To J. H. Gilbert 5 February 1881
Summary
Asks whether vegetable mould has an acid reaction. The contents of intestines of earthworms and castings are acid, which leads him to inquire about mould.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Henry Gilbert |
| Date: | 5 Feb 1881 |
| Classmark: | Rothamsted Research (GIL13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13038 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … Asks whether vegetable mould has an acid reaction. The contents of …
- … intestines of earthworms and castings are acid, which leads him to inquire about mould. …
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … with a question. It is, whether vegetable mould, such as occurs close beneath the roots of …
- … well drained place on my Lawn, where the mould was distinctly acid. — I ask because I have …
- … chalk) & this leads me to wish to know about mould. I have read that the humus acids, (to …
From J. V. Carus 6 December 1881
Summary
Lists errata in Earthworms, which he is translating.
| Author: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 161: 116 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13533 |
Matches: 8 hits
- … The word ‘mould’ in the …
- … phrase ‘dark-coloured mould’ has not been changed to ‘humus’ in either of these printings. …
- … Earthworms (1882): The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … ask you what difference you make between mould and humus ? In the most places you use both …
- … l.6 you add (in the proof sheets), to the word “mould”, “ or humus ”, and on the very same …
- … you insert (line 14), ‘humus’ instead of mould. This puzzles me. The translation will be …
- … thousand), p. 103, and Earthworms (1882) , p. 105, the phrase ‘mould or humus’ is used. …
- … 1882. Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
From Arthur Hall 5 December 1881
Summary
Vegetable mould covering paving-stones in Oxfordshire lanes accumulated over 14 or 16 centuries.
| Author: | Arthur Hall |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 5 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 88 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13531 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Vegetable mould covering paving-stones in Oxfordshire lanes accumulated over 14 or 16 …
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … Street | London S.E. Dec 5/81 “Vegetable Mould &c” Dear Sir Many of the minor Roman Roads …
- … surface has thus become covered with mould in sufficient quantity to support abundant …
From A. C. Horner 23 December 1881
Summary
Detailed criticism of Earthworms.
| Author: | Arthur Claypon Horner |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 268 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13578 |
Matches: 9 hits
- … Earthworms (1882): The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … there ought to be both more and larger stones in the “mould” at the bottom than at …
- … the top near the “superficial mould”, but the diagram does not represent it to be so. At …
- … 1882. Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … its appearance as represented. The layer of vegetable mould is clearly defined. Beneath it …
- … is a mass (25 1 2 inches thick) of “dark brown mould”. In the …
- … the walls project into this “dark brown mould” on the north or upper side about half way ( …
- … 12 inches or more) Now, if this state of “mould” had been brought about by long continued …
- … to be incorrect, I should expect to find the “mould” gradually shelving off from the upper …
To T. H. Farrer 18 January 1881
Summary
Asks THF to obtain sample of chalk immediately below vegetable mould at Abinger.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer |
| Date: | 18 Jan 1881 |
| Classmark: | Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/32) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13016 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Asks THF to obtain sample of chalk immediately below vegetable mould at Abinger. …
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … fragments, immediately beneath the vegetable mould. I want to ascertain the percentage of …
- … hear what the thickness of the vegetable mould is, measured from the upper surface, at the …
From J. P. Taylor 14 November 1881
Summary
Thinks CD overestimates earthworms’ role in creating mould. Gives some observations on worms and questions about their breeding habits.
| Author: | John Pitt Taylor |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 14 Nov 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 178: 55 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13483 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … CD overestimates earthworms’ role in creating mould. Gives some observations on worms and …
- … Earthworms (1882): The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … 1882. Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … that in accounting for the formation of mould you have scarcely made sufficient allowance …
From A. R. Wallace 18 October 1881
Summary
Thanks for book [Earthworms]. Asks whether leaf-mould is not formed by decay as well as by the agency of worms.
| Author: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 106: B156–7 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13413 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … for book [ Earthworms ]. Asks whether leaf-mould is not formed by decay as well as by the …
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … not see that you refer to the formation of leaf-mould by the mere decay of leaves &c. In …
- … it not take part in the formation of all mould? & also the decay of the roots of grasses & …
To J. V. Carus 8 December 1881
Summary
Thanks JVC for his corrections of "stupid errata" [in Earthworms]. Explains, in answer to JVC’s query, that he has used the word "humus" as the equivalent of vegetable mould.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Julius Victor Carus |
| Date: | 8 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Slg. Darmstaedter Lc 1859: Darwin, Charles, Bl. 197–198) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13537 |
To Francis Darwin 22–3 May 1881
Summary
Is sending chapter [of Earthworms] for FD to look over.
Comments on FD’s work on movements of mould.
Is glad to hear about Julius von Sachs and the circumnutation theory.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 22–3 May 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 75 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13170 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … over. Comments on FD’s work on movements of mould. Is glad to hear about Julius von Sachs …
- … 473–80. Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … papers coming out about the movements of mould. It will have the great advantage of …
- … Elfving ’s research on the movement of the mould Phycomyces nitens to Julius Wortmann , …
From Karl Möbius 25 October 1881
Summary
Thanks for presentation copy of Earthworms.
| Author: | Karl August (Karl) Möbius |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 25 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 200 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13431 |
From H. N. Moseley 27 November 1881
Summary
Thanks CD for support in his election as Linacre Professor at Oxford.
J. Y. Buchanan, of the Challenger, says deep-sea red mud is fine because, like CD’s vegetable mould, it has been digested by worms and echinoderms.
Visited by John MacNeile Price, the son of CD’s friend from Chile, Mr Price; the son is now Surveyor General of Hong Kong.
| Author: | Henry Nottidge Moseley |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 27 Nov 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 262 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13516 |
To J. H. Gilbert 15 March 1881
Summary
Returns the two books JHG had lent him. "I can plainly see I had better say nothing about the acidity of common mould."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Henry Gilbert |
| Date: | 15 Mar 1881 |
| Classmark: | Rothamsted Research (GIL13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13087 |
From J. W. Judd 10 October 1881
Summary
Thanks and praises CD for Earthworms.
| Author: | John Wesley Judd |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 168: 88 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13389 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … their habits. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1881. ‘Formation of mould’: On the …
- … formation of mould. [Read 1 November 1837. ] Transactions of the Geological Society of …
- … published in 1837, was ‘Formation of mould’ . The same error had been pointed out by Henry …
From T. M. Reade 6 November 1881
Summary
Praise for Earthworms.
| Author: | Thomas Mellard Reade |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Nov 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 32 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13465 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … 6 1881 My dear Sir— I have read your book on Mould & Earthworms with a wonderful amount of …
- … the rootlets have grown? Between the clay & the peat there is in places mould 6in thick in …
- … others hardly any— This mould must have been the work of worms— Unfortunately there are no …
To Nicolai Krohn 18 December 1881
Summary
"The number of worms in your garden is astonishing … it will be an interesting observation, how soon the land is again stocked with worms, & whether the grass grows better before this happens. – I neglected to observe whether worms distruct [disturb?] the roots of grasses. – You will probably be able to borrow … my book On the Formation of Vegetable Mould … in which … you will find a good deal about the natural history of worms."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Nicolai Krohn |
| Date: | 18 Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | J. A. Stargardt (dealers) (24 and 25 November 1981) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13561 |
From Victor Hensen 10 October 1881
Summary
Thanks CD for Earthworms. Not convinced that worms derive nutrition from eating soil.
| Author: | Christian Andreas Victor (Victor) Hensen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 146 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13392 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Earthworms : The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
- … für Ihr Werk: The formation of vegetable mould. Ich habe dasselbe, wie Sie sich denken …
- … that worms could subsist on vegetable mould. See Earthworms , pp. 60–4. In Earthworms , CD …
- … for your work: The formation of vegetable mould. As you can imagine, I read it with the …
From D. J. Wintle [before 9] December 1881
Summary
Earthworms leave their burrows on hearing rifle volleys.
| Author: | Douglas James Wintle |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 9] Dec 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 181: 132 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13539 |
From ? [March 1881]
Summary
Notes on the thickness of mould on the slope of the inland side of Beachy Head.
| Author: | Unidentified |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Mar 1881] |
| Classmark: | DAR 65: 76 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13070 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Notes on the thickness of mould on the slope of the inland side of Beachy Head. …
From Edmund Mojsisovics von Mojsvár 10 November 1881
Summary
Thanks for Earthworms.
| Author: | Johann August Georg Edmund (Edmund) Mojsisovics von Mojsvár |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Nov 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 228 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13477 |
From Hugo de Vries 15 October 1881
Summary
Thanks for Earthworms.
HdeV is studying the causes of variation in plants and is very interested in Pangenesis.
| Author: | Hugo de Vries |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 Oct 1881 |
| Classmark: | DAR 180: 26 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13402 |
| letter | (182) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (78) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (10) |
| John Murray | (10) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (7) |
| Darwin, Francis | (6) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (103) |
| Darwin, Francis | (14) |
| Carus, J. V. | (7) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (7) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (181) |
| Darwin, Francis | (20) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (17) |
| John Murray | (17) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (14) |
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…
Matches: 7 hits
- … letters relating to Darwin's 1881 publication Vegetable mould and earthworms . …
- … casting fieldwork. Her work was referenced in Vegetable Mould and Earthworms but she was …
- … fieldwork. Her work is referenced in Vegetable Mould but she was identified only as …
- … fieldwork and observations are referenced in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12742 …
- … referenced the work of "My son Horace" in Vegetable Mould . Letter …
- … habits of worms” referenced anonymously in Vegetable Mould . Letter 12760 - …
- … William’s work is proudly referenced in Vegetable Mould . …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin wrote, snappily-titled The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 5 hits
- … As his final published work, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms was a …
- … Papers Darwin, C.R. 1840. On the formation of mould. Transactions of the Geological Society …
- … the hearing power of worms. In Chapter 1 of Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms , Darwin …
- … observe the effect of vibrations upon worms. In Vegetable Mould and Earth-worms Darwin wrote: …
- … vibrations! [1] Charles Darwin, Vegetable Mould and Earth-Worms (London: John …
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: 1 hits
- … Mary Tanner tells Darwin that she has read his Vegetable Mould and Worms “with great …
4.38 Franz Goedecker, caricature
Summary
< Back to Introduction In a caricature by the German artist Franz Goedecker, Darwin stands in front of a desk, confronting a monkey with a face resembling his own. It holds his book on earthworms, and is squatting on a copy of a German translation,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Berlin. The reference to The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms fixes …
4.41 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 2
Summary
< Back to Introduction In October 1881, Darwin was included in Linley Sambourne’s series of ‘Punch’s Fancy Portraits’ of celebrities as No. 54. While the caption recurs to the old theme of Darwin’s views on human ancestry, the drawing contains a more…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to his just-published book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms. This …
Volume 29 (1881) is published!
Summary
In October 1881, Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with observations on their habits. A slim volume on a subject that many people could understand and on which they had their own opinions, it went…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin published his last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms: with …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of Darwin’s last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , …
Darwin and Down
Summary
Charles and Emma Darwin, with their first two children, settled at Down House in the village of Down (later ‘Downe’) in Kent, as a young family in 1842. The house came with eighteen acres of land, and a fifteen acre meadow. The village combined the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … between species. His last publication, The formation of mould through the action of earthworms …
The full edition is now online!
Summary
For nearly fifty years successive teams of researchers on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to track down all surviving letters written by or to Charles Darwin, research their content, and publish the complete texts. The thirtieth and final…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to a review of his latest book, The formation of vegetable mould through the actions of worms , …
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Summary
This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…
Volume 28 (1880) now published
Summary
1880 opened and closed with an irksome controversy with Samuel Butler, prompted by the publication of Erasmus Darwin the previous year. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of Movement in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … began writing his final book, The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms . …
2.3 Wedgwood medallions
Summary
< Back to Introduction Despite Darwin’s closeness to the Wedgwood family, he was studiously uninterested in the productions of his maternal grandfather Josiah Wedgwood I, the immensely successful ceramic manufacturer. In a letter to Hooker of January…
Matches: 1 hits
- … the first wax model portraying Darwin; the plaster mould created from it; and a clay relief cast …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … in Darwin’s last book, The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms , published …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 1 hits
- … sent Murray the manuscript of The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms ( …
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: 3 hits
2.8 Alphonse Legros medallion
Summary
< Back to Introduction The painter, printmaker and sculptor Alphonse Legros created this bronze medallion with a profile portrait of Darwin in 1881, shortly before the latter’s death. According to a friend of Legros, the writer Thomas Okey, it was…
Matches: 1 hits
- … individually modelled in relief and cast in bronze from a mould by the traditional lost-wax process, …
German poems presented to Darwin
Summary
Experiments in deepest reverence The following poems were enclosed with a photograph album sent as a birthday gift to Charles Darwin by his German and Austrian admirers (see letter from From Emil Rade, [before 16] February 1877). The poems were…
Matches: 1 hits
- … on your dark grave,— Away with the delusion, the mould, It is the time of battle, …
1.14 William Richmond, oil
Summary
< Back to Introduction William Blake Richmond’s portrait of Darwin, dating from 1879, celebrated his honorary degree of LL.D (Doctor in Laws), awarded by Cambridge University in 1877. Darwin’s return to his alma mater for the presentation ceremony…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin and his unique public persona simply did not fit the mould of institutional, honorific …
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The fourth presented his hypothesis on the formation of mould by earthworms. This explanation of a …
