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The evolution of honeycomb
Summary
Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb…
Matches: 1 hits
- … first beginnings of the comb (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 9 May [1858] ). He suspected that the …
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: 1 hits
- … Letter 2235 —Darwin to Frederick Smith, [before 9 Mar 1858] This letter contains a list of …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
Here is a list of people that appeared in the photograph album Darwin received for his birthday on 12 February 1877 from scientific admirers in the Netherlands. Many thanks to Hester Loeff for identifying and researching them. No. …
Interview with John Hedley Brooke
Summary
John Hedley Brooke is President of the Science and Religion Forum as well as the author of the influential Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991). He has had a long career in the history of science and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … it completely dominates their life. 9. The rise of confrontation in science …
Referencing women’s work
Summary
Darwin's correspondence shows that women made significant contributions to Darwin's work, but whether and how they were acknowledged in print involved complex considerations of social standing, professional standing, and personal preference.…
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- … Letter 7223 - Darwin to Wedgwood, L. C., [9 June 1867 - 72] Darwin asks his niece to …
Darwin as mentor
Summary
Darwin provided advice, encouragement and praise to his fellow scientific 'labourers' of both sexes. Selected letters Letter 2234 - Darwin to Unidentified, [5 March 1858] Darwin advises that Professor C. P. Smyth’s observations are not…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Letter 11096 - Darwin to Romanes, G. J., [9 August 1877] Darwin points out a mistake made …
Was Darwin an ecologist?
Summary
One of the most fascinating aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the extent to which the experiments he performed at his home in Down, in the English county of Kent, seem to prefigure modern scientific work in ecology.
Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
Summary
Many of the dates of letters in 1856 and 1857 were based on or confirmed by reference to Darwin’s manuscript on species (DAR 8--15.1, inclusive; transcribed and published as Natural selection). This manuscript, begun in May 1856, was nearly completed by…
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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…
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
Summary
Darwin became increasingly involved in botanical experiments in the years after the publication of Origin. The building of a small hothouse - a heated greenhouse - early in 1863 greatly increased the range of plants that he could keep for scientific…
Matches: 5 hits
- … Orchids , p. 158 n., and Correspondence vols. 9 and 10). However, he found it increasingly …
- … £22 5s. for Horwood, who superintended the operation, and £9 15s. 10d. for fittings purchased in …
- … —— Russelianum 9 do. …
- … J. D. Hooker, 24[–5] February [1863] and n. 19. 9. Catasetum Russellianum. 10. ‘—— …
- … Lopezia axilare 8 Onagreæ 9 …
Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
Summary
Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…
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- … only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). Health and …
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…
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- … size. Haeckel sent a personal letter of congratulation on 9 February , expressing some …
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Summary
This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…
Matches: 5 hits
- … of the Geological Society of London 2 (1838): 446-9. [ Shorter publications , pp. 32-5. F1645 …
- … 2 (1838): 552-4. [ Shorter publications , pp. 37-9. F1647.] —On the formation of mould. …
- … Society of London 2nd ser., pt. 3, 5 (1840): 505-9. [ Shorter publications , pp. 48-50. F1648 …
- … Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 9 (1839): 528-9. [ Shorter publications , …
- … and Agricultural Gazette , 14 September 1844, pp. 628-9. [ Shorter publications , pp. 176. …
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…
Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
Summary
Darwin sent a list of changes made uniquely to the second German edition of Origin to its translator, Heinrich Georg Bronn. That lost list is recreated here.
Matches: 4 hits
- … the years 1794–5’. Page xviii, par. 3, line 9, insert after ‘continued reproduction.’’: …
- … Page 19, par. 1, line 8, insert after ‘parent.’: 9 This conclusion, as …
- … England under a hen. Page 264, par. 1, lines 8–9, substitute for ‘and not’: 27 …
- … Japanese P. versicolor Page 275, par. 2, line 9, insert after ‘England.’: 34 …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
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- … (letters from John Murray, 6 November [1872] and 9 November 1872 ). Demand seemed likely to …
Results of the Darwin Online Emotions Experiment
Summary
Thanks to all who took part in our online emotions experiment – over 18,000 of you! The formal stage of the experiment is now over, but it will be staying online as an activity, so if you don’t want to know the results, look away now. If you’d like to…
Natural Science and Femininity
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…
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- … Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S. E., [9 November 1868] Darwin’s nephew, Edmund, …
