … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of  The variation of …
  • … markedly, reflecting a decline in his already weak health. Darwin then began punctuating letters …
  • … am languid & bedeviled … & hate everybody’. Although Darwin did continue his botanical …
  • … letter-writing dwindled considerably. The correspondence and Darwin’s scientific work diminished …
  • … of the water-cure. The treatment was not effective and Darwin remained ill for the rest of the year. …
  • … the correspondence from the year. These letters illustrate Darwin’s preoccupation with the …
  • … to man’s place in nature  both had a direct bearing on Darwin’s species theory and on the problem …
  • … detailed anatomical similarities between humans and apes, Darwin was full of praise. He especially …
  • … exclaiming to Huxley: ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley …
  • … in expressing any judgment on Species or origin of man’. Darwin’s concern about the popular …
  • … Lyell’s and Huxley’s books. Three years earlier Darwin had predicted that Lyell’s forthcoming …
  • … first half of 1863 focused attention even more closely on Darwin’s arguments for species change. …
  • … ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Darwin reiterated in a later letter that it …
  • … and natural selection, if only he could have permitted himself to say ‘boldly & distinctly out …
  • … of creation, and the origin of species particularly, worried Darwin; he told Hooker that he had once …
  • … letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] ). Darwin did not relish telling Lyell of his …
  • … ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). Nevertheless, Darwin’s regret was profound that the …
  • … the ‘brutes’, but added that he would bring many towards Darwin who would have rebelled against …
  • … from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). The botanist Asa Gray, Darwin’s friend in the United States, …
  • … ‘descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed’ ( Origin , p. 484). …
  • … It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of …
  • … force of Darwin’s arguments, he still could not satisfy himself on all points ( see letter from …
  • … to his critic that it was a ‘wonderful problem’ but he himself had ‘made out … nothing’ and wished …
  • … was to amass ‘a large body of facts’ on variation in domestic animals and plants ( Variation  1: 1 …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now …
  • … and also a meeting with Herbert Spencer, who was visiting Darwin’s neighbour, Sir John Lubbock. In …
  • … all but the concluding chapter of the work was submitted by Darwin to his publisher in December. …
  • … hypothesis of hereditary transmission. Debate about Darwin’s theory of transmutation …
  • … alleged evidence of a global ice age, while Asa Gray pressed Darwin’s American publisher for a …
  • … for the Advancement of Science. Fuller consideration of Darwin’s work was given by Hooker in an …
  • … frustrations were punctuated by family bereavement. Two of Darwin’s sisters died, Emily Catherine …
  • … from painful illness. Diet and exercise Among Darwin’s first letters in the new year …
  • … every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). Darwin had first consulted Jones in July …
  • … ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). Darwin began riding the cob, Tommy, on 4 …
  • … day which I enjoy much.’ The new exercise regime led to Darwin’s being teased by his neighbour, John …
  • … John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 ). More predictably, however, Darwin immediately converted his renewed …
  • … Since the publication of  Origin  in November 1859, Darwin had continued gathering and organising …
  • … by natural selection was based. The work relied heavily on Darwin’s extensive correspondence over …
  • … and poultry expert William Bernhard Tegetmeier. In January, Darwin wrote to Tegetmeier that he was …
  • … ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January [1866] ). Darwin found the evidence of variation in …
  • … supported his argument for the common descent of all domestic varieties from  Columbia livia , the …
  • … an awful, confounded pile, two volumes I much fear) of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to …
  • … earth had been frozen during the Ice Age, destroying all life; this was a direct challenge to Darwin
  • … as soon as they knew who he was, for he had to name himself to all who had not seen him lately. The …
  • … ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself was jubilant: ‘I have been so well most …
  • … wrote to Darwin offering to publish a revised edition himself. Negotiations were complicated by …
  • … off to the printers a great bundle of M.S for a book on “domestic animals”.’ …

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: 28 hits

  • In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous
  • for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health
  • of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition
  • Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwins greatest scientific pleasure. The year
  • to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that Darwin had been investigating for years, …
  • working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that
  • for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwins interest in root response and the
  • London on 6 and 16 March, respectively. In January, Darwin corresponded with George John
  • letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 28 December 1881 ). Darwin had a long-running interest in such
  • experiments had been conducted to lend support to Darwins theory of pangenesis (see
  • He was eager to write up the results on Brazilian cane, with Darwin providing a detailed outline: ‘I
  • are hardly trustworthyhow little we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to
  • say that allowance must be made for him, as he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( …
  • in a theory which nobody really believes in with regard to himself except in some strained & …
  • Darwin had been plagued by illness for much of his adult life, the last decade or so had seen
  • as I suffer much from giddiness. I have taken snuff all my life and regret that I ever acquired the
  • for Father. I am afraid he is a good deal depressed about himself’ (letter from H. E. Litchfield to
  • offering glimpses of his activity at different stages of life. There are a few letters from the
  • what types of vegetation and potentially dangerous animal life to expect, such as jaguars, deadly
  • batch of letters provides glimpses of Darwins scientific life in the 1840s: his duties as secretary
  • trying to gather more varieties of pigeons and other domestic animals for study. He wrote to the
  • purchase & skinning. …  Any observations on any of the domestic animals, as Ducks, Poultry, …
  • a follow-up letter, Darwin hinted at the central role that domestic pigeon breeds and their common
  • suffered the most extended period of poor health in his life. ‘The doctors still maintain that I
  • same year, Darwin made a rare declaration on the origins of life to the chemist George Warington, …
  • … & chemical science I expectthat at some far distant day life will be shewn to be one the
  • were removed from the published version of Lyells Life, letters and journals by Lyells sister
  • there be anything worth praying for, there being no future life. I can easily conceive an

Language: key letters

Summary

How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the …
  • … he first began to reflect on the transmutation of species. Darwin’s correspondence reveals the scope …
  • … he exchanged information and ideas. Letter 346: Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 27 Feb 1837 …
  • … one stock.” Letter 2070: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [before 29 Sept 1857] …
  • … down of former continents.” Letter 3054: Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 2 Feb [1861] …
  • … that languages, like species, were separately created. Darwin writes to the geologist Charles Lyell …
  • … I tell him is perfectly logical.” Letter 5605: Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 15 Aug …
  • … loud noise?” Letter 7040: Wedgwood, Hensleigh to Darwin, C. R., [1868-70?] As …
  • … to me there can be nothing in the uncivilised condition of life that could have hindered speech from …
  • … of Species as governing the production of new breeds of domestic animals. “I have been … reading an …
  • … unconsciously altering the breed. Letter 8962: Darwin, C. R. to Max Müller, Friedrich, 3 …
  • … Letter 10194: Max Müller, Friedrich to Darwin, C. R., 13 Oct [1875] For Müller, human and …
  • … Language […]” Letter 9887: Dawkins, W. B. to Darwin, C. R., 14 Mar 1875 The …
  • … of race […]” Letter 11074: Sayce, A. H. to Darwin, C. R., 27 July 1877 Darwin’s …
  • … and comparative philologist Archibald Sayce wrote to Darwin with a series of detailed questions …
  • … how a child first uttered the word ‘mum’. In his reply, Darwin told Sayce “that ‘mum’ arose from …
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