To Charles Lyell 6 June [1860]
Summary
Mentions Etty’s illness.
A "coarsely contemptuous" review of Origin by Samuel Haughton ["On the form of the cells made by various wasps and by the honey bee; with an appendix on the origin of species", Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Dublin 3 (1860): 128–40].
Comments on reception of Malthus’ ideas.
Says William Hopkins does not understand him.
Discusses problem of term "natural selection".
J. A. Lowell’s review of Origin [Christian Examiner (1860): 449–64].
Relationship between instinct and structure.
Discusses blindness of cave animals.
The fallacy of Andrew Murray and others; the slight importance of climate.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 6 June [1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.215) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2822 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … 1860): 449–64]. Relationship between instinct and structure. Discusses blindness of cave …
- … selection. — I suppose Lowell’s difficulty about instinct is same as Bowens; but it seems …
- … to me wholly to rest on assumption that instincts cannot graduate as finely as structure. …
- … possible to know which i.e. whether instinct or structure changes first by insensible …
- … steps. — Probably sometimes instinct, sometimes structure. — …
- … a British insect feeds on exotic plant, instinct has changed. by very small step & then …
To H. G. Bronn [c. 25 February 1860]
Summary
Discusses meaning of various English scientific terms.
Is much pleased that translation [of Origin, 1st German ed.] will be ready by May.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Heinrich Georg Bronn |
| Date: | [c. 25 Feb 1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.340) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2699 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … prefers— Habit may, also, be applied to instincts; but it is rather a loose word, often …
- … used in English. It differs little from instinct; but would never be …
- … applied to the more wonderful instincts. We might …
- … say that the owl had nocturnal habits ; but instinct impelled it to build its nest. — The …
To Asa Gray 25 April [1860]
Summary
Origin reviews. Is annoyed at Richard Owen’s malignity [Edinburgh Rev. 111 (1860): 487–532].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Asa Gray |
| Date: | 25 Apr [1860] |
| Classmark: | Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2767 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … add much difficulty to work— The Reviewer takes a strange view of Instinct: he seems to …
- … regard intelligence as developed instinct; which I believe is wholly false. — …
- … I suspect he has never much attended to Instinct & minds of animals, except perhaps by …
- … Bowen] 1860a, p. 496). Speaking of instinct, the reviewer stated that ‘in the infinite …
To Neil Arnott 16 February [1860?]
Summary
Discusses NA’s pamphlet on human progress. Suggests making it a book [A survey of human progress (1861)].
Comments on study of dead languages.
Denies that animals are "governed only by selfish motives".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Neil Arnott |
| Date: | 16 Feb [1860?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 22 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2677 |
From B. P. Brent [May–June 1860?]
Summary
Cannot supply a case of atavism in canaries.
Will lend CD back issues of Cottage Gardener.
Cites case of bird (tumbler hen) laying egg in another’s nest.
| Author: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [May–June 1860?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160.3: 297 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2778 |
From William Henry Harvey 24 August 1860
Summary
Continues earlier discussion, admitting his opinions have been modified. Still regards natural selection as one agent of several. States areas of disagreement.
| Author: | William Henry Harvey |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Aug 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98 (ser. 2): 33–40 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2898 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … mineral atoms into more cellulose & protoplasm; having an instinct to turn to the light & …
- … the germs of indefinitely progressive instincts; and above all, possessing a procreative …
- … creature to its peculiar habits, & endow it with such & such instincts;”—as in the case of …
- … the Ant & the Bee, whose instincts, supposed to be acquired through inheritance , are …
From James Lamont [23 February 1860]
Summary
Believes the British and Norwegian species of red grouse are merely strongly marked varieties of the same species.
Writes of the effect of importing a few brace of a wilder breed of grouse into Argyleshire and of their change in territory since 1846.
His explanation of game becoming "wilder": he thinks it is due to a difference in their enemies – man replacing hawks leads to flight replacing cowering.
| Author: | James Lamont, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [23 Feb 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 47: 150–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2710 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … selection , on the ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’. The annotation refers to …
From Frederick Smith 3 April 1860
Summary
Has studied CD’s Jamaican hive-bees and finds them identical to Apis mellifica.
Discusses the structure of wasps’ and bees’ nests
and the occurrence of winged and apterous individuals within some insect genera and species.
| Author: | Frederick Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Apr 1860 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177 (fragile) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2744 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Gray and Thomas Vernon Wollaston . The number of CD’s portfolio of notes on instinct. …
To W. B. Tegetmeier 1 September [1860]
Summary
Regrets he has nothing that he could contribute to the Field and cannot spare the time to work out anything on bees’ cells.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 1 Sept [1860] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2904 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … with his study of the origin of instinct (see Correspondence vol. 7). He published some …
From Charles Lyell 19 June 1860
Summary
Sees Huxley’s deification of matter and force as a reaction to the way Paley likened the "Unknown Cause" to the mind of man so that new causes could be introduced. If you wish to retain free will which is inconsistent with constant law, Paley’s position is better. Free will is a recently introduced cause on our planet. It cannot be fully attributed to secondary causes.
What CD says about the variation in gestation of the hound is remarkable.
The astonishing fertile rabbit–hare hybrids encourage belief in Pallas’s theory of the multiple origin of dogs.
Does the regularity of gestation in man indicate a common stock?
Hooker’s observation of absence of forms peculiar to extra-Arctic Greenland indicates that the time since the beginning of the glacial period is brief in geological terms.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 June 1860 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/6: 117–23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2837A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … into our inorganic planet & then instinct & then reason have instead of deifying Matter & …
To G. R. Waterhouse 1 April [1860]
Summary
Has no drone cells in collection of honeycombs. Discusses construction of cells by bees and ability of bees to judge distances in constructing comb.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Date: | 1 Apr [1860] |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Special Collections MSS DAR 7) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2740 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on prey. — One has only to perfect this instinct. I am convinced you are not right in …
To W. H. Miller [after 5 June 1860]
Summary
Discusses measurements of bees’ cells. Describes modification in structure of Melipona hive. Notes importance of natural selection.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Hallowes Miller |
| Date: | [after 5 June 1860] |
| Classmark: | DAR 146 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2391 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the conclusion that species and their instincts are slowly modified by what I call natural …
To Charles Lyell 20 November [1860]
Summary
Admires Edward Forbes’s theory of continental extensions, but it will discourage investigation of distribution.
Mentions Oswald Heer’s proposed map of Atlantis.
Discusses extinction of plants caused by the glacial era. Migration of plants and animals during glacial period.
Encourages CL’s work [on Antiquity of man (1863)].
Comments on unfriendly reviews. Asks CL’s opinion about including a reply to reviewers in next edition of Origin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 20 Nov [1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.233) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2989 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … it was a combination of the bee’s instinct for beginning cells at the proper relative …
| letter | (13) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Harvey, W. H. | (1) |
| Lamont, James | (1) |
| Lyell, Charles | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Lyell, Charles | (2) |
| Arnott, Neil | (1) |
| Bronn, H. G. | (1) |
| Gray, Asa | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Arnott, Neil | (1) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Bronn, H. G. | (1) |
Instinct and the Evolution of Mind
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…
Matches: 5 hits
- … slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant …
- … of Species . 1859. London: John Murray. (See: Chapter 7 “Instinct”) Manuscripts …
- … p. 46, 52-59 Letters Letter Packet: Instinct and the Evolution of Mind …
- … would you characterize Darwin's central question regarding instinct and its relation to the …
- … this topic? 2. By what mechanism does Darwin believe instinct acts? How does this mechanism …
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: 5 hits
- … final pieces of his grand puzzle as they came to him. Instinct: the problem of bees …
- … of divine design in nature. Darwin hypothesised that the instinct of the hive-bee to produce these …
- … 1858, even though he had completed a draft of the chapter on instinct the previous March. One …
- … the correspondence. I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth As …
- … certain extent; but, if I know myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth’ ( …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 4 hits
- … letter to James Crichton-Browne, 30 December 1873 ). Instinct In February, Darwin …
- … definition recently advanced by Alfred Russel Wallace, that instinct was the performance of complex …
- … a letter from William Huggins on a case of inherited instinct in three generations of dogs, …
- … had occasion to reflect more personally on the power of instinct and inheritance when he was asked …
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: 23 hits
- … [A. P. de Candolle 1820] in Geolog. Soc. F. Cuvier on Instinct [F. G. Cuvier 1822] read …
- … of science connected with Nat. Theol: [Brougham 1839] on instinct & animal intelligence very …
- … Erasmus 21 recommends me to read Reimeruss on instinct in German [Reimarius 1760] The …
- … “Resume analytique des observations par F. Cuvier sur l’instinct”—L’Institut 1839. p. 408 [Flourens …
- … [DAR *119: 11v.] The Philosoph. of Instinct & Reason by S. Bushnan. Longman. 5 s …
- … praised by Silliman poor Cyclop. of Anat.— Instinct by D r . Alison [W. P. Alison 1847]. No …
- … on Philosophy of Science [Whewell 1840].— Speculates on Instinct.— Lecons de Botanique …
- … [DAR *119: 18v.] D r . Etherington Observ. on Instinct [Etherington 1841–3]. Whittaker …
- … Tr. [Blumenbach 1792] —Rev. A. Wells Lectures on Instinct [Wells 1834] Cline on the …
- … th . Metzger Getreidarten [Metzger 1841] Alison on Instinct [W. P. Alison 1847]. 79 Art. …
- … 20a] 1847. Aug. 14 th . Flourens de l’instinct et l’intelligence des Animaux …
- … von Humboldt 1822] 19 th Couch Illustrations of Instinct [Couch 1847].— 25. Bunbury …
- … 1852]. Also hybrid-wheat [Hooker 1852].— Whately on Instinct—Pamphlet 1848 in Hort. Soc. …
- … eds.] *119: 15 Alison, William Pulteney. 1847. Instinct. In vol. 3, pp. 1–29, of Todd, …
- … Bushnan, John Stevenson. 1837. The philosophy of instinct and reason. Edinburgh. *119: 11v …
- … 119: 21b Couch, Jonathan. 1847. Illustrations of instinct deduced from the habits of …
- … *119: 23 Cuvier, Frédéric Georges. 1822. Instinct. In vol. 23, pp. 528–44, of Cuvier, …
- … Etherington, George F. 1841–3. Observations on instinct . 2 pts. Edinburgh and London. *119: …
- … analytique des observations de M. Frédéric Cuvier sur l’instinct et l’intelligence des animaux. …
- … *119: 9v., 11v. ——. 1845. De l’instinct et de l’intelligence des animaux. Résumé des …
- … 119: 1a ——. 1836. Observations upon the instinct of animals . London. [Darwin Pamphlet …
- … 119: 18b Wells, Algernon. 1834. On animal instinct . Colchester. 119: 4a …
- … Library.] 128: 10 Whately, Richard. 1847. On instinct. A lecture . Dublin. *128: 182 …
The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 4 hits
- … his grand puzzle as they came to him. The chapter on instinct posed a number of problems for …
- … of divine design in nature. Darwin hypothesised that the instinct of the hive-bee to produce these …
- … 1858, even though he had completed a draft of the chapter on instinct the previous March. By …
- … certain extent; but, if I know myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth’ …
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: 1 hits
- … ( letter to S. H. Haliburton, 13 December 1880 ). Instinct and worms After finishing …
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…
The origin of language
Summary
Darwin started thinking about the origin of language in the late 1830s. The subject formed part of his wide-ranging speculations about the transmutation of species. In his private notebooks, he reflected on the communicative powers of animals, their…
Matches: 1 hits
- … University Press. Pinker, Steven 1994. The language instinct: the new science of language …
Moral Nature
Summary
In Descent of Man, Darwin argued that human morality had evolved from the social instincts of animals, especially the bonds of sympathy and love. Darwin gathered observations over many decades on animal behavior: the heroic sacrifices of social insects,…
British Association meeting 1860
Summary
Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…
Matches: 1 hits
- … established that the general principle is, to differentiate instinct from automatism, and then to …
4.18 'Figaro' chromolithograph 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction In a cartoon of 1874 by Figaro’s French-born artist Faustin Betbeder (known as Faustin), Darwin holds up a mirror reflecting himself and the startled ape sitting beside him. Their hairy bodies, seen against a background of palm…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘an untenable and repulsive theory’, which the ‘instinct of humanity rejects’. ‘Mr. Darwin . . . …
Darwin and dogs
Summary
Darwin was almost always in the company of dogs. Nina, Spark, Pincher, and Shiela. Snow, Dash, Bob, and Bran. The beloved terrier Polly (right). They were Darwin's constant companions at home and in the field, on walks and in sport, in his study and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … and selection, noting how its every bone and muscle, instinct and habit, were fitted to run down …
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: 10 hits
- … such, for instance, as the ‘absolute invariableness of instinct;’ an absolute want of intelligence …
- … asked by the Boston reviewers is, Why, when structure and instinct or habit vary— as they must have …
- … the gills of an aquatic animal converted into lungs, while instinct still compelled a continuance …
- … their heads under water after ceasing to be tadpoles. The instinct promptly changes with the …
- … yet furnished with wings, were suddenly inspired with the instinct of a bird, and precipitated …
- … that the higher brute animals have comparatively little instinct and no intelligence, is a heavy …
- … However, we are not so sure as is the critic that instinct regularly increases downward and …
- … is reduced to moderate proportions, we know of nothing in instinct surpassing that of an animal so …
- … ‘the human mind has become what it is out of a developed instinct,’ is a statement which Mr. Darwin …
- … been penned in inadvertence both of the very definition of instinct, and of everything we know of in …
Getting to know Darwin's science
Summary
One of the most exciting aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the opportunity it gives to researchers to ‘get to know’ Darwin as an individual. The letters not only reveal the scientific processes behind Darwin’s publications, they give insight…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s early life and education, to the evolution of instinct and the mind, to the power of …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Dora Roberts reports an incidence of “misguided maternal instinct”, observed in her hen house. She …
Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep
Summary
In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…
Matches: 3 hits
- … John Romanes, who was engaged in his own research on animal instinct and intelligence. ‘Frank’s son, …
- … cloth from defilement.’ Darwin had lengthy noteson animal instinct that he had originally intended …
- … argument for the existence of God, as it seems to me, is the instinct or intuition which we all (as …
Darwin on childhood
Summary
On his engagement to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838, Darwin wrote down his recollections of his early childhood. Life. Written August–– 1838 My earliest recollection, the date of which I can approximately tell, and which must have been before…
Matches: 1 hits
- … horse..–– I had greatest horror of this story.––keen instinct against death.–– Some other …
The evolution of honeycomb
Summary
Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
