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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…
Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'
Summary
In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…
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’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 10 hits
- … the Darwin family had increased by five: George Howard, born 9 July 1845; Elizabeth, born 8 July …
- … self-consciousness. Transcription: 1 [9] W. Erasmus. Darwin born. Dec. 27 th …
- … vision at this age is exceedingly imperfect.— At his 9 th day however he appeared to follow a …
- … with his right hand & drew it into his mouth.— 9 Now exactly 12 weeks & on …
- … eyes were just suffused with tears & became red. May 9 th .[24] A watch held close to …
- … days. 7 lb – 10 4 wks 7 – 9½ Feb. 17 7 …
- … 6 wks 8 – 4 March 3 9 wks & 4 days 9 – 7 …
- … 14 Jan. 19— July 9 — 17 – 6 19 lb — …
- … Mon Oct 23 a month old. 9 lb 11 oz clothes 1 lb 10 …
- … not help it awfully”.— 49 June 1854— About 9 months ago, Lenny defined being in good …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 3 hits
- … ‘on the grounds of science’ ( letter to John Scott, 9 April 1864 ), but Scott declined assistance …
- … Haeckel’s scientific life, he reported in a letter of 9 [July 1864] , had been transformed by …
- … transmutation theory (see Correspondence vol. 9, Appendix VI). Seven months after happily noting …
Correspondence with women
Summary
We know of letters to or from around 2000 correspondents, about 100 of whom were women. Using the letter summaries available on this website, the letters can be assigned to rough categories. Included in the count are letters to women in Darwin’s family…
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…
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: 1 hits
- … for anything in this world.’ (Darwin to Syms Covington, 9 March 1856 ) In the late nineteenth …
Interview with Emily Ballou
Summary
Emily Ballou is a writer of novels and screenplays, and a prize-winning poet. Her book The Darwin Poems, which explores aspects of Darwin’s life and thoughts through the medium of poetry, was recently published by the University of Western Australia Press.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … life, at least within his notebooks. 9. Faith and reason as personal issues …
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.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … 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.…
