From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
7 July 1875
Source of text:
DAR 177: 234
Summary:
Thanks CD for his new volume [Insectivorous plants].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
22 Sept 1881
Source of text:
DAR 202: 122
Summary:
Sends CD a circular [missing] and asks whether he will add his name to group [Anti-Aggression League].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
22 Feb 1860
Source of text:
The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Lyell collection Coll-203/A3/5: 107–9)
Summary:
CD has caused a great change in HS’s views, in showing how a great proportion of adaptation should be explained by natural selection not direct adaptation to changing conditions. HS had remarked on the survival of the best individuals as a cause of improvement in man, but he "& every one" overlooked selection of spontaneous variation. Believes so many kinds of indirect evidence must add up to a conclusive demonstration of the doctrine.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
22 Apr 1865
Source of text:
DAR 177: 225
Summary:
Wonders whether CD might contribute, if possible, an occasional letter to the Reader to help in their effort to establish the journal.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
2 Nov 1866
Source of text:
DAR 177: 226
Summary:
Asks whether CD will add his name to a list supporting them in the "[Edward John] Eyre prosecution matter".
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
8 Feb 1868
Source of text:
DAR 177: 227
Summary:
Thanks CD for copy of Variation.
Discusses Pangenesis and considers CD’s "gemmules" comparable to his own hypothetical "physiological units" ["On alleged ""spontaneous generation"", and on the hypothesis of physiological units", appendix in The principles of biology, vol. 1 (1864)].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
3 Mar 1871
Source of text:
DAR 177: 228
Summary:
Thanks CD for copy of Descent; wishes it had appeared earlier so that he could have made use of the facts in his Principles of psychology [2d ed. (1870–2)].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
2 May 1871
Source of text:
DAR 177: 229
Summary:
Intends to answer Sir A. Grant’s article if CD does not. [A. Grant, "Philosophy and Mr Darwin", Contemp. Rev. 17 (1871): 274–81; H. Spencer, "Mental evolution", Contemp. Rev. 17 (1871): 461–2.]
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
12 June 1872
Source of text:
DAR 177: 230
Summary:
HS hopes in the future to show more fully "absolute emptiness" of James Martineau’s propositions; is glad CD approved of his article dealing with JM’s arguments. [J. Martineau, "The place of mind in nature", Contemp. Rev. 19 (1872): 606–23; H. Spencer, "Mr Martineau on evolution", Contemp. Rev. 20 (1872): 141–54.]
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
16 Nov 1872
Source of text:
DAR 177: 231
Summary:
Thanks CD for Expression. Disagrees with his views on the genesis of melody; HS gives some reasons for believing it to originate in the natural cadences of emotional speech.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
26 Apr 1873
Source of text:
DAR 177: 232
Summary:
Wants to use CD’s support to put pressure on Michael Foster to enable Huxley to take an immediate holiday.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
11 Nov 1874
Source of text:
DAR 177: 233
Summary:
Wishes to know where, in his works, CD refers to some particular behaviour in dogs.
Mentions the sensitivity of cirripedes to passing shadows.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
Text Online
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Michael Faraday
Date:
4 May 1857
Source of text:
IET MS SC 2
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Faraday Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[10 January 1859]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.483
Summary:
Sending JH his Essays [Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, 1857] and HS's 'Recent Astronomy and the Nebular Hypothesis,' the latter just published in the Westminster Review. Requests JH's comments on the latter publication.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[31 December 1859]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.486
Summary:
[Responding to JH's 1859-1-16,] HS defends the nebular hypothesis, HS's theory of comets, and sets out HS's theory of sunspot formation, noting that John Tyndall supports it.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[18 January 1860]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.487
Summary:
[Responding to JH's 1860}-1-12,] HS admits some of JH's objections to HS's views on distribution of cometary orbits, but attempts to salvage HS's cyclonic theory of sunspot formation.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[5 March 1860]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.488
Summary:
Asks JH to become a subscriber to a work that HS is bringing out. Lists prominent persons who have already done so.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[18 April 1860]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.490
Summary:
Thanks JH for agreeing [1860-3-17] to be a subscriber to HS's project and for JH's critique of HS's use of the term 'Absolute.' Admits that it has difficulties.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[17 March 1862]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.491
Summary:
Recalls JH having written that an 'annulus of stars might be in equilibrium.' Asks where this claim appears in JH's writings.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project
From:
Herbert Spencer
To:
Sir John Herschel
Date:
[28 January 1863]
Source of text:
RS:HS 16.492
Summary:
Thanks JH for sending HS a copy of JH's dialogue ['On Atoms']. Comments on it.
Contributor:
John Herschel Project