darwin published geological observations on the volcanic islands in 1877.
what book did darwin publish in 1877?
geological observations on the volcanic islands
in 1868 gray had a year's leave of absence and visited darwin in englandthe first time they had met since they started their correspondence. darwin had gray in mind when he wrote, "it seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist & an evolutionist." darwin dedicated his 1877 book "the different forms of flowers on plants of the same species" to gray "as a small tribute of respect and affection". one area where darwin and gray disagreed was darwin's theory of pangenesis. the grays traveled to europe again during 1880–1881, including a final visit to down house, darwin's home. he spent a year in europe this time studying. darwin died in 1882.
asa gray
wallace had once briefly met darwin, and was one of the correspondents whose observations darwin used to support his own theories. although wallace's first letter to darwin has been lost, wallace carefully kept the letters he received. in the first letter, dated 1 may 1857, darwin commented that wallace's letter of 10 october which he had recently received, as well as wallace's paper "on the law which has regulated the introduction of new species" of 1855, showed that they were both thinking alike and to some extent reaching similar conclusions, and said that he was preparing his own work for publication in about two years time. the second letter, dated 22 december 1857, said how glad he was that wallace was theorising about distribution, adding that "without speculation there is no good and original observation" while commenting that "i believe i go much further than you". wallace trusted darwin's opinion on the matter and sent him his february 1858 essay, "on the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type", with the request that darwin would review it and pass it on to charles lyell if he thought it worthwhile. although wallace had sent several articles for journal publication during his travels through the malay archipelago, the ternate essay was in a private letter. on 18 june 1858, darwin received the essay from wallace. while wallace's essay obviously did not employ darwin's term "natural selection", it did outline the mechanics of an evolutionary divergence of species from similar ones due to environmental pressures. in this sense, it was very similar to the theory that darwin had worked on for twenty years, but had yet to publish. darwin sent the manuscript to charles lyell with a letter saying "he could not have made a better short abstract! even his terms now stand as heads of my chapters ... he does not say he wishes me to publish, but i shall, of course, at once write and offer to send to any journal." distraught about the illness of his baby son, darwin put the problem to charles lyell and joseph hooker, who decided to publish the essay in a joint presentation together with unpublished writings which highlighted darwin's priority. wallace's essay was presented to the linnean society of london on 1 july 1858, along with excerpts from an essay which darwin had disclosed privately to hooker in 1847 and a letter darwin had written to asa gray in 1857.
alfred russel wallace