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Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 30 hits

  • … but really I do think you have a good right to be so’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [15 and] 20 …
  • … species. Darwin attempted to dissuade him from this view ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 [January 1862 …
  • … partially sterile together. He failed. Huxley replied ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 20 January 1862 …
  • … and pronounced them ‘simply perfect’, but continued ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 18 December [1862] ) …
  • … resigned to their difference of opinion, but complained ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1862 …
  • … letters, Darwin, impressed, gave him the commission ( see letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] …
  • … protégé, telling Hooker: ‘he is no common man’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ). …
  • … stimulated, his work on dimorphic plants, which had begun in 1861 with his study of  Primula  and …
  • … Towards the end of the year, he wrote to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 12 [December 1862] ): …
  • … was read before the Linnean Society of London in November 1861, and was published in the society’s …
  • … and added, ‘new cases are tumbling in almost daily’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). In …
  • … hopeful, became increasingly frustrated, telling Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 March [1862] ) …
  • … on the problem: ‘the labour is great’, he told Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 10–20 June [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … resulted from his ‘ enormous  labour over them’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 [October 1862] ; …
  • … Oliver: ‘I can see at least 3 classes of dimorphism’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862] ), …
  • … result once out of four or five sets of experiments’ ( letter to M. T. Masters, 24 July [1862] ). …
  • … one species may be said to be generically distinct’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 14 July [1862] ). The …
  • … and determined to publish on  Linum  ‘at once’ ( letter to John Scott, 11 December [1862] ), …
  • … d . like to make out this wonderfully complex case—’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 29 [July 1862] ). …
  • … The case clearly excited Darwin, who exclaimed to Gray ( letter to Asa Gray, 9 August [1862] ), ‘I …
  • … that the case warranted a paper for the Linnean Society ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 October [1862] …
  • … that had given him ‘great pleasure to ride’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 January [1862] ). But he …
  • … know not  in the least , whether the Book will sell’ ( letter to John Murray, 9 [February 1862] …
  • … govern the structure of almost every  flower’ ( letter to Daniel Oliver, 8 June [1862] ). …
  • … so doubtful about anything I published’, he told Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 [May 1862] ). …
  • … May, and George Bentham pronounced it ‘most valuable’ (letter from George Bentham, 15 May 1862).  …
  • … in writing the book, it was, after all, ‘a success’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 30 [June 1862] ). …
  • … power of natural selection. He made the point to Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 March [1862] …
  • … the truth of natural selection through the back door ( letter to Asa Gray, 23[–4] July [1862] ). …
  • … which he did so, read before the Linnean Society in November 1861, was lengthened and published in …

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: 29 hits

  • … The death of Hugh Falconer Darwin’s first letter to Hooker of 1865 suggests that the family …
  • … having all the Boys at home: they make the house jolly’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … had failed to include among the grounds of the award ( see letter from Hugh Falconer to Erasmus …
  • … his letters to Darwin, and Darwin responded warmly: ‘Your letter is by far the grandest eulogium …
  • … may well rest content that I have not laboured in vain’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 6 January [1865] …
  • … always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 February [1865] …
  • … for our griefs & pains: these alone are unalloyed’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 February 1865 …
  • … gas.— Sic transit gloria mundi, with a vengeance’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 February [1865] ). …
  • … added, ‘I know it is folly & nonsense to try anyone’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865] …
  • … ineffective, and Darwin had given it up by early July ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865] …
  • … of anything, & that almost exclusively bread & meat’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 15 August [1865] …
  • … better, attributing the improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] …
  • … he was ‘able to write about an hour on most days’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 December [1865] ). …
  • … others very forward, except the last & concluding one’ ( letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] …
  • … my book will be ready for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In …
  • … however, ‘I am never idle when I can do anything’ ( letter to John Murray, 2 June [1865] ). It was …
  • … might be more willing to bear the expense of the woodcuts ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 7 January [1865 …
  • … & I loathe the whole subject like tartar emetic’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 January [1865] ) …
  • … you will be an unnatural parent, for it is your child’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 19 April 1865 ; …
  • … needed for references, probably from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June …
  • … in or before November 1864 ( Correspondence vol. 12, letter to Ernst Haeckel, 21 November [1864 …
  • … 1865 that he had just finished hearing it read aloud ( letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August [1865] ). …
  • … Linnean Society for publication in Müller’s name ( see letter from Fritz Müller, [12 and 31 August, …
  • … so weak that I am not able to do any scientific work’ ( letter to Fritz Müller, 20 September [1865] …
  • … coloured varieties (see  Correspondence  vol. 10, letter to John Scott, 19 November [1862] ). …
  • … species arising’ ( Correspondence vol. 9, letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 September [1861] ). …
  • … India in late 1864, despite suffering from sea-sickness ( letter from John Scott, 21 July 1865 ). …
  • … though he praised Scott’s ‘industry & ability’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [10 March 1865] ). …
  • … Darwin wrote poignantly to his son William on 30 November [1861]: ‘Mamma is in bed with bad Headach. …

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: 24 hits

  • … that he was ‘unwell & must write briefly’ ( letter to John Scott, 31 May [1863] ), and in a …
  • … persevered with his work on Variation until 20 July, his letter-writing dwindled considerably. The …
  • … from ‘some Quadrumanum animal’, as he put it in a letter to J. D. Hooker of 24[–5] February [1863] …
  • … ‘I declare I never in my life read anything grander’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 26 [February 1863] …
  • … than  Origin had (see  Correspondence  vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] ). …
  • … from animals like the woolly mammoth and cave bear ( see letter from Jacques Boucher de Perthes, 23 …
  • … leap from that of inferior animals made him ‘groan’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … out that species were not separately created’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 17 March [1863] ). Public …
  • … book he wished his one-time mentor had not said a word ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February …
  • … I respect you, as my old honoured guide & master’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 6 March [1863] ). …
  • … against stronger statements regarding species change ( letter from Charles Lyell, 11 March 1863 ). …
  • … thinking, while Huxley’s book would scare them off ( see letter from Asa Gray, 20 April 1863 ). In …
  • … change of species by descent put him ‘into despair’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 11 May [1863] ). In the …
  • … disaffected towards Lyell and his book. In a February letter to the  Athenæum , a weekly review of …
  • … find great difficulty in answering Owen  unaided ’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
  • … of so much of Lyell’s book being written by others’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [23 February 1863] …
  • … is wretched to see men fighting so for a little fame’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 17 March [1863] ). …
  • … overt act, and I shall watch for a fitting opportunity’ ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] …
  • … God demented Owen, as a punishment for his crimes… ?’ ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January [1863] …
  • … Darwin’, a transitional form between reptiles and birds ( letter from Hugh Falconer, 3 January …
  • … a significant gap had been filled in the fossil record ( letter to Hugh Falconer, 5 [and 6] January …
  • … continued to capture his and others’ attention ( see letter to J. D. Dana, 20 February [1863] , …
  • … sterility, that had already occupied much of his time in 1861 and 1862. With the publication in 1862 …
  • … of sterility, a question he had been struggling with in 1861 and 1862; he wanted to determine …

Orchids

Summary

Why Orchids? Darwin  wrote in his Autobiography, ‘During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … like no other. In June 1855, Darwin added a postscript to a letter to his close friend Joseph Dalton …
  • … a period of intense orchid research, but June 1858 brought a letter that changed Darwin’s focus …
  • … referred to it, appeared in May 1862 ( Orchids ). A letter to Hooker, on 5 June [1860] …
  • … think of the case.’ Indeed, Darwin had just sent a long letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle asking …
  • … of the question your being able to insert the whole [of the letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle ] in …
  • … of Orchids have been found adhering. ’ The complete letter to Gardeners’ Chronicle was …
  • … 1860. Looking even further afield, Darwin sent a copy of the letter to Asa Gray, remarking, ‘ …
  • … see, a curious contradiction in structure. ’ The letter to Asa Gray highlights an important …
  • … of the functional significance of this structure in a letter to More on 5 August 1860, ‘ Dr. H. is …
  • … suffered a dangerous relapse in the interim, he wrote a long letter to his American friend Asa Gray, …
  • … revising Origin for a third edition. By the end of May 1861, Darwin recorded further progress on …
  • … been a turning point. Darwin recorded in his Journal for 1861, ‘During stay at Torquay did paper on …
  • … ‘Any woman could read it’ By September 1861, Darwin was ready to pitch this new study to his …
  • … George Brettingham Sowerby Jr arrived at Down on 7 October 1861; five days on, Darwin told his son, …
  • … at first focused on the ejection mechanism but by late 1861 he began to suspect that some of the …
  • … out separate sexes in Catasetum and Myanthus . In a letter to Daniel Oliver in December …
  • … have been produced on same plants. ’ As 1861 drew to a close, Darwin’s friends …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 29 hits

  • … learn that the book was on sale even in railway stations ( letter to Charles Lyell, 14 January …
  • … the book, thinking that it would be nice easy reading.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 22 May [1860] ). …
  • … he told Hooker, did not at all concern his main argument ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] …
  • … his theory would have been ‘ utterly  smashed’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). (A …
  • … from right principles of scientific investigation.—’ ( letter to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). …
  • … a theory solely by explaining an ample lot of facts.’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 18 February [1860] ). …
  • … phenomena it comes in time to be admitted as real.’ ( letter to C. J. F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] …
  • … natural selection did not necessarily lead to progression ( letter to Charles Lyell, 18 [and 19 …
  • … considered it more a failure than a success ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 February [1860] ). …
  • … naturalists because more accustomed to reasoning.’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). …
  • … two physiologists, and five botanists ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 March [1860] ). Others, like …
  • … tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!’ ( letter to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the …
  • … favour of change of form’, namely those of embryology ( letter to Asa Gray, 10 September [1860] ). …
  • … his study of the geographical distribution of species ( see letter from T. H. Huxley, 6 August 1860 …
  • … ‘man is in same predicament with other animals’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 10 January [1860] )— he …
  • … book had become ‘topics of the day’ at the meeting in a letter from Hooker written from Oxford. …
  • … Darwin ‘master of the field after 4 hours battle’ (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1860). Other …
  • … that ‘this row is best thing for subject.—’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 3 July [1860] ). Further …
  • … if the whole were already proved) to his own views.—’ ( letter from J. S. Henslow to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … ‘how differently different opposers view the subject’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 15 February [1860] …
  • … studying the first published piece: 'I said in a former letter that you were a Lawyer; but I …
  • … published together under Gray’s name in a pamphlet (Gray 1861) with the publication costs shared …
  • … that these visits have led to changed structure.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 27 April [1860] ). …
  • … several months later, ‘just as at a game of chess.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 [July 1860] ). …
  • … substance from non=nitrogenised substances.’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 31 [August 1860] ). Relying …
  • … scarcely be believed without further supporting evidence ( letter to Edward Cresy, 12 December …
  • … ‘how much better fun observing is than writing.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 12 September [1860] ) …
  • … hope & think I shall improve the Book considerably.—’ ( letter to John Murray, 5 December [1860 …
  • … of some good judge coming some little way with me.’ ( letter to John Innes, 28 December [1860] ). …

3.4 William Darwin, photo 1

Summary

< Back to Introduction In the 1860s Darwin increasingly turned to two of his sons - first to William and later to Leonard - for the fashioning of his image. William, the eldest, apparently took up photography c.1857, when still in his teens, and…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … Darwin himself much preferred.   On 11 April 11 1861, Darwin wrote to the American botanist …
  • … described as ‘an ugly affair’. In a postscript to this letter, however, Darwin explained that he was …
  • … he grew a beard, must surely be the one mentioned in this letter, allowing it to be precisely dated. …
  • … William Darwin 
 date of creation 11 April 1861 
 computer-readable date 1861-04 …
  • … & down the House with your photographs’ (DCP-LETT-1619). Letter from Darwin to Asa Gray, 11 …
  • … and to Philip Gidley King, 16 Nov. [1862] (DCP-LETT-3809). Letter from Darwin to Alphonse de …

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: 5 hits

  • … five articles Darwin had published on the topic between 1861 and 1868. Two related questions inform …
  • … if I cannot make out the mystery next Spring. ’ By March 1861, Darwin had begun to refer to the ‘ …
  • … a meeting of the Linnean Society of London on 21 November 1861. ‘Dimorphic …
  • … (p. 82) and clarified the meaning to Fritz Müller in a letter in September 1866, ‘ What I meant in …
  • … than in the short-styled form ’, Darwin annotated this letter, wondering, ‘Would it be worth while …

Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours

Summary

Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…

Matches: 30 hits

  • … dimorphism and trimorphism that he had written between 1861 and 1868 and presented to the Linnean …
  • … of respect and affection’. He hinted as much in his letter of 4 June : ‘you will see I have done …
  • … have shared Hooker’s suspicion of ambitious gardeners ( letter from W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 August …
  • … method of recording leaf motion for extended periods. In a letter to Thiselton-Dyer of 11 October …
  • … … tap one of the young leaves with a delicate twig’ ( letter to R. I. Lynch, 14 September 1877 ). …
  • … , or to the vibratory flagella of some Infusoria’ ( letter from F. J. Cohn, 5 August 1877 ). …
  • … in July 1877 (F. Darwin 1877b), and Darwin sent Cohn’s letter vindicating his son’s research to …
  • … his sense of form and of motion was exact and lively’ ( letter from W. E. Gladstone, 23 October …
  • … the Westphalian Provincial Society for Science and Art. In a letter to Darwin written before 16 …
  • … the only one full-page in size. Haeckel sent a personal letter of congratulation on 9 February , …
  • … (see Appendix V). The album arrived with a long letter from the director and secretary of the …
  • … reported, ‘but found him as soft & smooth as butter’ ( letter to C. E. Norton, 16 March 1877 ) …
  • … write to Owen & offer himself you & me to dejeuner!!!’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 14 June …
  • … where I hope it may remain for centuries to come’ ( letter from C. C. Graham, 30 January 1877 ). …
  • … you in the interests of truth, of man and of societies’ ( letter from Marcellin de Bonnal, [1877] …
  • … to the old story to be horsewhipped by a duke!’ ( letter to J. M. Rodwell, 3 June 1877 ). Back …
  • … frog spawn; the gospel of dirt the order of the day’ ( letter from E. A. Darwin, 27 January [1877] …
  • … credence to racist prejudice in Descent of man . In a letter from an unknown correspondent on …
  • … the subjects of Siebold’s study of medical monstrosity ( letter from C. T. E. Siebold, 10 October …
  • … our blood and thus keep back our civilization’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 17 May 1877 ). Bowles …
  • … and wives of ‘men of the white race’. In a follow-up letter he warned, ‘you find them in multituds …
  • … polish serves to hide the absence of humanity beneath’ ( letter from W. B. Bowles, 18 May 1877 ). …
  • … in New Guinea, who reportedly had hard inflexible tails ( letter from Arthur Mellersh, 1 January …
  • … up Pangenesis with wicked imprecations’ (Trollope 1867; letter to G. J. Romanes, [1 and 2 December …
  • … disclaimed its ‘scientific value’, he confessed in a letter of 25 November 1877 that the book …
  • … so many men exhibit is in many cases purely physical’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 10 September …
  • … give them drink so that they become quite tipsy’ ( letter to W. M. Moorsom, 11 September [1877] ). …
  • … held by respectable people and licensed by the state’ ( letter from W. M. Moorsom, 13 September …
  • … be the greatest of all possible evils to mankind’ ( draft letter to Charles Bradlaugh, 6 June 1877 …
  • … hope that will allow me to send you a cheque for £10’ ( letter to [Francis Lloyd], 1 May [1877] ). …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … Pound foolish, Penurious, Pragmatical Prigs’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, [29 December 1866] ). But …
  • … able to write easy work for about 1½ hours every day’ ( letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866] ). …
  • … once daily to make the chemistry go on better’ ( letter from H. B. Jones, 10 February [1866] ). …
  • … see you out with our beagles before the season is over’ ( letter from John Lubbock, 4 August 1866 …
  • … work doing me any harm—any how I can’t be idle’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 24 August [1866] ). …
  • … production of which Tegetmeier had agreed to supervise ( letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 16 January …
  • … of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 24 December [1866] …
  • … on botanical dimorphism and trimorphism, published between 1861 and 1864, which raised questions …
  • … good deal I think, & have come to more definite views’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December …
  • … ‘I quite follow you in thinking Agassiz glacier-mad’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8[–9] September …
  • … ten times more than the belief of a dozen physicists’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 February 1866] …
  • … past few years. Emma described the Royal Society event in a letter to George: ‘Your father … entered …
  • … you—& told me to worship Bence Jones in future—’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866 ). …
  • … 3 calls! & then went for ¾ to Zoolog. Garden!!!!!!!!!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [28 April 1866 …
  • … delighted to come on those terms so you are in for it’ ( letter from H. E. Darwin, [  c . 10 May …
  • … very much to see him, though I dread all exertion’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 May 1866] ). …
  • … to Madeira. His visit to Down House is described in a letter from Henrietta to George: ‘when first …
  • … most magnificent eulogium which it has ever received’ ( letter to Ernst Haeckel, 18 August [1866] …
  • … like myself weak in his Greek, is something dreadful’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 22 December [1866] …
  • … progressive, teleological development ( see for example, letter to C. W. Nägeli, 12 June [1866] ). …
  • … His drawings of  C. scoparius , sent to Darwin with his letter of 8 May [1866] , allowed …
  • … Darwin had become interested in  Rhamnus  (buckthorn) in 1861, when Asa Gray informed him that a …
  • … that the species was ‘merely ordinaryly diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 May – 11 June 1866 …
  • … the Rhamnus is a case of dimorphic becoming diœcious’ ( letter from W. E. Darwin, 20 June [1866] ) …
  • … blows up— I am well accustomed to such explosions’ ( letter to W. E. Darwin, 22 June [1866] ). He …
  • … be honest, & admit how little is known on the subject’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 and 4 August …