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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…
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- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
Climbing plants
Summary
Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…
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- … of animals and plants under domestication in 1868. In 1862 he had read a ‘Note on the coiling of …
Species theory made public
Summary
Articles by both Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace describing their independently derived theories of species change, are read at a meeting of the Linnean Society. Darwin was at home with his family following the death of his son, Charles Waring, on 28 June…
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- … Articles by both Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace describing their independently derived theories …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
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- … by natural selection. His book Fertilisation of Orchids (1862) was Darwin's "flank …
Darwin's works in letters
Summary
For the 163rd anniversary of the publication of Origin, we've added a new page to our Works in letters section on Cross and self fertilisation. These complement our existing pages on the 'big book' before Origin, Origin itself, the…
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- … British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects (1862) Climbing plants …
Expression
Summary
Darwin's interest in emotional expression can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the different sounds and gestures among the peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and on his return from the voyage he started recording observations…
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- … some funny notions on the subject ', he wrote to Hooker in 1862. After Origin was …
Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies
Summary
The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…
Bartholomew James Sulivan
Summary
On Christmas Day 1866, Bartholomew Sulivan sat down to write a typically long and chatty letter to his old friend, Charles Darwin, commiserating on shared ill-health, glorying in the achievements of their children, offering to collect plant specimens, and…
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- … one of the few people whose visits Darwin encouraged. In 1862 he organised a reunion at Down with …
Arthur Mellersh
Summary
Arthur Mellersh was a midshipman (promoted to mate during the voyage) serving on the Beagle at the time when Darwin was travelling around the world. One account suggests an inauspicious start to their friendship; apparently Mellersh introduced himself…
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- … come to Down for dinner and to stay overnight on 21 October 1862 . The visit was not a success, …
Conrad Martens
Summary
Conrad Martens was born in London, the son of an Austrian diplomat. He studied landscape painting under the watercolourist Copley Fielding (1789–1855), who also briefly taught Ruskin. In 1833 he was on board the Hyacinth, headed for India, but en route in…
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- … in 1855, and at the International Exhibition in London in 1862, the year in which he also sent …
From morphology to movement: observation and experiment
Summary
Darwin was a thoughtful observer of the natural world from an early age. Whether on a grand scale, as exemplified by his observations on geology, or a microscopic one, as shown by his early work on the eggs and larvae of tiny bryozoans, Darwin was…
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- … structure after the publication of Orchids in 1862, and added information from observers in …
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…
Darwin's bad days
Summary
Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and experimenting, even Darwin had some bad days. These times when nothing appeared to be going right are well illustrated by the following quotations from his letters:
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- … Despite being a prolific worker who had many successes with his scientific theorising and …
Experimenting with emotions
Summary
Darwin’s interest in emotions can be traced as far back as the Beagle voyage. He was fascinated by the sounds and gestures of the peoples of Tierra del Fuego. On his return, he started recording observations in a set of notebooks, later labelled '…
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- … of the brow. Frontispiece: Duchenne 1862. Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine …
4.9 'Graphic', cartoon
Summary
< Back to Introduction A cartoon which appeared in the Graphic in 1871 was unusual, in that it pictured a serious scientific challenge to Darwin’s theories. Sir William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, a leading physicist based at the University of…
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- … of the sun’s heat’, Macmillan’s Magazine , 5:29 (1862), pp. 388-93. Thomson, Popular Lectures …
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…
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- … proposed Darwin for the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1862 and 1863, and helped found the X …
Virginia Isitt: Darwin’s secretary?
Summary
In an undated and incomplete draft letter to a “Miss I.”, Emma Darwin appears to be arranging for Miss I. to come to Down for a trial period as a secretary. When the letter first came to light, no one had heard of the mysterious “Miss I.” and, as far as we…
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- … the Darwin connection. Additionally, he told us that between 1862 and 1863 Miss Isitt had studied …
Darwin’s Photographic Portraits
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Darwin was a photography enthusiast. This is evident not only in his use of photography for the study of Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, but can be witnessed in his many photographic portraits and in the extensive portrait correspondence that…
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- … often praised when sending them to friends near and far. In 1862 Darwin wrote to his old shipmate …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
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- … year . While on holiday in Bournemouth in September 1862 for the sake of his son Leonard’s …
