From Hensleigh Wedgwood [1868–70?]
Summary
Development of complex language does not require an early civilisation. [See Descent 1: 56ff.]
| Author: | Hensleigh Wedgwood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [1868–70?] |
| Classmark: | DAR 80: 164–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7040 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … of complex language does not require an early civilisation. [See Descent 1: 56ff. ] …
- … the argument in favour of an early civilisation from the complex nature of the rudest …
- … language structure and its relationship to civilisation found in Wake 1868 . CD scored the …
To H. K. Rusden [before 27 March 1875]
Summary
Thanks for copy of lecture (Rusden 1874: Selection, natural and artificial, a lecture delivered in the Wangaratta Athenaeum by Mr. H. K. Rusden on Monday, October 26th, 1874) and essay (Rusden 1872: The treatment of criminals in relation to science, an essay read before the Royal Society of Victoria).
Comments on the essay.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Keylock Rusden |
| Date: | [before 27 Mar 1875] |
| Classmark: | Ovens and Murray Advertiser, 27 March 1875, p. 5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9705F |
Matches: 3 hits
- … is no general tendency to progress in civilisation, which comes to nearly the same thing …
- … societies attained a higher degree of civilisation than some later ones, and that …
- … in historic times the progress of civilisation had been ‘intermittent’. Walter Bagehot …
To William Graham 3 July 1881
Summary
Praises WG’s Creed of science.
He disagrees that the existence of natural laws implies purpose, but his "inmost conviction" is that "the Universe is not the result of chance". But then has horrid doubt whether convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from lower animals, are at all trustworthy.
Believes natural selection is doing more for progress of civilisation than WG admits.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Graham |
| Date: | 3 July 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 345 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13230 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … Believes natural selection is doing more for progress of civilisation than WG admits. …
- … argued that the development of human civilisation depended upon great men, not natural …
- … and doing more for the progress of civilisation than you seem inclined to admit. Remember …
From B. J. Sulivan 23 February 1874
Summary
The Bishop of Falkland says the Fuegian natives’ health does not suffer through increased civilisation. Relates the Bishop’s observations on the state of Tierra del Fuego and its populace.
| Author: | Bartholomew James Sulivan |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Feb 1874 |
| Classmark: | DAR 177: 301 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9311 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … does not suffer through increased civilisation. Relates the Bishop’s observations on the …
- … s questions about the influence of European civilisation on the Fuegians. See also letter …
To John Crawfurd 25 March [1861]
Summary
Asks for information about JC’s essay, "On the relation of the domesticated animals to civilisation" [read at BAAS meeting 1859].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Crawfurd |
| Date: | 25 Mar [1861] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 299 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13786 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … On the relation of the domesticated animals to civilisation" [read at BAAS meeting 1859]. …
From G. C. Oxenden 8 April 1872
Summary
Wild plants that live at the edges of civilisation, e.g., forest flowers growing on grazed land, are always reduced in size.
| Author: | George Chichester Oxenden |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Apr 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 69 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8281 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Wild plants that live at the edges of civilisation, e.g. , forest flowers growing on …
From P. G. King 25 February 1869
Summary
CD’s queries on expression of aborigines were difficult to answer because he encounters mainly those touched by civilisation. Hopes CD did get answers.
| Author: | Philip Gidley King |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Feb 1869 |
| Classmark: | DAR 169: 28 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6635 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … because he encounters mainly those touched by civilisation. Hopes CD did get answers. …
From Patrick Matthew 3 December 1862
Summary
Apologises for not writing last summer. Scientific progress is all but complete. Our civilisation will fall now that it has reached the peak of its development.
| Author: | Patrick Matthew |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 3 Dec 1862 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 91 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3843 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … progress is all but complete. Our civilisation will fall now that it has reached the peak …
To J. D. Hooker 31 March [1858]
Summary
Writing section on large and small genera [for Natural selection, ch. 4].
Huxley supersedes Owen on parthenogenesis.
Buckle’s History of civilisation in England extremely interesting.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 31 Mar [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 230 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2248 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … on parthenogenesis. Buckle’s History of civilisation in England extremely interesting. …
From J. V. Carus 2 October 1870
Summary
The outbreak of war and war work have interfered with JVC’s scientific work.
Publisher does not, however, think the war will hurt success of Descent in Germany, and JVC asks for corrected sheets for his use in translating it.
Wishes struggle between Romanic and Teutonic races could be fought out in a form more appropriate to their cultures and civilisation.
| Author: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Oct 1870 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 76 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7332 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … races could be fought out in a form more appropriate to their cultures and civilisation. …
- … standing of their respective culture and civilisation. It is a most dreaful ‘struggle for …
To J. D. Hooker 23 February [1858]
Summary
Fertilisation of clover by bees in New Zealand.
Uneasy about biggest genera and their varieties.
H. T. Buckle’s sophistry [History of civilisation in England (1857)].
Working on bees’ cells.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 23 Feb [1858] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 224 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2222 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … H. T. Buckle’s sophistry [ History of civilisation in England (1857)]. Working on bees’ …
To L. H. Morgan 7 June 1871
Summary
Directions to Down.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Lewis Henry Morgan |
| Date: | 7 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | University of Rochester Libraries, Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7808 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … s views on the development of human civilisation (see Correspondence vol. 18, letter from …
To J. D. Hooker 13 November [1869]
Summary
Congratulates JDH on his becoming a C.B.
Hard at work on sexual selection – weary of everlasting males and females, cocks and hens.
Has read J. H. Stirling vs Huxley on protoplasm [As regards protoplasm (1869)]
and E. B. Tylor on survival of old thoughts in modern civilisation.
Bentham’s Linnean Society [Presidential] Address [see 6793] is worth its weight in gold in making converts. C. J. F. Bunbury is impressed by it.
Likes JDH’s review of K. F. Schimper’s work [Paléontologie végétale, in Nature 1 (1869): 48].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 13 Nov [1869] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 156–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6985 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … survival of old thoughts in modern civilisation. Bentham’s Linnean Society [Presidential] …
- … on the survival of old thought in modern Civilisation. — Farewell, I am as dull as a duck, …
To Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen 21 February 1871
Summary
Thanks HHHvZ for a memoir
and answers some queries;
mentions some corrections for his Dutch translation of Descent.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen |
| Date: | 21 Feb 1871 |
| Classmark: | Archives of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University (bMs 7.10.3(2)) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7500 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … me to the conclusion of the independent civilisation of Peru &c. I have already despatched …
- … He discusses & disputes whether the civilisation of W. coast of S. America is due to …
To J. D. Hooker 7 March [1862]
Summary
CD wishes he could sympathise with Asa Gray’s politics.
Orchids to appear soon.
Pre-glacial Arctic distribution.
Work on floral dimorphism.
High opinion of Buckle as a writer.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 7 Mar [1862] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 185 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3468 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … enemy’ of such progress, and thus of civilisation, is ‘the protective spirit’ found in the …
- … propositions concerning the history of civilisation: first, that human progress depends on …
From Louis Bouton 15 December 1871
Summary
Pleased to hear from CD. Sends more facts about the life and habits of the inhabitants of the Seychelles.
| Author: | Louis Sulpice (Louis) Bouton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Dec 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 260 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8107A |
Matches: 2 hits
- … la voie qu’on est convenu d’appeler civilisation . Les Seychellois vivaient donc presque …
- … far along the path that we agree to call civilisation . The Seychellois thus lived in near …
From W. B. Bowles 17 May 1877
Summary
Has read a German author’s exposition of CD’s theory.
Believes "missing link" between higher mammals and man consists of a race of "speaking monkeys" – akin to Africans – who pollute blood of better race and impede civilisation.
| Author: | William Burrows Bowles |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 May 1877 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 263 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10963 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … monkeys" – akin to Africans – who pollute blood of better race and impede civilisation. …
To John Fiske 17 August [1879]
Summary
Thanks JF again for his Essays, which he has now read.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Fiske |
| Date: | 17 Aug [1879] |
| Classmark: | The Huntington Library (HM 8268) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12196 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … s fallacies’); they critiqued the work of Henry Thomas Buckle on European civilisation. …
To J. P. M. Weale 23 January [1868]
Summary
Thanks for information on expression.
Poor progress of civilisation in South Africa. CD’s doubts and fears about democracy.
JPMW’s views on glaciation in S. Africa will discredit him unless supported by clearest evidence.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Philip Mansel Weale |
| Date: | 23 Jan [1868] |
| Classmark: | University of Virginia Library, Special Collections (3314 1: 50) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5795 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … information on expression. Poor progress of civilisation in South Africa. CD’s doubts and …
To John Lubbock 4 January [1863]
Summary
Praises JL’s article ["North American archaeology", Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 3 (1863): 1–26]
and Hugh Falconer on the American fossil elephant [Nat. Hist. Rev. n.s. 3 (1863): 43–114].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 4 Jan [1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 263: 58 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3900 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … man: researches into the origin of civilisation in the old and the new world. 2 vols. …
- … man: researches into the origin of civilisation in the old and new world ( D. Wilson …
| Darwin, C. R. | (25) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (3) |
| Sulivan, B. J. | (2) |
| Wallace, A. R. | (2) |
| Balfour, J. H. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (28) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (5) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Arnott, Neil | (2) |
| Gray, Asa | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (53) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
| Gray, Asa | (3) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Arnott, Neil | (2) |
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: 2 hits
- … conflicts such as the American Civil War. Gender and civilisation In his early …
- … contemporaries, he nonetheless clung to a single scale of civilisation on which different peoples …
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: 2 hits
- … ( Descent p. 233). Lubbock’s Origin of civilisation , published in 1870 as Darwin was …
- … the result of degeneration from a natural state of civilisation. Darwin used Lubbock's counter …
The evolution of a misquotation
Summary
We gave you six things Darwin never said (despite what you may read elsewhere). None of the fake soundbites is more insidious than the first: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is…
Matches: 1 hits
- … as a discussion of Darwin’s views in a 1960s textbook, Civilisation Past and Present , was quoted …
4.53 Claud Warren, 'Outlines of Hands'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Claud Warren’s The Life-size Outlines of the Hands of Twenty-four Celebrated Persons was a ‘portfolio’, circulated in varying editions in 1881-2. It is an amateurish and rather eccentric work, without typographic letterpress –…
Matches: 1 hits
- … he would probably have been burnt at the stake. Although civilisation has advanced since then, and …
'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: 2 hits
- … was one of the noblest moral qualities possessed by human civilisation. However, Darwin was not …
- … cruelty can have been permitted to continue in these days of civilisation; and no doubt if men of …
Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…
Matches: 2 hits
- … circumstances with no interesting technology, no advanced civilisation, speaking lowly languages. …
- … that all human peoples, no matter what the states of their civilisation, speak languages of more or …
Six things Darwin never said – and one he did
Summary
Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly attributed to Darwin that never flowed from his pen.
Matches: 1 hits
- … Spot the fakes! Darwin is often quoted – and as often misquoted. Here are some sayings regularly …
4.58 'Simian, savage' . . . drawings
Summary
< Back to Introduction An anonymous satire in the Darwin archive has been descriptively titled ‘Simian, savage and savant’. Darwin on the right, elegantly dressed and carrying a top hat, represents the acme of civilisation. The central, nearly naked,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … dressed and carrying a top hat, represents the acme of civilisation. The central, nearly naked, …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 2 hits
- … can co-exist with the most varied appliances of a complex civilisation.’ p. 77: ‘A deep debt …
- … can co-exist with the most varied appliances of a complex civilisation.’ The Review thus …
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … believes natural selection is doing more for progress of civilisation than Graham admits. …
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: 2 hits
- … on Navvies [C. M. Marsh] 1858] Buckle History of Civilisation [Buckle 1857] Feb. 28 …
- … practice; and its moral influence on the progress of civilisation . Edinburgh: William and …
Race, Civilization, and Progress
Summary
Darwin's first reflections on human progress were prompted by his experiences in the slave-owning colony of Brazil, and by his encounters with the Yahgan peoples of Tierra del Fuego. Harsh conditions, privation, poor climate, bondage and servitude,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilisation than you seem inclined to …
Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics
Summary
On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … paper giving a Darwinian view of the development of Western civilisation. Wilberforce, Hooker …
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: 1 hits
- … all over their bodies, which had receded with the advance of civilisation and good breeding ( …
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to the sterility of many wild animals when made captive. The civilisation of savages & the …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 1 hits
- … selection had not contributed greatly to the progress of civilisation was contested by Darwin, who …
