James Secord – författare

One of the key works in the nineteenth-century battle between science and Scripture, Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) sought to explain the geological state of the modern Earth by considering the long-term effects of observable natural phenomena. Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.

The early 1830s witnessed an extraordinary transformation in British political, literary, and intellectual life. New scientific disciplines begin to take shape, while new concepts of the natural world were hotly debated. James Secord, Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, captures this unique moment of change by exploring key books, including Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, Mary Somerville's Connexion of the Physical Sciences, and Thomas Carlyle's satirical work, Sartor Resartus. Set in the context of electoral reform and debates about the extension of education to meet the demands of the coming age of empire and industry, Secord shows how the books were published, disseminated, admired, attacked and satirized.

'I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal & hard work; and I still think there is an eminently important difference'. Throughout 1869, Darwin continued to collect data for his two most significant books after Origin: The Descent of Man and Expression of the Emotions. Explorers, diplomats, and missionaries all over the world were politely encouraged to investigate, for example, how emotions such as surprise, anger and shame were expressed in different cultures. As Darwin's research on human evolution neared completion, he learned that Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory, had begun to raise questions about its application to certain aspects of human development, attributing these to the action of a 'higher power'. In his correspondence, Wallace alluded to his belief in spiritualism, which he fully believed to be open to scientific investigation, but which gave Darwin much pause.

Charles Darwin depended on correspondence to collect data from all over the world, and to discuss his emerging ideas with scientific colleagues, many of whom he never met in person. In January of 1868, Darwin's Variation Under Domestication was published. The first printing of 1500 copies rapidly sold out and the publisher, John Murray, ordered a second printing. Responses to this new book, added to Darwin's continuing research into sexual selection and the expression of the emotions, increased the quantity of Darwin's correspondence to such an extent that the letters from 1868 fill two volumes. The letters he wrote and received during this year are presented here in chronological order across two volumes, with notes and appendices to put them into context, explain references, and provide information on related works. For information on the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project, see http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk.

During 1867 Darwin intensified lines of research that were to result in two important publications, Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex and Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Darwin circulated a questionnaire on human expression, asking his established contacts to pass it on to their acquaintances, with the result that he began to receive letters from an even more diverse and far-flung network of correspondents than had previously been the case. Convinced that human descent was strongly influenced by sexual selection, he also started to ask his correspondents about sexual differences in animals and birds. At the same time, he was working on the proof-sheets of another major work, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, while negotiating almost weekly with French, German, and Russian translators. For information on the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project, see http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Departments/Darwin.

This pivotal volume in the definitive edition of Charles Darwin's letters covers the year 1871, the year in which Descent of Man, Darwin's first public statement on human evolution, was published. The large number of letters in this year - more than 800 - reflects the excitement this caused. Darwin depended on correspondence to collect data from a growing network of contacts all over the world and to discuss his emerging ideas with colleagues, many of whom he never met in person. This year also saw the marriage of Darwin's daughter Henrietta, the first of his children to marry; the volume includes her personal journal of the year, published here for the first time, which complements letters that hint at her important role in her father's work as both commentator and editor. Notes and appendixes put these fascinating and wide-ranging letters in context, making them accessible to both scholars and general readers.

This volume is part of the definitive edition of letters written by and to Charles Darwin, the most celebrated naturalist of the nineteenth century. Notes and appendixes put these fascinating and wide-ranging letters in context, making the letters accessible to both scholars and general readers. Darwin depended on correspondence to collect data from all over the world and to discuss his emerging ideas with scientific colleagues, many of whom he never met in person. The letters are published chronologically: volume 20 includes letters from 1872, the year in which The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was published, making ground-breaking use of photography. Also in this year, the sixth and final edition of On the Origin of Species was published and Darwin resumed his work on carnivorous plants and plant movement, finding unexpected similarities between the plant and animal kingdoms.