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From Berry Benson   9 February 1870

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Summary

Compliments Origin.

Sends extract about a waterplant to illustrate CD’s points about the means of dispersal in geographical distribution.

Author:  Berry Benson
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  9 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 160: 148
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7099

To Alfred Newton   9 February [1870]

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Summary

Was gratified "beyond measure" by AN’s comments on his pigeon chapter [in Variation] in the [Zoological] Record [5 (1868): 94–6]. AN is the first man capable of forming a judgment who seems to have thought anything of this part.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Alfred Newton
Date:  9 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  DAR 185: 90
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7100

From George P. Bissell   10 February 1870

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Summary

Sends information on the distribution of various species in the U. S.

Author:  George P. Bissell
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  10 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 205.3: 261 (Letters)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7101

From Robert Swinhoe   10 February 1870

Summary

Asks who the gentleman is who is studying cattle skulls; RS has some that he would like examined.

Author:  Robert Swinhoe
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  10 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 177: 334
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7102

From Alfred Newton   11 February 1870

Summary

Is glad to hear that CD is pleased with AN’s notice of his work on pigeons.

He will not soon forget the pleasure of his visit to Down.

Author:  Alfred Newton
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  11 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 172: 48
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7103

From Jane Loring Gray   14 February 1870

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Summary

About a dog she supposes was suckled by a cat, since it washes its face with its paws.

Author:  Jane Loring Gray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 80: 162–3
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7104

From Asa Gray   14 February 1870

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Summary

Louis Agassiz’s ill health means AG will not get an answer to CD’s query from him. Suggests CD ask Agassiz’s son, Alexander.

Has no details about the origin of the cat-like behaviour of his dog.

Author:  Asa Gray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 165: 173
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7105

From Edward Caldwell Rye   14 February 1870

Summary

Draws CD’s attention to a paper by Maurice Girard containing observations on the fertilisation of Orchidaceae by two species of Longicornia [Ann. Soc. Entomol. France 9 (1869): xxxi–xxxii].

Author:  Edward Caldwell Rye
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  14 Feb 1870
Classmark:  DAR 176: 228
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7106

From W. D. Fox   15 February [1870]

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Summary

Hopes CD is coping with the very hard winter.

Author:  William Darwin Fox
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  15 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  DAR 164: 190
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7107

From Fritz Müller   16 February 1870

Summary

Sends specimens of Passiflora and seeds for T. H. Farrer [letter enclosed with 7188].

Author:  Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  16 Feb 1870
Classmark:  Linnean Society of London
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7108

From William Swale   16 February [1870?]

Summary

Sends CD some notes on the habits of the "American Blight Bird" in New Zealand.

Author:  William Swale
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  16 Feb [1870?]
Classmark:  DAR 177: 324
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7109

From William Thierry Preyer   [before 17 February 1870]

Summary

Notes the differences in haemoglobin between species; this proves, to WP, that natural selection does not act only on morphological development.

Remarks on the differences and similarities in the effects of prussic acid on different groups of animals.

Questions CD on his early education and influences.

Author:  William Thierry (William) Preyer
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [before 17 Feb 1870]
Classmark:  DAR 261.11: 21 (EH 88206073)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7110

To Gustav Jäger   17 February 1870

Summary

Encloses his letter to GJ [6885], which was returned.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Gustav Jäger
Date:  17 Feb 1870
Classmark:  Frau Dr Hildegard Jaeger (private collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7111

To W. T. Preyer   17 February [1870]

Summary

Comments on effects of prussic acid on different individuals of the same species and other physiological research by WP.

Provides information about his studies in Edinburgh and Cambridge and qualifications he had for Beagle voyage. Describes influence of R. E. Grant and J. S. Henslow.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  William Thierry (William) Preyer
Date:  17 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  Ralph Colp Jr (private collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7112

From H. E. Darwin   [after 8 February 1870]

Summary

Responds to note about the MS [Descent] with great interest and promises to obey his instructions. [See 7124.]

Author:  Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta Emma Litchfield
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [after 8 February 1870]
Classmark:  DAR 245: 33b
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7112F

To W. D. Fox   18 February [1870]

Summary

Invites WDF to visit.

Describes activities of his children.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  William Darwin Fox
Date:  18 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  Isle of Wight Record Office (Ac 2008/79)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7113

From Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky   20 February [1870]

Summary

Moritz Wagner is going to attack selection theory in his new book on his travels in America [Naturwissenschaftliche Reisen im tropischen Amerika (1870)].

K. G. Semper may attack CD’s theory of coral islands.

Author:  Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский)
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  20 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  DAR 169: 60
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7114

To J. D. Hooker   21 February [1870]

Summary

Has read the notes on Rond [Round] Island which he owes to JDH. What an enigma its flora and fauna present, especially the problem of monocotyledons! Asks JDH’s opinion.

A new book on St Helena confirms CD’s observations.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  21 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  DAR 94: 164–6
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7115

To Robert Garner   22 February [1870–1]

Summary

Thanks for sending him a hybrid.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Robert Garner
Date:  22 Feb [1870-1]
Classmark:  University of Oklahoma Libraries History of Science Collections (bound into Garner 1844)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7115F

To James Orton   24 February [1870]

Summary

Thanks JO for his The Andes and the Amazon.

Is sorry he has failed to get any information on the horse’s tooth.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  James Orton
Date:  24 Feb [1870]
Classmark:  University of Oklahoma Libraries History of Science Collections
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-7116
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Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution

Summary

The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’.  Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The …
  • … shall be a man again & not a horrid grinding machine’  ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 December …
  • … anything which has happened to me for some weeks’  ( letter to Albert Günther, 13 January [1870] ) …
  • … corrections of style, the more grateful I shall be’  ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ) …
  • … who wd ever have thought that I shd. turn parson?’ ( letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February 1870] ). …
  • … abt any thing so unimportant as the mind of man!’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [after 8 February …
  • … thro’ apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind’ ( letter to F. P. Cobbe, 23 March [1870?] …
  • … how metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?’ ( letter from F. P. Cobbe, 28 March [1870
  • … in thanks for the drawing ( Correspondence  vol. 16, letter to J. D. Hooker, 26 November [1868] …
  • … patients, but it did not confirm Duchenne’s findings ( letter from James Crichton-Browne, 15 March …
  • … muscle’, he complained, ‘is the bane of existence!’ ( letter to William Ogle, 9 November 1870 ). …
  • … to their belief that all demons and spirits were white ( letter from W. W. Reade, 9 November 1870
  • … . . Could you make it scream without hurting it much?’ ( letter to A. D. Bartlett, 5 January [1870] …
  • … or crying badly; but I fear he will not succeed’ ( letter to James Crichton-Browne, 8 June [1870] …
  • … Lucy Wedgwood, who sent a sketch of a baby’s brows ( letter from L. C. Wedgwood, [5 May 1870] ). …
  • … is the inclination to finish my note on this subject’  ( letter from F. C. Donders, 17 May 1870 ). …

Darwin’s queries on expression

Summary

When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…

Matches: 28 hits

  • … handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller, 22 February …
  • … Correspondence about Darwin’s Questionnaire (click on the letter dates to see the individual letters …
  • … Correspondent Letter date Location …
  • … Africa)? ] mentioned in JPM Weale letter, but Bowker's answers not found …
  • … Brooke, C.A.J. 30 Nov 1870 Sarawak, Borneo …
  • … Woolston, Southampton, England letter to W.E. Darwin shrugging …
  • … Square W London, England enclosed in a letter from Henry Maudsley …
  • … Crichton-Browne, James 15 March 1870 West Riding …
  • … Crichton-Browne, James 18 March 1870 Down, Kent, …
  • … Donders, F.C. 27 May 1870 Utrecht, Netherlands …
  • … Forbes, David 13 June 1870 Portman Square, London W. …
  • … South Africa possibly included in letter from Mansel Weale …
  • … Peradeniya, Ceylon enclosed in letter from G.H.K. Thwaites …
  • … Egypt] possibly included in letter(s) from Asa Gray Nile …
  • … Lake Wellington, Australia letter to F.J.H. von Mueller nodding, …
  • … Abbey Place, London, England letter to Emma Darwin baby expression …
  • … Penmaenmawr, Conway, Wales letter to Emma Darwin infant daughter …
  • … Square W, London, England Enclosed letter from Dr. C. Browne …
  • … Nicol, Patrick 13 May 1870 Sussex Lunatic Asylum, …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. [c.8 or 9 Apr 1870] Accra, West …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 4 June 1870 Lagos, Africa …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 3 Sept 1870 Conservative Club, St …
  • … Reade, Winwood W. 9 Nov 1870 11 St Mary Abbot's …
  • … W., London, England enclosed in letter from W. W. Reade Hottentots …
  • … Weale, J.P.M. [25 May 1870] Bedford, Cape of Good …
  • … Weir, J.J. 27 June 1870 Blackheath, London, England …
  • … England (about Australia) encloses letter from Austrialian friend, letter not …
  • … forwarded by Smyth; Wilson sent letter to Ferdinand von Mueller Victoria Aborigines …

Women as a scientific audience

Summary

Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … Were women a target audience? Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] …
  • … Tollet for proofreading and criticisms of style. Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. …
  • … her to read to check that she can understand it. Letter 7312 - Darwin to Darwin, F. …
  • … from all but educated, typically-male readers. Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E …
  • … he seeks her help with tone and style. Letter 7329 - Murray , J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 7331 - Darwin to Murray, …
  • … he uses to avoid ownership of indelicate content. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to …
  • … so as not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. to …
  • … Darwin’s female readership Letter 5391 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [6 February …
  • … of the Manchester Ladies Literary Society . Letter 6551 - Becker, L. E . to …
  • … the chapter on pangenesis, which is a revelation. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. …
  • … Darwin assumes that 'A. B. Blackwell' is a man. Letter 7177 - Cupples, G. to …
  • … him to the psychology of Herbert Spencer. Letter 7624 - Bathoe, M . B. to Darwin …
  • … his statements on a lack of reasoning in animals. Letter 7644 - Barnard, A. to …
  • … during a visit to an asylum with her father. Letter 7651 - Wedgwood, F. J. to …
  • … on any comments that she feels might be suitable. Letter 7411 - Pfeiffer, E. J. to …
  • … and beauty in the process of sexual selection. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8778 - Forster, L. M . to Darwin, H. …
  • … and the showing of teeth in Expression . Letter 10072 - Pape, C. to …
  • … and hopes Darwin will complete her questionnaire. Letter 10390 - Herrick, S. M. B. …
  • … of questions which she hopes aren’t too silly. Letter 10415 - Darwin to Herrick, S. …
  • … and is pleased that his work has interested her. Letter 10508 - Treat, M. to Darwin …
  • … it nearly all night before she could lay it down. Letter 13547 - Tanner, M. H. …
  • … involving worms which occurred in her garden. Letter 13650 Kennard, C. A. to Darwin …
  • … Reading Variation Letter 5712 - Dallas, W. S. to Darwin, [8 December 1867] …

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: 29 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 cats’ instinctive 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. …
  • … is making similar observations for him. Letter 6535 - Vaughan Williams , M. S. …
  • … of a crying baby to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, …
  • … briefly on her ongoing observations of wormholes. Letter 8611 - Cupples, A. J. …
  • … expression of emotion in dogs with Emma Darwin. Letter 8676 - Treat, M. to Darwin, …
  • … birds, insects or plants on Darwin’s behalf. Letter 8683 - Roberts, D. to …
  • … of an angry pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, …
  • … that she make observations of her pet cats. Letter 8989 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … on her experiments with fly-catching Drosera . Letter 9426 - Story …
  • … without the birds attacking the buds and flowers. Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to …
  • … and her father of plants and insects. Men: Letter 2221 - Blyth, E. to Darwin …
  • … specimens and bird observations from Calcutta. Letter 3634 - Darwin to Gray, A., [1 …
  • … “enthusiasm and indomitable patience”. Letter 4242 - Hildebrand, F. H. G. to Darwin …
  • … contained in “a little treatise”. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [26-27 …
  • … he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 5602 - Sutton, S. to …
  • … expression of emotion in chimpanzees and orangs. Letter 5705 - Haast, J. F. J. von …
  • … to show in his museum in Canterbury, New Zealand. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to …
  • … to be attracted to dark spots on the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. …
  • … the black letters in a marble tablet”. Letter 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July …
  • … Fieldwork Women: Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June …
  • Letter 7124 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [8 February 1870] Darwin seeks Henrietta’s …
  • Letter 7123 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [March 1870] Darwin thanks his daughter, …

Francis Darwin

Summary

Known to his family as ‘Frank’, Charles Darwin’s seventh child himself became a distinguished scientist. He was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, initially studying mathematics, but then transferring to natural sciences.  Francis completed…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … honours in the natural sciences tripos in December 1870. The small amount of surviving …
  • … so bothersome an old fellow as I daresay I appear to you’ (letter to Francis Darwin,  18 October …
  • … of our unfortunate family being fit for continuous work” (letter from E. A. Darwin, 25 September …

Jane Gray

Summary

Jane Loring Gray, the daughter of a Boston lawyer, married the Harvard botanist Asa Gray in 1848 and evidence suggests that she took an active interest in the scientific pursuits of her husband and his friends. Although she is only known to have…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … botanists such as George Bentham and Francis Boott.  In one letter Bentham reported to her on the  …
  • … of  ‘about  40 ladies  and a few gentlemen’ (letter to Jane Gray from George Bentham, 10 March …
  • … sending him observations about the behaviour of her dog (letter from J. L. Gray, 14 February 1870
  • … of Darwin’s current research preoccupations. In their letter to Darwin from Egypt, Jane Gray wrote: …
  • … The other women only the up & down wrinkles— (letter from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 …
  • … whilst I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games. (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ) …
  • … boys and for the gift of pincushions sent back with them (letter from Emma Darwin to Jane Gray, 28 …

Casting about: Darwin on worms

Summary

Earthworms were the subject of a citizen science project to map the distribution of earthworms across Britain (BBC Today programme, 26 May 2014). The general understanding of the role earthworms play in improving soils and providing nutrients for plants to…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … book Darwin claimed had ‘much influence on my mind’ ( letter to W. T. Preyer, 17 February [1870 ]) …
  • … whole soul is absorbed with worms just at present!’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton Dyer, 23 November …
  • … ‘worms have much bigger souls than anyone wd suppose’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 31 January [1881] …

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: 4 hits

  • … 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] ). …

Darwin and Gender Projects by Harvard Students

Summary

Working in collaboration with Professor Sarah Richardson and Dr Myrna Perez, Darwin Correspondence Project staff developed a customised set of 'Darwin and Gender' themed resources for a course on Gender, Sex and Evolution first taught at Harvard…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … or corrections of style, the more grateful I shall be.”(Letter to Darwin, H. E., [8 Feb 1870] ) …
  • … exchanges that he marked as “for your private use.” (Letter to Kennard, C.A., 9 Jan 1882 ) In …
  • … attitude to women’s education. See, for example, a letter that he wrote to Elinor Mary Dicey in …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
  • … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
  • … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
  • … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
  • … the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
  • … Anderson is “neither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
  • … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
  • … narrative so not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
  • … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
  • … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …

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: 7 hits

  • … for the eyes, so as to show the wrinkles round them’ ( letter to A. D. Kindermann, [27 March 1871] …
  • … 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

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: 5 hits

  • … depends’ ( From Fritz Müller, 15 June 1869 ). By May 1870, Darwin reported that he was ‘rearing …
  • … of English fertile plants’ ( To Fritz Müller, 12 May 1870 ). From a fairly early stage in …
  • … 17 March [1867] ). He noted another factor in a letter to Gray, remarking, ‘I am going on with my …
  • … [1873] ). In September, Darwin wrote a long letter to Nature commenting on a seemingly …
  • … A. R. Wallace, 13 December 1876 ). No reply to this letter has been found, but Darwin had long …

John Lubbock

Summary

John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring property of Down House, Down, Kent; the total of one hundred and seventy surviving letters he went on to exchange with Darwin is a large number considering that the two men lived…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … ideas to humans.  After his election as MP for Maidstone in 1870, Lubbock tried at Darwin’s request …
  • … Lubbock’s Origin of civilisation , published in 1870 as Darwin was completing Descent, was …
  • … good of my internal viscera’ ( to John Lubbock, 21 July [1870] ). It seems what principally gave …
  • … William, up in a banking career, and Darwin's last known letter to John Lubbock, sent …
  • … down.”   In the last year of his life Darwin provided a letter of introduction for Lubbock's …

Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870

Summary

This selection of Charles Darwin’s letters includes correspondence with his friends and scientific colleagues around the world; letters by the critics who tried to stamp out his ideas, and by admirers who helped them to spread. It takes up the story of…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … to confide in his closest friends and associates by letter. The letters in this volume speak …
  • … you owe any more … Darwin to his son Francis, 1870. …

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: 10 hits

  • … pp. 371 – 372. Selected letters Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A …
  • … to determine the heritability of dark eyebrows. Letter 489 – Darwin to …
  • … her presence will have on his life and character. Letter 5670f - Darwin to Kingsley …
  • … from a single hermaphroditic progenitor.    Letter 7123 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., …
  • … on the mental powers of man and lower animals. Letter 7329 – Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … in order to minimise impeding general perusal. Letter 8146 – Darwin to Treat, M., …
  • … her on the publication of her work on Drosera. Letter 10546 – Darwin to Editor of …
  • … of experimentation to the progress of physiology. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 11267f – Darwin, S. to …
  • … take lessons in housekeeping from Mrs Cutting.  Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C …

Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small

Summary

In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … ‘I feel a very old man, & my course is nearly run’ ( letter to Lawson Tait, 13 February 1882 ) …
  • … fertility of crosses between differently styled plants ( letter from Fritz Müller, 1 January 1882 …
  • … François Marie Glaziou (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 20 …
  • … quite untirable & I am glad to shirk any extra labour’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 6 January …
  • … probably intending to test its effects on chlorophyll ( letter to Joseph Fayrer, 30 March 1882 ). …
  • … we know about the life of any one plant or animal!’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). He …
  • … of seeing the flowers & experimentising on them’ ( letter to J. E. Todd, 10 April 1882 ). …
  • … find stooping over the microscope affects my heart’ ( letter to Henry Groves, 3 April 1882 ). …
  • … sooner or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The …
  • … leaves into their burrows ( Correspondence vol. 29, letter from J. F. Simpson, 8 November 1881 …
  • … on the summit, whence it rolls down the sides’ ( letter from J. F. Simpson, 7 January 1882 ). The …
  • … light on it, which would have pleased me greatly’ ( letter from J. H. Gilbert, 9 January 1882, …
  • … annelid seemed to have rather the best of the fight’ ( letter from G. F. Crawte, 11 March 1882 ). …
  • … by the American educator Emily Talbot (Talbot ed. 1882). His letter to Talbot written the previous …
  • … by the flippant witlings of the newspaper press’ ( letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice …
  • … men, and their role as providers for the family. In his letter, he conceded that there was ‘some …
  • … of our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
  • … she be fairly judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January …
  • … he has allied himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 …
  • … Would my actions be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February …
  • … a solid scientific foundation cannot be overestimated’ ( letter to William Jenner, 20 March [1882] …
  • … to delight in his children’s accomplishments. In a letter to Anthony Rich, he shared several of his …
  • … to take a long trip to Jamaica ‘for complete rest’ ( letter to Anthony Rich, 4 February 1882 ). …
  • … contents of bats?’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, 14 March 1870 ). One of Darwin’s other great …
  • … much of him’ ( letter to George Cupples, 20 September [1870] ). Despite Darwin’s insistence …

Photograph album of Dutch admirers

Summary

Darwin received the photograph album for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from his scientific admirers in the Netherlands. He wrote to the Dutch zoologist Pieter Harting, An account of your countrymen’s generous sympathy in having sent me on my…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … the present has given me & my family lasting pleasure. ( Letter to Pieter Harting, 19 March …
  • … Society) was chosen to co-ordinate the initiative, and a letter was circulated to potential …
  • … have also fallen on fertile soil in the Netherlands. ( Letter from A. A. van Bemmelen and H. J.  …
  • … of Natural Filosofy ’. Darwin welcomed the letter, replying: It is the highest …
  • … to interest other students, especially the younger ones. ( Letter to J. C. Costerus and N. D. …
  • … sent him a photograph of the two of them with Darwin’s letter . Another young man, Theodor Wilhelm …
  • … sees them for some are about 2 feet across!—  ( Letter from C. W. Thomson, 30 June 1877 ) …
  • … edition which has been any where published ( Letter to Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, …
  • … Your loss is irreparable, & I feel deeply for you. ( Letter to F. C. Donders, 19 May 1870 ) …

Darwin on race and gender

Summary

Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … ( Beagle diary , p. 143). He was delighted to receive a letter from an African correspondent …
  • … and Progress Key letters: Letter to J. S. Henslow, 11 April 1833 …
  • … Correspondence with women Key letters : Letter to H. E. Darwin, [8 February …

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: 3 hits

  • … London Photographic Society, February 12, 1863. Darwin’s letter to his daughter Henrietta of 20 …
  • … of Manchester, English MS 1404, pp. 52–3, with a letter to Dresser from Darwin, dated 10 Sept. 1875 …
  • … Photograph: Authenticity, Science and the Periodical Press, 1870 – 1890 (London and New York: …

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,…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … save another. Letters Letter 7048 : Darwin, W. E., to Darwin, …
  • … but rather in a muddle on the whole subject" Letter 7645 : Morley, John to Darwin, …
  • … but 'in the air' from generation to generation." Letter 7685 : Darwin to …
  • … that man ever existed as a non-social animal." Letter 7691 , Morley, John, to …
  • … the moral sense, at a time when Paris is aflame". Letter 7145 : Darwin to Cobbe, F. …
  • … apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind." Letter 7149 : Cobbe, F. P. to …
  • … metaphysics & physics form one great philosophy?" Letter 7470 : Wedgwood, …
  • … which look with reverence or respect is shame." Letter 7537 : Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … dissatisfied with himself & regret his conduct." Letter 9377 : Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … the same so-called instinctive nature as before?" Letter 12610 : Preston, S. T. to …
  • … or random) is Self or Self-Interest." Letter 12615 : Darwin, C. R. to Preston, …
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