From G. A. Gaskell 13 November 1878
Summary
Discusses three "laws of race preservation" which are evolving: (1) natural selection; (2) the sociological law of sympathetic selection, or indiscriminate survival; (3) moral law – social selection or the "Birth of the Fittest".
| Author: | George Arthur Gaskell |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Nov 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 12 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11744 |
From A. R. Wallace 1 March 1868
Summary
Offers enclosure demonstrating that natural selection could produce sterility of hybrids.
More on Pangenesis and the inadequacy of H. Spencer’s approach.
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Mar 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: B49–50, B53–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5966 |
To Ernst Haeckel 12 April [1867]
Summary
Struck by singular clarity of EH’s Generelle Morphologie. Remarks on various authors seem too severe. Severity leads the reader to take the side of the attacked person.
Making slow progress in correcting Variation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Date: | 12 Apr [1867] |
| Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A-Abt. 1–52/13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5500 |
From G. J. Romanes 6 June 1877
Summary
Sends MS notes on intercrossing.
Describes different reactions of rabbits and guinea-pigs to stinging nettles.
Has made a number of grafts at Kew.
Encloses notes on natural selection; discussion of factors mitigating the swamping influence of intercrossing on incipient variations.
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 June 1877 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 53; DAR 47: 139–42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10986 |
From Charles Lyell 3 October 1859
Summary
Praises the Origin: a "splendid case of close reasoning".
Objects to CD’s having ignored Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.
Thinks CD should omit mentioning problem of explaining the eye at the beginning of chapter 14. Suggests rewording several passages.
Thinks want of peculiar birds in Madeira a difficulty, considering presence of them in Galapagos.
Has always felt that the case of man and his races is one and the same with animals and plants.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Oct 1859 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: B1–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2501 |
From John Ball 31 January [1872]
Summary
Expands on a letter to Nature concerning the probability of the survival of a new variety in a given species. Differs with [F. Jenkin’s] argument, to which CD had agreed to a greater extent than JB feels it deserved.
| Author: | John Ball |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Jan [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 196–201 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8190 |
From Anthony Rich 1 July 1879
Summary
Starlings seem to share their food. Are they communists as they struggle for their existence?
Describes movement of a caterpillar.
| Author: | Anthony Rich |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 July 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 136 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12130 |
To J. J. Moulinié 15 November [1869]
Summary
Makes suggestions for French translation of Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Jean Jacques Moulinié |
| Date: | 15 Nov [1869] |
| Classmark: | Bibliothèque de Genève (Ms. suppl. 66, ff. 13–14) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6989 |
To Frederick Greenwood 24 March [1871]
Summary
Encloses a letter [7617] to be forwarded to the author of the review of Descent in Pall Mall Gazette.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frederick Greenwood |
| Date: | 24 Mar [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146: 409, ML 1: 324 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7621 |
To Hugo Thiel 25 February 1869
Summary
Thanks for publication applying CD’s theory to moral and social questions.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hugo Thiel |
| Date: | 25 Feb 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 148: 71 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6634 |
From William Boyd Dawkins 31 January 1868
Summary
Thanks for copy of CD’s latest book [Variation].
European converts to CD’s theory.
| Author: | William Boyd Dawkins |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Jan 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 120 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5823 |
From B. J. Placzek 19 November 1880
Summary
Behaviour of pigeons is now different from that described in Beresbith Raba, a 3d century gloss on Genesis.
| Author: | Baruch Jakob Placzek |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Nov 1880 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 47 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12829 |
From Francis Galton 9 December 1859
Summary
Congratulates CD on Origin; has been "initiated into an entirely new province of knowledge".
Notes error involving rhinoceros.
Encloses other notes.
| Author: | Francis Galton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Dec 1859 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: B16 and DAR 106: D22 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2573 |
From Lawson Tait 7 September [1875]
Summary
RLT speculates on the "moral nature" of parental protection shown by humans and traces it back to its first occurrence in the animal world.
| Author: | Robert Lawson (Lawson) Tait |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Sept [1875] |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 18 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10153 |
From J. S. Henslow 5 May 1860
Summary
Reports to CD on what he has found out about Elodea growing near Cambridge.
Sedgwick is speaking at [Cambridge] Philosophical Society on CD’s "supposed errors" [Camb. Herald & Huntingdonshire Gaz. 19 May 1860, pp. 3–4].
JSH wonders how Owen can be so savage toward CD’s views when his own are "to a certain extent of the same character".
| Author: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 May 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 186: 47 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2783 |
From W. E. Darwin 22 November 1871
Summary
Sends back proofs. Praises CD for calm treatment of Mivart. Looks at duck’s mouth. Asks whether CD has seen Snow’s article in the Spectator.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 47) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8080F |
From Thomas Gold Appleton 5 December [1865]
Summary
Sends specimen of Californian fish that inhabits mountain lakes. The lakes often dry up and the fish have developed legs to enable them to wander in search of water.
| Author: | Thomas Gold Appleton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Dec [1865] |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 112 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5296 |
To C. G. Semper 6 February 1881
Summary
Comments on CGS’s The natural conditions of existence [1881] and on views of Moritz Wagner on geographical distribution.
Discusses cause of variability.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Carl Gottfried Semper |
| Date: | 6 Feb 1881 |
| Classmark: | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf (slg 60/Dok/62) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13040 |
From G. J. Romanes 10 September 1878
Summary
Thanks for letter and book [J. R. L. Delboeuf, La psychologie (1876)].
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Sept 1878 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 79 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11687 |
From Ernst Pfitzer 19 June 1871
Summary
Sends publication [unspecified].
Notes adaptive mechanism in epiphytes.
| Author: | Ernst Hugo Heinrich (Ernst) Pfitzer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 174: 41 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7825 |
| letter | (150) |
| bibliography | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (94) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (11) |
| Gray, Asa | (3) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Müller, Fritz | (3) |
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The charm of the place to me is that almost every field is intersected (as alas is our’s) by …
Alfred Russel Wallace’s essay on varieties
Summary
The original manuscript about varieties that Wallace composed on the island of Gilolo and sent to Darwin from the neighbouring island of Ternate (Brooks 1984) has not been found. It was sent to Darwin as an enclosure in a letter (itself missing), and was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The original manuscript about varieties that Wallace composed on the island of Gilolo and sent to …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most …
Essay: Design versus necessity
Summary
—by Asa Gray DESIGN VERSUS NECESSITY.—DISCUSSION BETWEEN TWO READERS OF DARWIN’S TREATISE ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, UPON ITS NATURAL THEOLOGY. (American Journal of Science and Arts, September, 1860) D.T.—Is Darwin’s theory atheistic or pantheistic…
Matches: 1 hits
- … —by Asa Gray DESIGN VERSUS NECESSITY.—DISCUSSION BETWEEN TWO READERS OF DARWIN’S TREATISE …
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: 1 hits
- … - by Asa Gray THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (American Journal …
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: 1 hits
- … I gave two seeds to a confounded old cock, but his gizzard ground them up; at least I cd. not …
Essay: Natural selection & natural theology
Summary
—by Asa Gray NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY. Atlantic Monthly for July, August, and October, 1860, reprinted in 1861. I Novelties are enticing to most people; to us they are simply annoying. We cling to a long-accepted…
Matches: 1 hits
- … —by Asa Gray NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY. Atlantic …
Essay: What is Darwinism?
Summary
—by Asa Gray WHAT IS DARWINISM? The Nation, May 28, 1874 The question which Dr. Hodge asks he promptly and decisively answers: ‘What is Darwinism? it is atheism.’ Leaving aside all subsidiary and incidental matters, let us consider–1. What the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … —by Asa Gray WHAT IS DARWINISM? The Nation, May 28, 1874 The question which …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The following extracts and selected letters explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The ‘historical sketch’ printed as a preface to the American edition ( Origin US ed., pp …
Natural Science and Femininity
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Discussion Questions | Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine …
Thomas Rivers
Summary
Rivers and Darwin exchanged around 30 letters, most in 1863 when Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript of Variation of plants and animals under domestication, the lengthy and detailed sequel to Origin of species. Rivers, an experienced plant breeder…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Project was contacted by the owner of an important Darwin letter that contains a rare instance …
Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
Summary
Darwin encountered problems with the term ‘natural selection’ even before Origin appeared. Everyone from the Harvard botanist Asa Gray to his own publisher came up with objections. Broadly these divided into concerns either that its meaning simply wasn’t…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I suppose “natural selection” was bad term but to change it now, I think, would make confusion …
How old is the earth?
Summary
One of Darwin’s chief difficulties in making converts to his views, was convincing a sceptical public, and some equally sceptical physicists, that there had been enough time since the advent of life on earth for the slow process of natural selection to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … One of Darwin’s chief difficulties in making converts to his views, was convincing a sceptical …
Sexual selection
Summary
Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that (other than in the reproductive organs themselves) it could not explain the often marked differences between the males and females of the same species. So what…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Although natural selection could explain the differences between species, Darwin realised that …
Essay: Evolutionary teleology
Summary
—by Asa Gray EVOLUTIONARY TELEOLOGY When Cuvier spoke of the ‘combination of organs in such order that they may be in consistence with the part which the animal has to play in Nature,’ his opponent, Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, rejoined, ‘I know nothing of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … —by Asa Gray EVOLUTIONARY TELEOLOGY When Cuvier spoke of the ‘ combination of …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letters | Selected Readings Darwin's first reflections on human progress were …
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: 1 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Ernest Griset’s drawing titled ‘Emotional!’ was published in Fun magazine on 23 November 1872, and is another skit referring to Darwin’s recently published Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. A hippopotamus had been…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Ernest Griset’s drawing titled ‘Emotional!’ was published in …
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a …
