>X-Accept-Language: en
>Date:         Fri, 2 Aug 2002 08:51:18 +0100
>Reply-To:     "van Wyhe, John" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sender:       Promoting discussion in the science studies community
><[log in to unmask]>
>From:         "van Wyhe, John" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: New website: Writings of Charles Darwin on the web
>To:           [log in to unmask]
>
>A new website has been launched which provides most of the writings of
>Charles Darwin in citable form. Most are also fully illustrated with
>hundreds of images never before offered on the internet.
>Despite an impressive proliferation of Darwin texts on the internet-
>almost all exclude essential bibliographical information such as
>edition, publisher, place of publication, etc. Page numbers are nowhere
>to be seen. These factors vastly reduce the usefulness of these texts as
>they cannot be easily cited. It is impossible to know if one is reading
>a first or sixth edition. An example
>are the many online 'first editions' of Darwin's Origin of Species.
>Often
>these cannot be correct as the text of the book contains the phrase
>'survival of the fittest'- famously coined by Herbert Spencer and first
>included in the 5th edition of 1869. Many other online copies of the
>Origin purport to be the first edition yet contain the Historical
>Sketch,
>  first found in English in the 3rd edition of 1861.  Other historical
>  texts on the internet contain many silent
>additions or omissions- footnotes are changed to endnotes or formatting
>altered without informing readers where this has been done. If scholars
>are to find digital texts more useful, it must be perfectly clear which
>historical text is represented and they must be citable in conventional
>ways. The texts provided at this site are an attempt to do so for the
>writings of Darwin. The site also contains several texts digitized for
>the first time.
>This site will be a treasure to Darwin scholars, scientists, and
>historians around the world. Here most of Darwin's vastly influential
>writings can be searched conveniently together, or by individual work,
>24 hours a day 7 days a week.
>http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/
>
>The texts provided on the site presently include:
>-'Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of other parts of
>Lochaber in Scotland, with an attempt to prove that they are of marine
>origin', Philosophical Transactions, 1839, pp. 39-81.
>
>-The foundations of the Origin of Species: Two essays written in 1842
>and 1844 by Charles Darwin. Francis Darwin ed., Cambridge, 1909.
>
>-Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the
>countries visited during the voyage round the world of H.M.S. Beagle,
>London, 11th edn 1913.
>
>-Geological observations on Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands, and on South
>America: being the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, under the
>Command of Capt. FitzRoy, during the Years 1832-36. London, Melbourne &
>Toronto, Ward Lock & Co., 1910.
>
>-'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation
>of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection', Journal of the
>Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 20 Aug. 1858, 3, pp. 45-62.
>
>-On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London, 1859.
>[1st edn].
>
>-On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are
>fertilised. London, John Murray, 1862.
>
>-The variation of animals and plants under domestication. 2 vols. 2nd
>edn. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1883.
>
>-The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. 2nd edn. revised
>and augmented, London, John Murray, 1882.
>
>-The origin of species by means of natural selection. London, 6th edn.
>1872.
>
>-The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2nd edn London, John
>Murray, 1875.
>
>-The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom.
>New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1892.
>
>-'A biographical sketch of an infant', Mind, July 1877, pp. 285-294.
>
>-The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. New York,
>D. Appleton & Co., 1896.
>
>-The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms. Eigth
>thousand (corrected) London, John Murray, 1883.
>
>Correspondence:
>
>-The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 2 vols. Francis Darwin ed. New
>York, D. Appleton & Co., 1905.
>
>-More letters of Charles Darwin. 2 vols., Francis Darwin & A.C. Seward,
>eds., London, John Murray, 1903.
>
>
>--
>Dr John van Wyhe
>
>Affiliate Research Scholar
>Dept. of History & Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University
>Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RH, UK