To Charles Lyell 18 [and 19 February 1860]
Summary
Encloses reviews by Asa Gray and Bronn. Comments on Bronn review. Mentions review by Wollaston.
Comments on paper by W. H. Harvey in Gardeners’ Chronicle [(1860): 145–6]. Discusses Harvey’s belief in the permanence of monsters.
Discusses CL’s objection that still-living primitive forms failed to develop.
The survival of Lepidosiren and other primitive types of fish and mammals.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 18 and 19 Feb 1860 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.199) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2703 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … p. 353). CD discussed his belief that monstrosities could not give rise to new specific …
- … by doubting , because all cases of monstrosities which resemble normal structures, which I …
- … supposes) of the seedlings inherited his monstrosity natural selection would be necessary …
To Charles Lyell 23 February [1860]
Summary
Gradation in the eye.
Hooker intends to reply [to W. H. Harvey’s article in Gard. Chron. (1860): 145–6].
Discusses Aspicarpa with respect to correlation.
Comments on monstrous animals.
Discusses objections of Bronn and Asa Gray to natural selection. Cites parallel between natural selection and Newton’s concept of gravitation.
Mentions German experiments on spontaneous generation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 23 Feb [1860] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.200) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2707 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … You ask, ( I see) why we do not have monstrosities in higher animals; but when they live …
- … recently published a letter about monstrosities ( Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural …
To Charles Lyell 6 August [1861]
Summary
Bentham has sent a damaged spurless Orchis pyramidalis; asks CL to send another. Fears they are irregular monsters. [See Orchids, pp. 47–8.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 6 Aug [1861] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 698) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3227 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … s letter, was this very variety and monstrosity. But though we have picked two or three …
From Charles Lyell 19 June 1860
Summary
Sees Huxley’s deification of matter and force as a reaction to the way Paley likened the "Unknown Cause" to the mind of man so that new causes could be introduced. If you wish to retain free will which is inconsistent with constant law, Paley’s position is better. Free will is a recently introduced cause on our planet. It cannot be fully attributed to secondary causes.
What CD says about the variation in gestation of the hound is remarkable.
The astonishing fertile rabbit–hare hybrids encourage belief in Pallas’s theory of the multiple origin of dogs.
Does the regularity of gestation in man indicate a common stock?
Hooker’s observation of absence of forms peculiar to extra-Arctic Greenland indicates that the time since the beginning of the glacial period is brief in geological terms.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 19 June 1860 |
| Classmark: | The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/6: 117–23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2837A |
Matches: 1 hit
- … perpetuate pouter pigeons, & other monstrosities, would have been scouted by a philosopher …
From Charles Lyell 5 May 1869
Summary
Recalls Cuvier’s reaction to Principles of geology.
Comments on Wallace’s article in the Quarterly Review [see 6684].
Not opposed to ARW’s idea that Supreme Will might direct variation.
Quotes passage in letter from ARW arguing for causes other than selection in determining human abilities.
Discusses excavation of lakes by glaciers.
J. P. Lesley does not believe ice-sheets involved in eroding Appalachians.
| Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 May 1869 |
| Classmark: | Lyell 1881, 2: 441; DAR 85: A100–1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6728 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … should be permitted to give rise to a monstrosity like the pouter pigeon & to cause it to …
| letter | (5) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Lyell, Charles | (2) |
| Lyell, Charles | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (5) |
| Lyell, Charles |
Darwin and Design
Summary
At the beginning of the nineteenth century in Britain, religion and the sciences were generally thought to be in harmony. The study of God’s word in the Bible, and of his works in nature, were considered to be part of the same truth. One version of this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Buckland remarked that the animal was an ‘apparent monstrosity of external form’. But he argued that …
Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson
Summary
[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I saw “ravenous monsters of Sharks” – their monstrosity consisting in their having two terrible …
Review: The Origin of Species
Summary
- by Asa Gray THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (American Journal of Science and Arts, March, 1860) This book is already exciting much attention. Two American editions are announced, through which it will become familiar to many…
Matches: 1 hits
- … detriment of its native vigor, or to the extent of practical monstrosity, although we secure forms …
Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours
Summary
Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … mother, the subjects of Siebold’s study of medical monstrosity ( letter from C. T. E. Siebold, 10 …
