The year 1876 started out sedately enough with Darwin working on the first draft of his book on the cross- and self-fertilisation of plants, and the regularity of life in Down House measured by the ongoing tally of his and Emma's backgammon games. ‘I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games’, Darwin boasted; ‘my wife … poor creature, has won only 2490 games’ (letter to Asa Gray, 28 January 1876). Francis Darwin, happily established in Down Lodge with his wife, Amy, had settled in as his father's botanical assistant, and their close working relationship is evident in their correspondence whenever one or the other was away from Down. The usual rhythm of visits with family and friends took place against the constant backdrop of advice and cosseting regarding the ailments that were so much a feature of Darwin family life. But the calm was not to last, and the second half of 1876 was marked by anxiety and deep grief. In May, William Darwin suffered a serious concussion from a riding accident, and George Darwin's ill-health grew worse, echoing Darwin's own chronic condition. But it was in September, when Darwin was finishing work on the second edition of Orchids and checking the page-proofs of Cross and self fertilisation, that the family suffered a devastating loss. The Darwins must have spent much of the year anticipating the birth of the first member of the next generation of the family, with Francis and Amy's child expected in September. Their joy at the safe delivery of a healthy boy was soon replaced by anguish when Amy died four days later. ‘I cannot bear to think of the future’, Darwin confessed to William on 11 September just hours after Amy's death. For once, the labour of checking proofs proved a blessing, as Darwin sought solace for the loss of his beloved daughter-in-law and relief from his anxiety about Francis. By the end of the year there was a different order at Down House with Francis and his baby son Bernard now part of the household, and Darwin recasting his work on dimorphic and trimorphic plants in new ways.

Translations of letters from the supplement are at the end of this appendix.

From Ernst Haeckel 13 January 1876

Jena

13. Jan 76

Most honoured, dear friend!

Hopefully you have started the new year in excellent health and are working with undiminished vigour on the elucidation of the great biological problems which you have given to science through your reform of the theory of descent and founding of the theory of selection. It is my heartfelt wish that your energy and your interest in the task may continue steadily also in the coming year!

My “Arabische Korallen” you will have received by now. I hope they may delight the great naturalist to whom we owe the explanation of the extraordinary coral reefs, and who for the first time shed light on these marvellous products. I beg you also to note that I named “Monoxenia Darwinii” after you, as one of the simplest and most primitive forms among the corals.

I would appreciate it very much if you, most honoured friend, let me hear your critical views on the “Arabische Korallen”.

Since you have studied coral reefs more closely and know them better than any other naturalist, your judgment in this matter is of special value to me. I would be very pleased if the illustration of the Arabian coral reef on plate III met with your approval.

My essay on the “Gastrula und die Eifurchung” appears to meet with more acclaim among my colleagues than all my other works. Mr Ray-Lankester has provided a summary in English in the latest issue of “Quarterly Journal of Microsc. Science”.

With the best wishes and my most cordial greetings I remain, my dear friend and master, also in the new year | Yours truly devoted | Ernst Haeckel.

From Ernst Haeckel 31 January and 1 February 1876

Jena

31. Jan 76

Most honoured, dear friend!

For both your good and exceedingly kind letters I thank you cordially. It gives me the greatest joy and satisfaction that you, as one of the most painstaking experts and the best judge of coral reefs, are so very content with the “Arabische Korallen”.

From Nemo [1876?]

Dear Sir

If I thus take the liberty of addressing you it is because I am a lover of the truth and that I know you are a searcher of the same, and however infinitismal that truth may be and however humble the instrument you will accept and receive it with kindliness. I now proceed.

I consider that your evolution theory is correct, but I object to the means which you have adopted for its development. allow me to observe with every deference to your wisdom & knowledge, that natural selection cannot be a sufficient agency for the purpose, and we must seek it in a power per se created for this end. Now that such a power exists I think can be postulated if not indeed proved by what precedes it, looking to the inorganic world we find two powers or principles which govern it, viz, gravity and chemical affinity,2 the first is universal and homogeneous, by the second it becomes differentiated or heterogeneous, proceeding to the organic we find also one universal and homogeneous principle which is called by the general term life, it also like the inorganic world becomes heterogeneous and differentiated it is not asking too much if we suppose that this differentiation is obtained by the same means as in the former that is by a power per se which we might call spiritual affinity in contradistinction to chemical. This power like its first fellow worker is the cause of all the natural phenomena in the Universe, it becomes conditioned when its affinities in the natural world are suited for its manifestation it is thus that man is the last in the animal creation to make his appearance as he has the most complex organisation & to obtain this needed the highest organic conditions in life. This power I consider to be our conscious Ego, and produces consciousness of being in every living thing endowed with a brain, in those that have none it is simply mechanical altho in all it manifests itself more or less in this way.

Darwin began work on the second edition of Variation (The variation of plants and animals under domestication, first published in 1868) on 6 July 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix II), having suggested a new edition to his publisher, John Murray, in February (ibid., letter to John Murray, 16 February [1875]). However, Darwin spent much of the spring of 1875 working on Insectivorous plants, which was published in July 1875. Publication of Variation 2d ed. was initially expected in November (Correspondence vol. 23, letter to J. V. Carus, 1 July [1875]), and then December (ibid., letter to J. V. Carus, 14 October [1875]), but was held up by floods at the printers, William Clowes & Sons (letter from H. E. Litchfield to Leonard Darwin, 21 November [1875] (DAR 258: 1648)). It was finally published by the second half of February 1876 (Publishers’ Circular 1876); although it carries an 1875 imprint, it seems that the index did not reach the printer and the number of copies to print was not decided until 1876 (letter from John Murray, 6 January 1876).

Cross and self fertilisation (The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom) was Darwin's major publication of 1876. It dealt with themes that he had been working on for years, but in his ‘Journal’ for 1875 (Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix II), he noted that he ‘began’ (that is, started writing for publication) on 1 September. The actual date may have been later, however, since in a letter to Thomas Meehan dated 3 October 1875 (ibid.), he wrote, ‘I have this day begun to prepare for press observations continued for 10 years on the effects of crossing plants.’ He finished the first draft of the manuscript on 5 May 1876 (CD's ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)), and had it copied by a local schoolmaster, Ebenezer Norman (letter from Ebenezer Norman, 15 May 1876). He went over the copy starting on 11 June, and received proof-sheets from Murray on 19 August (CD's ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). Darwin's recently widowed son Francis worked on the proof-sheets in Wales, where he was staying with his late wife's family. Work on the proof-sheets was completed on 21 October, and the book was printed in December 1876 (DAR 210.11: 6).

To John Gould [13 April 1838]

[36 Great Marlborough Street, London.]

My dear Sir

As I do not at all like the idea of your going to Australia with no other remembrance of me, than rat traps and saddle-bags, will you do me the favour to accept the accompanying trifle, as a very slight token of my earnest wish, that your expedition may answer your & Mrs. Gould's expectations in every respect.

Very truly Yours | Chas Darwin

Good Friday

N.B. | I find in my notes that the thick-billed Synallaxis, which you doubted, whether you would not make a sand-lark, is a synallaxis in habits.— so stick to your first opinion—

To Thomas Green [after 30 June 1839]

Dear Sir

I return the proof sheets & must have revises— I am sorry I shall not be able to complete the 6 pages for a week or two to come.—

You enquire regarding Mr Walkers work, which you were good enough to call my attention to. I have found in it much which has interested me, but I cannot quite think he has established his theory.—

Believe me | Yours truly | Chas. Darwin

12 Upper Gower St | Friday

Thomas Green Esqre

To Basil Hall 15 March 1840

12 Upper Gower Street Sunday 15th March 1840

My dear Sir

I much regret, that from the state of my health I am incapable of answering your question at the length which I should much wish to do.— I forget what I said to Mr Lyell, but I remember that from your description I had expected a much larger valley. If the valley be considered as bounded by the mountains of granitic rocks its width is between 3 & 4 miles. But the width of the valley in which the river flows is only about a mile.— I have not a copy of your work, & I am unable to leave the house, but I think you have considerably overstated the distance up the valley, to which the terraces extend,— at least as far as I could discover.

Cross and self fertilisation was published by John Murray on 10 November 1876 (CD's ‘Journal’; see Appendix II). This list identifies reviews of and responses to Cross and self fertilisation mentioned in Darwin's correspondence in 1876 and 1877, as well as items contained in Darwin's ‘Scrapbook of reviews’ (DAR 226), his pamphlet collection (DAR Pam), and elsewhere in the Darwin Archive–CUL. It is not a comprehensive list, but identifies all reviews that were known to Darwin. The list is arranged chronologically according to month of publication. In the case of unsigned reviews, the author's name, if known, is given in brackets, with the source of the attribution supplied in a note.

January 1877

Otto Zacharias. Darwin über Kreuzung und Selbstbefruchtung im Pflanzenreiche.

Ausland, 6 January 1877, pp. 4–10. DAR Pam R278.

Otto Zacharias. Darwins neuestes Werk. Die Gegenwart, 13 January 1877, pp. 25–7.

Otto Zacharias. Darwins neuestes Werk. Illustrirte Zeitung, 13 January 1877, pp. 29 and 32.

George Henslow. The fertilisation of plants. Gardeners’ Chronicle, 13 January 1877, p. 42; 3 February 1877, p. 139; and 17 February 1877, pp. 203–4.

February 1877

Asa Gray. American Journal of Science and Arts 3d ser. 13: 125–41.

Lawson Tait. Spectator, 10 February 1877, pp. 17–18.

William Turner Thiselton-Dyer. Nature, 15 February 1877, pp. 329–32.

March 1877

Hermann Müller. Jenaer Literaturzeitung, 24 March 1877, pp. 178–81. DAR Pam R280.

April 1877

[Anon.] La Revue scientifique de la France et de l’étranger, 14 April 1877, pp. 981–6. DAR Pam R285.

June 1877

William James Beal. Scientific Farmer, June 1877, pp. 74–5. DAR 226.1: 155.

Thomas Meehan. Mr. Darwin on the fertilization of flowers. Penn Monthly, June 1877, pp. 463–71.