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Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year

Summary

The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…

Matches: 25 hits

  • The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the
  • intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August 1874] ). The death of a Cambridge friend, …
  • and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such reminiscences led Darwin to
  • much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). I feel very old &amp
  • old & helpless’  ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] ). Darwin mentioned his poor
  • on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October 1874 ). Séances, psychics, and
  • Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] ). Later in the month, …
  • and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). Darwin agreed that it wasall
  • Quarterly Review  discussing works on primitive man by John Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor. It
  • of anonymous reviews. Its proprietor was none other than John Murray, Darwins publisher. So
  • to review me in a hostile spirit’ ( letter to John Murray, 11 August 1874 ). Darwin was
  • number of the Review & in the same type’  ( letter from John Murray, 12 August 1874 ). George
  • anonymous reviews. While staying with Hooker over Christmas, John Tyndall, professor at and
  • asthe natural outflow of his character’ ( letter from John Tyndall, 28 December 1874 ). …
  • to purchase the wooded land, which he had been renting from John Lubbock, led to a straining of
  • with lawyers over a doubt that it may have been included in Lubbocks marriage settlements, the sale
  • for about a week ( letter from E. E. Klein, 14 May 1874 ). John Burdon Sanderson sent the results
  • of other insect-eating plants. The surgeon and botanist John Ralfs sent  Utricularia  from
  • in order to work on its difficult structures ( letter to John Ralfs, 13 July [1874] ). The
  • a printed appeal for funds, raising £860 ( Circular to John Lubbock, P. L. Sclater, Charles Lyell, …
  • from E. A. Darwin, 17 [March 1874] ). He tried to persuade John Murray to publish a second edition
  • authority on marriage customs in  Descent  ( see letter John Murray, 9 May [1874] ). He
  • for Darwins last years. The young physiologist George John Romanes wrote a long letter to Herbert
  • established by Michael Foster. He then studied under John Scott Burdon Sanderson at University
  • Tyndall, 12 August [1874] ). Hooker reported thatLubbocks Lecture went off admirablybut

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: 24 hits

  • John Lubbock was eight years old when the Darwins moved into the neighbouring
  • two men lived as close neighbours for most of their lives.  Lubbock's fatherJohn William
  • banking family, and the family seat of High Elms, which Lubbock inherited in 1865, was at the heart
  • and wide-ranging studies in anthropology and prehistory, John Lubbocks childhood interest in
  • mountain must come some Sunday to Mahomet.   ( to John Lubbock, 26 March [1867] ) …
  • meetings leave in the documentary record, it is clear that John Lubbock played a significant part in
  • and strategist.  As early as 1857 Darwin wrote to thank Lubbock for saving him from a ' …
  • on variationDarwin made constant requests of Lubbock, bombarding him with questions and
  • with me on general issue, or against me. ( to John Lubbock, 14 December [1859] ) …
  • In the weeks immediately after publication, Darwin wrote to Lubbock not once but twice demanding to
  • opinion of men like you & Hooker & Huxley & Lyell’. Lubbock spoke in Darwin&#039
  • Darwin's supporters) in 1864. Pre-historic Times (1865), Lubbock's account of human
  • to humans.  After his election as MP for Maidstone in 1870, Lubbock tried at Darwins request to
  • such as James Torbitt's research into potato blight. Lubbock was one of those consulted on
  • Descent In Descent of man , Darwin referred to Lubbocks published work on the secondary
  • … (see  Descent p. 94). But the most important aspect of Lubbocks work for Darwin was the support
  • from a single common ancestor ( Descent p. 233).  Lubbocks Origin of civilisation , …
  • much interest for the good of my internal viscera’ ( to John Lubbock, 21 July [1870] ). It seems
  • a daughter? or scrupled to carry off anothers wife? ( from John Lubbock, 18 March [1871] ). …
  • complained that he remained 'not a little in the dark' ( to John Lubbock, 26 March [1867] …
  • in a banking career, and Darwin's last known letter to John Lubbock, sent shortly before
  • children were strained.  ‘I am afraid our feeling to Sir JohnFrancis Darwin later wrotedid not
  • And relations with Darwin were not always easyIn 1874 Darwin asked Lubbock to sell him the piece
  • He signed himself, with unusual formality, “My dear Sir John, yours sincerely”. By this stage

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: 15 hits

  • … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son …
  • … appeared to have created very little stir, until, in July 1874, Mivart published an anonymous review …
  • … also wondering whether he should break off relations with John Murray, his own publisher and also …
  • … of the Quarterly ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 29 July 1874 ). Darwin hastily advised against …
  • … to wish to circulate ( letter to G. H. Darwin, 1 August [1874] ). Darwin provided a draft of the …
  • … to endorse them ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 5 August 1874 ). He sent a second draft, which Darwin …
  • … a fair copy of his letter with his letter of 6 [August] 1874 . George and Darwin were also …
  • … George’s letter to Murray with his letter of 11 August 1874 , and was no doubt relieved to …
  • … having been used in a Pickwickian sense’ ( letter to John Murray, 18 October 1874 ). In other …
  • … reaction was savage ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [6 December 1874] ). Hooker and Huxley between them …
  • … the attack on George ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December 1874 ). Huxley met Mivart at an evening …
  • … ( Enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 21 December 1874 .) A reply soon came from Mivart . …
  • … of a gentleman’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 23 December 1874 ). However, Huxley still wrote to …
  • … this.   124 Gower St W.C. Dec. 24th 1874. Private & Confidential …
  • … the president, George Allman: he had already spoken to John Tyndall ( letter from John Tyndall, 28 …

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: 18 hits

  • attack upon Darwins son George, in an anonymous review in 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, …
  • … .’ Hooker also directed some of his anger toward John Murray, the publisher of the
  • had also considered taking up the issue with Murray in 1874, even threatening to break off future
  • laid to rest, another controversy was brewing. In December 1874, Darwin had been asked to sign a
  • Instead of supporting her, he worked closely with Huxley and John Burdon Sanderson to draft an
  • Edward Emanuel Klein, a German histologist who worked with John Burdon Sanderson at the Brown Animal
  • botanical research and had visited Down House in April 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letters
  • to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). In
  • the book in the Academy , 24 July 1875, by Ellen Frances Lubbock: ‘in Utricularia they are
  • That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875).   Back
  • further research on the effects of grafting by George John Romanes. A scientific friendship had
  • white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 November 1874] ).   Testing Pangenesis
  • in parish affairs (see Correspondence vol. 21). Lubbock tried to bring about a
  • also you intended to slight him.’ Darwin assured Lubbock that he never meant to show
  • 24 December , Emma wrote triumphantly to the former vicar, John Brodie Innes, that a new reading
  • Darwin had hoped to arrange for the meeting to take place at Lubbocks home, High Elms, so that he
  • within the short time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). Finally it
  • had learned of Lyells failing health from Hooker in 1874 and January 1875. On 22 February, he was

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: 9 hits

  • … 9426 - Story-Maskelyne , T. M. to Darwin, [23 April 1874] Thereza Story-Maskelyne …
  • … Letter 9616 - Marshall, T. to Darwin, [September 1874] Theodosia Marshall sends …
  • … 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s queries …
  • … 9606 - Harrison, L. C. to Darwin, [22 August 1874] Darwin’s niece, Lucy, sends a …
  • … Letter 9616  - Marshall, T.  to Darwin, [September 1874] Theodosia Marshall details …
  • … Letter 9485 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [8 June 1874] Mary Treat details her experiments …
  • …  - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
  • … J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John Murray, to forward a manuscript copy of …
  • …  - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …

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: 9 hits

  • … to spread my views’, he wrote to his publisher, John Murray, on 30 January , shortly after …
  • … Hooker’s cause was taken up by his friends, in particular John Lubbock and John Tyndall, as one …
  • … to Gladstone a week later ( enclosure to letter from John Lubbock to W. E. Gladstone, 20 June 1872 …
  • … photographic plates with his overseas publishers, and with John Murray’s assistant, the excitable …
  • … of the booksellers, encouraged an originally cautious John Murray to gamble on the book’s success: & …
  • … attractive dishes in his `Literary Banquet’ (letters from John Murray, 6 November [1872] and 9 …
  • … to supply comparative observations, and Darwin’s protégé John Scott, now employed as a curator in …
  • … Ruck, the sister of an old schoolfriend; he married Amy in 1874.  Francis, still a medical student …
  • … a copy of  Expression  to another old Cambridge friend, John Maurice Herbert, who when they were …

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: 11 hits

  • … In January, Darwin corresponded with George John Romanes about new varieties of sugar cane produced …
  • … Quarterly Review , owned by Darwin’s publisher John Murray, carried an anonymous article on the …
  • … or later write differently about evolution’ ( letter to John Murray, 21 January 1882 ). The author …
  • … Darwin had a less heated discussion with the painter John Collier on the topic of science and art. …
  • … himself to so dreadful a man, as Huxley’ ( letter to John Collier, 16 February 1882 ). Collier had …
  • … be the same without my consciousness?’ ( letter from John Collier, 22 February 1882 ; T. H. Huxley …
  • … and admirers. One of the most touching was from John Lubbock, whose interest in natural history at …
  • … we adjourned as a small tribute of respect’ (letter from John Lubbock to Francis Darwin, 20 April …
  • … ). Darwin’s former mentor at University of Cambridge, John Stevens Henslow, was not a …
  • … Origin, a number of Darwin’s friends, Huxley, John Lubbock, and Charles Lyell, each addressed the …
  • … father confessor. ( Letter from Charles Lyell, 1 September 1874 .) Darwin’s fame continued …

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: 23 hits

  • … The Emigrant, Head [F. B. Head 1846] St. John’s Highlands [C. W. G. Saint John 1846] …
  • … B.M. 6. 6. Black Edin. Longman [Ramsay 1848] St. John’s Nat. Hist. of Sutherlanshire, Murray …
  • … Liebigs Lectures on Chemistry [Liebig 1851]. Sir John Davies. China during the War and Peace …
  • … d . Series. vol 3. p. 1 to 312 30 th  Colquhoun (John) The Moor & the Loch [Colquhoun …
  • … Buffon [Milne-Edwards 1834–40]. March 5 th  St. John’s Highlands [Saint John 1846] 8 …
  • … Tone Autobiography [Tone 1826] very amusing March 10 John Galt Autobiography [Galt 1833] poor …
  • … 1848] Madam Malguet [Torrens] 1848] —— Lives of John & Alex. Belthune [?Bethune 1840 and …
  • … Ireland [Thompson 1849–56]. Vol. I. II & 3 May. St. John’s Tour in Sutherlandshire [Saint …
  • … 171] Pagets Travels in Hungary & Transylvania [John Paget 1839]— account of Dogs like …
  • … Empire [Huc 1855] Feb 16 th  Pagets Hungary [John Paget 1839] —— Bechsteins …
  • … 23] 1858 Life of Montaigne by B. St. John [B. Saint John 1858].— Miss …
  • … in the  Botanist , 5 vols. (1837–41), edited by John Stevens Henslow and B. Maund. 37 …
  • … may have reissued both parts in 1844. 39  John Lindley served as assistant secretary …
  • …  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors about John Fleming, and the review was by …
  • …  Possibly a mistake for “Mowbray”, the pseudonym of John Lawrence, whose  Treatise on domestic …
  • … this list at the back of the notebook. 84  John Lindley described plant breeding …
  • … with ‘O’ in pencil. 103  Hugh Cuming. John Gould Anthony published  Description of …
  • …   colonies.  London.  119: 23b Abercrombie, John. 1838.  Inquiries concerning the   …
  • … *119: 16v. ——. 1848.  The military life of John Duke of   Marlborough . Edinburgh and …
  • … by Harriet Martineau. London.  128: 3 Audubon, John James Laforest. 1831–9.  …
  • … Emperor of Hindustan, written by himself . Translated by John Leyden and William Erskine. 2 vols. …
  • … scientiarum; or, new method of studying the sciences . [By John Hoppus.] (Library of Useful …
  • … design . (Bridgewater Treatise no. 4.) London. [9th ed. (1874) in Darwin Library.]  119: 5a …

Darwin and vivisection

Summary

Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the …
  • … experiments on live animals in Britain. In December 1874, Darwin was asked to sign a memorial …
  • … into close contact with England’s leading physiologists, John Scott Burdon Sanderson, Thomas Lauder …
  • … a sketch that was approved by Huxley, Burdon Sanderson, and John Simon, a London pathologist and …
  • … alternative title and preamble, which had been suggested by John Lubbock:    A Bill entitled …
  • … the only one before Parliament. On 5 May, Lord Hartismere (John Major Henniker-Major) had submitted …
  • … and expertise. It included Huxley, a professor of surgery, John Erichsen, and several critics of …

Insectivorous plants

Summary

Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … physiology ’, he consulted his former Cambridge teacher John Stevens Henslow. But Henslow knew …
  • … In 1873 Darwin wrote to the Institute’s superintendent, John Burdon Sanderson, about acquiring a …
  • … substance . After many careful experiments, in May 1874 Darwin proudly reported to his cousin …
  • … study of Drosera and Dionaea and in the summer of 1874 they compared the digestive power of …
  • … plants together in the same book but his publisher John Murray found the manuscript so large that …
  • … following in 1876. Darwin’s neighbour Ellen Lubbock celebrated the publication with a poem …