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Darwin’s reading notebooks

Summary

In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…

Matches: 20 hits

  • … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished …
  • … used these notebooks extensively in dating and annotating Darwin’s letters; the full transcript …
  • … *128). For clarity, the transcript does not record Darwin’s alterations. The spelling and …
  • … book had been consulted. Those cases where it appears that Darwin made a genuine deletion have been …
  • … a few instances, primarily in the ‘Books Read’ sections, Darwin recorded that a work had been …
  • … of the books listed in the other two notebooks. Sometimes Darwin recorded that an abstract of the …
  • … own. Soon after beginning his first reading notebook, Darwin began to separate the scientific …
  • … the second reading notebook. Readers primarily interested in Darwin’s scientific reading, therefore, …
  • … editors’ identification of the book or article to which Darwin refers. A full list of these works is …
  • … page number (or numbers, as the case may be) on which Darwin’s entry is to be found. The …
  • … in the bibliography that other editions were available to Darwin. While it is likely that Darwin
  • … where we are not certain that the work cited is the one Darwin intended, we have prefixed the …
  • … mark. Complete or partial runs of journals which Darwin recorded as having read or skimmed …
  • … to the journal appear, and the location of abstracts in the Darwin archive and journals included in …
  • … no means a complete representation of the books and journals Darwin read. The Darwin archive …
  • … are not found listed here. The description given by Francis Darwin of his father’s method of …
  • … number and the general orientation of the works upon which Darwin drew, particularly in the process …
  • … Autobiography , p. 119). †The scientific books in Darwin’s library were catalogued in 1875, …
  • … by H. W. Rutherford ( Catalogue of the library of Charles Darwin now in the Botany School, …
  • … 1929. At that time, most were transferred for exhibition in Darwin’s study when Down House was …

Emma Darwin

Summary

Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin's wife and first cousin, was born Emma Wedgwood, the eighth and youngest child of Josiah Wedgwood II and Bessy Allen. Her father was the eldest son of the famous pottery manufacturer, Josiah Wedgwood I. Her mother was one…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin's wife and first cousin, was born Emma Wedgwood, the eighth and …
  • … father's eldest sister, Susannah, had married Robert Waring Darwin of Shrewsbury, and had six …
  • … in Gower Street, London. Their first child, William Erasmus Darwin, was born in December the same …
  • … in the published volumes of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin . This is partly because on the …
  • … home. A great deal of her correspondence survives in the Darwin Archive–CUL, along with her …

What did Darwin believe?

Summary

What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of …
  • … rhetoric of crusading secularists, many of whom take Darwin as an icon. But Darwin was very …
  • … Letters became an important medium through which Darwin’s readers sought to draw him out on matters …
  • … the religious implications of his work. Letters written to Darwin by persons unknown to him became …
  • … own. Mary Boole’s letter In December 1866 Darwin received a letter from Mary Boole, a …
  • … See the letter Boole, like a number of Darwin’s readers, found a way of reconciling the …
  • … with some form of religious belief. But when Boole asks Darwin about specific points of belief, such …
  • … See the letter In his response to Boole, Darwin implies that certain questions are beyond …
  • … Science, or by the so called “inner consciousness”’. Darwin does not dismiss different forms of …
  • … such territory in this letter to a stranger. Emma Darwin In what is perhaps …
  • … mind. See the letter In this letter, Darwin is quite clear that he has never …
  • … he says, is often in a state of flux. What did Darwin mean by the term “agnostic”? The word …
  • … about questions such as the existence and nature of God. For Darwin, it also seems to imply that …
  • … be answered by science, and other questions that can not. Darwin had made this point in his response …
  • … their engagement in 1838, we find an early expression of Darwin’s religious doubts. Darwin’s …
  • … with you. See the letter We know from Darwin’s scientific notebooks from this …
  • … these differences to be shared. The tendency amongst Darwin scholars has been to assume that …
  • … part, sustained their marriage. If not deeply religious, Darwin was at least not disrespectful to …
  • … and wifely devotion have appeared only as a background to Darwin’s own life and intellectual …
  • … was another important religious tradition in the Darwin and Wedgwood families. Josiah Wedgwood, who …
  • … the Darwins and Wedgwoods, together in the first place. Darwin had attended a Unitarian school in …
  • … writer Frances Power Cobbe. All were regular guests of Darwin’s brother Erasmus, and of Emma’s …
  • … only to recite the liturgy. But we know, from Francis Darwin’s comments, that Emma used to make the …
  • … Emma’s Bible also contains some annotations by Darwin. These indicate a critical reading of …
  • … approaches to the text. They also show that Darwin looked to the Bible as a guide to moral …
  • … you do not consider your opinion as formed’. As Darwin would later reveal to Fordyce and …

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…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence …
  • … Russel Wallace. This letter led to the first announcement of Darwin’s and Wallace’s respective …
  • … the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise  On the origin of …
  • …  exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
  • … Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal world and the …
  • … The 'big book' The year 1858 opened with Darwin hard at work preparing his ‘big …
  • … his ninth chapter, on hybridism, on 29 December 1857, Darwin began in January 1858 to prepare the …
  • … appropriate. The correspondence shows that at any one time Darwin was engaged in a number of …
  • … The chapter on instinct posed a number of problems for Darwin. ‘I find my chapter on Instinct very …
  • … ). In addition to behaviour such as nest-building in birds, Darwin intended to discuss many other …
  • … celebrated as a classic example of divine design in nature. Darwin hypothesised that the instinct of …
  • … of construction as it took place in the hive. As with Darwin’s study of poultry and pigeons, …
  • … founder and president of the Apiarian Society, provided Darwin with information and specimens. His …
  • … For assistance with mathematical measurements and geometry, Darwin called upon William Hallowes …
  • … from the  Beagle voyage; on his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin; and his son William. Even his …
  • … bees and bee-hives. Variation and reversion Darwin also continued the botanical work …
  • … of smaller genera? The inquiry was of great importance to Darwin, for such evidence would support …
  • … of the statistics was still problematic. Hooker thought that Darwin was wrong to assume that …
  • … were not certain. This was a question new to the experts. Darwin was delighted to hear from Asa Gray …
  • … completed and his results written up. With some trepidation, Darwin sent his manuscript off to …
  • … in the letters of 1858 also relate to questions that Darwin had begun to explore earlier. Letters to …
  • … rush to publish With much of his research completed, Darwin began in mid-June 1858 to write …
  • … Wallace enunciated his own theory of natural selection. Darwin’s shock and dismay is evident in the …
  • … Charles Lyell, 18 [June 1858] ). As was his custom, Darwin did not supply a full date on his …
  • … as having been received ‘today’. Following Francis Darwin ( LL 2: 116–17) and relying on Charles …
  • … dated the letter 18 [June 1858]. However, the accuracy of Darwin’s words has been questioned by John …

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: 15 hits

  • … 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
  • … pp. 98–114, and Dawson 2007, pp. 77–81. George Darwin's article on marriage In …
  • … liberty of marriage’ in the Contemporary Review (G. H. Darwin 1873b). In this article, George …
  • … 76). Mivart’s argument did not win general assent. Darwin was more struck by the comments on …
  • … The following quotations from Mivart’s paper mention Darwin and George: p. 45: ‘Mr. Darwin, …
  • … sentiments, disguise them by studious reticence—as Mr. Darwin disguised at first his views as to the …
  • … licentiousness theoretically justified. Mr. George Darwin proposes that divorce should be made …
  • … deep debt of gratitude will indeed be one day due to Mr. Darwin— one difficult to over-estimate. …
  • … Clearing George's name On 27 July , Darwin wrote to George: he was thinking of taking …
  • … denial & short account of [his] essay’ and have Darwin send it for publication in the next issue …
  • … long and contained an abstract of George’s paper, which Darwin pointed out was not the kind of thing …
  • … to ‘the insanity question or oppressive laws’. Darwin’s main objection to the Quarterly …
  • … ‘oppressive laws’, since they were mentioned in the text Darwin wanted to quote from the review, and …
  • … he might be thought to endorse them ( letter from G. H. Darwin, 5 August 1874 ). He sent a second …
  • … the charge of encouraging licentiousness. A postscript to Darwin’s letter, which may belong to …

Barnacles

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s …
  • … . After completing four Beagle -related publications, Darwin dissected, classified, and wrote …
  • … him as a major figure in the British zoological community. (Darwin's earlier geological …
  • … merit ). Barnacles and speciation Darwin’s work on barnacles was a key component …
  • … in its entirety, both living forms and fossilized remains, Darwin was able to see the fascinating …
  • … diversity might have developed over time. In his studies, Darwin classified the various barnacle …
  • … barnacles to crustaceans more generally. Significantly, Darwin's detailed research into a …
  • … On the Origin of Species. This body of evidence helped Darwin convince his readers of the …
  • … 1827.” In Barrett, P. ed., The collected papers of Charles Darwin. 2 vols. Chicago: University Press …
  • … anatomy of Mr. Arthrobalanus. Letter 1140 —Darwin to J. C. Ross, 31 Dec 1847 …
  • … the lost explorer John Franklin. Letter 1253 —Darwin to Albany Hancock, [21 Sept 1849] …
  • … Supplementary Reading Stott, Rebecca. 2004. Darwin and the Barnacle . New York: Farber …
  • … were to his studies? 3. From what regions does Darwin request barnacle specimens? Why was it …
  • … from so many different parts of the world? 4. How did Darwin's observations of the …
  • … on the mutability of species? Describe the significance of Darwin's barnacle work to his ideas …
  • … at Harvard: After reading about and discussing Darwin’s observations of barnacles, the class …
  • … barnacle slides, many of them from the period in which Darwin’s own barnacle collection was being …

Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865

Summary

On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher who had studied medicine in London and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 Chapman started to treat…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … On 20 May 1865, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that John Chapman, a prominent London publisher …
  • … and Paris in the early 1840s, visited Down to consult with Darwin about his ill health. In 1863 …
  • … Chapman wasn’t the first medical practitioner Darwin contacted around this time. In 1863, Darwin
  • … however, his health grew worse.  In his ‘Journal’, Darwin wrote that he fell ill again on 22 April …
  • … more attacks of vomiting and seeking another opinion, Darwin wrote to Chapman. On the day that …
  • … life (the section, ‘I feel nearly … food’, is in Emma Darwin’s hand). Darwin began the ice …
  • … given up the treatment (see letter from Charles and Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker, [10 July 1865]). …
  • … Busk, 28 April 1865). In November and December 1863, Darwin had consulted the stomach …
  • … solutions to aid digestion ( Correspondence vol. 11, Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox, 8 December [1863]) …
  • … D. Hooker, 26[-7] March [1864] ( Correspondence vol. 12), Darwin remarked that Jenner had found …
  • … Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Darwin Evolution Collection (3314) and is …

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: 14 hits

  • … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
  • … an unusually large number of letters sent by members of the Darwin family to be studied. However, in …
  • … required them to work long hours away from their family. Darwin was unusual in being able to pursue …
  • … this part of Kent as ‘extraordinarily rural & quiet’ (Darwin to his sister Catherine,  [24 July …
  • … left their children in the care of servants in the country. Darwin frequently expressed regrets that …
  • … meetings and social events in the capital. As a result, Darwin rarely spent a day without the …
  • … ‘visits’ to see their father when he was working (Darwin to his wife Emma,  [7-8 February 1845] ). …
  • … children’s development in diaries and letters. However, Darwin was unusual for the systematic …
  • … was far more typical of mid-nineteenth-century fathers was Darwin’s intense involvement in his …
  • … to incessant anxiety & movement on account of Etty.’ (Darwin to W. D. Fox,  18 October [1860] …
  • … who did not have specialist scientific or medical interests. Darwin expressed enduring grief …
  • … terribly anxious, but fear has almost driven away grief.’ (Darwin to W. D. Fox,  2 July [1858] ). …
  • … after her birth in 1842 had a far more limited impact on Darwin. However, the intensity of grief …
  • … in a profession were a substantial drain on family finances. Darwin wrote about the ‘awesome state …

Darwin’s first love

Summary

Darwin’s long marriage to Emma Wedgwood is well documented, but was there an earlier romance in his life? How was his departure on the Beagle entangled with his first love? The answers are revealed in a series of flirtatious letters that Darwin was…

Matches: 27 hits

  • Darwin’s long marriage to Emma Wedgwood is well documented, but was there an …
  • … answers are revealed in a series of flirtatious letters that Darwin was supposed to destroy. …
  • … at my fury and revenge— Had nineteen-year-old Darwin followed this instruction in a …
  • … Fanny Mostyn Owen, wrote a series of revealing letters to Darwin, giving glimpses into their …
  • … not know whether Fanny burnt the letters she received from Darwin, but he carefully kept the letters …
  • … father, William Mostyn Owen, ‘ the Governor ’. Darwin first heard about Fanny when he was an …
  • … The high-spirited, fun-loving Fanny, two years older than Darwin, clearly established the terms of …
  • … her love of the dramatic, and most of all her inclusion of Darwin in a make-believe private world, …
  • … Forest  that shaped the relationship she developed with Darwin. The characters include Peter, a …
  • … In Fanny’s first letter, and in many others she wrote to Darwin, he was postilion to her housemaid, …
  • … words, convey a warmth of character that was first noted by Darwin’s sister Catherine. After staying …
  • … Sarah, both recently back from France, Catherine wrote to Darwin in Edinburgh. ‘I never saw such …
  • … on the social life of Brighton, she also demanded that Darwin send her ‘Shrewsbury scandal’. ‘You …
  • … black mysteries  after so long an absence ’. Darwin, however, did leave Shrewsbury before …
  • … a clergyman. Fanny’s slow response to the news of Darwin’s departure came with the excuse that she …
  • … like any thing but what  I am , a  Housemaid ’. Darwin’s feelings were probably more …
  • … he had not heard from her. Writing before the end of Darwin’s first Cambridge term, Fanny …
  • … they think, of a  Housemaid  writing to M r  Charles Darwin— ' That summer, while away …
  • …   A gift with wings At Cambridge, Darwin’s new-found passion for entomology …
  • … ’, she declared herself ‘ very much oblig’d’ for Darwin’s gift. The swallow tail ‘has absolutely  …
  • … she had not played billiards or gone riding. When Darwin did not return to Shrewsbury for …
  • … Hunters  —and  Paint brush Drivers !!! ’ Darwin was still as enraptured as ever by the Owens of …
  • … Fanny Owen, 27 January [1830] (DAR 204: 47), referring to Darwin as a Beetle Hunter and herself as …
  • … A long voyage and a secret ride In the end, it was Darwin’s ‘mania’ for natural history …
  • … and not, as she had heard, two years, but she reassured Darwin that she would remember him. …
  • … to part with you for so long ’. Little wonder that Darwin felt bereft when he learned in a …
  • … I would say poor dear Fanny till I fell to sleep', Darwin replied from Brazil, adding, ‘ I …

Getting to know Darwin's science

Summary

One of the most exciting aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the opportunity it gives to researchers to ‘get to know’ Darwin as an individual. The letters not only reveal the scientific processes behind Darwin’s publications, they give insight…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … One of the most exciting aspects of Charles Darwin’s correspondence is the opportunity it gives to …
  • … of sharing some of the knowledge gained from our work on Darwin’s correspondence with university …
  • … in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Research assistants from the Darwin Correspondence Project joined in a …
  • … the class in the following  video . Darwin Resources from Darwin
  • … set of teaching modules. Each module features a theme from Darwin’s research and life. In every …
  • … objective of the course was to introduce students both to Darwin’s most influential ideas, and to …
  • … from  On the Origin of Species  (1859) and several of Darwin’s other published works dating from …
  • … in Kent. The students analysed each topic in the context of Darwin’s correspondence, and then …
  • … that he himself undertook. Topics ranged from Darwin’s early life and education, to the …
  • … of mud, and a green thumb. In some cases, the class updated Darwin’s technological arsenal: for …
  • … smart phones) instead of rulers and pens! Integrating Darwin’s correspondence with exercises …
  • … course, reading the letters enriched their understanding of Darwin’s life and work. The letters …
  • … we were looking at to life, and gave much context to who Darwin was from childhood to old age, as a …
  • … integral part of the full comprehension of it. Knowing that Darwin was a devoted family man, …

3.9 Leonard Darwin, photo on horseback

Summary

< Back to Introduction It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific locale that a family photograph of him riding his horse Tommy takes on a special interest. He is at the front of Down House, the door of which is open; it seems as…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … It is so rare to encounter an image of Darwin in a specific locale that a family photograph of him …
  • … evidently moved his head during the exposure.  According to Darwin’s biographers, Desmond and Moore, …
  • … it was apparently not circulated outside the family during Darwin’s lifetime. When shown in the …
  • … The fact that the photograph was lent to the exhibition by Darwin’s son William suggested to Janet …
  • … John van Wyhe state that the photograph was taken by Leonard Darwin, who often photographed his …
  • … of the race’.    Henrietta recalled in Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters, ‘My …
  • … on Tommy’s fate thereafter. It is known, however, that Darwin himself was very solicitous over the …
  • … pleasing traits in his character’. On his home turf, Darwin persuaded the RSPCA to prosecute a man …
  • … horses’ necks were ‘badly galled’, saying that he, Darwin, must and would intervene again, ‘for the …
  • … originator of image unknown: assumed to be Leonard Darwin 
 date of creation unknown (c …
  • … print 
 references and bibliography Darwin’s draft letter to a local farmer, c.1866, about …
  • … (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1894), vol. 2, p. 124. Darwin Centenary: The Portraits, Prints …
  • … Charles Knight, [1912]), p. 1, B5. Fae Brauer, ‘Framing Darwin: a portrait of eugenics’, in Barbara …
  • … 2009), pp. 124-154 (p. 139). Henrietta Litchfield, Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters, 1792 …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 27 hits

  • … 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s  Origin of species , printing …
  • … surprised both the publisher and the author. One week later Darwin was stunned to learn that the …
  • … But it was the opinion of scientific men that was Darwin’s main concern. He eagerly scrutinised each …
  • … his views. ‘One cannot expect fairness in a Reviewer’, Darwin commented to Hooker after reading an …
  • … ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1860] ). Darwin’s magnanimous attitude soon faded, …
  • … but ‘unfair’ reviews that misrepresented his ideas, Darwin began to feel that without the early …
  • … it was his methodological criticism in the accusation that Darwin had ‘deserted the inductive track, …
  • … to J. S. Henslow, 8 May [1860] ). Above all else Darwin prided himself on having developed a …
  • … was a hypothesis, not a theory, therefore also displeased Darwin. Comparing natural selection to the …
  • … F. Bunbury, 9 February [1860] ). This helps to explain why Darwin was delighted by the defence of …
  • … issue of  Macmillan’s Magazine . Fawcett asserted that Darwin’s theory accorded well with John …
  • … induction, ratiocination, and then verification. Darwin and his critics Specific …
  • … the origin of life itself, which the theory did not address. Darwin chose to treat this as an …
  • … things, about the multitude of still living simple forms. Darwin readily admitted that his failure …
  • … it into his method of reasoning about global change. Darwin also knew that Lyell was a powerful …
  • … of the origin and distribution of blind cave animals. Darwin attempted to answer each of these …
  • … to one another. Harvey’s letters reveal aspects of Darwin’s theory that gave contemporary …
  • … discomfort. After several long letters were exchanged, Darwin finally decided that Harvey and other …
  • … whose offspring should be infertile,  inter se ,’ Darwin’s theory would remain unproven (T. H. …
  • … among animal groups could give rise to new species, Darwin found Huxley’s lecture irritating and …
  • … because more accustomed to reasoning As Darwin himself well recognised and fully …
  • … relatively advanced forms of life. Many singled out Darwin’s own discussion of the absence of …
  • … into the multitude of the earth’s present inhabitants. Darwin agreed, for example, with Alfred …
  • … ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 18 May 1860 ). Darwin began to tabulate (and categorise) his …
  • … eye to this day gives me a cold shudder Certainly Darwin was disappointed by the small …
  • … such a marvellously perfected structure as the eye. As Darwin admitted to Lyell, Gray, and others, …
  • … to Asa Gray, 3 April [1860] ). By the end of 1860, Darwin was disheartened that so few of …

Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small

Summary

In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous …
  • … for scientific colleagues or their widows facing hardship. Darwin had suffered from poor health …
  • … of his scientific friends quickly organised a campaign for Darwin to have greater public recognition …
  • … Botanical observation and experiment had long been Darwin’s greatest scientific pleasure. The year …
  • … to Fritz Müller, 4 January 1882 ). These were topics that Darwin had been investigating for years, …
  • … working at the effects of Carbonate of Ammonia on roots,’ Darwin wrote, ‘the chief result being that …
  • … for some hours in a weak solution of C. of Ammonia’. Darwin’s interest in root response and the …
  • … London on 6 and 16 March, respectively. In January, Darwin corresponded with George John …
  • … letter from Arthur de Souza Corrêa, 28 December 1881 ). Darwin had a long-running interest in such …
  • … experiments had been conducted to lend support to Darwin’s theory of pangenesis (see …
  • … He was eager to write up the results on Brazilian cane, with Darwin providing a detailed outline: ‘I …
  • … at the Linnean Society on 4 May, but not published. Darwin carried on with botanical work in …
  • … which are asymmetric, thus facilitating cross-fertilisation. Darwin’s aim, he said, was just to …
  • … 3 April 1882 ). Earthworms and evolution Darwin’s last book, Earthworms , had been …
  • … Appendix V). The conservative Quarterly Review , owned by Darwin’s publisher John Murray, carried …
  • … themselves’ ( Quarterly Review , January 1882, p. 179). Darwin commented at length on the review …
  • … is a young man & a worker in any branch of Biology,’ Darwin continued, ‘he will assuredly sooner …
  • … and professor of ecclesiastical history Henry Wace. Darwin was confident that the theory of …
  • … James Frederick Simpson, a musical composer, had provided Darwin with observations on worm behaviour …
  • … by the benefits of worms to soil composition. He asked Darwin about the nitrogen content in the …
  • … H. Gilbert, 12 January 1882 ). In Earthworms , p. 305, Darwin had remarked on the creatures’ …
  • … in a draw, with both combatants the worse for wear. Darwin’s writing on human evolution …
  • … extracts from the diary of Bronson Alcott, who, like Darwin, had made detailed observations of his …
  • … letter from A. T. Rice, 4 February 1882 ). Rice looked to Darwin to provide the ‘movement’ with …
  • … for an article in his journal, North American Review . Darwin nearly always declined such offers, …
  • … 26 December 1881 (see Correspondence vol. 29) to ask Darwin whether he agreed with the …

Darwin and Religion

Summary

When Darwin published On the Origin of Species, was there a clear cut division between those who supported science and those who supported God? Find out how Darwin’s letters reveal a complex reaction from all sides and a desire from Darwin to keep his…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … Pupils explore the reaction to Darwin’s findings as evidenced through his letters. Activities …

Science, Work and Manliness

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …

Matches: 13 hits

  • … In describing what they did using the language of labour, Darwin and his male colleagues asserted …
  • … 1. Which elements of the scientific process do Darwin and his male correspondents tend to …
  • … another's scientific work? How does this differ from how Darwin praised women's work ? …
  • … Letters Letter 282 - Darwin to Fox, W. D., [9 - 12 August 1835] Darwin
  • … thinking and hammering”. Letter 1533 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., [27 September 1853] …
  • … the labour bestowed on it are “really surprising” and Darwin hopes that Dana’s health withstood the …
  • … the subject. Letter 2669 - Bunbury, C. J. F. to Darwin, [30 January 1860] …
  • … labour and patience”. Letter 4262 - Darwin to Gray, A., [4 August 1863] Darwin
  • … which was “no slight labour”. Letter 3901 - Darwin to Falconer, H., [5 & 6 January …
  • … worked out paper on which Falconer has worked very hard. Darwin hopes that Falconer’s extreme labour …
  • … you are!”. Letter 4997 - Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, [4 February 1866] Wallace …
  • … investigation as a physical and laborious process, he envies Darwin and other “hard working …
  • … in the editorial process. Letter 9157 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., [20 November 1873] …

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…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity …
  • … feminine powers of feeling and aesthetic appreciation, Darwin and his male colleagues struggled to …
  • … Letters Letter 109 - Wedgwood, J. to Darwin, R. W., [31 August 1831] Darwin
  • … professional work on his return. Letter 158 - Darwin to Darwin, R. W., [8 & 26 …
  • … and taking in the aesthetic beauty of the world around him. Darwin describes the “striking” colour …
  • … and walks into town with Emma. Letter 555 - Darwin to FitzRoy, R., [20 February 1840] …
  • … an Infant ’. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May 1860] Doubleday …
  • … borders of his garden. Letter 2864 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., [12 July 1860] …
  • … saw anything so beautiful”. Letter 4230 - Darwin to Gardeners’ Chronicle, [2 July 1863] …
  • … brought into the house immediately after a rain storm. Here, Darwin’s scientific investigation is …
  • … the “delicate siliceous shells” might at least provide Darwin with aesthetic pleasure. …
  • … his bedroom. Letter 4469 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [20 April 1864] Hooker …
  • … life to science. Letter 4472 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, [26 or 27 April 1864] …
  • … to contribute more than this. Letter 6044 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., [24 March 1868] …

Darwin in Conversation: Explore more

Summary

Explore more Darwin letters Download the PDF exhibition guide Download a PDF of full letter transcripts Discover life aboard the Beagle Explore Darwin's study and garden Explore Origin in North America …

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Explore more Darwin letters Download the PDF exhibition guide …
  • … life aboard the  Beagle Explore Darwin's study and garden …

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…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. By then, he had …
  • … propagation, hybridism, and other phenomena that, as Darwin said in his  Autobiography , he had …
  • … provide an unusually detailed and intimate understanding of Darwin’s problem-solving method of work …
  • … 1860 that a new edition of  Origin  was called for, Darwin took the opportunity to include in the …
  • … of natural selection. With this work behind him, Darwin took steps to convince those who …
  • … ( letter to Asa Gray, 26–7 Februrary [1861] ). Darwin drew up a carefully thought-out list of …
  • … pamphlet (see Correspondence vol. 9, Appendix III). However, Darwin himself remained unconvinced by …
  • …  began to decline later in the year, scientific interest in Darwin’s views continued unabated and …
  • … the third edition and the comments of naturalists with whom Darwin corresponded, showed that a …
  • … the theory of natural selection for their particular fields. Darwin relished these explorations, …
  • … the  Zoologist  by George Maw, for example, singled out Darwin’s explanation of the numerous …
  • … remained notable instances of design in nature. Although Darwin, in his subsequent correspondence …
  • … letter to Charles Lyell, 20 July [1861] ). One reason for Darwin’s interest in this piece may have …
  • … and embryological relationships between organisms. Darwin also found the review by the young …
  • … ( see second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861] ). Darwin continued to stress to his …
  • … Gaining allies It is not surprising, then, that Darwin was pleased that the methodology …
  • … maintaining that nature offered more evidence of design than Darwin was willing to admit. With the …
  • … Botany, simple geology & palæontology.' Moreover, Darwin found an important …
  • … Cambridge political economist and convert to his theory, Darwin learned of Mill’s view that the …
  • … accordance with the strict principles of Logic’ and that Darwin’s methodology was ‘the only one …
  • … 1862, p. 18 n.). Later in the summer Fawcett himself made Darwin’s methodology the subject of a …
  • … for the Advancement of Science. He subsequently sent Darwin a copy of the manuscript and some …
  • … ( letter to Henry Fawcett, 18 September [1861] ). Darwin added some new names in 1861 to …
  • … geologists’, Archibald Geikie. Geikie had approved of Darwin’s chapter on the imperfection of the …
  • … Civil War. Undoubtedly, the news that most excited Darwin was word from Henry Walter Bates, …

Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia

Summary

Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…

Matches: 26 hits

  • Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed …
  • … , it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet when this study …
  • … anomalous. Moreover, as the letters in this volume suggest, Darwin’s study of cirripedes, far from …
  • … classification using the most recent methods available, Darwin was able to provide a thorough …
  • … his views on the species question (Crisp 1983).    Darwin’s interest in invertebrate zoology …
  • … Robert Edmond Grant. In his Autobiography (pp. 49–50), Darwin recalled: ‘Drs. Grant and …
  • … numerous references to the ova of various invertebrates, and Darwin’s first scientific paper, …
  • … marine organisms was exercised during the Beagle voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm …
  • … earlier researches in Edinburgh on the ova of invertebrates, Darwin was particularly well prepared …
  • … In 1835, in the Chonos Archipelago off the coast of Chile, Darwin found ‘most curious’ minute …
  • … In the zoological notes made during the Beagle voyage, Darwin recorded: ‘The thick shell of some …
  • … the absence of a shell and its unusual parasitic nature, Darwin recognised that it differed greatly …
  • … Such a revaluation had not been undertaken when, in 1846, Darwin began to examine several …
  • … of as many genera as I could procure.’ For fourteen months Darwin pursued an anatomical study of …
  • … British Museum and himself a cirripede expert, suggested to Darwin that he prepare a monograph of …
  • … and advised him on procuring other collections. At the time Darwin committed himself to this study, …
  • … his attention for the next seven years. To appreciate why Darwin would have undertaken such a study, …
  • … and nineteenth-century naturalists (Knight 1981). Many of Darwin’s contemporaries—Edward Forbes, …
  • … (Desmond 1982; Richards 1987; Winsor 1969).    Darwin’s views on classification were tempered …
  • … in arranging groups (S. Smith 1965; Ospovat 1981, p. 108). Darwin’s frequent discussions with Owen …
  • … the common design perceived among organisms. Within Darwin’s maturing evolutionary perspective, the …
  • … 1969, p. 83).    By the early 1840s, then, Darwin’s ideas on classification were well …
  • … [26 July 1843] ( Correspondence vol. 2), for example, Darwin confidently proclaimed his …
  • … to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s philosophical anatomy, Darwin incorporated the concepts of analogy and …
  • … from a similarity in their basic plan of organisation, for Darwin homology revealed actual …
  • … species from another previously existing form.    Darwin’s evolutionary interpretation of the …

Darwin in public and private

Summary

Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … The following extracts and selected letters explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual …
  • … Selected letters Letter 1113 - Darwin to Whitby, M. A. T., [2 September 1847] …
  • … of dark eyebrows. Letter 489 – Darwin to Wedgwood, E., [20 January 1859] …
  • … on his life and character. Letter 5670f - Darwin to Kingsley, C., [6 November 1867] …
  • … progenitor.    Letter 7123 - Darwin to Darwin, H. E., [March 1870] Darwin
  • … lower animals. Letter 7329 – Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 September 1870] Written …
  • … impeding general perusal. Letter 8146 – Darwin to Treat, M., [5 January 1872] …
  • … of her work on Drosera. Letter 10546 – Darwin to Editor of The Times , [23 June …
  • … progress of physiology. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., [1877] …
  • … with the sight of blood. Letter 11267f – Darwin, S. to Darwin, [3 December 1877] …
  • … from Mrs Cutting.  Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 January 1882] …
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