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. In 1880, Darwin published On The Power of Movement in Plants, and began writing his final book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms. He was engaged in controversy with Samuel Butler, following publication of his last book, Erasmus Darwin. At the end of the year, he succeeded in raising support for a Civil List pension for Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection.
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. In 1880, Darwin published On The Power of Movement in Plants, and began writing his final book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms. He was engaged in controversy with Samuel Butler, following publication of his last book, Erasmus Darwin. At the end of the year, he succeeded in raising support for a Civil List pension for Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection.
How, asks James E. Strick, could spontaneous generation--the idea that living things can suddenly arise from nonliving materials--come to take root for a time (even a brief one) in so thoroughly unsuitable a field as British natural theology? No less an authority than Aristotle claimed that cases of spontaneous generation were to be observed in nature, and the idea held sway for centuries. Beginning around the time of the Scientific Revolution, however, the doctrine was increasingly challenged; attempts to prove or disprove it led to important breakthroughs in experimental design and laboratory techniques, most notably sterilization methods, that became the cornerstones of modern microbiology and sped the ascendancy of the germ theory of disease. The Victorian debates, Strick shows, were entwined with the public controversy over Darwin's theory of evolution. While other histories of the debates between 1860 and 1880 have focused largely on the experiments of John Tyndall, Henry Charlton Bastian, and others, Sparks of Life emphasizes previously understudied changes in the theories that underlay the debates. Strick argues that the disputes cannot be understood without full knowledge of the factional infighting among Darwinians themselves, as they struggled to create a socially and scientifically viable form of Darwinian science. He shows that even the terms of the debate, such as biogenesis, usually but incorrectly attributed to Huxley, were intensely contested.
This unique book explores the lives and work of nearly 300 New Jersey women from the Colonial period to the present century. Included are biographies of notable, often nationally known individuals, as well as less celebrated people, whose vibrant personal stories illustrate the richness of women's experiences in New Jersey—and, really, in America—from 1600 to the present. Researched, written and illustrated by The Women's Project of New Jersey, this volume both recovers and re-tells the life stories of women who have helped shape our world. Past and Promise is a long-overdue celebration of the accomplishments of these individuals who succeeded, often against overwhelming odds. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women incorporates an inclusive view of history that understands the past as the history of all of the people, not merely those who held a monopoly of power. As such this work contains biographies of artists, activists, entertainers, scientists, scholars, teachers, factory and agricultural workers, businesswomen, social engineers, and community builders. This easy-to-use and beautifully presented volume is indexed, and full of illustrations. The biographies are arranged alphabetically within four sections covering the following time periods: 1600-1807, 1808-1865, 1866-1920, and 1921 to the present. Each section is introduced by a historical overview, and each biographical entry includes a brief bibliography for further reading and research. This unique and very readable collection of biographies belongs in every public and personal library and deserves a wide audience of general readers from high school age through college and beyond.
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