From G. J. Romanes 21 June 1878
Summary
Thanks for permission to use CD’s MS chapter on instinct for forthcoming book.
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 June 1878 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 73 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11561 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Thanks for permission to use CD’s MS chapter on instinct for forthcoming book. …
- … let you know when I want to read up about instinct. With very many thanks, I remain, yours …
- … that incorporated material from CD on instinct: Animal intelligence ( G. J. Romanes 1882 ) …
- … intelligence. CD had also sent his notes on instinct in bees and wasps (DAR 73: 21–2); see …
- … in animals: with a posthumous essay on instinct by Charles Darwin. London: Kegan Paul, …
- … I will send you my manuscript about instinct (or the proofs when out), and you can strike …
To G. J. Romanes 19 June [1878]
Summary
GJR may have CD’s MS chapter on instinct. It was abstracted for Origin, but CD probably will not prepare it for publication.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 19 June [1878] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.538) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11560 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … GJR may have CD’s MS chapter on instinct. It was abstracted for Origin , but CD probably …
- … welcome to have my longer chapter on Instinct. — It was abstracted for the Origin. I have …
- … species, entitled ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’ (published in 1975 as Natural …
- … was abstracted as chapter 7 of Origin (‘Instinct’); it became chapter 8 in Origin 6th ed. …
From G. J. Romanes 18 June 1878
Summary
Thanks for permission to use CD’s observations on instinct. Would like to use CD’s MS chapter in preparing forthcoming book [Mental evolution in animals (1883)].
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 June 1878 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 71 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11557 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … for permission to use CD’s observations on instinct. Would like to use CD’s MS chapter in …
- … supplied. If all the manuscript chapter on instinct is of the same quality as the enclosed …
- … prevent me from treating very fully of instinct in my lecture, but when I come to write …
- … I shall try to say all that I can on instinct. Your letter, therefore, induces me to say …
To G. J. Romanes 16 June [1878]
Summary
Sends two pages from MS chapter on instinct. Presumes it is too late for chapter to be of use to GJR.
After train ride Baby [Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin] calls every vehicle "boo boo".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 16 June [1878] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.537) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11555 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Sends two pages from MS chapter on instinct. Presumes it is too late for chapter to be of …
- … them in drawing up a long chapter on instinct, written 4 or 5 years before the “Origin” …
- … found, but CD had sent his 1848 notes on instinct in bees and wasps (DAR 73: 21–2), which …
- … species, entitled ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’ (published in 1975 in Natural …
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 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … development of the moral sense, social instincts, and social virtues, the rate of increase …
- … For CD’s conclusions on the social instincts, see Descent 1: 97–8. The falling population …
- … in themselves immoral, or of immoral tendency, because social instinct is against them. …
- … But social instinct has, as you justly point out, been developed in favour of the general …
- … species; it follows, then, that if the general good conflicts eventually with an instinct, …
- … instinct will in time have to adjust itself to the new conditions. A physiological fact …
From James Grant 16 March 1878
Summary
Thanks CD for his kind reply. JG does not feel he can rely on instinct or "intuition" in relation to existence of God. Is there no analogy between natural organisations and mechanical constructions to justify an intelligent first cause?
| Author: | James Miller (James) Grant |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Mar 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 90 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11428 |
To G. J. Romanes 20 August 1878
Summary
Comments on GJR’s lecture on animal intelligence [Rep. BAAS].
Comments on J. R. L. Delboeuf, La psychologie [1876].
Suggests that GJR keep a young monkey to observe.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 20 Aug 1878 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.546) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11671 |
To James Grant 11 March 1878
Summary
The strongest argument for the existence of God is the intuitive feeling that there must have been an intelligent beginner of the universe; "but then comes the doubt and difficulty whether such intuitions are trustworthy". CD is forced to leave the problem insoluble. "No man who does his duty has anything to fear, and may hope for whatever he earnestly desires."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Miller (James) Grant |
| Date: | 11 Mar 1878 |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s, New York (dealers) (12 December 2017) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11416 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of God, as it seems to me, is the instinct or intuition which we all (as I suppose) feel …
To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 23 June [1878]
Summary
Thanks for seeds and plants.
News of Francis and Horace Darwin.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Date: | 23 June [1878] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 131–2) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11563 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … thank you for Oxalis seeds & the Stapelia. Instinct must have told you that Stapelia w d …
From G. J. Romanes [8] December 1878
Summary
Thinks conservation of energy not evidence for Deity. Agrees with CD that there is little hope to illuminate subject with light of intellect. Intends to drop it.
| Author: | George John Romanes |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [8] Dec 1878 |
| Classmark: | E. D. Romanes 1896, p. 86 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11779 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … The papers may have been manuscript pages on instinct that CD sent in June (see letters to …
From Grant Allen 19 March [1878]
Summary
Thanks for comments on paper and references to related works. Clarifies points on colour distinction between energy-absorbing (green) and energy-expending (bright-hued) portions of plants and on the influence of flower colour in modifying the insect organism.
| Author: | Charles Grant Blairfindie (Grant) Allen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 Mar [1878] |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11432 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the nervous system on which tastes and instincts (meaning thereby, organically-regulated …
From J. F. Fisher 13 August 1878
Summary
Discourses on the rights of animals.
| Author: | John Francis Fisher |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 13 Aug 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 164: 121 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11656 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … perceptible inequality 14 Mumbo Jumbo. of instincts & intelligence 15 Marquis de Retz … … …
| letter | (12) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Romanes, G. J. | (3) |
| Allen, Grant | (1) |
| Fisher, J. F. | (1) |
| Gaskell, G. A. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Romanes, G. J. | (3) |
| Grant, James | (1) |
| Thiselton-Dyer, W. T. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (12) |
| Romanes, G. J. | (6) |
| Grant, James | (2) |
| Allen, Grant | (1) |
| Fisher, J. F. | (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, …
