From Edward Blyth 8 December 1855
Summary
What does CD think of A. R. Wallace’s paper in the Annals & Magazine of Natural History ["On the law which has regulated the introduction of new species", n.s. 16 (1855): 184–96]? EB considers it good on the whole.
Japanned variety of peacock.
Regional variations in bird species.
EB has little faith in the aboriginal wildness of the Chillingham cattle.
Races of humped cattle of India, China, and Africa.
Indian and Malayan gigantic squirrels, with various races remaining true to their colour, would afford capital data for Wallace, as would the local varieties of certain molluscs. Has Wallace’s lucid collation of facts unsettled CD’s ideas regarding the persistence of species?
Bengal hybrid race of geese is very uniform in colour and as prolific as the European tame goose [see Natural selection, p. 439].
Will see what he can do for CD with regard to domestic pigeons.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Dec 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A104–A107 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1792 |
To Roderick Impey Murchison 3 June [1855]
Summary
Accepts invitation for the 20th.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 3 June [1855] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13831 |
From Edward Blyth 22–3 August 1855
Summary
Gives extracts from a letter by Thomas Hutton.
Rabbits are kept (generally by Europeans) in the NW. provinces and breed freely. Canaries are not well adapted to the climate. Reports on domestic cats and pigeons of the area. EB gives references to further information on cats, pigeons, and silkworms.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of this letter.]
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22–3 Aug 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A79–A84 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1746 |
From Edward Blyth [30 September or 7 October 1855]
Summary
Origin of domestic varieties. EB ascribes "abnormal" variations to man’s propagation of casual monstrosities; believes "normal" variations, e.g. European races of cattle, are a consequence of man’s selecting the choicest specimens. Gives examples of "abnormal" variations; they give rise to features that have no counterpart among possible wild progenitors. Divides domestic animals into those whose origin is known and those whose origin is unknown. Considers that the wild progenitors of nearly all domestic birds are known. Fowls and pigeons show many varieties but if propagated abnormalities are ignored each group can be seen to be variations of a single species, the ancestors of which can be recognised without difficulty. Discusses varieties and ancestry of the domestic fowl. Variation in the wild; the ruff shows exceptional variability; other species of birds show variability in size of individuals. Remarks that markings sometimes vary on different sides of the same animal. Comments on the want of regularity in leaf and petal patterns of some plants. Discusses domestic varieties of reindeer and camels. Origin of humped cattle. Reports the rapid spread of a snail in lower Bengal that was introduced as a single pair five or six years previously.
[CD’s notes are an abstract of part of this memorandum. Memorandum originally enclosed with 1760.]
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [30 Sept or 7 Oct] 1855 |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A25–A36 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1761 |
| letter | (4) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (3) |
| Murchison, R. I. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (4) |
| Blyth, Edward | (3) |
| Murchison, R. I. | (1) |
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: 11 hits
- … of nearly 650 letters to and from Charles Darwin in 1875 are published online for the first …
- … it behaved in similar ways to the Drosera secretion. In 1875, Klein was a very controversial …
- … I liked the man .’ Other highlights from the 1875 letters include: I am very …
- … of my books. ( Letter to R. F. Cooke, 29 June [1875] ) Darwin wrote this to his …
- … new Editions . ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 August [1875] ) Darwin also completed …
- … this possible ( Letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] ) Agitation for a law …
- … made false statements ( Letter to John Lubbock, 8 April 1875 ) Relations between the …
- … always succeeds ( Letter to G. H. Darwin, 13 October [1875] ) Darwin wrote …
- … help his father and brothers with scientific instruments: in 1875, he designed a hygrometer. …
- … his great works ( Letter to A. B. Buckley, 23 February 1875 ) The year was saddened …
- … in my time ( Letter to J. D. Hooker, [12 December 1875] ) In December, Darwin was …
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: 24 hits
- … during his periods of severe illness. Yet on 15 January 1875 , Darwin confessed to his close …
- … mouthpiece of ‘Jesuitical Rome’ ( Academy , 2 January 1875, pp. 16–17). ‘How grandly you have …
- … again & again’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 January 1875 ). Darwin had also considered …
- … learned of Klein’s testimony from Huxley on 30 October 1875 : ‘I declare to you I did not believe …
- … carried out on live animals in laboratories. In January 1875, he received details of experiments by …
- … printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). In the event, the book …
- … in a review of the book in the Academy , 24 July 1875, by Ellen Frances Lubbock: ‘in Utricularia …
- … born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875). Back over old ground …
- … which I had long wished to see,’ he wrote on 21 April 1875 , ‘and now that I have seen it, I am …
- … do a good deal of “hammering”,’ he wrote on 14 July 1875 . ‘I shall not let Pangenesis alone …
- … his own theory of heredity in a series of articles in 1875 and 1876, based partly on his studies of …
- … & more’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [ c . February 1875?] ). By May, having finished …
- … proofmaniac’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, 1 and 2 May [1875] ). But Francis also found …
- … on astronomy, or the Duke of Wellington on art (Max Müller 1875, pp. 305–7). The debate between Max …
- … researches (Carus trans. 1875b; the series is Carus trans. 1875–87). More controversial was the …
- … Darwin wrote: ‘An anonymous compliment | received Feb 16th 1875’. The great and the good …
- … Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July [1875] ). Such visitors from the upper …
- … I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). Finally it was arranged for the …
- … of twining plants (letters from Lawson Tait, 16 March [1875] and 27 March [1875] ). ‘As I am …
- … Nepenthes & will soon publish’, Darwin warned on 17 July 1875 . But Tait was undaunted. He …
- … Thiselton-Dyer ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 7 July 1875 ). It was Thiselton-Dyer who …
- … was appropriate for so distinguished a nominee. Already in 1875, Lankester had been elected a fellow …
- … of Lyell’s failing health from Hooker in 1874 and January 1875. On 22 February, he was notified of …
- … ‘high type’ ( letter from Woodward Emery, 17 September 1875 ). …
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: 17 hits
- … the Trichinae’ (letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] ). Darwin also worried that any bill …
- … their own petition (letter to T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 ). In the event, Darwin became …
- … within Darwin’s family. In his letter of 14 January 1875 to Huxley, Darwin mentioned the effect …
- … (letter from Emma Darwin to F. P. Cobbe, 14 January [1875] ). In the course of the public …
- … to Huxley (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 12 February 1875 ). Darwin was in London from 31 …
- … sketch for a petition (letter from T. H. Huxley, [4 April 1875] ). This was evidently passed back …
- … on 7 April (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 7 April [1875] ), and circulating it to others in …
- … were made (letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, 10 April 1875 ), and another version was prepared …
- … of Lords (see letter to J. S. Burdon Sanderson, [11 April 1875] ). He was still unsure whether …
- … Royal Society of London (letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 April [1875] ). The next day he wrote to …
- … else you think best’ (letter to E. H. Stanley, 15 April 1875 ). After further consultations, a …
- … are evident in Darwin’s correspondence in April and May 1875. The initial petition (DAR …
- … order of the clauses. In the revised sketch, dated 24 April 1875, the penalty for unlawful …
- … at this alteration (letter from T. H. Huxley, 19 May 1875 , letter from J. S. Burdon Sanderson, …
- … corrections had been made (letter to Lyon Playfair, 26 May 1875 , and letter from Lyon Playfair, …
- … ( Hansard Parliamentary Debates , 3d ser., vol. 224 (1875), col. 794). A Royal Commission was a …
- … the RSPCA. The commission met between 5 June and 15 December 1875, examining fifty-three witnesses, …
I never trusted Drosera: From E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875
Summary
Francis Neary has set his favourite letter to music (with additional vocals and bass by Deen Manning). The satirical verses were sent to Darwin by Ellen Frances Lubbock in 1875 after the publication of his book on insectivorous plants. They…
Matches: 1 hits
- … verses were sent to Darwin by Ellen Frances Lubbock in 1875 after the publication of his book on …
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: 6 hits
- … but inconclusive (see letter from G. J. Romanes, 14 July 1875 ). Eventually Romanes, who had …
- … physiologists’ ( letter to G. J. Romanes, 18 July 1875 ). Darwin was concerned that the method be …
- … let loose from hell’ ( letter to F. B. Cobbe, [14 January 1875] ). Darwin’s involvement in …
- … position most frankly in a letter to Henrietta, 4 January [1875] . I have long thought …
- … present agitation. ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 January [1875] ) Darwin worked closely …
- … death in this country. ( letter To T. H. Huxley, 14 January 1875 ) Legislation was passed …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 9 hits
- … on this subject. ( To J. V. Carus 7 February 1875 ). In fact, Darwin had planned a new set of …
- … fact seems to me all important.’ ( To Asa Gray, 30 May [1875] ). In earlier papers on plants with …
- … any material aid to plants in fertilization?’ (Meehan 1875) prompted Darwin to inform him that he …
- … to plants to intercross’ ( To Thomas Meehan, 3 October 1875 ). Hermann Müller had also read Meehan …
- … obscure this matter’ ( From Hermann Müller, 23 October 1875 ). The Italian botanists were …
- … plants that crossing was of little importance (Pedicino 1875; Comes 1875). Darwin was philosophical, …
- … Kölreuter’s papers’ ( To Hermann Müller, 26 October 1875 ). Darwin’s copy of Johann Kölreuter’s …
- … in the conditions’ ( To Ernst Haeckel, 13 November 1875 ). He added on a darker note, ‘What I …
- … papers in the same book ( To J. V. Carus, 25 December 1875 ). As Darwin continued to write …
Language: key letters
Summary
How and why language evolved bears on larger questions about the evolution of the human species, and the relationship between man and animals. Darwin presented his views on the development of human speech from animal sounds in The Descent of Man (1871),…
Thomas Burgess
Summary
As well as its complement of sailors, the Beagle also carried a Royal Marine sergeant and seven marines, one of whom was Thomas Burgess. When the Beagle set sail he was twenty one, having been born in October 1810 to Israel and Hannah Burgess of Lancashire…
Matches: 1 hits
- … about him again until he opened a letter from him in March 1875 . It was written from Rainow, a …
Movement in Plants
Summary
The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…
Diagrams and drawings in letters
Summary
Over 850 illustrations from the printed volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin have been added to the online transcripts of the letters. The contents include maps, diagrams, drawings, sketches and photographs, covering geological, botanical,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … sketch showing his system of selection, 21 May 1875 J. G. Joyce's report of …
4.34 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 1
Summary
< Back to Introduction Linley Sambourne’s cartoon in Punch, a ‘Suggested Illustration’ for Darwin’s forthcoming book on The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875) is another playful transformation of the author into an ape or monkey. However,…
Matches: 4 hits
- … book on The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875) is another playful transformation of …
- … forms. A writer in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in March 1875 remarked that Darwin had ‘invested …
- … Sambourne date of creation December 1875 computer-readable date …
- … references and bibliography Punch vol. 69 (11 December 1875), p. 242. Gardeners’ Chronicle …
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: 6 hits
- … vol. 23, letter from Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, 20 September 1875 ). He began to compile an account …
- … end of the previous year. He had been incensed in December 1875 when the zoologist Edwin Ray …
- … The controversial issue had occupied Darwin for much of 1875. In January 1876, a Royal Commission …
- … to Insectivorous plants , which was published in July 1875, with a US edition published later …
- … in February 1876 (despite bearing a publication date of 1875), Darwin must have been gratified by …
- … Darwin, who had communicated the paper to the society in 1875 at Tait’s request, with the ‘awful job …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 5 hits
- … not retract his criticism in his own second edition (Dana 1875, p. 274). Descent …
- … (Correspondence vol. 23, from J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1875] ), preferring to attack Mivart in …
- … Anthropogenie in the Academy (2 January 1875; see Appendix V, pp. 644–5) . The affair …
- … wrote a polite, very formal letter to Mivart on 12 January 1875 , refusing to hold any future …
- … and a second French edition was published in January 1875 ( letter from C.-F. Reinwald , 4 February …
Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
Summary
Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, with full debunking below...
Matches: 1 hits
- … Many myths have persisted about Darwin's life and work. Here are a few of the more pervasive ones, …
Climbing Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment A monograph by which to work After the publication of On the Origin of Species, Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in…
Vivisection: Darwin's testimony to the Royal Commission
Summary
Wednesday, 3rd November 1875. Mr. Charles Darwin called in and examined. 4661. (Chairman.) We are very sensible of your kindness in coming at some sacrifice to yourself to express your opinions to the Commission. We attribute it to the great…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Wednesday, 3rd November 1875. Mr. Charles Darwin called in and examined. …
Vivisection: first sketch of the bill
Summary
Strictly Confidential Mem: This print is only a first sketch. It is being now recast with a new & more simple form – but the substance of the proposed measure may be equally well seen in this draft. R.B.L. | 2 586 Darwin and vivisection …
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- … cited for all purposes as “The Experiments on Animals Act, 1875.” SCHEDULE. …
- … under the provisions of “The Experiments on Animals Act, 1875,” empowering me to make experiments on …
- … under the provisions of the Experiments on Animals Act, 1875, that the above-named M.N. is enaged in …
- … under the provisions of the Experiments on Animals Act, 1875, accompanied by Certificate, such as is …
1.6 Ouless oil portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction The first commissioned oil portrait of Darwin was painted by Walter William Ouless, who was given sittings at Down House in March 1875. The idea for such a portrait came from Darwin’s son William, who as far back as 1872 had…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Ouless, who was given sittings at Down House in March 1875. The idea for such a portrait came from …
- … the resulting picture was shown at the Royal Academy in May 1875, the Times reviewer noted …
- … Walter William Ouless date of creation March 1875 computer-readable date …
- … and letter from Charles Darwin to Joseph Hooker, 30 March [1875], DCP-LETT-9905. ‘The Royal Academy’ …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 5 hits
- … to an end. The dispute was not resolved until early 1875, and, even then, not to Darwin’s complete …
- … from J. D. Hooker, 29 December 1874 ). By January 1875, Mivart had still not made any …
- … book Anthropogenie , in the Academy , 2 January 1875. ‘Possessed by a blind animosity against …
- … (Mivart was a Catholic convert.) On 12 January 1875 , Darwin finally wrote to Mivart, …
- … article in a letter published in the Academy , 16 January 1875, p. 66, signed, ‘The Quarterly …
Insectivorous Plants
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Plants that consume insects Darwin began his work with insectivorous plants in the mid 1860s, though his findings would not be published until 1875. In his autobiography Darwin reflected on the delay that…
