The Invention of Nature (62 page)

10 ‘loving and affectionate’: CH to August von Hedemann, 17 March 1829, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.7, p.342; for CH’s death, see Gall 2011, pp.379–80.

11 AH had to avoid war zone: AH to Michail Semënovic Voroncov, 19 May 1829 and AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.86, 119.

12 ‘advancement of the’: Cancrin to AH, 30 January 1829, ibid., p.93.

13 Russia, manufacturing and ores: Suckow 1999, p.162.

14 AH and diamonds: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829 and 5 November 1829; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.185, 204–5, 220. It was the sandstone Itacolumite that indicated diamonds. AH later also correctly predicted gold, platinum and diamonds in South Carolina – and in California.

15 AH and magnifying glass: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.5.

16 ‘crazy Prussian prince’: Cossack in Perm, June 1829, Beck 1959, p.103.

17 Polier and diamonds: Polier to Cancrin, Report about diamonds, Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.356ff.; Beck 1983, p.81ff.; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.220.

18 thirty-seven diamonds in Russia: Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.117.

19 AH’s predictions like magic: Beck 1983, p.82.

20 ‘true El Dorado’: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.185.

21 ‘to bring the laments’: AH Cuba, 2011, pp.142–3.

22 ‘poorer provinces’: AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829; for Cancrin’s reply, see Cancrin to AH, 10 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.86, 93.

23 ‘conditions of the lower’: AH to Cancrin, 17 July 1829, ibid., p.148.

24 Yekaterinburg: Beck 1983, p.71ff.

25 ‘like an invalid’: AH to WH, 21 June 1829, see also 8 June and 14 July 1829, ibid., pp.132, 138, 146.

26 reached Tobolsk: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.487.

27 ‘analogies and contrasts’: AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.2.

28 ‘small extension’: AH to Cancrin, 23 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.153.

29 ‘his death’: Ibid., p.154

30 Cancrin received AH’s letter: Cancrin to AH, 18 August 1829, ibid., p.175.

31 ‘without any sign’: Gregor von Helmersen, September 1828, Beck 1959, p.108.

32 Siberian steppes: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.494–6.

33 leather masks: AH to Cancrin, 23 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.154; Rose 1837–42, pp.494–8; Beck 1983, p.96ff.

34 ‘sea voyage on land’ and travel speed: AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.161, 163, and Suckow 1999, p.163.

35 anthrax epidemic: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.499; AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.161.

36 ‘At my age’: AH to Cancrin, 27 August 1829, ibid., p.177.

37 ‘traces of the pest’: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.500.

38 ‘clean the air’: Ibid.

39 storm at Obi River: Ibid., p.502; AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.162.

40 1,000 miles in nine days: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.502.

41 distances to Berlin and Caracas: AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.162.

42 saw Altai mountains: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.523

43 left baggage in Ust-Kamenogorsk: Ibid., p.580.

44 AH in cave: Ibid., p.589.

45 ‘covered the bottom’: Jermoloff about Ehrenberg, Beck 1983, p.122.

46 ‘real joy’: AH to Cancrin, 27 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.178.

47 vegetation Altai: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.575, 590.

48 ‘mighty domes’: Ibid., p.577; for Belukha pp. 559, 595.

49 Altai and Belukha enticing: Ibid., p.594.

50 hot spring and earthquake: Ibid., p.597.

51 ‘My health’: AH to WH, 10 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.181.

52 description of AH at Baty: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.600–606; AH to Arago, 20 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.170.

53 dressed in ‘rags’: AH to Arago, 20 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.170.

54 the ‘heavenly kingdom’: AH to WH, 13 August 1829, ibid., p.172.

55 route from Altai: Beck 1983, p.120ff; AH to WH, 10 and 25 September 1829, pp.181, 188.

56 Lenin’s maternal grandfather: Ibid., p.128.

57 ‘Thirty years ago’: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.184.

58 detour to Caspian Sea: AH to Cancrin, 26 September 1829, ibid., p.191; see also AH, Aspects, vol.2, p.300; AH Views 2014, p.283; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.363.

59 Cancrin kept AH up to date: Cancrin to AH, 31 July 1829 and 18 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.158, 175.

60 reasons for detour: AH to WH, 25 September 1829, ibid., p.188.

61 ‘peace outside the gates’: AH to Cancrin, 21 October 1829, ibid., p.200.

62 Astrakhan and Caspian Sea: Rose 1837–42, vol. 2, p.306ff.; Beck 1983, p.147ff.

63 AH to scientists in St Petersburg: AH, Speech at Imperial Academy of Science, St Petersburg, 28 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.283–4.

64 AH and Caspian Depression: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.50.

65 ‘highlights of my life’: AH to WH, 14 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.196.

66 AH’s experiences in Russia: For mare’s milk, see AH to WH, 25 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.188; for Kalmyk choir, see Rose 1837–42, vol.2, p.344; for antelopes, snakes and fakir, see AH to WH, 10 September and 21 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.181, 199; Rose 1837–42, vol.2, p.312; for thermometer and copy of Essay, see Beck 1983, pp.113, 133; for Siberian food, see AH to Friedrich von Schöler, 13 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.193.

67 ‘lack of timber’: AH to Cancrin, 21 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.136.

68 considerable desiccation: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.27.

69 ‘connections which linked’: AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.27.

70 destruction of forests: Ibid., p.26; see also vol.1, p.337 and vol.2, p.214; AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.27.

71 ‘great masses of steam’: Ibid., vol.2, p.214.

72 ‘questionable’ (footnote): AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.337.

73 distances and horses used: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.380; Suckow 1999, p.163.

74 AH’s health: AH to Cancrin, 5 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.204.

75 parties in Moscow and St Petersburg: Alexander Herzen, November 1829, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, pp.384–6; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.219–20.

76 ‘Prometheus of our days’: Sergei Glinka, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.385.

77 ‘Captivating speeches’: Pushkin in 1829, recounted by Georg Schmid in 1830, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.251.

78 ‘I’m almost collapsing’: AH to WH, 21 November 1829, ibid., p.219.

79 AH asked tsar to pardon exiles: AH to Tsar Nicholas I, 7 December 1829, ibid., p.233.

80 ‘mysterious march’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.167; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.185.

81 ‘reveal to us’: Report on letter from AH to Royal Society, 9 June 1836, Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.3, 1830–37, p.420 (Humboldt had written the letter in April 1836).

82 magnetic hut 1827: Biermann und Schwarz 1999a, p.187.

83 ‘great confederation’: Report on letter from AH to Royal Society, 9 June 1836, Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.3, 1830–37, p.423; see also O’Hara 1983, pp.49–50.

84 almost two million observations: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.178; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.197.

85 ‘economy of nature’: AH, Speech at Imperial Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, 28 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.277; for AH’s call for global climate studies see p.281.

86 AH returned money: AH to Cancrin, 17 November 1829, ibid., p.215; Beck 1983, p.159.

87 ‘natural history cabinet’: AH to Theodor von Schön, 9 December 1829; for vase and sable, see AH to WH, 9 December 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.237.

88 looked rather ‘picturesque’: AH to Cancrin, 24 December 1829, ibid., p.257.

89 ‘contradictory theories’: Ibid.

90 ‘steaming like a pot’: Carl Friedrich Zelter to Goethe, 2 February 1830, Bratranek 1876, p.384.

1 ‘wretchedly out of spirits’: Darwin, 30 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.

2 Darwin seasick: Darwin, 29 December 1831, ibid., pp.17–18; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

3 poop cabin: Thomson 1995, p.124ff.; HMS Beagle sketch of poop cabin by B.J. Sulivan, CUL DAR.107.

4 Darwin’s books on Beagle: Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, Appendix IV, pp.558–66.

5 Darwin on Lyell: Darwin 1958, p.77.

6 ‘You are of course’ (footnote): Robert FitzRoy to Darwin, 23 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.167.

7 ‘My admiration of his’: Darwin to D.T. Gardner, August 1874, published in New York Times, 15 September 1874.

8 passed Madeira: Darwin, 4 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.19; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

9 ‘for cheering the heart’: Darwin, 31 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.

10 ‘Oh misery, misery’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, ibid., p.19; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

11 ‘Already can I understand’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.201–2.

12 ‘like parting from a’: Darwin, 7 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20.

13 ‘wildest Castles’: Darwin, 17 December 1831, ibid., p.14.

14 ‘subsist with some comfort’: Darwin 1958, p.46.

15 Darwin at university: Ibid., p.56ff.

16 Darwin and beetles: Ibid., pp.50, 62.

17 ‘stirred up in me a’: Darwin wrote that he read AH’s Personal Narrative ‘during my last year in Cambridge’, Darwin 1958, p.67–8

18 Darwin, Henslow and reading aloud: Ibid., pp.64ff., 68; Browne 2003a, pp.123, 131; Thomson 2009, pp.94, 102; Darwin to Fox, 5 November 1830, Darwin Correspondence vol.1, p.110.

19 ‘I talk, think, &’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 7 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.120.

20 ‘I cannot hardly sit’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831; see also Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 11 May 1831 and 9 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122, 123, 124; Darwin 1958, pp.68–70.

21 ‘gaze at the Palm trees’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122.

22 ‘read and reread Humboldt’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 11 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.125–6.

23 ‘I plague them’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 11 May 1831, ibid., p.123.

24 ‘to fan your Canary’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 11 July 1831, ibid., p.125.

25 ‘I have written myself’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831, ibid., p.122; for Spanish expressions, see Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 9 July 1831, ibid., p.124.

26 Henslow bailed out: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 1 August 1831, ibid., p.127; see also Browne 2003a, p.135; Thomson 2009, p.131.

27 FitzRoy looked for naturalist: John Stevens Henslow to Darwin, 24 August 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.128–9.

28 ‘a wild scheme’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831, ibid., p.133; see also Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 30 August 1831; Robert Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, 30–31 August 1831; Josiah Wedgwood II to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831, ibid., pp.131–4; Darwin 1958, pp.71–2; Darwin 31 August–1 September 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.3; Browne 2003a, p.152ff.

29 Darwin’s father savvy investor: Browne 2003a, p.7.

30 ‘If I saw Charles’: Josiah Wedgwood II to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831; Darwin’s father agrees to expedition, Robert Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood II, 1 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.134–5.

31 lighter clothes: Darwin, 10 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.21; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.202.

32 crew on Beagle: Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, Appendix III, p.549.

33 Captain FitzRoy: Browne 2003a, pp.144–9; Thomson 2009, p.139ff.

34 ‘bordering on insanity’: Darwin 1958, p.73ff.; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.203; see also Thomson 1995, p.155.

35 ‘The hold would contain’: Darwin, 23 October 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.8; for Beagle and supplies, see also Browne 2003a, p.169; Darwin to Susan Darwin, 6 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.144; Thomson 1995, pp.115, 123, 128.

36 first landfall Santiago: Darwin, 16 January 1832 and following entries, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.23ff.

37 ‘perfect hurricane of delight’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, May 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.232.

38 ‘heavily laden with’: Darwin, 17 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.24.

39 Darwin like child: Robert FitzRoy to Francis Beaufort, 5 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.205, n.1.

40 ‘like giving to a blind’: Darwin, 16 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.23.

41 ‘if you really want’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832; see also Darwin to William Darwin Fox, May 1832, ibid., pp.204, 233.

42 ‘much struck by the justness’: Darwin, 26 May 1832; see also 6 February, 9 April and 2 June 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, pp.34, 55, 67, 70.

43 Darwin on Lyell: Darwin 1958, p.77.

44 Darwin reading rocks at Santiago: Thomson 2009, p.148; Browne 2003a, p.185; see also Darwin 1958, pp.77, 81, 101.

45 ‘I shall be able to’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 10 February 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.206; see also Darwin 1958, p.81.

46 like Arabian Nights: Darwin to Frederick Watson, 18 August 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.260.

47 ‘My feelings amount’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, ibid., p.204.

48 ‘I formerly admired Humboldt’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 18 May–16 June 1832 ibid., p.237.

49 ‘rare union of poetry’: Darwin, 28 February 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.42.

50 walking in a new world: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.202ff.

51 ‘I am at present red-hot’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 18 May–16 June 1832, ibid., p.238.