From Charles Lyell to J. D. Hooker [31 May 1865]
Summary
Emcloses copies of correspondence concerning his dispute with John Lubbock.
Author: | Charles Lyell, 1st baronet |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [31 May 1865] |
Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (JDH/2/1/14 f.323); The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Gen. 113/3650–3, 3813–20, 3821–4) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4844F |
Matches: 8 hits
- … John Murray. Morlot, Charles Adolphe. 1859. Etudes géologico-archéologiques en Danemark …
- … et en Suisse. [Read January 1859. ] Bulletin des séances. Société Vaudoise des Sciences …
- … p. 496, Lyell 1863c , p. 16, and Morlot 1859 , p. 276. Lubbock refers to Lubbock 1865 …
- … by Morlot printed at Berne in French in 1859 long before you first went to Denmark. ( …
- … to you that I conversed with Prof. Claparede in 1859 & that I have a letter from him …
- … dated December 8. 1859 in which he gives me expressly for my use an abstract of what had …
- … 1863c and Lubbock 1861 . Lyell refers to Morlot 1859 , in which Charles Adolphe Morlot had …
- … than to say it was summarised in Morlot 1859 ( C. Lyell 1863c , p. 8). Lyell refers to …
To James Philip Mansel Weale 6 May [1865]
Summary
Sends advice on naturalist matters.
W. H. Harvey’s work [with Wilhelm Sonder, Flora capensis (1859–65)],
and Robert Brown’s publication ["On the organs and mode of fecundation in Orchideae and Asclepiadeae", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 16 (1833): 685–745].
Writes of having seen in S. America a Hymenopteran with tarsi covered with pollen-masses of Asclepias.
Interested in JPMW’s researches in South American caverns.
Mentions poor health.
Thanks for tracings.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | James Philip Mansel Weale |
Date: | 6 May [1865] |
Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.308) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4828 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … work [with Wilhelm Sonder, Flora capensis (1859–65)], and Robert Brown’s publication ["On …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Variation : The variation of animals and …
- … A. S. Robertson. Harvey, William Henry. 1859–63. Thesaurus Capensis: or, illustrations of …
- … and probably to W. H. Harvey and Sonder 1859–65. Harvey had corresponded with CD and was …
- … W. H. Harvey 1838 and W. H. Harvey 1859–63 . Weale went on to produce five papers on …
From Henry Holland 2 January 1865
Summary
Thanks for Lythrum paper [Collected papers 2: 106–31].
T. S. Cobbold’s book on the Entozoa [1864].
Remarks on development of the tapeworm.
Author: | Henry Holland, 1st baronet |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 2 Jan 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 166: 245 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4735 |
Matches: 6 hits
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria ’: On the …
- … Reviews for many years. He revised his 1859 article ‘Life and organisation’ to include …
- … a commentary on Origin (see Holland 1859 and Holland 1862 , pp. 98–9). CD was highly …
- … the letter to Charles Lyell, 25 October [1859] ( Correspondence vol. 7), CD expressed his …
- … 7, letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). For Holland’s views on Origin , see also …
- … 7, letter from Henry Holland, 10 December [1859] . Holland refers to the discussion of the …
From John Murray 1 April 1865
Summary
Will be proud to publish CD’s new work on domestic animals [Variation]. Will announce it as the complement of the Origin. Advises on woodcuts; does not wish to limit number; agrees to CD’s suggestions for artists.
Author: | John Murray |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Apr 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 171: 332 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-3493 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to T. H. Huxley, 16 December [1859] , and letter to …
- … John Murray, 22 December [1859] , and Correspondence vol. 9, letters to John Murray , 3 …
- … 1868; they had first published Origin in 1859. Though both works were published in octavo, …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Variation : The variation of animals and …
To J. D. Hooker [4 June 1865]
Summary
Agrees with JDH on Lyell–Lubbock controversy except that Lubbock’s printed note does not seem to him insulting. Hopes JDH can heal the breach.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | [4 June 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 270 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4852 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … Bibliography Morlot, Charles Adolphe. 1859. Etudes géologico-archéologiques en Danemark …
- … et en Suisse. [Read January 1859. ] Bulletin des séances. Société Vaudoise des Sciences …
- … of Lyell’s conduct). The reference is to Charles Adolphe Morlot and Morlot 1859 . …
- … CD’s annotated copy of Morlot 1859 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. See letter …
To J. D. Hooker 19 January [1865]
Summary
"Climbing plants" sent off.
Encourages JDH to include notes on gradation of important characters in Genera plantarum or to write a paper on the subject. Has given prominence to gradation of unimportant characters in climbing plants. Believes that it is common for the same part in an individual plant to be in different states. Same may be true of important parts – for example position of ovule may differ.
Two articles in last Natural History Review interested him; "Colonial floras" [n.s. 5 (1865): 46–63]
and "Sexuality of cryptogams" [n.s. 5 (1865): 64–79].
Fact of similarity of orders in tropics is extremely curious. Thinks it may be connected with glacial destruction.
Leo Lesquereux says he is a convert for the curious reason that CD’s books make birth of Christ and redemption by grace so clear to him!
"Not one question [for JDH] in this letter!"
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 19 Jan [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 258a–c |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4748 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart. Lesquereux, Leo. 1859–63. On some questions concerning the …
- … Journal of Science and Arts 2d ser. 28 (1859): 21–37; 30 (1860): 63–74, 367–84; 32 (1861): …
- … of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. …
- … published a series of papers between 1859 and 1863, entitled ‘On some questions concerning …
- … formations of North America’ ( Lesquereux 1859–63 ). In the third part of this series, …
To George Henslow [2–5 November 1865]
Summary
Reports the results of an experiment to compare the weight of seeds produced in plants of [Medicago sativa] by self-pollination and by insect pollination.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | George Henslow |
Date: | [2–5 Nov 1865] |
Classmark: | Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 9 (1867): 328 n. |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4929F |
To J. D. Hooker 1 June [1865]
Summary
Bad month of sickness. John Chapman’s ice bag on spine.
Does not quite agree with JDH about Lubbock’s plagiarism charges. Lyell’s memory must have failed him.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Date: | 1 June [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 115: 269, 269b |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4846 |
From Charles Kingsley 30 May 1865
Summary
Requests CD’s photograph.
Author: | Charles Kingsley |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 30 May 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 169: 31 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4843 |
From J. D. Hooker 24 December 1865
Summary
Oliver says H. E. Baillon found stamens on female flowers of Coelebogyne, but JDH and many botanists have never found any stamens.
Lyell wants to propose JDH for Copley Medal.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Dec 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 51–2 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4955 |
From Charles Kingsley 14 June 1865
Summary
CD’s paper on "Climbing plants" [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 1–118] has made nature come alive for CK.
Author: | Charles Kingsley |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 14 June 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 169: 33 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4861 |
To William Bernhard Tegetmeier 27 February [1865]
Summary
Wants his fowl MS.
Will shortly return WBT’s skulls.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
Date: | 27 Feb [1865] |
Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4776 |
From E. A. Darwin 1 September [1865]
Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Sept [1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 105: B35 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4889 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … railway companies that merged on 13 August 1859 (see Bairstow 1993 , p. 3). No further …
From J. D. Hooker 13 July 1865
Summary
Studying moraines.
On Lubbock’s book [see 4860], and Lyell’s apology. Recapitulates whole affair.
W. E. H. Lecky [Rise of rationalism in Europe (1865)] and other reading.
Spencer’s observations are wrong on umbellifers, his reasoning partially right.
Natural History Review is all but defunct.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 13 July 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 30–3 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4873 |
Matches: 4 hits
- … University Press. Morlot, Charles Adolphe. 1859. Etudes géologico-archéologiques en …
- … Danemark et en Suisse. [Read January 1859. ] ]Bulletin des séances. Société Vaudoise des …
- … Lubbock’s own work was predated by that of Charles Adolphe Morlot ( Morlot 1859 ). …
- … Morlot 1859 was a summary of Forchhammer et al. 1851–5. See enclosures to letter from …
From Edward Perceval Wright 24 March 1865
Summary
Thanks CD for subscribing to the Cybele Hibernica.
Reports some observations made on the common buffaloes of India seen swimming and diving in 12ft of floodwater in order to crop the herbage beneath.
Author: | Edward Perceval Wright |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 24 Mar 1865 |
Classmark: | DAR 181: 174 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4793 |
From Benjamin Dann Walsh 1 March 1865
Summary
Sends his paper on "Willow-galls" [Proc. Entomol. Soc. Philadelphia 3 (1864): 543–644].
Lengthy criticism of Agassiz’s views on species as stated in his Essay on classification [1857].
Interested by CD’s trimorphism in Lythrum. Thinks some great mystery may lie in the fact that in some genera, some species are tri-, some di-, and some monomorphic, and in other genera, Apis, Vespa, Bombus, all the known species are dimorphic.
Author: | Benjamin Dann Walsh |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 1 Mar 1865 |
Classmark: | Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4778 |
Matches: 5 hits
- … 6 (1852–3): 226–35. Le Conte, John Lawrence. 1859. The Coleoptera of Kansas and Eastern …
- … Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 11 (1859): Article 6. Le Conte, John Lawrence. …
- … was reprinted as a separate book in 1858 and 1859, before the appearance of Origin , and …
- … localised species of Coleoptera ( Le Conte 1859 , pp. iii–v). CD scored this passage in …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Osten-Sacken, Charles Robert. 1864. Ueber …
To Fritz Müller 10 August [1865]
Summary
Has read and admires FM’s work on species.
Observations on Crustacea are good and original; asks FM to dissect and check some of CD’s observations on cirripedes.
Has sent "Climbing plants" paper [J. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 9 (1865): 1–118] and would like to send Orchids.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Date: | 10 Aug [1865] |
Classmark: | The British Library (Loan MS 10 no 1) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4881 |
From J. D. Hooker [2 June 1865]
Summary
JDH on the Lyell–Lubbock plagiarism controversy. His view of the true cause of Lubbock’s behaviour.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [2 June 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 24–7 |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4849 |
From Fritz Müller 10 October 1865
Summary
Thanks CD for his photograph.
Sends a paper ["Über das Holz einiger um Desterro wachsender Kletterpflanzen", Botanische Zeitung 24 (1866): 57–60, 65–9].
Believes species of sponge with different mineral spiculae are descended from a form with organic spiculae.
Reports observations on motions of Linum stalks following the sun.
Regards Anelasma as a connecting form between cirripedes and Rhizocephala.
Author: | Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | 10 Oct 1865 |
Classmark: | Möller ed. 1915–21, 2: 74–6. |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4912A |
From J. D. Hooker [26 September 1865]
Summary
On his reading: George Eliot,
T. F. Jamieson on Scottish glaciation.
Glad Lyell–Lubbock affair is over.
His grief over loss of father and child.
Author: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Date: | [26 Sept 1865] |
Classmark: | DAR 102: 34–6a |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4899 |
letter | (84) |
Darwin, C. R. | (35) |
Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
Gray, Asa | (3) |
Huxley, T. H. | (3) |
Falconer, Hugh | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (46) |
Hooker, J. D. | (11) |
Lyell, Charles | (3) |
Müller, Fritz | (3) |
Darwin, E. A. | (2) |
Darwin, C. R. | (81) |
Hooker, J. D. | (19) |
Lyell, Charles | (5) |
Müller, Fritz | (5) |
Gray, Asa | (4) |

The writing of "Origin"
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…
Matches: 21 hits
- … hopes.— (letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ) The year 1858 opened with …
- … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
- … instinct the previous March. By the middle of March 1859, Darwin had finished the last …
- … upon Lyell for advice (letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
- … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
- … the forthcoming book (letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
- … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
- … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
- … than when I came’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
- … rag is worth anything?’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
- … of induction’ (letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
- … (letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
- … to me to do.’ (letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
- … of Darwin’s theory (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
- … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859 , ‘the case of Man and his Races …
- … to their mercies’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 November 1859] ). Late in December, to Darwin’s …
- … were the man.’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). Huxley admitted his authorship to …
- … without good cause.’ (letter to John Murray, 2 December [1859] ). At Murray’s trade sale …
- … had made’ (letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859 ). This and the two references to the …
- … try to make out truth’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1859] ). Yet he desperately wanted people …
- … on our side.—’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1859] ). …

Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 25 hits
- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
- … and prompted the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise On the …
- … exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
- … ‘When I was in spirits’, he told Lyell at the end of 1859, ‘I sometimes fancied that my book w d …
- … hopes.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal …
- … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
- … Botanic Gardens at Kew (see Appendix VII). The year 1859 began auspiciously with Darwin …
- … 1854) ( Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 15 (1859): xxv). One of the most …
- … theory. As he wrote in his introductory essay (Hooker 1859, p. ii): 'In the present Essay I …
- … to test such a theory. His essay, published in December 1859, was the first serious study of the …
- … the other’s ideas (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 2 March [1859] , 11 March [1859] , and 7 …
- … upon Lyell for advice ( letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
- … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
- … the forthcoming book ( letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
- … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
- … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
- … than when I came’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
- … rag is worth anything?’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
- … of induction’ ( letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
- … ( letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
- … to me to do.’ ( letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
- … of Darwin’s theory ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
- … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859, ‘the case of Man and his Races & …
- … to their mercies’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 November 1859] ). Late in December, to Darwin’s …
- … were the man.’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). Huxley admitted his authorship to …

Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…

Controversy
Summary
The best-known controversies over Darwinian theory took place in public or in printed reviews. Many of these were highly polemical, presenting an over-simplified picture of the disputes. Letters, however, show that the responses to Darwin were extremely…
Matches: 6 hits
- … Letter 2525 — Darwin, C. R. to Sedgwick, Adam, 11 Nov 1859 Darwin writes to Sedgwick to tell …
- … Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, C. R., 24 Nov 1859 Adam Sedgwick thanks Darwin for …
- … Letter 2555 — Darwin, C. R. to Sedgwick, Adam, 26 Nov [1859] Darwin says Sedgwick could not …
- … Letter 2526 — Owen, Richard to Darwin, C. R., 12 Nov 1859 Owen says to Darwin he will welcome …
- … Letter 2575 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, [10 Dec 1859] Darwin discusses with King' …
- … Letter 2580 — Darwin, C. R. to Owen, Richard, 13 Dec [1859] Darwin responds to Owen’s remarks …

On the Origin of Species
Summary
From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…

Francis Galton
Summary
Galton was a naturalist, statistician, and evolutionary theorist. He was a second cousin of Darwin’s, having descended from his grandfather, Erasmus. Born in Birmingham in 1822, Galton studied medicine at King’s College, London, and also read mathematics…
Matches: 1 hits
- … into an entirely new province of knowledge’ ( 9 December 1859 ). He soon became interested in …

Darwin and Fatherhood
Summary
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…
Matches: 3 hits
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…

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: 1 hits
- … or against me. ( to John Lubbock, 14 December [1859] ) When Origin was …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Darwin on race and gender
Summary
Darwin’s views on race and gender are intertwined, and mingled also with those of class. In Descent of man, he tried to explain the origin of human races, and many of the differences between the sexes, with a single theory: sexual selection. Sexual…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 11 April 1833 Letter to C. R. Lyell, 11 October [1859] Letter to Charles …

The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 10 hits
- … but his views were generally derided. 1 In 1859, Lyell visited several sites in …
- … that these were indeed implements of early humans (C. Lyell 1859). In September 1860 he visited …
- … in French, earlier reports written in Danish (Morlot 1859, Forchhammer et al. 1851–5); Lubbock …
- … for their work in the Brixham cave explorations of 1858 and 1859. 5 Another controversy arose …
- … its appearance in print; first in French, dated Berne, Sept. 1859, in the ‘Mémoires de la Société …
- … zoologist M. Claparède had also conversed with me in 1859 on the researches of the best Danish …
- … gave me an abstract for my use, in a letter dated December 1859. He referred me chiefly to ‘Oversigt …
- … and Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate. Lyell, Charles. 1859. On the occurrence of works of …
- … vols. London: John Murray. Morlot, Charles Adolphe. 1859. Etudes géologico-archéologiques en …
- … struggle for life . By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859. Owen, Richard. 1863. Ape …

Instinct and the Evolution of Mind
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Slave-making ants For Darwin, slave-making ants were a powerful example of the force of instinct. He used the case of the ant Formica sanguinea in the On the Origin of Species to show how instinct operates—how…
Matches: 3 hits

Darwin & Glen Roy
Summary
Although Darwin was best known for his geological work in South America and other remote Beagle destinations, he made one noteworthy attempt to explain a puzzling feature of British geology. In 1838, two years after returning from the voyage, he travelled…
Matches: 1 hits
- … [after September 20 1847] To A.C. Ramsay, 1 July [1859] From Thomas Jamieson, …
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
- … Letter 2447 - Darwin to Murray, J., [5 April 1859] Darwin asks his publisher, John …
- … Letter 2461 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [11 May 1859] Darwin expresses anxiety over …
- … Letter 2475 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [2 July 1859] Darwin returns the manuscript of …
- … Letter 2501 - Lyell, C. to Darwin, [3 October 1859] Lyell offers praise and …

Origin
Summary
Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to establish priority for the species theory he had spent over twenty years researching. Darwin never intended to write Origin, and had resisted suggestions in 1856…
Matches: 8 hits
- … across tropics ’. When Hooker’s essay was published in 1859, it was one of the first publications …
- … as by far the most capable judge in Europe. ’ By April 1859, he was able to tell Wallace that ‘ …
- … Abstract ’ would not be finished until around April 1859. But this was an optimistic estimate. …
- … of favoured races” ’, he told Lyell. On 31 March 1859, Darwin wrote to Murray describing his work …
- … the work of correcting proofs continued over the summer of 1859, Darwin had to take the water cure …
- … never shirked a difficulty’, he told Lyell on 20 September 1859, ‘ I am foolishly anxious for your …
- … of Science meeting held in Aberdeen from 14 to 21 September 1859. Darwin was confident that in time …
- … and negative, to his work flowed in. By early December 1859, he admitted that he needed to ‘ think …
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…

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: 18 hits
- … Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] (Innes) Hairy …
- … The Dog in health & Disease by Stonehenge—Longman 1859 [Stonehenge 1859].— on Toy–Dogs …
- … [Combe 1828] Macclintocks Arctic Voyage [Macclintock 1859] [DAR *128: 153] …
- … [G. Bennett 1860] Read 114 Village Bells [Manning] 1859] } Fanny The Woman in White …
- … Republic [Motley 1855] [DAR 128: 24] 1859 Pagets Lectures on Pathology …
- … 1803] (nothing) [DAR 128: 25] 1859 Feb. 28 Olmstead S. States [Olmsted …
- … Mast [R. H. Dana [1840] (good) Bertrams [Trollope 1859] & Adam Bede [Eliot 1859] …
- … (many novels) Dec: Dana to Cuba & back [R. H. Dana 1859] —— Cruize in Japanese …
- … on Maladies of Silk-worm [Quatrefages de Bréau 1859] Owen Lecture on Classification [R. Owen …
- … March. 8 Houdins the conjurer Life [Robert-Houdin [1859] 19 MacClintocks Narrative …
- … Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften . In 1859 he was the coauthor, with E. Desor, …
- … des progrès de la géologie de 1834 à 1845(–1859) . 8 vols. Paris. [Vol. 1 (1847) in Darwin …
- … at sea . New York. [Other eds.] 128: 25 ——. 1859. To Cuba and back. A vacation voyage …
- … Eliot, George, pseud . (Marian Evans Cross). 1859. Adam Bede . 3 vols. Edinburgh. [Other …
- … (1849): 381–420. [Separately printed in 2 vols. (Paris, 1859) in Darwin Library.] *128: 177 …
- … 119: 16a Hodson, William Stephen Raikes. 1859. Twelve years of a soldier’s life in …
- … 1–46. 119: 9b [Jenkin, Henrietta Camilla]. 1859. Cousin Stella; or, conflict . 3 …
- … Library.] 119: 9a Macclintock, Francis Leopold. 1859. The voyage of the “Fox” in …

John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 4 hits
- … natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who …
- … cousin and business partner, the earliest letters date from 1859, the year of the publication of …
- … you may not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a …
- … & proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all …