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Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 16 hits

  • The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of
  • on publishers, decried on one occasion by Joseph Dalton Hooker asPenny-wise Pound foolish, …
  • publisher in December. Much of Darwins correspondence in 1866 was focussed on issues surrounding
  • Fuller consideration of Darwins work was given by Hooker in an evening speech on insular floras at
  • able to write easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). …
  • once daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
  • see you out with our beagles before the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866
  • work doing me any harmany how I cant be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). …
  • production of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January
  • continued to refine his hypothesis in 1866. He wrote to Hooker on 16 May [1866] , ‘Iam at work
  • it was too big. ‘You must congratulate me’, he wrote to Hooker, ‘when you hear that I have sent M.S. …
  • Animals & Cult. Plantsto Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] ). When
  • more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] ). Darwin
  • … ‘Your fatherentered at the same time with Dr B. J. who received him with triumph. All his friends
  • me to worship Bence Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). Darwin himself
  • then went for ¾ to Zoolog. Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866] ). …

Cross and self fertilisation

Summary

The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … … is highly remarkableIn September 1866, Darwin announced to the American botanist
  • is highly remarkable’ ( To Asa Gray, 10 September [1866] ). By early December, the French botanist
  • for several years ( To Édouard Bornet, 1 December 1866 ). Darwin began a series of experiments, …
  • … ). Fritz Müller, writing from Brazil in December 1866, noted that plants of this poppy growing in
  • climatic conditions’ ( From Fritz Müller, 1 December 1866 ). Darwins interest was piqued and he
  • his results. In March 1867, he told his close friend Joseph Hooker, ‘The only fact which I have
  • produced by a cross between two distinct plants’ ( To JDHooker, 17 March [1867] ). He noted
  • of France where Moggridge lived for part of the year ( To JTMoggridge, 1 October [1867] ). …
  • not exist in Britain. During a visit to Darwin in May 1866, Robert Caspary, a specialist in
  • … ‘I always supposed until lately that no evil effects w d  be visible until after several
  • flower. ‘How utterly mysterious it is’, he reported to Hooker, ‘that there sh d  be some
  • to impotence when taken from the same plant!’ ( To JDHooker, 21 May [1868] ) Pollen tubes, or
  • Darwin sent specimens of plants he raised from this seed to Hooker, who named it Abutilon darwinii
  • a new species, & I am honoured by its name’, Darwin told Hooker, ‘It offers an instance, of
  • the season it becomes capable of self-fertilisation’ ( To JDHooker, 23 July [1871] ). Darwin
  • with choosing which taxonomic system to follow ( To JDHooker, 17 February 1873 ). Despite also
  • … & I have no idea when it will be published’ ( To JVCarus, 8 May [1873] ). Hermann Müller
  • and not onthe evil effects of Interbreeding’ ( To JVCarus, 2 August [1873] ). In
  • ARWallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long

Beauty and the seed

Summary

One of the real pleasures afforded in reading Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the discovery of areas of research on which he never published, but which interested him deeply. We can gain many insights about Darwin’s research methods by following these …

Matches: 11 hits

  • … about Darwin’s research methods by following these ‘letter trails’ and observing how correspondence …
  • … a new edition of On the Origin of Species (the fourth) in 1866. Darwin made substantive changes to …
  • … … or are they? Towards the end of September 1866 Darwin received a letter from Fritz Müller, …
  • … had begun to correspond with Darwin only a year earlier. The letter is now incomplete; Darwin had …
  • … composite of letter from Müller to Darwin, 2 Aug 1866, in Darwin’s experimental notebook"," …
  • … Fritz Müller to Charles Darwin, 2 Aug 1866. Darwin immediately responded: I have …
  • … a striking one. Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 25 Sept [1866] This letter
  • … brilliant red pearls. By the time he received Darwin’s letter he had found yet more examples and …
  • … by our Jacús ( Penelope ) or other birds.’ ( see the letter ) By this time Darwin had already …
  • … is a sore puzzle to me.— Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 10 Dec [1866]   …
  • … birds. Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 14 Dec 1866 Darwin was skeptical about …

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: 13 hits

  • for evaluation, and persuaded his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker to comment on a paper on  Verbascum
  • committed suicide at the end of April; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic
  • thriving, and when illness made work impossible, Darwin and Hooker read a number of novels, and
  • having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus
  • 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
  • gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] ). He
  • and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] ). In
  • instalment of Friedrich Rolles  Der Mensch  (Rolle 1866), a study of the development of human

Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters

Summary

On a sunny Wednesday in June 2011 in a makeshift recording studio somewhere in Cambridge, we were very pleased to welcome Terry Molloy back to the Darwin Correspondence Project for a special recording session. Terry, known for his portrayal of Davros in Dr…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … of his theories (e.g. to M. E. Boole, 14 December 1866 ). Even the youngest …
  • … letters to his Wedgwood nieces, Lucy ( [before 25 September 1866] ; 8 June [1867-72?] ) and …
  • … seeking permission to go on the Beagle voyage, to a letter to C. A. Kennard written on 9 …
  • … from the youthful exuberance of the Beagle letters (e.g. letter to Caroline Darwin, 29 April …
  • … that led up to his ‘confessing a murder’ in his famous  letter to J. D. Hooker, in which he admitted …
  • … who was proofreading a draft chapter of Descent (letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …

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: 11 hits

  • … is a sore puzzle to me.— Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 10 December [1866] .  …
  • … Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern scientific paper quoted …
  • … did not then exist: even the word was not coined until 1866. There was no academic department that …
  • … coined by the German scientist and theorist Ernst Haeckel in 1866. ‘By ecology, we mean the whole …
  • … dreadful’, Darwin wrote to T. H. Huxley on 22 December 1866 . ‘He seems to have a passion for …
  • … such study to an ‘uncritical’ natural history (Haeckel 1866, 2: 286–7; see also Stauffer 1957, p. …
  • … 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 …

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, …

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: 22 hits

  • writings of Asa Gray, Charles Darwin, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Jane Loring Gray Louis Agassiz, Adam
  • this actor uses the words of Jane Loring Gray, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, …
  • of natural selection to his friend, the botanist, Joseph D Hooker GRAY:   3   Charles
  • year 1839, and copied and communicated to Messrs Lyell and Hooker in 1844, being a part of
  • DARWIN:   7   January 1844. My dear Hooker. I have beenengaged in a very presumptuous work
  • his University) and is much less his own man. A letter from England catches his attention
  • the opportunity I enjoyed of making your acquaintance at Hookers three years ago; and besides that
  • sheet of note-paper! DARWIN11   My dear HookerWhat a remarkably nice and kind
  • be of any the least use to you? If so I would copy itHis 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
  • 22   Hurrah I got yesterday my 41st Grass! Hooker is younger than Darwin and Gray by
  • species beforeDARWIN24   My dear Hookeryou cannot imagine how pleased I am
  • on your bowels of immutability. Darwin passes to Hooker a brace of letters 25
  • might like to see it; please be sure [to] return it. If your letter is Botanical and has nothing
  • there is a little rap for you. GRAY:   26   Hooker [is] dreadfully paradoxical to
  • as well as any man. I send itDarwin passes to Hooker an envelope of seeds. …
  • Atlantic. HOOKER:   28   Thanks for your letter and its enclosure from A. Gray which
  • notions of natural Selection and would see whether it or my letter bears any date, I should be very
  • 55   My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter influenced by trumpery feelings. …
  • do a good deal to secure it. Darwin passes Grays letter to Hooker with a cringe. …
  • C DARWIN, 1819 AUGUST 1862 149 C DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER 26 JULY 1863 150
  • AUGUST 1865 172  C DARWIN TO A GRAY 16 APRIL 1866 173  C DARWIN TO ASA

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: 20 hits

  • Observers Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August
  • silkworm breeds, or peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to
  • observations of catsinstinctive behaviour. Letter 4258 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, …
  • to artificially fertilise plants in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to
  • be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . Letter 5745 - Barber, M. E. to
  • Expression from her home in South Africa. Letter 6736 - Gray, A. & J. L
  • Expression during a trip to Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., …
  • expression of emotion in her pet dog and birds. Letter 5817 - Darwin to Huxley, T. …
  • of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to Darwin, E., [8 November1872] …
  • Darwins behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to Darwin, [17 December 1872] …
  • little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 March 1864] …
  • and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von to Darwin, [4 December 1867] …
  • in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John
  • Men: Letter 385  - Wedgwood, S. E. & J. to Darwin, [10 November 1837] …
  • at Maer Hall, Staffordshire. Letter 1219  - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [3 February
  • The experiments were carried outat the suggestion of Dr Hookerand what little he has ascertained
  • 5254  - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin, [23 October 1866] German botanist Friedrich
  • Women: Letter 2345 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [20 October 1858] Darwin
  • of style. Letter 2461  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] Darwin
  • Letter 2475  - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [2 July 1859] Darwin returns the manuscript of

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: 19 hits

  • had surfaced since the fourth edition appeared at the end of 1866 and had told his cousin William
  • … & I am sick of correcting’ ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to W. D. Fox, 12 December [1868
  • he remarked to his best friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘If I lived 20 more years, & …
  • Well it is a beginning, & that is something’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869] ). …
  • Darwin sent a manuscript of his response (now missing) to Hooker, remarking: ‘I should be extremely
  • made any blunders, as is very likely to be the case’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 January 1869 ). …
  • principle (Nägeli 1865, pp. 289). In further letters, Hooker tried to provide Darwin with botanical
  • 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 Crolls theory. In the same letter to Croll, Darwin had expressed
  • do fairly well, though if I had read you first, perhaps I d  have been less deferential towards
  • males & females, cocks & hens.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 November [1869] ). Yet
  • … & contemptalmost hatred—’ ( from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May [1869] ). James
  • by Wallaces assertions: ‘If you had not told me I d  have thought that they had been added by
  • April 1869 ). Since his marriage to Annie Mitten in 1866, Wallace had become involved in the
  • … [her] to translateDomestic Animals”’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 November [1869] ). Angered by
  • poured boiling oil over the bumptious man’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker7 September 1869 ). Huxley
  • suggestions to its publisher, Macmillan ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 November 1869 ).  Darwin
  • when he was thrown by his horse. Having been advised in 1866 by the doctor Henry Bence Jones to go

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: 18 hits

  • of the five physicians Darwin had consulted in 1863. In a letter of 26[–7] March [1864] , Darwin
  • 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
  • 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] ). …
  • …  peduncles to test sensitivity, and in his request to Hooker for another specimen: ‘I want it
  • matters which routinists regard in the light of axioms’ ( letter from Daniel Oliver, [17 March 1864
  • plant morphology. Many of his other correspondents, such as Hooker and Gray, had grown accustomed to
  • long series of changes . . .’ When he told Asa Gray in a letter of 29 October [1864] that he was
  • the  Lythrum  paper was published, Darwin remarked to Hooker in a letter of 26 November [1864] …
  • letter of 22 October [1864] , Darwin triumphantly wrote to Hooker: ‘I will fight you to the death, …
  • by this case to add it to future publications, including the 1866 edition of  Origin . He
  • with his stipend being paid by Darwin himself ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [1 April 1864] ). …
  • often at odds with one another: ‘Gardeners are the very dl, & where two or three are gathered
  • enough to play your part  over  them’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 April 1864] ). …
  • … … they do require very careful treatment’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 April 1864 ). Nevertheless
  • that in giving I am hastening the fall’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 April 1864 ). In his
  • a first-class cabin for the journey ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 August 1864] ). Darwin

Scientific Practice

Summary

Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of
  • with detailed correspondence about barnacles. Letter 1514Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. …
  • of one idea. – cirripedes morning & night.” Letter 1480Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, …
  • on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. H
  • and difficulties of botanical experimentation. Letter 4895Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J
  • thinks seems probable. Letter 5173Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 2 Aug 1866
  • to be dichogamous. Letter 5429Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 4 Mar 1867
  • of other species. Letter 5480Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. R., 1 Apr 1867
  • Letter 5551Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. F. T., 26 May [1867] Darwin thanks Müller for
  • Letter 207Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D., 23 May 1833 Darwin tells Fox to buy a microscope. …
  • to geology. Letter 1018Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., [6 Nov 1846] Darwin
  • full of observations on barnacles and he would like to meet Hooker in London. Letter 1166
  • Owen might discuss the topic [in his contribution to J. F. W. Herschel, ed., Manual of scientific
  • superior”. Letter 1174Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 10 May 1848 Darwin
  • result of applying it to cirripede sexual systems. He tells Hooker that he sent Owen an account of
  • C. R. to Gould, A. A., 20 Aug [1849] Darwin thanks J. D. Dana for cirripede specimens. Darwin
  • This collection of letters, written between Darwin and Hooker whilst Darwin was preparing his
  • history. Letter 1202Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Oct [1848] Darwin writes
  • to specific name. Letter 1220Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., 3 Feb 1849 Hooker

Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute

Summary

Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … had been delivered to the publisher in the final week of 1866. It would take all of 1867 to correct …
  • … on human expression that he may have drawn up in late 1866. His correspondents were asked to copy …
  • … suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a Book’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 January [1867] …
  • … to the printer, but without the additional chapter. In a letter written on 8 February [1867] to …
  • … books,  Descent  and  Expression . In the same letter, Darwin revealed the conclusion to his …
  • … variation of animals and plants under domestication . In a letter to his son William dated 27 …
  • … of his brother’s embryological papers with his first letter to Darwin of 15 March 1867 , although …
  • … completely revised the German translation of  Origin  in 1866, would be called upon to translate  …
  • … tell me, at what rate your work will be published’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). This …
  • … to introduce the work to the German public ( letter from J. V. Carus, 15 April 1867 ). Darwin may …
  • … translate my book in preference to you’ ( letter to J. V. Carus, 18 April [1867] ). Darwin was not …
  • … Beagle  shipmate Bartholomew James Sulivan at Christmas 1866, Darwin had written at the end of the …
  • … the work I shall find it much better done by you than I c d  have succeeded in doing’ ( letter to …
  • … from T. H. Huxley, [before 7 January 1867] ). In February, Hooker asked whether Darwin had read it …
  • … work,  Generelle Morphologie der Organismen  (Haeckel 1866), contained much interesting material, …
  • … judgement he would subdue; that is yours’ ( letter from J. V. Carus, 5 April 1867 ). Darwin …
  • … alert (see  Correspondence  vol. 13, letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] and n. 4). …

Darwin and vivisection

Summary

Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … me) attack on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
  • … progress of physiology. He reiterated these concerns in a letter to Thomas Henry Huxley ten days …
  • … I love with all my heart’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to ?, 19 May [1871] ). As a …
  • … farmers and their staff (see Correspondence vol. 14, letter to a local landowner, [1866?] ). …
  • … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
  • … I shall not sleep to-night’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
  • … was a sensitive subject within Darwin’s family. In his letter of 14 January 1875 to Huxley, …
  • … ones (men of course) or I might get one or two’ (letter from Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe, 14 …
  • … to serve as the basis for a petition, and gave it to Huxley (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, …
  • … with Huxley, who produced a new sketch for a petition (letter from T. H. Huxley, [4 April 1875] ) …
  • … who drafted a memorial, sending it to Darwin on 7 April (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 7 …
  • … had already been prepared for the House of Lords (see letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, [11 April …
  • … scientific men’. Darwin sent a copy to Joseph Dalton Hooker requesting his approval as president of …
  • … his counsel: ‘we wd do whatever else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). …
  • … Sanderson both expressed their dismay at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , …
  • … version, and that only minor corrections had been made (letter to Lyon Playfair, 26 May 1875 , …

Controversy

Summary

The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … him as a bitter enemy. Darwin and Sedgwick Letter 2525 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … of a spirit of bravado, but a want of respect. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
  • … of brotherly love and as his true-hearted friend. Letter 2555 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … classes of facts”. Darwin and Owen Letter 2526 — Owen, Richard to Darwin, C. …
  • … the nature of such influences as “heterodox”. Letter 2575 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … his book “the law of higgledy-piggledy”. Letter 2580 — Darwin, C. R. to Owen, Richard, …
  • … his views now depends on men eminent in science. Letter 2767 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … prevail without such aggressive tactics. Letter 5500 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, E. P. …
  • … reader to take the side of the attacked person. Letter 5533 — Haeckel, E. P. A. to …
  • … of the matter, a vigorous attack is essential. Letter 5544 — Darwin, C. R. to Haeckel, …
  • … between Darwin and his close friends, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Charles Lyell, show that Darwin, who …
  • … political, and religious differences. Letter 2285 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 18 …
  • … MS, but Darwin will offer to send it to journal. Letter 2294 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … his views from anything Darwin wrote to him. Letter 2295 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …
  • … he does not feel this alters the justice of case. Letter 2299 — Hooker, J. D. & …
  • … reasons for arranging the joint presentation. Letter 2306 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … is now planning a 30-page abstract for a journal. Letter 2337 — Wallace, A. R. to …
  • … paper public unaccompanied by his own views. Letter 6024 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, C. …
  • … of minute variations and sexual selection. Letter 6033 — Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, …
  • … George Darwin’s notes on Wallace’s argument. Letter 6045 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, C. …
  • … and form new species without being isolated. Letter 6058 — Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, A. …
  • … relating to sterility that they will never agree. Letter 6095 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … cannot be increased through natural selection. Letter 6104 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …

'An Appeal' against animal cruelty

Summary

The four-page pamphlet transcribed below and entitled 'An Appeal', was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 September 1863]). The pamphlet, which protested against the cruelty of steel vermin…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … was composed jointly by Emma and Charles Darwin (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, [29 …
  • … of the pamphlet in August and September 1863 (see letter from G. B. Sowerby Jr to Emma Darwin, 22 …
  • … 1863, pp. 821–2, under the title `Vermin and traps' ( Letter no. 4282). The wording of the …
  • … and to 'a good many persons Squires Ladies & MPs' (see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D …
  • … more success with the campaign than she expected (see the letter from Emma Darwin to William Erasmus …
  • … 1865, p. 20). The competition was held again in 1865 and 1866, but still no single design fitted the …
  • … involved no more cruelty than the possible alternatives (see letter from E. L. Darwin, 7 September …
  • … to the RSPCA in 1852 for working horses with sore necks (see letter from Emma Darwin to William …
  • … 44, 54–5, 78, and Correspondence vol. 2, letter to W. D. Fox, 28 August [1837]). Later he …
  • … E. Darwin, 22 [September 1858], and this volume, letter to J. B. Innes, 1 September [1863]). …
  • … been identified; however, see letter from Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]. Only two …

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: 6 hits

  • … & yet all the genera have 1/2 a dozen synonyms’ ( letter to HE. Strickland, [4 February 1849] …
  • and explicit in the work of contemporary naturalists. In a letter to his friend Joseph Hooker, he
  • I believe, from trying to define the undefinable’ ( letter to  JD. Hooker, 24 December [1856] ). …
  • whether sterility could beselected’. In 1862, he told Hooker, ‘I am now strongly inclined to
  • of hybrids might be produced by natural selection ( letter from ARWallace, 1 March 1868 ). …
  • tosay no more but leave the problem as insoluble’ ( letter from ARWallace, 8 [April] 1868 ). …

3.5 William Darwin, photo 2

Summary

< Back to Introduction Darwin’s son William, who had become a banker in Southampton, took the opportunity of a short visit home to Down House in April 1864 to photograph his father afresh. This half-length portrait was the first to show Darwin with a…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … startled even close friends to whom Darwin sent prints. Hooker responded in jocular spirit: …
  • … change fundamentally the public’s perceptions of him. As Hooker had suggested with his allusion to …
  • … ‘Insane’ and ‘Idiotic’. Darwin himself, in a letter of 1848, had jested that an acquaintance with a …
  • … in The Quarterly Journal of Science in April 1866. This crayon-like drawing has a facsimile of …
  • … (but this was a cause of later confusion). According to a letter from Darwin’s daughter Henrietta to …
  • … vol. 2, Clark-Green, call no. gra00084. Darwin’s letter to Joseph Hooker, who was then in Calcutta, …
  • … and Gray’s reply, 11 July 1864 (DCP-LETT-4558). Darwin’s letter to Hooker, 10 June [1864], enclosing …

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Summary

George Eliot was the pen name of celebrated Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born on the outskirts of Nuneaton in Warwickshire and was educated at boarding schools from the age of five until she was 16. Her education ended when she…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … visitors (23 March 1873; Emma described his visit in a letter to Fanny Allen, [26 March 1873], DAR …
  • … it too hot and left before the manifestations started ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
  • … (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) and Charles Darwin’s letter to Francis Darwin, [1 May 1876] ). …

Discussion Questions and Essay Questions

Summary

There are a wide range of possibilities for opening discussion and essay writing on Darwin’s correspondence.  We have provided a set of sample discussion questions and essay questions, each of which focuses on a particular topic or correspondent in depth.…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … people? What sort of things could one say in a letter that could not be said in print, and …
  • … were more technical disagreements carried out in letters? [Hooker on geographic distribution of …
  • … selection, e.g. coloured seeds and fruit (Fritz Müller, 1866)] …
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