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Darwin Correspondence Project

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Darwin Correspondence Project
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Doing Darwin’s Experiments

Summary

Darwin’s curiosity for the natural world meant he carried out experiments throughout his life. Try out his experiments in the class room and compare your results with his findings.

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Darwin wrote to thousands of correspondents and his letters and notebooks show us how he worked. …

Biogeography

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Observations aboard the Beagle During his five year journey around the world on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin encountered many different landscapes and an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Some of his most…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … to the islands, where they continued to evolve. Seeds in salt water For his …
  • … He conducted several experiments to test whether the seeds of common garden plants could be soaked …
  • … Papers Darwin, Charles. 1855. "Does sea-water kill seeds?" Gardners' …
  • … 1857. "On the action of sea-water on the germination of seeds. Journal of Proceedings of the …
  • … seed-salting experiments. He asks Hooker to predict which seeds will be easily killed in salt water. …
  • … is only interested in establishing the possibility that seeds could be dispersed by sea transport, …
  • … Darwin is upset with the experiment because the seeds he used did not float. He is also frustrated …
  • … of Joseph Hooker in putting together his experiment soaking seeds in salt water? What does their …
  • … interested to know whether fish will swallow common garden seeds? How does this relate to the salt …
  • … EXPERIMENT Recreate Charles Darwin's seeds in salt-water experiment! What you …
  • … and testing those as well small pots to plant the seeds in How to set up: …
  • … of seed to each group Have each group describe its seeds: colour, texture, size, etc. Have …
  • … make observations at regular intervals Plant the seeds in compost after one week. Have the …
  • … work. The first experiment mimicked Darwin’s 1855 work on seeds and salt-water. The experiment is …
  • … the jars with the seed type. The students then left the seeds in their jars for four weeks. At the …

Mauro Galetti: profile of an ecologist

Summary

Mauro Galetti solved Darwin’s puzzle of the ‘bright seeds’. This is what he told us about becoming an ecologist.

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Mauro Galetti solved Darwin’s puzzle of the ‘bright seeds’. This is what he told us about becoming …
  • … I came across an  Ormosia  tree, full of red and black seeds, with no pulp. I knew from old …
  • … colourful fruits but no fleshy reward, the so-called mimetic seeds. I never took this idea for …
  • … transplanting  Copaifera  arils to  Ormosia  seeds and placed them on the ground to see whether …
  • … (captive-born) birds are easily misled by  Ormosia  seeds. Nowadays, I continue studying the …

Climbing plants

Summary

Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … & easy plant to raise in pot ’. Gray immediately sent seeds of the two plants he had himself …
  • … Echinocystis lobata  [wild mock-cucumber](the larger seeds). Upon these, especially upon the first, …
  • … to the touch ’. Darwin now had seeds to be planted in spring, but he returned to his work on …
  • … In June 1863, Darwin reported to Gray that although the seeds of Sicyos failed to germinate, he …
  • … write a little paper on these movements ’. Clearly, the seeds of another ‘interruption’ to …
  • … his initial observations were new. He promised to send fresh seeds, but added, ‘ Rotary movement …

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: 20 hits

  • … to birds and beasts, that the fruit may be devoured and the seeds thus disseminated: I infer that …
  • … been on his mind since writing that ‘in every instance’ seeds were surrounded by a fleshy pulp and …
  • … coloured surrounds – to attract attention. Seeds use to fall to the ground, as soon …
  • … to the open valvæ, in all the cases, I know, either the seeds themselves, or the arillus, or the …
  • … I have been much interested by what you say on seeds which adhere to the valves being rendered …
  • … of Peony in which the inside of the pod is crimson & the seeds dark purple. I had asked a friend …
  • … Mimosa and Rhynchosia there is no fleshy hull but the seeds are exceptionally hard and since …
  • … up of their food, I imagined that these hard and conspicuous seeds could well serve the same purpose …
  • … letter ) By this time Darwin had already sent some of the seeds Müller had enclosed with his …
  • … ( see the letter ). The selection of seeds in the adjacent photograph will give you some …
  • … disappointing. He wrote to Hooker: I enclose 3 seeds of the Mimoseous tree, of which the …
  • … a lining like yellow silk, studded with these crimson seeds, & looking gorgeous. I gave two …
  • … Please M r . Deputy-Wriggler explain to me why these seeds & pods, hang long & look …
  • … perplexing case, for I can hardly admit your wriggle of the seeds being devoured by birds with weak …
  • … plant? Scott noted that his cockatoo dropped about half the seeds he tried to eat, possibly …
  • … date on modern research into ‘mimetic fruit’, as these seeds are now known. …
  • … away with it? ‘One strategy is to hide small fruits and seeds among leaves that are ingested by …
  • … (Galetti 2002, p. 177.) Like Darwin, Galetti tested seeds on captive birds, and even used …
  • … the behaviour of birds and some mammals in the field. Seeds of  Ormosia arborea  were fed to both …
  • … captured toucans, a behaviour that might explain how these seeds get dispersed. Afterwards the …

Before Origin: the ‘big book’

Summary

Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … of ‘seed-salting experiments’ to determine whether seeds could survive transport by the oceans.  …
  • … you sh d .  imagine  w d . kill the more susceptible seeds? Should you expect a week’s fair …
  • … magazine that he had experimented on a random selection of seeds, but he was ‘ now trying a set …
  • … ill-smelling and putrid water as a result of soaking the seeds for long periods; having to vary the …
  • … the help of others when he began to investigate whether seeds were transported in earth stuck to …
  • … like gentlemen’ and ‘ cast up pellets with lots of seeds in them ’. The success of these dispersal …

Forms of flowers

Summary

Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … Hooker, ‘ the other day at last I had time to weigh the seeds, & by Jove the Plants of Primrose …
  • … researching in 1862 after Hooker had supplied him with seeds . Having concluded that the …
  • … the more onerous aspects of this labour was the counting of seeds. Darwin’s eldest son William …

Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores

Summary

In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … work until the following summer. Using ‘ some Teazle seeds ’ sent to his father from Kew Gardens …
  • … on growth and reproductive vigour (biomass and quantity of seeds) such proof could be obtained, and …

Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'

Summary

In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … a second notice in 1858. Geographical distribution: seeds and salt-water The …
  • … of his experiments failed to give him the results he wanted: seeds would not germinate; beans failed …
  • … experiments begun in 1855 based on soaking a wide variety of seeds in salt water in order to show …
  • … germinate. Even when he noticed, late into the project, that seeds usually sank and therefore could …
  • … and began alternative experiments, including feeding seeds to fish. When the fish refused to eat …
  • … bird be killed (by hawk, lightning, apoplexy, hail &c) with seeds in crop, & it would swim.” …
  • … feet probably had a role to play in the distribution of seeds and carried out some unusual studies …
  • … a heavy rainfall so that Darwin could count the number of seeds in the earth between their toes. …
  • … ponds and ditches to collect scoops of mud to analyse for seeds. Similar experiments were carried …
  • … to these, Darwin also investigated the length of time that seeds could ordinarily retain their …

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: 7 hits

  • … I gave two seeds to a confounded old cock, but his gizzard ground them up; at least I cd. …
  • … Please Mr. Deputy-Wriggler explain to me why these seeds & pods, hang long & look gorgeous, …
  • … The ‘hard seed for grit’ hypothesis … predicts that seeds defected or regurgitated by birds with non …
  • … gizzards (e.g. Galliformes). To test this prediction, all seeds defecated or regurgitated by guans … …
  • … Mauro Galetti, 2002: ‘Seed dispersal of mimetic seeds: parasitism, mutualism, aposematism or …
  • … on the same puzzle: the existence of bright colours in seeds that have no nutritive value. Other …
  • … Murray. Galetti, M. 2002. Seed dispersal of mimetic seeds: parasitism, mutualism, aposematism …

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: 14 hits

  • … December, the French botanist Édouard Bornet had provided seeds of some varieties of poppy ( …
  • … fewer than crossed plants. Darwin sent some of these seeds to Müller, hoping that he would ‘raise a …
  • … Fritz Müller, 30 January [1868] ). Müller, in turn, sent seeds from his plants to Darwin and both …
  • … In June 1869, Müller remarked, on receiving a new batch of seeds from Darwin, ‘that it was ‘curious …
  • … the average number, weight, or period of germination in the seeds of Ipomœa. I remember saying the …
  • … now clear from a great series of trials. On the other hand seeds from this plant, fertilised by …
  • … plants, but indisputably  germinate quicker  than seeds produced by a cross between two distinct …
  • … the growth of plants raised from self-fertilised & crossed seeds, & begin now to suspect …
  • … above water and closed ones below. Caspary later counted seeds from the unopened self-fertilised …
  • … growth between plants raised from self fertilised & crossed seeds; and it is no exaggeration to …
  • … by. He speculated that these plants might have grown from seeds of the same ‘mother plant’ and that …
  • … only were the plants self sterile, but plants raised from seeds from the same pod were mutually …
  • … is remarkable’, Darwin replied, adding that he had sown seeds of this plant sent by Müller ( To …
  • … for the summer, as he informed Gray when asking for seeds of Nesaea verticillata (swamp …

Movement in Plants

Summary

The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…

Matches: 12 hits

  • … as he explained to Müller, ‘ Very many thanks for the seeds of the Viola; by an odd chance, I have …
  • … ’. Nonetheless, he continued to make requests for seeds in order to continue his observations on the …
  • … Drosera  species from seed, was asked to send any spare seeds he might have. ‘ I sh d . like to …
  • … tireless generosity in fulfilling requests for plants and seeds ‘ makes me feel ashamed of myself, …
  • … to visit the botanist Gaetano Durando, to find plants and seeds ( letter to Francis Darwin, [4 …
  • … it ’. Sachs’s experiment involved sieves containing seeds germinating in damp sawdust being …
  • … was supposed to be going over his manuscript, he requested seeds of a species of cotton that he had …
  • … ). Hooker offered to write to Egypt for the seeds (From J. D. Hooker   29 November 1879; DCP-LETT …
  • … if we had more plants to work on ’. Having received seeds of two unusual American gourds from Gray, …
  • … ’. A few days later, Darwin sent his thanks for cotton seeds from Kew and promised Hooker, ‘ My …
  • … ’. A month later, he told Thiselton-Dyer his cotton seeds had germinated and added, ‘I hope my work …
  • …  were also mentioned, bringing on a request for more seeds of ‘ any Trichosanthes’; Darwin …

Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter

Summary

The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … 4). In particular, he undertook to determine the ability of seeds to withstand the effects of salt …
  • … means of distribution, particularly the dispersal of seeds and ova by fish, birds, insects, and …
  • … of common, advantageous characteristics. Experiments: seeds and bees An interest in …

Darwin's bad days

Summary

Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …

Strange things sent to Darwin in the post

Summary

Some of the stranger things Darwin received in the post can tell us a lot about how Darwin worked at home. In 1863, Darwin was very excited when the ornithologist Alfred Newton sent him a diseased, red-legged partridge foot with an enormous ball of clay…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … being ‘highly effective agents in the transportation of seeds’ ( Origin , p. 361) and win a debate …
  • … had thrown it away . Staying on the topic of how seeds were transported over great distances …
  • … surprized as interested if it sh d  prove to contain any seeds. ’ However, he reported to the …

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: 4 hits

  • … experiments which I have been trying on the power of seeds to withstand sea-water.  18   Some …
  • … Instead of taking it for granted that salt water kills seeds. I shall have it nearly all reprinted …
  • … I send it… Darwin passes to Hooker an envelope of seeds. Hurrah! [One of the …
  • … that this love of it is one of the curses of science. The Seeds you sent were Raspberry. …

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: 4 hits

  • … to Darwin’s request for observations to be made on seeds of Pulmonaria officinalis . …
  • … details the breeding experiments he has conducted on various seeds. The experiments were carried out …
  • … directed but, unfortunately, both types of fish spat out the seeds he tried to feed to them. …
  • … details the breeding experiments he has conducted on various seeds. The experiments were carried out …

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: 2 hits

  • … had subsided enough for him to carry out tasks like counting seeds of  Lythrum , crossing cowslips …
  • … than by a long-styled plant with short stamens, either no seeds at all, or infertile seeds, were …

British Association meeting 1860

Summary

Several letters refer to events at the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Oxford, 26 June – 3 July 1860. Darwin had planned to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to. The most famous incident of the meeting was the verbal…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … two instances in which plants had been disseminated by seeds, which could not be effected by buds; …
  • … in the vicinity of Cork, by the agency of its winged seeds. He related several anecdotes of a monkey …

Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants

Summary

Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863  greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … helped select the plants for Darwin). Hooker had also sent seeds, and was attempting to obtain …
  • … midday walk, when he would look ‘at any germinating seeds or experimental plants which required a …
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