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2.19 Montford, bust at the Royal Society

Summary

< Back to Introduction Horace Montford’s marble bust of Darwin at the Royal Society, dating from 1898, derives from his bronze statue at Shrewsbury. It was normal for sculptors to re-use their models in this way for the creation of busts and…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … to Introduction Horace Montford’s marble bust of Darwin at the Royal Society, dating from …
  • … to re-use their models in this way for the creation of busts and statuettes, in order to capitalise …
  • … learned societies and private collectors for the likenesses of famous men, and attract new …
  • … had married Katherine Euphemia (Effie) Wedgwood, daughter of Hensleigh Wedgwood; Hensleigh was …
  • … 1 st Baron Bridges, who presented the bust to the Royal Society, of which he was a Fellow, in …
  • … apparently exhibited at an ‘At-Home’ gathering of the Society on 23 January 1902, but then returned …
  • … 1905, and also one of Lord Farrer’s bust now at the Royal Society.    physical …
  • … kindly supplied by Ellen Embleton, Picture Curator of the Royal Society, from the Society’s records. …
  • … and NLB/23/1/865). Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of

Climbing plants

Summary

Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his …
  • … easy plant to raise in pot ’. Gray immediately sent seeds of the two plants he had himself used to …
  • … angulatus , [ Sicyos angulatus ; bur cucumber]—also of a more genteel Cucurbitacea,  …
  • … these, especially upon the first, I made my observations of tendrils coiling to the touch ’. …
  • … interrupted by his poor health. He did not lose his sense of humour, though, and told his best …
  • … Charles Darwin”; for I cannot think what has come over me of late; I always suffered from the …
  • … Darwin’s journal for 1863 resolutely records each chapter of Variation as he finished writing it …
  • … June 1863, Darwin reported to Gray that although the seeds of Sicyos failed to germinate, he had …
  • … in another respect, namely the incessant rotatory movement of the leading shoots, which bring the …
  • … & do not find that it is known, I will perhaps write a letter to you for the  chance  of its …
  • … vine Cissus discolor that Hooker had sent from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. He concluded, ‘ …
  • … days later, Oliver apologised for the tone of his previous letter (‘more seemly if addressed to one …
  • … he could publish his opus. The Journal of the Linnean Society seemed the obvious choice, and yet …
  • … for if too expensive for Linn. Soc. I wd send it to Royal Soc.; though I shd. prefer the former ’. …
  • … an excerpt from it was read by the secretary of the Linnean Society, Frederick Currey , on 2 …
  • … June 1865 in a double issue of the Journal of the Linnean Society ( Botany ). In spite of his …
  • … publication and appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) in November 1866. …

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: 21 hits

  • … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
  • … were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119) …
  • … a few odd entries, the record ends. Both notebooks consist of two different sections, headed ‘Books …
  • … Darwin’s copy of the catalogue of scientific books in the Royal Society of London (Royal Society of
  • … Library 1 Cambridge. Library 2 Royal Coll of Surgeons [DAR *119: 1] …
  • … Sillimans Journal [ American Journal of Science and Arts ]. Rengger on Mammalia of Paraguay …
  • … on the Horse in N. America— [Harlan 1835] Owen has it. & Royal Soc Lord Brougham Dissert. …
  • … Transact 15  [ Transactions of the   Horticultural Society ] Mr Coxe “view of the …
  • … Transactions [ ?Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society ]: Asa Gray & Torrey …
  • … [ Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural   Society of India ; Proceedings of the …
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … Natural History   Society ]— read Edinburgh. Royal [ Transactions of the Royal Society of
  • … Agricult. Journ [ Annals of Agriculture, and other useful arts ] Highland Agricult. Journal …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … Silliman’s Journal [ American Journal of Science and Arts ] all from 1 to 38 vol. except vol 26, …
  • …  Sillimans Journal [ American Journal of Science and   Arts ] vol. 44 p. 1 to 216 —— vol …
  • … Despatches [Wellesley 1834–9] —— 17 th  Arts & Manufactures. Christian K.. Soc [Society
  • … 30 th  Silliman [ American Journal of Science and   Arts ]. Vol 3. Part (entered) in Alph. …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of  The variation of animals and plants …
  • … projects came to fruition in 1865, including the publication of his long paper on climbing plants in …
  • of the year, Darwin was elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The …
  • … end of April; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and J. D. …
  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … seconded Darwin’s nomination for the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1864, had …
  • … origin of species  ( Origin ), which the Council of the Royal Society had failed to include among …
  • … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
  • … fever), and was wondering whether to send it to the Linnean Society, or to the Royal Society of
  • … An abstract of the paper was read before the Linnean Society on 2 February, and in April Darwin …
  • … suggested to Scott in 1862, when Scott was working at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, that he …
  • … the duke of Argyll, had delivered an address to the Royal Society of Edinburgh criticising Origin …
  • … find himself in December elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. ‘Here is a …
  • … plants’ in the  American Journal of Science and Arts , in which he described Darwin’s botanical …

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

  • … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of  The variation of
  • … scientific correspondence. Six months later the volume of his correspondence dropped markedly, …
  • … 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 …
  • … Malvern Wells, Worcestershire, where he underwent a course of the water-cure. The treatment was not …
  • … 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] ). …
  • … , a weekly review of science, literature, music, and the arts, the prominent anatomist Richard Owen …
  • … the first part of his presidential address at the Linnean Society of London to British and foreign …
  • … included his election as a corresponding member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin …
  • … memoir in the  American Journal of Science and Arts  (A. Gray 1863e), continuing his practice of
  • … in November when Darwin heard that his nomination for the Royal Society’s Copley Medal had been …
  • … failure to win the award was Edward Sabine, President of the Royal Society ( see letter from Edward …
  • … in species of  Linum ’) was read before the Linnean Society. In the paper, Darwin presented …
  • … the end of the previous year. John Scott, a gardener at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, had …
  • … communicated Scott’s  Primula  work to the Linnean Society in a paper that was read in February …
  • … Scotland; he warned Darwin that at the Edinburgh Botanical Society, where he read his orchid paper, …
  • …  and  Herschelea  Darwin communicated to the Linnean Society ( see letter to Roland Trimen, 23 …
  • … to consult George Busk, former Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, whom Goodsir …

Books on the Beagle

Summary

The Beagle was a sort of floating library.  Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.

Matches: 24 hits

  • … Captain FitzRoy in the  Narrative  (2: 18). CD, in his letter to Henslow, 9 [September 1831] , …
  • … he felt he would need, even if it meant duplicating some of FitzRoy’s own: ‘You are of course …
  • … to leaving mine behind . . . There will be  plenty  of room for Books.’ (Letter from Robert …
  • … feet. The books in the Poop Cabin are at the Service of all the Officers of the Beagle who …
  • … transfered from one Officer to another without the knowledge of the person who has it in charge. …
  • … the ‘immense stock’ which CD mentions may be had from a letter FitzRoy wrote to his sister during an …
  • … on board the  Beagle §  —  mentioned in a letter or other source as being on board …
  • … Naturelle  3 (1834): 84–115. (DAR 37.1: 677v.; letter to J. S. Henslow, 12 July 1835). * …
  • … d’histoire naturelle . 17 vols. Paris, 1822–31. (Letter from J. S. Henslow, 15–21 January [1833]). …
  • … a report of the proceedings . .  . Cambridge, 1833.  (Letter to Charles Whitley, 23 July 1834). …
  • … Anniversary address (1834).  Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  2 (1833–8): 44–70. …
  • of Anglesea.  Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society  1, pt 2 (18): 359–452. (DAR 33: …
  • … the southern extremity of South America.  Journal of the Royal Geographical Society  1 (1832): 155 …
  • … . . . of earthquakes.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London  51 (1760): 566 …
  • … insect . . .  Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society  4 (1833): 209–17. (Letter to J. …
  • … additions, arranged so as to render it highly useful to the arts and sciences . . .  2d ed. …
  • … a map of cotidal lines. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London  123 (1833): 147 …
  • … that have not been located. Administration du Muséum Royal d’Histoire Naturelle.  …
  • of a recent deluge.  Transactions of the Geological Society of London  5 (1821): 516–44. (DAR 34.2 …
  • … Island of Juan Fernández.  Proceedings of the Geological Society of London  1 (1834): 21–6. (DAR …
  • … age of the veins of Cornwall.  Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall  2 (1822): …
  • … the mines of Cornwall.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London  120 (1830): 399 …
  • … and of Ascidiæ.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 126 (1834): 365–88. ( …
  • … made by Captain Basil Hall, . . .  Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh  7 (1815): 269 …

3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos

Summary

< Back to Introduction Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) led him to the Swedish-born painter and photographer, Oscar Gustaf Rejlander. Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … Darwin’s plans for the illustration of his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals …
  • … Rejlander gave Darwin the notes that he had himself made of human gestures and expressions. He also …
  • … association had extended beyond work on The Expression of the Emotions. In April of that year, …
  • … I gladly complied with his request to take several photos of me, and these I imagine he intends to …
  • … that Darwin agreed to be photographed by Rejlander as a way of compensating him for the relatively …
  • … photographed Darwin’s relatives on request. A family album of ‘cartes de visite’ now in the …
  • … as William or Leonard Darwin, as well as the profile of Darwin himself. The reverse of the …
  • … and October 1871, and in March and August 1872, but some of these payments, and later ones, may …
  • … dramatic and allegorical compositions such as The two ways of life (1857), a photograph …
  • … read at a Meeting of the South London Photographic Society, February 12, 1863. Darwin’s letter to …
  • of Manchester, English MS 1404, pp. 52–3, with a letter to Dresser from Darwin, dated 10 Sept. 1875 …
  • … pp. xi-xii (DAR 140.1.5; also in the Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society). Wood engraving …
  • … 1870 – 1890 (London and New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020), pp. 26-30. J van Wyhe, …

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: 22 hits

  • … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
  • … dispute over an anonymous review that attacked the work of Darwin’s son George dominated the second …
  • … admired in his youth: ‘I have always looked on him as one of the greatest men the world has ever …
  • … be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
  • … university days together, and the long-abandoned pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( …
  • … 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 …
  • … John Tyndall, professor at and superintendent of the Royal Institution of Great Britain was informed …
  • … suggested having him removed as secretary of the Linnean Society  ( letter From J. D. Hooker, 29 …
  • of June, Darwin’s fourth son, Leonard, who had joined the Royal Engineers in 1871, went to New …
  • … he had with Hubert Airy, the son of the Astronomer Royal, George Biddell Airy, to help Leonard gain …
  • … Ruck, the sister of a friend of Leonard Darwin’s in the Royal Engineers, on 23 July 1874. The newly …
  • … Dionaea  (Venus fly trap) to help with his lecture at the Royal Institution ( letter to J. S. …
  • … Balfour; Darwin offered to try to get it exhibited at a Royal Society of London soirée  (see …
  • … his time in China, in his candidacy for election to the Royal Society of London ( see letter to H. …
  • … the colour of their surroundings to the Entomological Society of London ( letter from H. W. Bates, …
  • … Charles Lyell’s plan to leave a bequest to the Geological Society of London and an annual medal ( …
  • … elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ( see letter to J. P …

1.18 John Collier, oil in Linnean

Summary

< Back to Introduction By 1881 it was clear to Darwin’s intimates that he was increasingly frail, and that, as he approached death, he had finally escaped from religious controversy to become a heroic figure, loved and venerated for his achievements…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … by the public at large. It was therefore a matter of urgency to fashion a definitive image of him …
  • … with the spectator, while William Richmond’s portrait of him in academic robes failed to convey …
  • … as a thinker.   George Romanes and other members of Darwin’s circle therefore gained his …
  • … Secretary; and Darwin’s son Francis was a member of the Council. Darwin himself wrote to Romanes on …
  • … Mr Collier is a very good one’, as his recent portrait of Joseph Hooker testified. Moreover, Darwin …
  • … marriage to Huxley’s daughter Marian had made him a member of the Darwinian set, with sympathy for …
  • … newly published Primer on Art , and received a pleasant letter of thanks. Darwin assured Collier …
  • … he would be proud to see himself ‘suspended at the Linnean Society’. In the event, he did not live …
  • … Room there. It ‘was about to be hung in the rooms of the society’ in April 1882, when his death was …
  • … moving truth to nature. By the time it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in May 1882, Darwin was …
  • … world.’  physical location Linnean Society 
 accession or collection number …
  • … . Linnean Society archive, manuscript letter LL/8, Darwin to Romanes, 27 May 1881. …
  • … and Collier in 1882, DCP-LETT-13689 and DCP-LETT-13701. Letter from Darwin to his son George, 23 …
  • … Thomas Stearn, A Bicentenary History of the Linnean Society of London (London: Academic Press, …

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: 21 hits

  • … On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s  Origin of species , …
  • … 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] ). …
  • … but were nonetheless appreciated for their honest critiques of his views. ‘One cannot expect …
  • … gave ‘good and well deserved raps’ on his discussion of the geological record; but this criticism, …
  • … to fly’. His ‘dearly beloved’ theory suffered a series of attacks, the most vicious of which came …
  • … his theory would have been ‘ utterly  smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
  • … Sedgwick, not surprisingly, attacked the book on a number of fronts. But it was his methodological …
  • … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • … 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] …
  • … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
  • … varieties and natural selection in a lecture before the Royal Institution. Yet he also noted the …
  • … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
  • … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
  • … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
  • … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
  • … favour of change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). …
  • … his study of the geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 …
  • … stated publicly at a meeting of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in May that ‘his chief attacks …
  • … by Gray’s review in the  American Journal of Science and Arts , Darwin was elated by his series of

Conrad Martens

Summary

Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting under the watercolourist Copley Fielding (1789–1855), who also briefly taught Ruskin. In 1833 he was on board the Hyacinth, headed for India, but en route in…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting …
  • … in Rio de Janeiro, learned that Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle , was looking for a …
  • … he was befriended by Philip Parker King, former commander of the British South American Survey, to …
  • … Martens and both commissioned paintings. In 1837 some of Martens’s Australian watercolours …
  • … turned to oil painting and exhibited at the Victorian Fine Arts Society in Melbourne in 1853, the …
  • … in 1862, the year in which he also sent Darwin a watercolour of Brisbane River. Martens stayed in …
  • … Library. He continued painting and had a number of public commissions before dying from a heart …
  • … Onslow, and they remained for many years in the possession of her descendants at Camden Park, near …
  • … Library in 1977. FitzRoy wrote in his Narrative of the voyage: ‘Knowing well that no one …
  • … time – even if he had the ability – to make much use of the pencil, I engaged an artist ... to go …
  • … with the Beagle , a period which includes all but one of his sketches of Monte Video. Although he …
  • … the Beagle . The first sketch Martens made as a member of the Beagle crew is MS.Add.7983: 21v …
  • … ‘South America’. The sketchbook has thirty-one leaves. Of the sixty-two pages, twenty are …
  • … remaining twelve illustrated pages are watercolours. Most of the sketches are dated, and the book …
  • … page. The sketches begin in April 1834, with the exception of the very first image, which dates from …
  • … to an end, during his voyage from South America via a number of Pacific Ocean islands to New Zealand …

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: 19 hits

  • … John Jenner Weir, ‘If any man wants to gain a good opinion of his fellow man, he ought to do what I …
  • … , pp. 87–90, Darwin had briefly introduced the concept of sexual selection to explain certain …
  • … in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 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] ). …
  • … reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation …
  • … 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] …
  • … He asked Bates, who was president of the Entomological Society of London, to raise the question at …
  • … by several other entomologists who had been present at the society’s meeting. Darwin circulated his …
  • … and trimorphic plants’. They were read before the Linnean Society of London on 19 March. In a letter
  • … supported Farrer’s candidacy for fellowship of the Linnean Society ( letter from George Bentham, …
  • … 1868] ). Barber’s paper was read before the Linnean Society on 4 February 1869, but remained …
  • … in July he was second in the entrance examination for the Royal military academy at Woolwich. ‘I …
  • … to be bestowed on him, including the order of merit of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences and …

Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms

Summary

‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … . Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the …
  • … on the distinction between human races, the foundations of the moral sense, and the harmony of
  • … controversy with Samuel Butler, prompted by the publication of Erasmus Darwin the previous year. …
  • … my grandfather’s character is of much value to me’ ( letter to C. H. Tindal, 5 January 1880 ). …
  • … have influenced the whole Kingdom, & even the world’ ( letter from J. L. Chester, 3 March 1880 …
  • … delighted to find an ordinary mortal who could laugh’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin to Charles and …
  • … much powder & shot’ ( Correspondence vol. 27, letter from Ernst Krause, 7 June 1879 , and …
  • … modified; but now I much regret that I did not do so’ ( letter to Samuel Butler, 3 January 1880 ). …
  • … and ‘decided on laying the matter before the public’ ( letter from Samuel Butler, 21 January 1880 …
  • … and uncertain about what to do. He drafted two versions of a letter to the Athen æum , sending …
  • … in which he will have the last word’, she warned ( letter from H. E. Litchfield, [1 February 1880] …
  • … to G. H. Darwin, 25 October 1880 ). The president of the society explained to Emma that the members …
  • … ). In April, Thomas Huxley had delivered an address at the Royal Institution, ‘The coming of age of
  • … discoveries in science and attainments in literature and the arts’. The decision largely rested with …
  • … in geology, and longed to see Francis elected fellow of the Royal Society. He rejoiced to see Horace …

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: 20 hits

  • … busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the publication of his long-awaited book on human …
  • … , ‘Good God how glad I shall be when I can drive the whole of the confounded book out of my head’. …
  • … that were already under way, and the initial reception of the book in the press. Darwin fielded …
  • … lively debate centred on Darwin’s evolutionary account of the ‘higher’ faculties of human nature: …
  • … modify, his conclusions. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his …
  • … do to talk about it, which no doubt promotes the sale’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 26 March 1871 ) …
  • … 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 …
  • … in coloration in the offspring. In a paper presented at the Royal Society of London in March, Galton …
  • … from a short paper Darwin had delivered at the Geological Society of London in 1837, would culminate …
  • … He passed his first examination toward a Bachelor of Arts degree, and planned to pursue studies in …

Experimenting with emotions

Summary

Darwin’s interest in emotions can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On his return, he started recording observations in a set of notebooks, later labelled '…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On …
  • … emotions were entered, alongside remarks on the origins of language, aesthetic taste, and sympathy, …
  • … toys, and withholding affection temporarily at moments of distress. ‘I made a loud snoring noise, …
  • … curious … I repeated the experiment’ ( ‘Observations of children’, Correspondence vol. 4, …
  • … is filled with examples from novels, plays, and the visual arts, with anecdotes about devoted dogs, …
  • … document and display expressions, Darwin made extensive use of a relatively new technology: …
  • … Adolph Kindermann, ‘I am writing an Essay on the Ex. of the emotions … I shd be very glad if you …
  • … for the eyes, so as to show the wrinkles round them’ ( letter to A. D. Kindermann, [27 March 1871] …
  • … on expression in the early 1860s, and built up a collection of several hundred images. His pattern …
  • … across human groups and the animal-human boundary. Many of these were child character studies, which …
  • … to Expression , he remarked on the difficulty of studying emotions that provoked sympathy in the …
  • … process’ was in fact an artful contrivance of skilled photographers, who were able to alter the …
  • … sent sympathetically at the same time to the glands?” ( letter to William Bowman, 30 March [1868] …
  • … After several years, Donders eventually sent a 16 page letter containing a digest of his experiments …
  • … and the cerebrum, the seat of thought and volition ( letter from Frans Donders, 28 May 1870 ). The …
  • … post an attempt to answer your questions”. In a very long letter, he made his best guess, …
  • … distinct physiological (possibly anatomical) relation” (letter from Michael Foster, 4 June [1871] …
  • … when nearly all agree in their answer, I trust him’ ( letter to James Crichton Browne, 8 June 1870 …
  • … or legitimation of experiments, from the early days of the Royal Society. Here, the process seems to …