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The Lyell–Lubbock dispute

Summary

In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…

Matches: 16 hits

… of Origin , Darwin had predicted that a ‘revolution in natural history’ would result when his …
… simply, ‘Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history’ ( Origin , p. 488). During the …
… species such as the mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. …
… and several other supporters of Darwin in editing the Natural History Review , and wrote ‘The …
… settlements and produced three more articles for the Natural History Review based on visits to …
… the Danish ‘shell-mounds’ in the October Number of the Natural History Review , 1861, p. 489, in …
… Galton. In February 1863, Lubbock received a letter from Lyell, evidently in response …
… about Lyell’s failure to support him. In April 1863, in a letter to the Athenæum , he discussed a …
… transmutation; he also wrote to Lyell telling him about the letter to the Athenæum . 9 …
… advice, to soften a passage in the manuscript of his own review of Antiquity of man in which he …
… to Falconer and Prestwich. 11 In the same review Lubbock expressed publicly what Darwin had …
… 1863b, p. 213). In May 1864, Lubbock received a letter from Falconer, who reiterated his …
… Lyell has made much use of my earlier articles in the ‘ Natural History Review ,’ frequently, …
… who were friends of both interested parties. Only one known review of Lubbock 1865 draws attention …
… printed in the October number of the ‘Natural History Review’ for 1861, to improve the wording, and …
… the Danish ‘shell-mounds’ in the October Number of the Natural History Review, 1861, p. 489, in …

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

… and Horticultural Society of India ] read Natural Hist Soc of Mauritius. published? [ …
… Society of London ].— [DAR *119: 8v.] A history of British Birds by W. …
… Read Loudon’s Arboretum [Loudon 1838] in Edinburgh Review July 1839 [Anon. 1839a]— there are …
… Man. Mentioned by Athenæum 1839 p. 765. in Geograph. Soc?? Review of this in Edin. Phil Jour. 1840. …
… [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
… 1839. p. 408 [Flourens 1839] read Quarterly Review 1839. p. 336 [Broderip] 1839]. M r …
… ] Loudons. Journal of Nat Hist Z & B [ Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of …
… ] Wernerian d[itt]o [ Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society ]— read …
… in Lib. Useful Knowledge [Bacon 1827] Num 41. Ed. Review. Sir. J. Mack. on Deaf & Dumb …
… 8vo., 9 s . 6 d . [Knapp] 1838] Read Gleanings in Natural History. By Edward Jesse, …
… W. Meister’s Life [Goethe 1842].— Malcolm’s History of Persia [Malcolm 1815]— Colon Library …
… 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34 —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
… St. John’s Highlands [C. W. G. Saint John 1846] History of Invention Beckman [Beckmann 1797] …
… [DAR *119: 15v.] From Herschel’s Review Quart. June /41/ [Herschel 1841] I see I must …
… par August. de Saint-Hilaire [Saint-Hilaire 1841]: review annal. des Scien. p. 100/41/—dull—but …
… Jan & Feb. number 1841. Karkeek on the geological History of the Horse [Karkeek 1841]. (not read …
… Boston Nat: Hist: Soc: Journal of [ Boston Journal of Natural History ].— must be read. …
… species (alluded to by Hooker) Foreign & British Med. Review by D r Forbes [ British …
… M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
… Linnean Society of London and Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society ] Ed. …
… Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
… ] Mag. of Zoology & Botany & continuation Annals of Natural History [ Magazine of …
… [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
… of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …

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: 20 hits

… that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
… persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
… 'Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history' The first five months …
… from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
… ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
… than Origin had (see Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
… line: ‘Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history’ (p. 488). Since the publication of …
… Lyell had thrown doubt on the significance of variation and natural selection, if only he could have …
… letter, he assured Gray that the essential question was not natural selection, but ‘ Creation …
… book. In a February letter to the Athenæum , a weekly review of science, literature, music, and …
… When Falconer’s account of the elephant appeared in the Natural History Review in January, …
… own protest against Owen with the appearance of an anonymous review in the Athenæum of William …
… viper When Carpenter’s answer to Owen’s review was judged too weak a response to the man …
… a letter to the Athenæum in opposition to Owen’s review, in which he sought to advance his …
… by the subordinate agency of such causes as Variation and Natural Selection’. Darwin explained his …
… pleased with its positive approach to both transmutation and natural selection: ‘I verily believe …
… Bentham, 19 June [1863] ). the best book of Natural History Travels ever published …
… into a single sentence, namely that it is the best book of Natural History Travels ever published in …
… Correspondence vol. 10). He sent a copy to Asa Gray to review in an American journal, and also …
… in the English journal Annals and Magazine of Natural History. In addition to following Darwin’s …

Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year

Summary

The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…

Matches: 25 hits

… on insectivorous plants. A vicious dispute over an anonymous review that attacked the work of Darwin …
… be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
… pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ). Such …
… And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
… was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’ ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
… inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
… in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
… that Mr Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
… his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874 …
… Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
… edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
… Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
… In August 1873, he had published in the Contemporary Review ‘On beneficial restrictions to …
… July 1874, an anonymous essay appeared in the Quarterly Review discussing works on primitive man …
… of vice in order to check population’. The review was by St George Jackson Mivart, one of the …
… previous anonymous attacks ([Mivart] 1869; 1871c). In his review, Mivart criticised both son and …
… 'scurrilous libel' As the authorship of the review became known within Darwin’s …
… Mivart’s attack had been published in the Quarterly Review , one of the most prestigious and …
… in my position, and imagine me to be the proprietor of a review in which according to your own …
… him without your aid, after his employment of a gentleman to review my Descent of Man, who was …
… your Son’s letter as it stands in the next number of the Review & in the same type’ ( letter …
… his support to Darwin, judging Mivart’s act as ‘the natural outflow of his character’ ( letter from …
… switching his studies at Cambridge from mathematics to natural sciences. He stayed on after …
… Darwinism interpreted Darwin’s theory of natural selection was put to work in surprising …
… was on the 'hypothesis that animals are automata and its history', and charted historical …

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: 19 hits

… 'pencil sketch', based on a principle that he called ‘natural selection’. Seventeen more …
… separately as Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries …
… letters have suffered an even more severe loss. In a letter to Lyell’s sister-in-law, Katharine …
… had cut from Lyell’s originals for use in his work. Natural Selection Darwin is …
… of fact . . . on the origin & variation of species” ( Letter to J. S. Henslow, [November 1839] …
… does not appear to have told anyone about his hypothesis of natural selection, but this silence need …
… that he had a sound solution to what J. F. W. Herschel in a letter to Lyell had called the ‘mystery …
… once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by natural selection, but signally failed’. …
… he also read a staggering number of works in all fields of natural history and during visits to …
… of experiment as an instrument of investigation in the review of Comte’s Philosophie positive …
… of his final theory, and Evans 1984, which includes a review of literature on the subject) . …
… by his theory. What, for example, were the implications of natural selection for the traditional …
… time were discussed: what, for instance, was meant by a ‘natural’ system and by ‘levels’ or ‘values’ …
… ‘the difficulty of ascertaining true relationship ie a natural classification remains just the same, …
… there were no doubts as to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [ c. February 1839] …
… to describe Darwin’s belief as closer to a Wordsworthian natural religion than to a Paleyan deism. …
… for discussions of Darwin’s theism and Brooke 1985 for a review of the question.) Health …
… for several months (See Correspondence vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 , …
… notebook). See also Allan 1977, pp. 128–30). The letter, on ‘Double flowers’ to the …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 26 hits

… learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
… the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
… was Darwin’s main concern. He eagerly scrutinised each new review and was heartened to find that …
… he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
… from Richard Owen in the April issue of the Edinburgh Review . Indeed, after reading not only …
… his theory would have been ‘ utterly smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
… from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
… the theory of creation. Asa Gray’s statement in his March review that natural selection was a …
… a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
… phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
… a ‘most serious omission’ in his book and explained how natural selection did not necessarily lead …
… knowing that Lyell was earnestly attempting to understand natural selection and incorporate it into …
… George Henry Kendrick Thwaites questioned Darwin about how natural selection could explain the …
… to questioning gradual versus saltatory species change, how natural selection could ever alter and …
… naturalists simply did not yet understand the concept of natural selection. Even Huxley, an …
… between artificial selection among domestic varieties and natural selection in a lecture before the …
… considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
… Geological converts than of pursuers of other branches of natural science.’ As for why this should …
… development. The British Association meeting, Oxford: natural selection and humans …
… explicitly raised in February in Thomas Vernon Wollaston’s review in the Annals and Magazine of …
… Correspondence vol. 8 Appendix VI. Wilberforce’s review of Origin , published in the …
… [1860] ). As the months passed by, Darwin read each review with less trepidation, commenting …
… better than anyone else. Having been impressed by Gray’s review in the American Journal of Science …
… article appeared in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History , and all three pieces were …
… tenaciousness exhibited in all his undertakings in natural history, he tested the sensitivity of …
… botanical work served as models for investigation in natural history, graphically illustrating the …

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

… in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, …
… of changing the races of man’ (Correspondence vol. 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
… book would take the form of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 3 July 1868 ). But …
… as well say, he would drink a little and not too much’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 15 May [1868] ) …
… would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to …
… of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
… if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
… some of London’s leading weeklies such as the Saturday Review , in popular science journals and …
… literary circles and an author of popular works on natural history. Lewes had serious scientific …
… reflections on variation and descent in the Fortnightly Review , and asked Darwin for comments. …
… reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation …
… wrote to Hooker on 23 February , ‘did you look at the Review in the Athenæum, showing profound …
… would strike me in the face, but not behind my back’ ( letter to John Murray, 25 February [1868] ) …
… ignorant article… . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] …
… ‘he is a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] …
… wrote of the colour of duck claws on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d C. …
… ‘I remember being much struck with the appearance of the natural human foot when first I observed it …
… male’ irrespective of colour. Sexual selection v. natural selection: the debate with Wallace …
… had been made less conspicuous through the operation of natural selection. Darwin resumed the debate …
… between Darwin and Wallace about the power and limits of natural selection were further underscored …
… be an outcome of complex factors, not the direct result of natural selection ( Variation 2: 185–9 …
… on 4 March, ‘you force public attention to bear on the natural sciences and they can only gain from …
… on 3 April , ‘your works are destined to renew the natural sciences entirely.’ Gaston de Saporta …
… addressed themselves on 5 August to ‘the Reformator of Natural Philosophy’, and enclosed an essay …
… of Darwin’s theory of descent with belief in God and natural theology. In the concluding paragraphs …
… some of his supporters, notably Asa Gray, seemed to render natural selection superfluous. Gray had …

4.16 Joseph Simms, physiognomy

Summary

< Back to Introduction In September 1874, the American doctor Joseph Simms, then on a three-year lecture tour of Britain, sent Darwin a copy of his book, Nature’s Revelations of Character; Or, Physiognomy Illustrated. He was seeking a public…

Matches: 6 hits

… by the prominent brows . . . symbolise the mind that, with natural power and inclination, looks out …
… physiognomy was not, however, restricted to the face. In his letter to Darwin he explained, ‘I wish …
… was anxious on occasion to disprove such associations. In a letter to Lyell of 21 August 1861, …
… Paget, ‘Physiognomy of the human form’, Quarterly Review , 99:198 (Sept. 1856), pp. 452-491. …
… and to Gray, 17 Sept. [1861] (DCP-LETT-3256]. Simms’s letter to Darwin, 14 Sept. 1874 (DCP-LETT-9637 …
… , accessed April 2020. Among a large literature on the history of physiognomy, craniology and …

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: 21 hits

… twenty years, he now wished to explore the applications of natural selection that were of most …
… full-scale investigations of fundamental features of the natural world—of sexuality, propagation, …
… still active in promoting the acceptance of evolution and natural selection. Indeed, early in the …
… transmutation, setting in proper relief his own mechanism of natural selection. With this …
… those who opposed the theory on religious grounds that natural selection was not inconsistent with …
… to examine more carefully the implications of the theory of natural selection for their particular …
… whether in support of his views or against them. The review published in the July issue of the …
… chided him for having mingled science with religion in his review, he nonetheless recommended the …
… between organisms. Darwin also found the review by the young geologist Frederick Wollaston …
… selection could not be ‘directly proved’ ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). …
… was ‘the only one proper to such a subject’ ( letter from Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1861] ). Mill in …
… or against some view if it is to be of any service!’ ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] …
… chapter on the imperfection of the geological record ( see letter to George Maw, 19 July [1861] ). …
… he planned to report ‘at a favourable opportunity’ ( letter from Joseph Leidy, 4 March [1861] ). …
… laboratory where Nature manufactures her new species’ ( letter from H. W. Bates, 28 March [1861] ) …
… selection and its consequences for the study of natural history was evident. He told Darwin in his …
… that it would be a ‘very valuable contribution to Nat. History.—’ ( letter to H. W. Bates, 4 April …
… the Athenæum, in the ‘mildly episcophagous’ Natural History Review , and in other periodicals of …
… Ever since Owen’s highly critical and, Darwin felt, unfair review of Origin , he had nursed a …
… volume on orchids, a dedicated ‘case study’ in natural history founded on the doctrine of descent …
… that he held the key to new advances in all areas of natural history, Darwin strongly urged those …

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: 22 hits

… ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
… fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
… François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
… quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
… probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
… we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
… of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
… find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
… vol. 29, Appendix V). The conservative Quarterly Review , owned by Darwin’s publisher John Murray …
… admiration for those researches themselves’ ( Quarterly Review , January 1882, p. 179). Darwin …
… sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
… as I am, though there are many who do not believe in natural selection having done much,—but this is …
… leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
… payment for an article in his journal, North American Review . Darwin nearly always declined such …
… the most touching was from John Lubbock, whose interest in natural history at an early age was …
… to you, I may mention, as a proof that I am devoted to Natural History, that I went as Naturalist on …
… is my deliberate conviction that the future Historian of the Natural Sciences, will rank Lyell’s …
… of strength: I am, however, able to do a little work in Natural History every day’ ( letter to …
… grant that Man must be included in the theory of Variation & Natural Selection, must give up …
… by God, or appeared spontaneously through the action of natural laws. But having said this, I must …
… [1870] ). Despite Darwin’s insistence that natural selection was less important than the …
… unless fully formed, and so could not have evolved by natural selection (see Origin 6th ed., pp. …

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: 20 hits

… Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern scientific paper quoted …
… Darwin seems to fit easily into an earlier tradition of natural history; yet the kind of experiments …
… challenged the old, purely observational tradition of natural history, and at the same time also …
… work could be performed. He brought his experiments into the natural world and inspired an …
… philosophy studies the values we give or might give to the natural world and tries to establish or …
… spring, often draw on science, philosophy, and history in order to establish an argument for action. …
… of ideas – with many roots, and a correspondingly complex history. What’s in a name? …
… the term ‘ecology’ clearly did not mark an epoch in the history of science; Darwin and some of his …
… daresay very well, & for coining new words.’ See the letter The word first appeared …
… put, in the English-speaking world, under the heading of ‘natural history’, or ‘the economy of …
… a redrawing of disciplinary boundaries within the fields of natural history and biology. In his view …
… environment, and left such study to an ‘uncritical’ natural history (Haeckel 1866, 2: 286–7; see …
… with people who made collections and catalogues of natural objects: indeed, this is pretty much what …
… An acknowledged masterpiece of eighteenth-century natural history, and an early influence on Darwin, …
… for atheism, but as Darwin himself acknowledged in a letter to Mary Boole, it was more satisfactory …
… as a result of the direct intervention of God. See the letter We may contrast Darwin’s …
… sucks it, must have! It is a very pretty case.’ See the letter Darwin was confident …
… nature as she really is.’ It seems from Haeckel’s letter that what most struck him about …
… of his great discovery is by contrast extremely modest. In a letter written in 1864 and …
… Robert C. 1957. Haeckel, Darwin, and ecology. Quarterly Review of Biology 32 : 138–44. …

Thomas Henry Huxley

Summary

Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…

Matches: 5 hits

… in the South Pacific (1846–1851). He pursued natural history alongside his medical duties, …
… writing a regular column on science for the Westminster Review. Huxley became a regular …
… colleague as ‘my dear Huxley’ for the first time in a letter of 20 February [1855]. Darwin did have …
… Owen, Agassiz, and the anonymous author of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation . Darwin …
… and despite persistent reservations about the role of natural selection, Huxley became an outspoken …

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: 25 hits

… at which the next speech begins. THE VERY CITADEL OF NATURAL THEOLOGY: 1887-1888 In …
… and movement but, despite this, he sends out copies of his Review of the Life of Darwin. At …
… one of the few who fought manfully for the very citadel of natural theology. JANE GRAY: …
… to put up, for two friends in England, copies of his ‘Review of the Life of Darwin’… pencilling the …
… tentatively expresses his original and dangerous theory of natural selection to his friend, the …
… spot where I shall end it. GRAY: [His] doctrine of Natural Selection… was drawn up in the …
… his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention …
… 11 My dear Hooker… What a remarkably nice and kind letter Dr A. Gray has sent me in answer to my …
… be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy it… His letter does strike me as most uncommonly …
… on the geographical distribution of the US plants; and if my letter caused you to do this some year …
… you cannot imagine how pleased I am that the notion of Natural Selection has acted as a purgative on …
… a brace of letters 25 I send enclosed [a letter for you from Asa Gray], received …
… might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing …
… Atlantic. HOOKER: 28 Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which …
… ago it occurred to me that – whilst otherwise employed on Natural History – I might perhaps do good …
… can find made out, in geographical distribution, geological history, affinities etc. etc. etc… [And] …
… Wallace has developed his own strikingly similar theory of natural selection. Also, Darwin’s infant …
… if by any chance you have my little sketch of my notions of natural Selection and would see whether …
… copies of his book ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ and provokes strong …
… which it has fallen since its written records tell us of its history… GRAY: 70 …
… the formation of organs – the making of eyes, etc. – by natural selection. Some of this reads quite …
… HOOKER, 5 JANUARY 1860 71L AGASSIZ, JULY 1860 REVIEW IN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE …
… C DARWIN TO A GRAY, 8 MARCH 1860 78 A GRAY, REVIEW OF ORIGIN , AMERICAN JOURNAL OF …
… ARTICLE, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, JUNE 1860 80 A GRAY, REVIEW OF ‘ORIGIN’ IN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF …
… 91 A GRAY, DARWINIANA, 1876 92 A GRAY, REVIEW OF ORIGIN , AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE …

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: 12 hits

… scientific pursuits. At home, time was filled with copious natural history work, writing, and …
… Government grant was exhausted ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter to A. Y. Spearman, 9 October 1843, …
… are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [11 January 1844] ). …
… the essay of 1844 to read (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 [February 1847]) …
… seething around an evolutionary book, Vestiges of the natural history of creation , published …
… himself: as he told his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of [24 April 1845] , he felt he …
… by its skilful but scientifically unsound reasoning. Natural selection Perhaps the …
… preparation for writing up his ‘big book’ on species ( Natural selection ), he had decided that …
… thought and influenced his speculations in all fields of natural history. But despite this clear and …
… Darwin not only used his personal notes and records but, by letter, marshalled the resources of …
… of the laws of creation, Geographical Distribution’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 February 1845] ) …
… And like Darwin, he was deeply committed to philosophical natural history. Mr Arthrobalanus - …

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: 27 hits

… do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
… and favourable reception. He suggested various journals for review, and ordered a large number of …
… to her liking, ‘to keep in memory of the book’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, 20 March 1871 ). …
… and had forsaken his lunch and dinner in order to read it ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 19 …
… they believe to be the truth, whether pleasant or not’ (letter from W. W. Reade, 21 February 1871). …
… and Oldham … They club together to buy them’ ( letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). …
… one’s n th . ancestor lived between tide-marks!’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 February 1871 ). …
… habits, furnished with a tail and pointed ears” (letter from Asa Gray, 14 April 1871) …
… ‘will-power’ and the heavy use of their arms and legs ( letter from C. L. Bernays, 25 February 1871 …
… in order to make it darker than the hair on his head ( letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, [before 25 …
… together with an image of an orang-utan foetus ( letter from Hinrich Nitsche, 18 April 1871 ). …
… of himself, adding that it made a ‘very poor return’ ( letter to Hinrich Nitsche, 25 April [1871] …
… each night, returning to its allotted space each morning ( letter from Arthur Nicols, 7 March 1871 …
… without having a high aesthetic appreciation of beauty ( letter from E. J. Pfeiffer, [before 26 …
… endowment of spiritual life’ at some time in the past ( letter from Roland Trimen, 17 and 18 April …
… (8 April 1871, p. 5). Darwin condemned the author of the review as ‘a windbag full of metaphysics …
… 188–9). Darwin was particularly interested in an anonymous review in the Pall Mall Gazette , and …
… ethics. Morley thought that Darwin had attributed to natural selection what was properly due to …
… previous year that questioned the capacity of the theory of natural selection to explain various …
… in early 1871. ‘I daresay it will tell heavily against natural selection’, Darwin wrote to Hooker …
… had ignored his continued reliance on mechanisms other than natural selection, such as the inherited …
… be patched up. He claimed that his attacks on the theory of natural selection were directed …
… wrote an even more hostile article in the Quarterly Review ([Mivart] 1871c]). It was published …
… measures to address Mivart’s objections to the theory of natural selection. He arranged for a highly …
… took up the defence in an article in the Contemporary Review attacking Mivart’s misreading and …
… to devote to some of his other long-standing interests in natural history. He obtained a bottle of …
… he still attended some lectures in Cambridge and tutored in natural science. George, now a fellow of …

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: 27 hits

… numerous later publications. The promotion of his theory of natural selection also continued: Darwin …
… but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
… species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
… partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
… and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
… resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
… letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
… protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
… Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
… and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
… hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
… on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
… resulted from his ‘ enormous labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
… it was Darwin’s first detailed exposition of the power of natural selection. He made the point to …
… enemy’—a way of inducing sceptics to accept the truth of natural selection through the back door ( …
… Gray, 2–3 July 1862 ). Henry Walter Bates Natural selection was also to receive …
… long returned after many years in the Amazon, had invoked natural selection as the mechanism to …
… correspondence about the relative effects on species of natural selection and the direct action of …
… in the variation and production of species? what the role of natural selection? Hooker’s peremptory …
… it might be affected by crossing, physical conditions, and natural selection ( letter to J. D. …
… reach a wider audience, and he agreed to write an anonymous review of Bates’s paper for the …
… Brown-Séquard informed him that he intended to write a review of Origin for a French periodical, …
… expressing his regret that Royer had not ‘known more of Natural History’ ( letter to Armand de …
… (Büchner 1862) which included a reprint of his positive review of Origin ( see letter to Ludwig …
… expressed admiration but stopped short of endorsing natural selection ( letter from Alphonse de …
… the proof-sheets of Orchids in order to write an early review: Darwin began to send them in …
… himself more openly to evolutionary views, though not to natural selection ( see letter from T. H. …

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: 26 hits

… & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868 …
… Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
… addition to Origin was a response to a critique of natural selection by Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli, …
… made for his personal use. While not entirely dismissing natural selection, Nägeli had assigned it …
… critique inspired many to reassess their support for natural selection (see Cittadino 1990, pp. 122 …
… made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
… that while the function of leaves could be modified by natural selection, their arrangement, which …
… Jenkin. Darwin had been very impressed by Jenkin’s 1867 review, which argued that any variation in …
… than I now see is possible or probable’ (see also letter to A. R. Wallace, 22 January [1869] , …
… is strengthened by the facts in distribution’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] ). Darwin …
… tropical species using Croll’s theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed …
… a very long period before the Cambrian formation’ ( letter to James Croll, 31 January [1869] …
… data to go by, but don’t think we have got that yet’ ( letter from James Croll, 4 February 1869 ). …
… I d have been less deferential towards [Thomson]’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 19 March [1869] ). …
… completed revisions of the ‘everlasting old Origin’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 1 June [1869] ), he was …
… him however in his researches I would willingly do so’ ( letter from Robert Elliot to George …
… in 1872, more than a year after Descent . Natural selection and humans: differences with …
… to Darwin about a forthcoming article in the Quarterly Review : ‘I venture for the first time …
… powers of language – could not have evolved through natural selection, because they conferred no …
… the agency of ‘a Power which has guided the action of [natural] laws in definite directions and for …
… proponent of spiritualism, which he viewed as a wholly natural phenomenon, subject to scientific …
… modest about his co-authorship of the theory of descent by natural selection: ‘you are the only man …
… The book, an explication of Darwinian evolution through the natural history of crustaceans, had …
… in scientific literature, and the appearance of Delpino’s review in Scientific Opinion allowed …
… wrote to Hooker, regretting only that Nature did not review more foreign articles ( letter to J …
… in Zagreb, Spiridion Brusina, to adorn diplomas of a new natural history society in Croatia ( …

3.18 Elliott and Fry photos, c.1869-1871

Summary

< Back to Introduction The leading photographic firm of Elliott and Fry seems to have portrayed Darwin at Down House on several occasions. In November 1869 Darwin told A. B. Meyer, who wanted photographs of both him and Wallace for a German…

Matches: 6 hits

… 1869, and which in summer 1871: the indication in Darwin’s letter, quoted above, that one of the …
… in 1881. The frontispiece to Henry Alleyne Nicholson’s Natural History: Its Rise and Progress in …
… Photographs in Darwin archive (DAR 225.117), and in the Natural History Museum (NHM 1456470). Mohr …
… Popular Science Monthly vol. 2 (Feb. 1873), accompanying a review of Expression of the Emotions …
… an intaglio engraving signed ‘E.W. Andrews fecit’ in the Natural History Museum (NHM 1456469), and a …
… Shapin (eds), Science Incarnate: Historical Embodiments of Natural Knowledge (Chicago and London …

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: 28 hits

… of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin …
… sequel to On the origin of species by means of natural selection ( Origin ) that he had set …
… and he received more letters of advice from Jenner. In a letter of 15 December [1864] to the …
… As Darwin explained to his cousin William Darwin Fox in a letter of 30 November [1864] , ‘the …
… been awarded the Copley Medal because it indicated that ‘Natural Selection [was] making some …
… observations indoors ( Correspondence vol. 11). In a letter of [27 January 1864] , Darwin …
… gradation by which leaves produce tendrils’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [8 February 1864] ). …
… fearfully for it is a leaf climber & therefore sacred’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1864] …
… matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864 …
… long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was …
… paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] that nothing …
… of the two species with the common oxlip. In a letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly …
… the ‘splendid case of Dimorphism’ in Menyanthes ( letter from Emma and Charles Darwin to W. E. …
… of a species by maintaining a level of variation upon which natural selection could act. In his …
… this interest. At the start of the year, he received a letter, insect specimens, and an article on …
… that Darwin’s writings had captured German students of natural philosophy, who read it ‘quasi a …
… most pressingly’. Giving an account of how the theory of natural selection had been prefigured in …
… the passages in which he had indicated his support for natural selection. News from France …
… Paul Janet, who discussed Origin , but accepted natural selection only under certain conditions. …
… While Darwin was bothered slightly by a critical review of Origin by the French physiologist, …
… far more upset by Rudolf Albert von Kölliker’s negative review; the distinguished Swiss anatomist …
… 1864c, p. 200). Darwin was sufficiently concerned about the review to consider replying in the pages …
… and Kölliker, published in the October issue of the Natural History Review , argued that …
… zoologist Louis Agassiz, whose Methods of study in natural history began with a series of …
… entomologists in America to find evidence for the theory of natural selection. Darwin was interested …
… attention to the geological discussions of the 1860s. Natural selection and humans The …
… Darwin’s correspondence reveals that interest in the early history of humans and their predecessors …
… races and the antiquity of man deduced from the theory of “natural selection”’, Darwin’s response …

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