To Wilhelm Pfeffer 23 March 1879
Summary
Seeks clarification of statements on sleep movements on p. 29 of WFPP’s work [Die periodischen Bewegungen der Blattorgane (1875)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp (Wilhelm) Pfeffer |
| Date: | 23 Mar 1879 |
| Classmark: | Tenri Central Library, Tenri University, Nara |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11948 |
From D. Appleton & Co. 1 February 1879
Summary
Statement of U.S. sales of CD’s works.
| Author: | D. Appleton & Co |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Feb 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 159: 104 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11855 |
To H. N. Moseley 4 February 1879
Summary
Comments on HNM’s book [Notes by a naturalist on the "Challenger" (1879)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Nottidge Moseley |
| Date: | 4 Feb 1879 |
| Classmark: | Christie’s, London (dealers) (online 31 October – 8 November 2018, lot 13) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11858 |
From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer [20 January 1879]
Summary
H. N. Moseley says [in "Notes on plants collected and observed at the Admiralty Islands", J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 15 (1877): 77] pigeons eject seeds in fit state for germination. He regards pigeons as providing most efficient means of transport in Malayan Archipelago.
CD’s collected notes on geographical distribution would make a good book.
| Author: | William Turner Thiselton-Dyer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [20 Jan 1879] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 260 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-10341 |
To Francis Darwin 2 July [1879]
Summary
FD’s experiment shows that caustic does not interfere with the bending of radicles. Believes that the apex is a kind of brain for certain movements, being specialised to receive certain irritations.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | 2 July [1879] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 61 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12132 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. …
To Anton de Bary 5 August 1879
Summary
Thanks ADeB for sending specimens of Utricularia to Francis [Darwin]. Urges him to publish his observations, because Utricularia differs widely from Drosera. CD has been unable to detect any evidence of true digestion in Utricularia.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Anton Heinrich (Anton) de Bary |
| Date: | 5 Aug 1879 |
| Classmark: | Natural History Museum (General Special Collections MSS DAR A 45a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12182 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. …
To Hugo de Vries 6 September 1879
Summary
Perhaps movement from side to side in plants is caused by the contraction of one side, rather than the expansion of the other.
Sends seeds of Lychnis Githago: he observed the hypocotyledenous stem, not the root, contracting.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hugo de Vries |
| Date: | 6 Sept 1879 |
| Classmark: | Artis Library (De Vries 7) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12219F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. …
To Francis Darwin [4 February – 8 March 1879]
Summary
Requests some seeds.
Believes the leaves of Phyllanthus sleep like those of Cassia.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Francis Darwin |
| Date: | [4 Feb – 8 Mar 1879] |
| Classmark: | DAR 211: 49 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11815 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Pfeffer, Wilhelm. 1875. Die periodische Bewegungen der Blattorgane . Leipzig: …
From W. E. Darwin [8 December 1879]
Summary
Returns Guthrie. Comments at length on Guthrie’s critique of Spencer.
| Author: | William Erasmus Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [8 Dec 1879] |
| Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 72) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12346F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Spencer, Herbert. 1875. First principles. 3d edition. London: Williams and …
From Francis Darwin 9 July 1879
Summary
Pressure paralyses the streaming of protoplasm in the hairs of Tradescantia.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 July 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 61 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12142 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Wilhelm Engelmann. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. …
From A. G. Butler 31 March 1879
Summary
Has succeeded in obtaining Assistant Keeper’s post.
Believes it would be interesting and valuable to study the variation in organs such as scent-fans and "strigillating" [stridulating?] organs among related species of Lepidoptera.
| Author: | Arthur Gardiner Butler |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 Mar 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 390 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11963 |
From Francis Darwin to Emma Darwin 30 June 1879
Summary
Last night had tremendous thunderstorm. Will ask Goebel about proshelismus. Describes experiments on beans. Please send Bessy’s address. Has got to know nice Englishman named Purdy and his wife. Bathes nearly every night with the Finlander.
| Author: | Francis Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | 30 June 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 274.1: 49 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12128F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. Movement in plants : The power of movement …
From Raphael Meldola 11 December 1879
Summary
Sends subscription form for English edition of Weismann’s Studien.
| Author: | Raphael Meldola |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 11 Dec 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 139 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12351 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Weismann, August. 1875–6. Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie . 2 vols. I. Ueber …
From George Henslow 8 February 1879
Summary
GH no longer believes in the value of cross-fertilisation in plants.
| Author: | George Henslow |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Feb 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 166: 175 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11864 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of the Linnean Society ( Botany ) 2d ser. 1 (1875–80): 317–98. Henslow, George. 1877b. The …
From J. F. Moulton 10 December 1879
Summary
At CD’s request he has read Malcolm Guthrie’s book [On Mr Spencer’s formula of evolution (1879)], which is a critique of First principles. He finds it a helpful clarification of Spencer’s views; however, it is as pseudo-scientific as the book it criticises.
| Author: | John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 10 Dec 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 278 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12350 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Review 58: 472–504. Spencer, Herbert. 1875. First principles. 3d edition. London: Williams …
From Hugo de Vries 7 August 1879
Summary
Experiments to determine mechanism of tendril curvature; importance of variations in cell turgidity. Contraction in roots caused by increased turgor.
| Author: | Hugo de Vries |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Aug 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 180: 22 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12186 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875. Movement in plants : The power of movement …
To August Weismann 10 November 1879
Summary
Thanks for AW’s work ["Zur Naturgeschichte der Daphniden", Z. Wiss. Zool. 27: 51–112; 28: 93–254; 30 (suppl.): 123–65; 33: 55–270]. CD always interested in adaptations which appear to owe their structure to other causes.
Has not heard from Raphael Meldola for a long time about translation of AW’s Studien.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Leopold Friedrich August (August) Weismann |
| Date: | 10 Nov 1879 |
| Classmark: | Shrewsbury School, Taylor Library |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12303 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Bibliography Weismann, August. 1875–6. Studien zur Descendenz-Theorie . 2 vols. I. Ueber …
From Wilhelm Pfeffer 22 April 1879
Summary
In response to CD’s query, discusses sleep movements of plants. Recommends papers on subject.
| Author: | Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp (Wilhelm) Pfeffer |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 22 Apr 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 209.14: 187 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12008 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … John Murray. 1880. Pfeffer, Wilhelm. 1875. Die periodische Bewegungen der Blattorgane . …
To G. J. Romanes 23 July 1879
Summary
Contributes to subscription for Grant Allen.
Regrets GJR and wife could not visit.
Encloses paper [not identified] by Thomas Meehan, a very inaccurate observer.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George John Romanes |
| Date: | 23 July 1879 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.566) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-12168 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in England’: Grant Allen and the writing trade, 1875–1900 . New York: Palgrave Macmillan. …
From C.-F. Reinwald 17 April 1879
Summary
Second edition of Edmond Barbier’s revised translation of Origin selling out; third one to be published.
A new edition of Variation, virtually retranslated by Barbier, is in press.
Second edition of Descent selling out.
CD’s botanical books are losing money.
| Author: | Charles-Ferdinand Reinwald |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 17 Apr 1879 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 109 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11998 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875. …
| letter | (30) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (11) |
| Meldola, Raphael | (3) |
| Butler, A. G. | (2) |
| Darwin, Francis | (2) |
| Moulton, J. F. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (18) |
| Darwin, Francis | (3) |
| Bary, Anton de | (1) |
| Blyth, E. K. | (1) |
| Darwin, Emma | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (29) |
| Darwin, Francis | (5) |
| Meldola, Raphael | (3) |
| Butler, A. G. | (2) |
| Henslow, George | (2) |
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, …
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 …
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 …
Matches: 4 hits
- … 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 …
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…
Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … to reconcile them (letter from John Lubbock, 5 April [1875] ). The tensions between the …
Dipsacus and Drosera: Frank’s favourite carnivores
Summary
In Autumn of 1875, Francis Darwin was busy researching aggregation in the tentacles of Drosera rotundifolia (F. Darwin 1876). This phenomenon occurs when coloured particles within either protoplasm or the fluid in the cell vacuole (the cell sap) cluster…
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 10072 - Pape, C. to Darwin, [16 July 1875] Charlotte Pape responds to …
Thomas Henry Huxley
Summary
Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … would culminate in two books, Insectivorous plants (1875) and Cross and self fertilisation …
Plant or animal? (Or: Don’t try this at home!)
Summary
Darwin is famous for showing that humans are just another animal, but, in his later years in particular, his real passion was something even more ambitious: to show that there are no hard-and-fast boundaries between animals and plants. In 1875 Darwin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … boundaries between animals and plants. In 1875 Darwin brought out an unassuming little book …
Inheritance
Summary
It was crucial to Darwin’s theories of species change that naturally occurring variations could be inherited. But at the time when he wrote Origin, he had no explanation for how inheritance worked – it was just obvious that it did. Darwin’s attempt to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … under domestication, and revised for the second edition in 1875 (2d ed. 2: 349–99). ‘The whole …
