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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: 24 hits
- … | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a …
- … community. Here is a selection of letters exchanged between Darwin and his workforce of women …
- … Women: Letter 1194 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [12 August 1849] Darwin …
- … peculiarities in inheritance. Letter 3787 - Darwin, H. E. to Darwin, [29 October …
- … in her garden. Letter 4523 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [6 June 1864] …
- … Egypt. Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [8 June 1867 - 72] Darwin …
- … Henrietta. Letter 7179 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, [5 May 1870] …
- … pig and her niece’s ears. Letter 8701 - Lubbock, E. F . to Darwin, [1873] …
- … the wallpaper. Letter 5756 - Langton, E. & C. to Wedgwood S. E., [after 9 …
- … 6815 - Scott, J. to Darwin, [2 July 1869] John Scott responds to Darwin’s queries …
- … Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris …
- … in Llandudno. Letter 4823 - Wedgwood, L. C. to Darwin, H. E., [May 1865] …
- … Lychnis diurna. Letter 8168 - Ruck, A. R . to Darwin, H., [20 January 1872] …
- … lawn. Letter 8224 - Darwin to Ruck, A. R., [24 February 1872] Darwin …
- … Letter 10439 - Treat, M. to Darwin, [3 April 1876] Mary Treat describes a field trip …
- … Letter 1701 - Morris, M. H. to Prior, R. C. A., [17 June 1855] Margaretta Hare Morris …
- … 10390 - Herrick, S. M. B . to Darwin, [12 February 1876] Sophia Herrick asks …
- … - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, [24 March 1868] John Weir describes experiments he is undertaking …
- … garden ”. Letter 6083 - Casparay, J. X. R. to Darwin, [2 April 1868] …
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin to Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin gives his son, Francis, …
- … J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John Murray, to forward a manuscript copy of …
- … Letter 7858 - Darwin to Wa llace, A. R., [12 July 1871] Darwin tells Wallace that …
- … writing. Letter 3001 - Darwin to Lubbock, J., [28 November 1860] Darwin …
- … Letter 10517 - Darwin t o Francis, F., [29 May 1876] Darwin gives his son, Francis …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 24 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The variation of animals and …
- … letters on climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also submitted a manuscript of his …
- … on a paper on Verbascum (mullein) by CD’s protégé, John Scott, who was now working in India. …
- … Argyll, appeared in the religious weekly, Good Words . Darwin received news of an exchange of …
- … Butler, and, according to Butler, the bishop of Wellington. Darwin’s theory was discussed at an …
- … in the Gardeners’ Chronicle . At the end of the year, Darwin was elected an honorary member of …
- … year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of …
- … in August. There was also a serious dispute between two of Darwin’s friends, John Lubbock and …
- … Appendix II). In May, he invited a new doctor, John Chapman, to Down and began a course of Chapman’s …
- … Variation . In March Darwin wrote to his publisher, John Murray, ‘Of present book I have 7 …
- … forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] ). In …
- … will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early …
- … ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was not …
- … Darwin had received a copy of Müller’s book, Für Darwin , a study of the Crustacea with reference …
- … questions and suggesting new lines of research. John Scott A similar, though not so …
- … effort took place in the beginning of the year when John Scott, a protégé of Darwin’s whom Darwin …
- … varieties (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). Darwin had …
- … in 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter from John Scott, 21 September [1863] ), and wrote …
- … … inheritance, reversion, effects of use & disuse &c’, and which he intended to publish in …
- … the end of May, the dispute between Charles Lyell and John Lubbock over alleged plagiarism by …
- … in Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix V. In 1865, Lubbock published Prehistoric times , …
- … He wrote to Hooker, ‘I doubt whether you or I or any one c d do any good in healing this breach. …
- … Hooker’s behalf, ‘He asks if you saw the article of M r . Croll in the last Reader on the …
- … ‘As for your thinking that you do not deserve the C[opley] Medal,’ he rebuked Hooker, ‘that I …

Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 25 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
- … markedly, reflecting a decline in his already weak health. Darwin then began punctuating letters …
- … am languid & bedeviled … & hate everybody’. Although Darwin did continue his botanical …
- … letter-writing dwindled considerably. The correspondence and Darwin’s scientific work diminished …
- … of the water-cure. The treatment was not effective and Darwin remained ill for the rest of the year. …
- … the correspondence from the year. These letters illustrate Darwin’s preoccupation with the …
- … to man’s place in nature both had a direct bearing on Darwin’s species theory and on the problem …
- … detailed anatomical similarities between humans and apes, Darwin was full of praise. He especially …
- … in expressing any judgment on Species or origin of man’. Darwin’s concern about the popular …
- … Lyell’s and Huxley’s books. Three years earlier Darwin had predicted that Lyell’s forthcoming …
- … first half of 1863 focused attention even more closely on Darwin’s arguments for species change. …
- … sentence from the second edition of Antiquity of man (C. Lyell 1863b, p. 469), published in …
- … were himself, Hooker, Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace, and John Lubbock. Honours abroad …
- … of the Royal Society ( see letter from Edward Sabine to John Phillips, 12 November 1863 ). …
- … year with the Hertfordshire nurseryman Thomas Rivers. John Scott Darwin had found a …
- … of hybridity and sterility at the end of the previous year. John Scott, a gardener at the Royal …
- … the results of which were published in 1868 ( see letter to John Scott, 25 and 28 May [1863] ). …
- … hoped would counteract Huxley’s criticism ( letter from John Scott, 23 July [1863] ). Darwin …
- … Darwin had also encouraged him to write ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). In this …
- … that your paper will have permanent value’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ). Scott received …
- … the “Origin” is not at all palatable!’ ( letter from John Scott, [3 June 1863] ). Darwin’s …
- … a position offered in Darjeeling, India ( see letter from John Scott, 22 May 1863 , and letter …
- … 1860; it continued to capture his attention ( see letter to John Scott, 12 April [1863] ). …
- … very slowly recovering, but am very weak’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [29 September? 1863] ). …
- … Thomas’s Hospital, London ( letter from George Busk, [ c. 27 August 1863] ). Brinton, who …

Have you read the one about....
Summary
... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some serious - but all letters you can read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ... the atheistical cats, or the old fogies in Cambridge? We've suggested a few - some funny, some …

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: 28 hits
- … evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost …
- … plants (1875) and Cross and self fertilisation (1876). Darwin’s son Francis became …
- … career to become his father’s scientific secretary. Darwin had always relied on assistance from …
- … Francis’s decision. A large portion of the letters Darwin received in 1873 were in response …
- … the previous year. As was typical, readers wrote to Darwin personally to offer suggestions, …
- … some of which were incorporated in a later edition. Darwin also contributed to discussions in the …
- … Francis Galton’s work on inherited talent, which prompted Darwin to reflect on the traits and …
- … Station at Naples. Plants that eat and feel? Darwin had resumed experiments on the …
- … 12 January [1873] ). Drosera was the main focus of Darwin’s study of insectivorous plants, a …
- … and alkaloids, and even electrical stimulation. On sending Darwin a specimen of the carnivorous …
- … ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 12 January 1873 ). Darwin found that the glandular hairs on the …
- … to bend inward, so that the plant closed like a fist. Darwin was fascinated by this transmission of …
- … plants , p. 63). The plants secreted a viscid fluid, which Darwin suspected attracted insects by …
- … ., p. 17). Through a series of painstaking experiments, Darwin determined that the secretions …
- … Thomas Lauder Brunton, a specialist in pharmacology, and John Scott Burdon Sanderson, a professor at …
- … “for Heaven knows when it will be ready” ( letter to John Murray, 4 May [1873] ). Keeping …
- … with leading physiologists such as David Ferrier and John Hughlings Jackson. Darwin declined to …
- … Instinct In February, Darwin received a letter from John Traherne Moggridge on the nature of …
- … without instruction or previously acquired knowledge” (A. R. Wallace 1870, p. 204). Moggridge …
- … as not to cause offence or embarrassment. As Ellen Frances Lubbock advised, “I do think … it …
- … A group of Huxley’s close friends, including Hooker, John Lubbock, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, …
- … believes whether or not they are sound” ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 November 1873 ). But no …
- … your own power & usefulness”, citing the examples of John Stuart Mill and Charles Lyell, who …
- … from Ernst Meitzen, 17 January 1873 ). A poor-law officer, John Farr, wrote: “Faith like Species, …
- … more permanent than species are permanent” ( letter from John Farr, 7 July 1873 ). Further …
- … unorthodoxy, troubling and potentially undermining (J. R. Moore 1985, pp. 471–2). A courted …
- … closer to home, when he was graced by an invitation from John Jenner Weir to act as a patron of the …
- … a personification of Natural Filosofy” ( letter from J. C. Costerus and N. D. Doedes, 18 March 1873 …

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: 25 hits
- … In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began …
- … a very old man, who probably will not last much longer.’ Darwin’s biggest fear was not death, but …
- … sweetest place on this earth’. From the start of the year, Darwin had his demise on his mind. He …
- … provision for the dividing of his wealth after his death. Darwin’s gloominess was compounded by the …
- … and new admirers got in touch, and, for all his fears, Darwin found several scientific topics to …
- … Evolution old and new when revising his essay on Erasmus Darwin’s scientific work, and that Darwin …
- … eager to send his draft to the printers without delay, asked John Murray, his publisher, to make an …
- … the sale of books being ‘a game of chance’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 12 April 1881 ). On 18 May …
- … laboratory. The Lake District may have reminded Darwin of John Ruskin, who lived there. Sending the …
- … he would feel ‘less sulky in a day or two’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 July 1881 ). The degree of …
- … falls at this late period of the season’ ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881 ). Darwin gave in …
- … with you’, a Swedish teacher told him ( letter from C. E. Södling, 14 October 1881 ), while H. M. …
- … to possibilities for women, judging from her organization &c’. When Darwin replied the following …
- … ‘bread-winners’ ( Correspondence vol. 30, letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). …
- … publication & to acknowledge any criticism’ ( letter to C. G. Semper, 19 July 1881 ). He …
- … ). His scientific friends, however, did not agree. Both John Lubbock and Hooker asked for Darwin’s …
- … about the year 1840(?) on all our minds’ ( letter to John Lubbock, [18 September 1881] ). When …
- … to bear the ‘wear & tear of controversy’ ( letter to G. R. Jesse, 23 April 1881 ). Later in …
- … everyone else’s judgment on the subject ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 12 July 1881 ). However, some …
- … on 27 May . Romanes assured Darwin that the artist, John Collier, Huxley’s son-in-law, was ‘such a …
- … do not be disappointed if the sale is small’ ( letter to R. F. Cooke, 5 October 1881 ). The …
- … proved ‘the greatness of their power’ ( letter from M. C. Stanley, 16 October 1881 ). Hooker …
- … men the true methods of investigation’ ( letter from C. V. Riley, 18 December 1881 ). …
- … ‘absurd and wicked prosecution’ under the terms of the 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act ( letter to T. L …
- … Darwin told his old Cambridge University friend John Price on 27 December . As Darwin rejoiced in …

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: 22 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous …
- … for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health …
- … of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition …
- … Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwin’s greatest scientific pleasure. The year …
- … to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that Darwin had been investigating for years, …
- … working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that …
- … contents, if immersed for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwin’s interest in root …
- … London on 6 and 16 March, respectively. In January, Darwin corresponded with George John …
- … 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 …
- … on human evolution continued to attract interest. His 1876 article ‘Biographical sketch of an infant …
- … our homes, would in this case greatly suffer’ ( letter to C. A. Kennard, 9 January 1882 ). Kennard …
- … judged, intellectually his inferior, please ( letter from C. A. Kennard, 28 January 1882 ). …
- … 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 …
- … dull aching in the chest’ (Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, [ c . 28 March 1882] (DAR 210.3: 45)). …
- … 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 …
- … to some Estancia,’ wrote Hughes, ‘as the scenery &c. will amply repay your trouble’ ( letter …
- … where he had witnessed an earthquake in 1835 ( letter from R. E. Alison, [March–July 1835 ]). …
- … will be months before I am able to work’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, [ c . 10 April 1864] ). To …
- … Origin, a number of Darwin’s friends, Huxley, John Lubbock, and Charles Lyell, each addressed the …

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: 25 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
- … (DAR 119) opens with five pages of text copied from Notebook C and carries on through 1851; the …
- … used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwin’s letters; the full transcript …
- … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwin’s alterations. The spelling and …
- … book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been …
- … a few instances, primarily in the ‘Books Read’ sections, Darwin recorded that a work had been …
- … of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the …
- … own. Soon after beginning his first reading notebook, Darwin began to separate the scientific …
- … of working out his ideas on the transmutation of species. In 1876, long after this period of Darwin …
- … to be Read [DAR *119: Inside Front Cover] C. Darwin June 1 st . 1838 …
- … [DAR *119: 2v.] White’s regular gradation in man [C. White 1799] Lindley’s …
- … 8 vo p 181 [Latreille 1819]. see p. 17 Note Book C. for reference to authors about E. Indian …
- … in brutes Blackwood June 1838 [J. F. Ferrie 1838]. H. C. Watson on Geog. distrib: of Brit: …
- … Wiegman has pub. German pamphlet on crossing oats &c [Wiegmann 1828] Horticultural …
- … 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 …
- … [Fellows 1839] Catherine 48 Life of Collins R.A. [Collins 1848] Phases of Faith …
- … 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 …
- … ] by looking at index— about breeding of animals— Sir J. Lubbock. member Ferguson on Poultry …
- … 1848. Memoirs of the life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. 2 vols. London. *119: 23; 119: …
- … by Richard Owen. Vol. 4 of The works of John Hunter, F.R.S. with notes . Edited by James F. …
- … Robert. 1843. Memoirs of the life of John Constable, R.A., composed chiefly of his letters. …
- … Peacock, George. 1855. Life of Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.S. London. *128: 172; 128: 21 …
Suggested reading
Summary
Contemporary writing Anon., The English matron: A practical manual for young wives, (London, 1846). Anon., The English gentlewoman: A practical manual for young ladies on their entrance to society, (Third edition, London, 1846). Becker, L. E.…
Matches: 9 hits
- … Huxley, T. H., Lectures to working men - Lecture 1: On Darwin's work, 039;Origin of …
- … foundation and development , (London, 1861). Lubbock, E., 039; The ancient shell …
- … ’, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 52:309 (February, 1876), pp. 382 - 387. ‘ Carnivorous …
- … scientific thinking (London, 2006). Browne, J. Darwin’s Origin of species : A b …
- … , pp. 84 – 117. Davidoff, L. & Hall, C., Family fortunes: Men and women of the …
- … 1820 - 1885 , (Georgia, 2007). Harvey, J., ‘‘Darwin’s angels’: The women correspondents of …
- … Review 19:2 (2009), pp. 197 - 210. Hubbard, R., The politics of women’s biology , …
- … nature for new audiences (Chicago, 2007). Numbers, R. L. & Stenhouse, J., (eds.), …
- … Flora’s daughters and botany in England, 1760 - 1860 . (John Hopkins University Press, 1996). …