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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…
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: 21 hits
- … copy of the catalogue of scientific books in the Royal Society of London (Royal Society of London …
- … Transact 15 [ Transactions of the Horticultural Society ] Mr Coxe “view of the …
- … Transactions [ ?Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society ]: Asa Gray & Torrey …
- … [ Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India ; Proceedings of the …
- … 1837] Transactions of the Caledonian Horticultural Society [ ?Memoirs of the Caledonian …
- … Horticult. Transactions [ Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London ].— [DAR …
- … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
- … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34 —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
- … M rs Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
- … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
- … Macleay’s Hora Entomologica [Macleay 1819–21] Ray’s Wisdom of God [Ray 1692].— Reference at …
- … or Geograph. Distrib:” [Gérard 1844–5] Dec. 10 Ray. Society. Vol I. Reports [Ray Society 1845 …
- … [Sageret 1826]— —— 16 Bot. Reports. Ray. Soc. [Ray Society 1846] Nov. 12. Mem. of …
- … th . Carlyles Oliver Cromwell [Carlyle 1845] May 5. Ray’s Memorials of [Ray 1846] —— …
- … ]; skimmed. 24 th . Report. Zoolog. 1843. 1844. Ray Soc. [Ray Society 1847] Physio …
- … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
- … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
- … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55 The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
- … to William Jackson Hooker. See Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
- … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832. A letter in vindication of the principles of …
- … by Bekhur to Garoo and the Lake Manasarowara: with a letter from … J. G. Gerard, Esq. …
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: 10 hits
- … when, in 1853, he was awarded a Royal Medal by the Royal Society of London for his contributions to …
- … and plates and settling publication details with the Ray Society for Living Cirripedia (1851) …
- … and Fossil Cirripedia (1854), again published by the Ray Society and the Palaeontographical …
- … developed into a valued friendship. London scientific society As letters in this …
- … as revealed in a series of letters pertaining to the Royal Society. In April 1854, when his …
- … in his health was indicated by his comment in a letter to Hooker on 29 [May 1854] : ‘Very far …
- … large-scale geological changes. As he told Hooker in a letter of 5 June [1855] , ‘it shocks my …
- … he had written to Hooker ( Correspondence vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 [June 1850] ), …
- … interested in animal breeding. As Darwin told Fox in a letter of 27 March [1855] , the object of …
- … ‘all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 7 May [1855] ). But …
Living and fossil cirripedia
Summary
Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…
Matches: 13 hits
- … He also offered his work to the recently established Ray Society (minutes of council meeting, 4 …
- … year on cirripede anatomy, Darwin wrote a rather reflective letter to his former professor and …
- … his conclusions about larval-adult homologies in a letter to Dana in December 1853 . …
- … Scott Bowerbank, who had founded the Palaeontographical Society in 1847. ‘With respect to …
- … would have to be restricted to British species since the society’s brief was to publish work on …
- … cirripedes volume was accepted by the Palaeontographical Society by February 1850 , and in the …
- … it was the third part of volume 5 of the Palaeontographical Society’s publications. As his …
- … of Balanus. ’ A month later, told Edwin Lankester of the Ray Society that his manuscript on living …
- … with the volumes on living cirripedes, destined for the Ray Society, were just beginning. New …
- … and range to a separate section in the volumes of the Ray Society. He also worried about the …
- … summer of 1853 was only sent in manuscript form to the Ray Society at the beginning of 1854 , …
- … part of the eighth volume produced by the Palaeontographical Society; the monograph itself was …
- … correspondence, but he wrote to the Palaeontographical Society in February 1854 and the society …
Origin is 160; Darwin's 1875 letters now online
Summary
To mark the 160th anniversary of the publication of Origin of species, the full transcripts and footnotes of nearly 650 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1875 are published online for the first time. You can read about Darwin's life in 1875…
Matches: 10 hits
- … the first, as Darwin vigorously took up the cause of Edwin Ray Lankester, who had been blackballed …
- … very much more about the wide distribution of my books. ( Letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 June [1875] ) …
- … over the sickening work of preparing new Editions . ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 August [1875] ) …
- … insensible, if the experiment made this possible ( Letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] …
- … me in the vestry of having made false statements ( Letter to John Lubbock, 8 April 1875 ) …
- … men, despite Ffinden’s opposition, and that a temperance society had been organised by a local …
- … done in science I owe to the study of his great works ( Letter to A. B. Buckley, 23 February 1875 …
- … Lyell. Lyell had helped to introduce Darwin to scientific society in London, had offered much …
- … act which any scientific Socy. has done in my time ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875] ) …
- … was involved in more controversy. He was incensed that Edwin Ray Lankester, a promising young …
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: 26 hits
- … against the blackballing of a young zoologist, Edwin Ray Lankester, who was up for election to the …
- … On 8 January , he told Hooker: ‘I will write a savage letter & that will do me some good, if I …
- … Mivart was a distinguished zoologist, a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and a secretary of …
- … respecting codes of conduct and communication in scientific society. Huxley chose journalism, …
- … was hampered by his position as president of the Royal Society from spurning Mivart in public. …
- … to the Editor … Poor Murray shuddered again & again’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 January …
- … the chance arose. On 28 January , he sent a note on Royal Society business to Edward Burnett …
- … offered to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). …
- … & bless the day That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 …
- … that the originally red half has become wholly white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 …
- … pp. 188–90). He drew attention to this discussion in a letter to George Rolleston, remarking on 2 …
- … Darwin wrote, ‘I beg ten thousand pardon & more’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [ c . February …
- … signed himself, ‘Your affect son … the proofmaniac’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, 1 and 2 May [1875 …
- … had been opened in the village, and a local temperance society had been established by a Down …
- … both critical and reverential. On 16 July he received a letter from an advocate of women’s …
- … her presentation copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July [1875] ). Such …
- … of my house within the short time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). …
- … paper in October and asked Darwin to submit it to the Royal Society on his behalf. Darwin …
- … had to break the news to the author in 1876 that his Royal Society ambitions had been frustrated. …
- … he showed surprising vigour in taking up the cause of Edwin Ray Lankester, who had been blackballed …
- … and had agreed to see him at Down with Thiselton-Dyer ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 7 July 1875 …
- … in 1875, Lankester had been elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and had been appointed professor …
- … Hooker, who attributed it to political squabbles within the society, especially among botanists who …
- … Darwin spent the next weeks canvassing members of the society to support Lankester at the next …
- … lay of hair in eyelashes and on arms, a typically lengthy letter full of personal observations, …
- … examination it was pronounced to be of a ‘high type’ ( letter from Woodward Emery, 17 September …
Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
Summary
Darwin’s view on the kinship between humans and animals had important ethical implications. In Descent, he argued that some animals exhibited moral behaviour and had evolved mental powers analogous to conscience. He gave examples of cooperation, even…
Matches: 16 hits
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … another word about it, else I shall not sleep to-night’ ( letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
- … negative). He eventually presented his findings to the Royal Society, calling into question the …
- … deserved credit for his ‘ingenuity and perseverance’ ( letter to Nature , [before 27 April 1871] …
- … for further cross-circulation and ‘Siamesing’ ( letter from Francis Galton, 13 September 1871 ). …
- … Some of the results were promising, but inconclusive (see letter from G. J. Romanes, 14 July 1875 …
- … results will be necessary to convince physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 July 1875 ). …
- … for your work; & I suppose birds can be chloroformed (letter to G. J. Romanes, 27 December …
- … branded physiologists as ‘demons let loose from hell’ ( letter to F. B. Cobbe, [14 January 1875] ) …
- … detail here . He stated his position most frankly in a letter to Henrietta, 4 January [1875] . …
- … point of view I have rejoiced at the present agitation. ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … science of Physiology as doomed to death in this country. ( letter To T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 …
- … are now in the position of a persecuted religious sect’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 4 June [1876] ) …
- … (Huxley, Romanes, Galton) formed the Physiological Society. Darwin remained in the background. He …
- … of the utility of experiment amongst people in general’ ( letter from T. L. Brunton, 12 February …
- … Illustrations of vivisection. Philadelphia: American Society for the Restriction of Vivisection. …
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: 10 hits
- … Despite the difference in language between Darwin’s letter and the modern scientific paper quoted …
- … daresay very well, & for coining new words.’ See the letter The word first appeared …
- … for atheism, but as Darwin himself acknowledged in a letter to Mary Boole, it was more satisfactory …
- … as a result of the direct intervention of God. See the letter We may contrast Darwin’s …
- … ‘laissez-faire’ economy in the terms of Darwin’s own society) but what we would now call a command …
- … sucks it, must have! It is a very pretty case.’ See the letter Darwin was confident …
- … nature as she really is.’ It seems from Haeckel’s letter that what most struck him about …
- … of his great discovery is by contrast extremely modest. In a letter written in 1864 and …
- … Huxley, Thomas Henry. Zoologist. Lankester, Edwin Ray. Zoologist, and translator of Haeckel’s …
- … Schöpfungsgeschichte . Translation revised by E. Ray Lankester. 2 vols. London: Henry S. King & …
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 27 hits
- … ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876 ). …
- … quantity of work’ left in him for ‘new matter’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). The …
- … to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 February …
- … & I for blundering’, he cheerfully observed to Carus. ( Letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876. …
- … provided evidence for the ‘advantages of crossing’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Revising …
- … year to write about his life ( Correspondence vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 …
- … nowadays is evolution and it is the correct one’ ( letter from Nemo, [1876?] ). …
- … him ‘basely’ and who had succeeded in giving him pain ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876 ). …
- … had been incensed in December 1875 when the zoologist Edwin Ray Lankester was blackballed at the …
- … scientific reputation, but also to save the Linnean Society from the ‘utter disgrace’ of …
- … must have been cast by the ‘poorest curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February …
- … school at Cambridge University. The Physiological Society, which had been founded in March 1876 by …
- … what action to take. Burdon Sanderson was keen for the society’s secretary, George Romanes, to write …
- … her questions were ‘too silly to deserve an answer’ ( letter from S. B. Herrick, 12 February 1876 …
- … on Dionaea ‘to test the insect eating theory’ ( letter from Peter Henderson, 15 November 1876 …
- … sending Darwin small amendments to his results ( letter from Moritz Schiff, 8 May 1876 ). …
- … to get positive results in this year’s experiments’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [ c . 19 March …
- … in the Encyclopaedia Britannica the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September …
- … and to promote work he admired. He was so interested in a letter from Fritz Müller in Brazil …
- … on leaf-arrangement or phyllotaxy was sent to the Royal Society of London by Darwin because he …
- … ). Darwin recognised scientific skill in all levels of society. He not only offered to propose the …
- … Francis Maitland Balfour, for fellowship of the Royal Society, but also signed a petition for a …
- … Tait, a Birmingham gynaecologist. The decision by the Royal Society of London to reject a paper by …
- … left Darwin, who had communicated the paper to the society in 1875 at Tait’s request, with the …
- … April [1876] ). Darwin could not have been surprised by the society’s decision. He already knew …
- … last for my life’, he told George Stokes, secretary of the society, on 21 April, confessing, ‘as I …
- … of George’s work but intended to present it to the Royal Society. He was pleased that Horace was off …
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: 19 hits
- … out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to …
- … me) attack on Virchow for experimenting on the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January …
- … progress of physiology. He reiterated these concerns in a letter to Thomas Henry Huxley ten days …
- … I love with all my heart’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to ?, 19 May [1871] ). As a …
- … farmers and their staff (see Correspondence vol. 14, letter to a local landowner, [1866?] ). …
- … by the prospect of animals suffering for science. In a letter to E. Ray Lankester, he wrote: ‘You …
- … I shall not sleep to-night’ ( Correspondence vol. 19, letter to E. R. Lankester, 22 March [1871 …
- … was a sensitive subject within Darwin’s family. In his letter of 14 January 1875 to Huxley, …
- … ones (men of course) or I might get one or two’ (letter from Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe, 14 …
- … to serve as the basis for a petition, and gave it to Huxley (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, …
- … with Huxley, who produced a new sketch for a petition (letter from T. H. Huxley, [4 April 1875] ) …
- … who drafted a memorial, sending it to Darwin on 7 April (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 7 …
- … in order to gather signatures. More alterations were made (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 10 …
- … had already been prepared for the House of Lords (see letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, [11 April …
- … Hooker requesting his approval as president of the Royal Society of London (letter to J. D. Hooker, …
- … his counsel: ‘we wd do whatever else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). …
- … a lengthy paragraph on the treatment of animals in human society, the pain and death they suffered …
- … Sanderson both expressed their dismay at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , …
- … version, and that only minor corrections had been made (letter to Lyon Playfair, 26 May 1875 , …
Alfred Russel Wallace
Summary
Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…
Matches: 8 hits
- … by Wallace’s observations and theoretical abilities. In a letter of 1 May 1857, he alluded to his …
- … initially in a joint paper with Wallace to the Linnean Society, and then in Origin of Species …
- … out in details I had never thought of, years before I had a ray of light on the subject, & my …
- … as too metaphorical and prone to misinterpretation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 2 July 1866). …
- … phenomena, open to scientific investigation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 18 April [1869]). …
- … letters to Wallace, 17 June 1876 and 7 January 1881, and the letter from A. R. Wallace, 29 January …
- … chief”, while Darwin was the “great General” (letter to Charles Kingsley, 7 May 1869). In later …
- … jealousy towards each other, though in one sense rivals” (letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870]). …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 28 hits
- … in satisfying female preference in the mating process. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1864, …
- … of changing the races of man’ (Correspondence vol. 12, letter to A. R. Wallace, 28 [May 1864] ). …
- … book would take the form of a ‘short essay’ on man ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 3 July 1868 ). But …
- … as well say, he would drink a little and not too much’ ( letter to Albert Günther, 15 May [1868] ) …
- … would be a great loss to the Book’. But Darwin’s angry letter to Murray crossed one from Dallas to …
- … of labour to remuneration I shall look rather blank’ ( letter from W. S. Dallas, 8 January 1868 ). …
- … if I try to read a few pages feel fairly nauseated’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 February [1868] ). …
- … reviews. On 7 August 1868 , he wrote him a lengthy letter from the Isle of Wight on the formation …
- … would strike me in the face, but not behind my back’ ( letter to John Murray, 25 February [1868] ) …
- … ignorant article… . It is a disgrace to the paper’ ( letter from A. R. Wallace, 24 February [1868] …
- … ‘he is a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 1 September [1868] …
- … wrote of the colour of duck claws on 17 April 1868 . The letter was addressed to ‘the Rev d C. …
- … proved very fruitful. On 1 May , Darwin received a letter from George Cupples, who was encouraged …
- … with the enthusiastic breeder, who apologised in a letter of 11–13 May 1868 for his ‘voluminuous …
- … of science On 27 February , Darwin sent a letter of thanks to the naturalist and …
- … he later added, ‘for it is clear that I have none’ ( letter to J. J. Weir, 30 May [1868] ). …
- … He asked Bates, who was president of the Entomological Society of London, to raise the question at …
- … by several other entomologists who had been present at the society’s meeting. Darwin circulated his …
- … or supposed facts, in relation to various classes, a dim ray of light may be gained’ ( letter to H. …
- … as well as of ‘victorious males getting wives’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 25 February [1868] ). …
- … of females was remarked upon by other entomologists ( letter from Roland Trimen, 20 February 1868 …
- … and Coleoptera on 9 September . Darwin annotated a letter sent on 3 April by Henry Doubleday …
- … for as sure as life he wd find the odour sexual!’ ( letter to A . R. Wallace, 16 September [1868] …
- … George Robert Crotch, writing to his mother Emma in a letter dated [after 16 October 1868] : ‘I …
- … box of preparations to papa … I will write a less beetley letter soon.’ Other relations …
- … and trimorphic plants’. They were read before the Linnean Society of London on 19 March. In a letter …
- … supported Farrer’s candidacy for fellowship of the Linnean Society ( letter from George Bentham, …
- … 1868] ). Barber’s paper was read before the Linnean Society on 4 February 1869, but remained …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
Matches: 16 hits
- … hurrah for my species-work’ ( Correspondence vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
- … William Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] …
- … by Darwin on the use of microscopes on board ship ( see letter to Richard Owen, [26 March 1848] ). …
- … to Milne directly, he sent a long rejoinder in the form of a letter for publication in the Scotsman. …
- … asked for it to be destroyed. Only the draft of Darwin’s letter remains ( letter to the Scotsman …
- … that his original fieldwork was ‘time thrown away’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8 [September 1847] ) …
- … that it would be a ‘thorn in the side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). …
- … marine invertebrates himself (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April [1837]) …
- … opinion that such a monograph was a ‘desideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), …
- … abortive stamens or pistils ( Correspondence vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November …
- … care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). …
- … sacrifice the rule of priority for the sake of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February …
- … it as ‘the greatest curse to natural History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). …
- … Museum of Zoology, has been transcribed with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849 …
- … the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). …
- … Down Coal Club and helping to establish the Down Friendly Society for which he also acted as …
