Charles Darwin's education gave him a foundation in the
doctrine of Creation prevalent throughout the West at the time, as well as knowledge of medicine and theology. More significantly, it led to his interest in
natural history, which culminated in his taking part in
the second voyage of the ''Beagle'' and the eventual
inception of his theory of
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
. Although
Darwin changed his field of interest several times in these formative years, many of his later discoveries and beliefs were foreshadowed by the influences he had as a youth.
Background and influences
![Darwin cutout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Darwin_cutout.png)
A child of the early 19th century,
Charles Robert Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
grew up in a conservative era when repression of revolutionary
Radicalism had displaced the 18th century
Enlightenment. The
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
dominated the English scientific establishment. The Church saw natural history as revealing God's underlying plan and as supporting the existing social hierarchy. It rejected Enlightenment philosophers such as
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
who had argued for
naturalism and against
belief in God Various Theism, theistic positions can involve belief in a God or "gods". They include:
* Henotheism, belief in the supremacy of one god without denying the existence of others.
* Monotheism, the doctrine or belief that there is only one deity.
* P ...
.
The discovery of
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s of
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
species was explained by theories such as
catastrophism
In geology, catastrophism theorises that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope.
This contrasts with uniformitarianism (sometimes called gradualism), according to which slow increment ...
. Catastrophism claimed that animals and plants were periodically annihilated as a result of natural catastrophes and then replaced by new species
created ''ex nihilo'' (out of nothing). The extinct organisms could then be observed in the fossil record, and their replacements were considered to be immutable.
Darwin's
extended family of Darwins and Wedgwoods was strongly
Unitarian. One of Darwin’s grandfathers,
Erasmus Darwin, was a successful physician, and was followed in this by his sons
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, who died in 1778 while still a promising medical student at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, and Doctor
Robert Waring Darwin
Robert Waring Darwin (30 May 1766 – 13 November 1848) was an English medical doctor, who today is best known as the father of the naturalist Charles Darwin. He was a member of the influential Darwin–Wedgwood family.
Biography
Darwin was bo ...
, Darwin's father, who named his son Charles Robert Darwin, honouring his deceased brother.
Erasmus was a
freethinker
Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...
who hypothesized that all warm-blooded animals sprang from a single living "filament" long, long ago. He further proposed evolution by acquired characteristics, anticipating the theory later developed by
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...
. Although Charles was born after his grandfather Erasmus died, his father Robert found the texts an invaluable medical guide and Charles read them as a student. Doctor Robert also followed Erasmus in being a freethinker, but as a wealthy society physician was more discreet and attended the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
patronised by his clients.
Childhood
![Charles Darwin 1816](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Charles_Darwin_1816.jpg)
Charles Robert Darwin was born in
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809 at his family home,
the Mount, He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier
Robert Waring Darwin
Robert Waring Darwin (30 May 1766 – 13 November 1848) was an English medical doctor, who today is best known as the father of the naturalist Charles Darwin. He was a member of the influential Darwin–Wedgwood family.
Biography
Darwin was bo ...
, and
Susannah Darwin
Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood, 3 January 1765–15 July 1817) was the wife of Robert Darwin, a wealthy doctor, and mother of naturalist Charles Darwin, and part of the Wedgwood pottery family.
Life
She was the daughter of Josiah and Sarah Wedg ...
(''née'' Wedgwood). Both families were largely
Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
. Robert Waring Darwin, himself quietly a
freethinker
Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...
, had baby Charles
baptised
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
on 15 November 1809 in the Anglican
St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, but Charles and his siblings attended the Unitarian chapel with their mother.
As a young child at The Mount, Darwin avidly collected
animal shell
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the l ...
s,
postal franks,
bird's eggs, pebbles and minerals. He was very fond of gardening, an interest his father shared and encouraged, and would follow the family gardener around. Early in 1817, soon after becoming eight years old, he started at the small local school run by a Unitarian minister, the Reverend George Case. At home, Charles learned to ride ponies, shoot and fish. Influenced by his father's fashionable interest in
natural history, he tried to make out the names of plants, and was given by his father two elementary natural history books. Childhood games included inventing and writing out complex secret codes. Charles would tell elaborate stories to his family and friends "for the pure pleasure of attracting attention & surprise", including hoaxes such as pretending to find apples he'd hidden earlier, and what he later called the "monstrous fable" which persuaded his schoolfriend that the colour of
primula
''Primula'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose ('' P. vulgaris''), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are '' P. auricula'' (auricula), '' P. veris'' (cow ...
flowers could be changed by dosing them with special water. However, his father benignly ignored these passing games, and Charles later recounted that he stopped them because no-one paid any attention.
In July 1817 his mother died after the sudden onset of violent stomach pains and amidst the grief his older sisters had to take charge, with their father continuing to dominate the household whenever he returned from his doctor's rounds. To the -year-old Charles this situation was not a great change, as his mother had frequently been ill and her available time taken up by social duties, so his upbringing had largely been in the hands of his three older sisters who were nearly adults by then. In later years he had difficulty in remembering his mother, and his only memory of her death and funeral was of the children being sent for and going into her room, and his "Father meeting us crying afterwards".
As had been planned previously, in September 1818 Charles joined his older brother
Erasmus Alvey Darwin
Erasmus Alvey Darwin (29 December 1804 – 26 August 1881), nicknamed ''Eras'' or ''Ras'', was the older brother of Charles Darwin, born five years earlier. They were brought up at the family home, The Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng ...
(nicknamed "Eras") in staying as a boarder at the
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury.
Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...
, where he loathed the required
rote learning
Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, as ...
, and would try to visit home when he could, but also made many friends and developed interests. Years later, he recalled being "very fond of playing at
Hocky on the ice in skates" in the winter time. He continued collecting minerals and insects, and family holidays in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
brought Charles new opportunities, but an older sister ruled that "it was not right to kill insects" for his collections, and he had to find dead ones. He read
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''.
Life
White was born on ...
's ''The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne'' and took up
birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...
. Eras took an interest in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and Charles became his assistant, with the two using a garden shed at their home fitted out as a laboratory and extending their interests to
crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...
. When Eras went on to a medical course at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, Charles continued to rush home to the shed on weekends, and for this received the nickname "Gas". The headmaster was not amused at this diversion from studying the classics, calling him a ''
poco curante'' (trifler) in front of the boys. At fifteen, his interest shifted to hunting and bird-shooting at local estates, particularly at
Maer in Staffordshire, the home of his relatives, the
Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
s. His exasperated father once told him off, saying "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family."
His father decided that he should leave school earlier than usual, and in 1825 at the age of sixteen Charles was to go along with his brother who was to attend the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
for a year to obtain medical qualifications. Charles spent the summer as an apprentice doctor, helping his father with treating the poor of
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
. He had half a dozen patients of his own, and would note their symptoms for his father to make up the prescriptions.
University of Edinburgh
![Edinburgh University 1827](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Edinburgh_University_1827.jpg)
In October 1825, Darwin went to
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...
to study medicine, accompanied by Eras doing his external hospital study. For a few days, while looking for rooms to rent, the brothers stayed at the Star Hotel in Princes Street. They took up an introduction to a friend of their father, Dr. Hawley, who led them on a walk around the town. They admired it immensely; Darwin thought Bridge Street "most extraordinary" as, on looking over the sides, "instead of a fine river we saw a stream of people".
They found comfortable lodgings near the University at 11 Lothian Street,
on 22 October Charles signed the
matriculation
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...
book, and enrolled in courses.
That evening, they moved in.
Darwin attended classes from their start on 26 October.
By early January he had formed opinions on the lecturers, and complained that most were boring.
Andrew Duncan, the younger
Andrew Duncan, the younger (10 August 1773 – 13 May 1832) was a British physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Life
Duncan was the son of Elizabeth Knox and Andrew Duncan, the elder, born at Adam Square in Edinburgh on 10 A ...
, taught
dietetics
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ...
,
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
, and
materia medica. Darwin thought the latter stupid, and said Duncan was "so very learned that his wisdom has left no room for his sense".
His lectures began at 8a.m. – years later Darwin recalled "a whole, cold, breakfastless hour on the properties of rhubarb!",
but they usefully introduced him to the ''natural system'' of classification of
Augustin de Candolle
Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...
, who emphasised the "war" between competing species.
From 10a.m., the brothers greatly enjoyed the spectacular chemistry lectures of
Thomas Charles Hope
Thomas Charles Hope (21 July 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a British physician, chemist and lecturer. He proved the existence of the element strontium, and gave his name to Hope's Experiment, which shows that water reaches its maximum density at ...
, but they did not join a student society giving hands-on experience. Anatomy and surgery classes began at noon, Darwin was disgusted by the dull and outdated anatomy lectures of professor
Alexander Monro ''tertius'', many students went instead to private independent schools, with new ideas of teaching by dissecting corpses (giving clandestine trade to
bodysnatchers) – his brother went to a "charming Lecturer", the surgeon
John Lizars
Prof John Lizars FRSE (15 May 1792–21 May 1860) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist and medical author.
He was Professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and senior surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He perfo ...
. Darwin later regretted his own failure to persevere and learn dissection.The city was in an uproar over political and religious controversies, and the competitive system where professors were dependent on attracting student fees for income meant that the university was riven with argumentative feuds and conflicts. Monro's lectures included vehement opposition to
George Combe
George Combe (21 October 1788 – 14 August 1858) was a trained Scottish lawyer and a spokesman of the phrenological movement for over 20 years. He founded the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1820 and wrote a noted study, ''The Constitution o ...
's daringly
materialist
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...
ideas of
phrenology
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...
,
but Darwin found "his lectures on human anatomy as dull, as he was himself, and the subject disgusted me." Eventually, to Darwin's mind there were "no advantages and many disadvantages in lectures compared with reading."
Darwin regularly attended clinical wards in the hospital despite his great distress about some of the cases, but could only bear to attend surgical operations twice, rushing away before they were completed due to his distress at the brutality of surgery before
anaesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
s. He was long haunted by the memory, particularly of an operation on a child.
At the end of January, Darwin wrote home that they had "been very dissipated", having dined with Dr. Hawley then gone to the theatre with a relative of the botanist
Robert Kaye Greville
Dr. Robert Kaye Greville FRSE FLS LLD (13 December 1794 – 4 June 1866) was an England, English mycologist, bryology, bryologist, and botanist. He was an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history. In addition to art and scien ...
. They also visited
"the old Dr. Duncan",
who spoke with the warmest affection about his student and friend
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
(Darwin's uncle) who had died in 1778.
[Woodall, Edward (1884)]
Charles Darwin. A paper contributed to the Transactions of the Shropshire Archæological Society
London: Trubner. p. 18. Darwin wrote "What an extraordinary old man he is, now being past 80, & continuing to lecture", though Dr. Hawley thought Duncan was now failing. Darwin added that "I am going to learn to stuff birds, from a
blackamoor... he only charges one guinea, for an hour every day for two months".
These lessons in
taxidermy
Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...
were with the freed black slave
John Edmonstone
John Edmonstone was a taxidermist and teacher of taxidermy in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an influential Black Briton.
Born into slavery on a wood plantation in Demerara, British Guiana (present-day Guyana, South America), he was given the surna ...
, who also lived in Lothian Street. Darwin often sat with him to hear tales of the South American rain-forest of
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
, and later remembered him as "a very pleasant and intelligent man."
The brothers kept each other company, and made extensive use of the library. Darwin's reading included novels and
Boswell's ''
Life of Johnson
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy transf ...
''. He had brought
natural history books with him, including a copy of ''A Naturalist's Companion'' by
George Graves, bought in August in anticipation of seeing the seaside. He borrowed similar books from the library, and also read
Fleming's ''Philosophy of Zoology''.
The brothers went for regular Sunday walks to the seaport of
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
and the shores of the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
. Darwin kept a diary recording bird observations, and their seashore finds which began with a sea mouse (''
Aphrodita aculeata
''Aphrodita aculeata'', the sea mouse, is a marine polychaete worm found in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. The sea mouse normally lies buried head-first in the sand. It has been found at depths of ove ...
)'' he caught on 2 February and identified from his copy of
William Turton
William Turton (21 May 1762 – 28 December 1835) was an English physician and naturalist. He is known for his pioneering work in conchology, and for translating Linnaeus' ''Systema Naturae'' into English.
Biography
He was born at Olveston, ...
's ''British fauna''.
[Darwin, C. R. dinburgh diary for 1826br>CUL-DAR129]
- Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online) A few days later Darwin noted "Erasmus caught a Cuttle fish", wondering if it was "Sepia Loligo",
then from his textbooks identified it as ''
Loligo sagittata'' (a squid). A few days later, Darwin returned with a basin and caught a globular orange zoophyte, then after storms at the start of March saw the shore "literally covered with Cuttle fish". He touched them so they emitted ink and swam away, and also found a damaged starfish beginning to regrow its arms. Eras completed his external hospital study, and returned to Shrewsbury, Darwin found other zoophytes and, on the shore "between Leith & Portobello", caught more sea mice which "when thrown into the sea rolled themselves up like hedgehogs."
On 27 March, Susan Darwin wrote to pass on their father's disapproval of Darwin's "plan of picking & chusing what lectures you like to attend", as "you cannot have enough information to know what may be of use to you". His son's "present indulgent way" would make studies "utterly useless", and he wanted Darwin to complete the course.
Darwin wrote home apologetically on 8 April with the news that "Dr. Hope has been giving some very good Lectures on Electricity &c. and I am very glad I stayed for them", requesting money to fund staying on another 9 to 14 days.
During his summer holiday Charles read ''
Zoönomia'' by his grandfather
Erasmus Darwin, which his father valued for medical guidance but which also proposed evolution by acquired characteristics. In June he went on a walking tour in North Wales.
Natural history in second year
In October Charles returned on his own for his second year, and took smaller lodgings in a top flat at 21 Lothian Street. He joined the required classes of Practice of Physic and Midwifery, but by then realised he would inherit property and need not make "any strenuous effort to learn medicine". For his own interests, and to meet other students, he joined
Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist.
As Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, developing his predecessor John ...
's
natural history course which started on 8 November. It was unique in Britain, covering a wide range of topics including geology, zoology, mineralogy, meteorology and botany.
[Ashworth, J.H. (1935) ]
Charles Darwin as a student in Edinburgh
1825-1827.'' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 55: 97-113, pls. 1-2.
Jameson was a
Neptunian
Neptune was discovered in 1846 and has only made occasional appearances in fiction since then. The first time it was mentioned, then called "Urbain Le Verrier, Leverrier's planet", was in the 1848 novel ''The Triumphs of Woman'' by Charles Rowcrof ...
geologist who taught
Werner's view that all rock
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
had precipitated from a universal ocean, and founded the
Wernerian Natural History Society
The Wernerian Natural History Society (12 January 1808 – 16 April 1858), commonly abbreviated as the Wernerian Society, was a learned society interested in the broad field of natural history, and saw papers presented on various topics such as ...
to discuss and publish science. He encouraged debate, and in lectures pointedly disagreed with chemistry professor
Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
who held that granites had crystallised from molten crust, influenced by the
Plutonism
Plutonism is the geologic theory that the igneous rocks forming the Earth originated from intrusive magmatic activity, with a continuing gradual process of weathering and erosion wearing away rocks, which were then deposited on the sea bed, re- ...
of
James Hutton
James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...
who had been Hope's friend. In 1827, Jameson told a
commission of inquiry into the curriculum that "It would be a misfortune if we all had the same way of thinking... Dr Hope is decidedly opposed to me, and I am opposed to Dr Hope, and between us we make the subject interesting."
Jameson edited the quarterly ''
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal
The ''Edinburgh Philosophical Journal'' was founded by its editors Robert Jameson and David Brewster in 1819 as a scientific journal to publish articles on the latest science of the day. In 1826 the two editors fell out, and Jameson continued publ ...
'', with an international reputation for publishing science. It could touch on controversial subjects; in the April–October 1826 edition an anonymous paper proposed that geological study of fossils could "lift the veil that hangs over the origin and progress of the organic world". It praised
Lamarck's transmutation of species
Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...
concept that from "the simplest worms" arising by spontaneous generation and affected by external circumstances, all other animals "are evolved from these in a double series, and in a gradual manner." This was the first use of the word "evolved" in a modern sense, and the first significant statement to relate Lamarck's concepts to the geological fossil record. It seems likely that Jameson wrote it, but it could have been a former student of his, possibly
Ami Boué
Ami Boué (16 March 179421 November 1881) was a geologist of French Huguenot origin. Born at Hamburg he trained in Edinburgh and across Europe. He travelled across Europe, studying geology, as well as ethnology, and is considered to be among th ...
.
Through family connections, Darwin was introduced to the reforming educationalist
Leonard Horner
Leonard Horner FRSE FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the younger brother of Francis Horner.
Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now Heriot-Wa ...
who took him to the opening of the 1826–1827 session of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
, presided over by
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
. Darwin "looked at him and at the whole scene with some awe and reverence".
Student societies
To make friends, Darwin had
visiting card
A visiting card, also known as a calling card, is a small card used for social purposes. Before the 18th century, visitors making social calls left handwritten notes at the home of friends who were not at home. By the 1760s, the upper classes in ...
s printed, and joined student societies. He attended the
Royal Medical Society
The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is a society run by students at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. It claims to be the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom although this claim is also made by the earlier London-based ...
regularly though uninterested in its medical topics, and remembered
James Kay-Shuttleworth
Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baronet (20 July 1804 – 26 May 1877, born James Kay) of Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, was a British politician and educationist. He founded a further-education college that would eventually become Plymo ...
as a good speaker.
On 21 November 1826 Darwin (17 years old) petitioned to join the
Plinian Society
The Plinian Society was a club at the University of Edinburgh for students interested in natural history. It was founded in 1823. Several of its members went on to have prominent careers, most notably Charles Darwin who announced his first scient ...
, student-run, with professors excluded. At its Tuesday evening meetings, members read short papers, sometimes controversial, mostly on natural history topics or about their research excursions. The secretary minuted the titles, any publication was in other journals. Three of its five presidents proposed him for membership:
William A. F. Browne
Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduc ...
(21),
John Coldstream (19) and medical student George Fife (19). A week later, Darwin was elected, as was
William R. Greg (17) who offered a controversial talk to prove "the lower animals possess every faculty & propensity of the human mind", in a
materialist
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...
view of nature as just physical forces. Darwin was elected to its Council on 5 December, at the same meeting Browne, a
radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
demagogue opposed to church doctrines, attacked
Charles Bell
Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...
's ''Anatomy and Physiology of Expression'' (which in 1872 Darwin addressed in ''
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' is Charles Darwin's third major work of evolutionary theory, following ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859) and '' The Descent of Man'' (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in ''The Desce ...
''), flatly rejecting Bell's belief that the Creator had endowed humans with unique anatomical features. Greg and Browne were both avid proponents of
phrenology
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...
to undermine aristocratic rule. Darwin found the meetings stimulating and attended 17, missing only one.
![Samuel Bough - Newhaven harbour on the Firth of Forth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Samuel_Bough_-_Newhaven_harbour_on_the_Firth_of_Forth.jpg)
Darwin became friends with Coldstream who was "prim, formal, highly religious and most kind-hearted". Coldstream's interest in the skies and identifying sea creatures on the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
shore went back to his childhood in
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
. He had joined the Plinian in 1823, his diary around then noted self-blame and torment, but he persisted and in 1824 became one of its presidents. He regularly published in the ''
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal
The ''Edinburgh Philosophical Journal'' was founded by its editors Robert Jameson and David Brewster in 1819 as a scientific journal to publish articles on the latest science of the day. In 1826 the two editors fell out, and Jameson continued pu ...
'', and also assisted the research of
Robert Edmond Grant
Robert Edmond Grant Doctor of Medicine, MD Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, FRCPEd Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE Zoological Society of London, FZS Geological Society of London, FGS (11 November 1793 – 23 August 1874) was a Br ...
, who had studied under Jameson before graduating in 1814, and was researching simple
marine life
Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. M ...
forms for evidence of the transmutation conjectured in Erasmus Darwin's ''
Zoonomia
''Zoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life'' (1794-96) is a two-volume medical work by Erasmus Darwin dealing with pathology, anatomy, psychology, and the functioning of the body. Its primary framework is one of associationist psychophysiology. Th ...
'' and Lamarck's writings. Grant was active in the Plinian and on the council of the Wernerian Society, where he took Darwin as a guest to meetings. The Wernerian was visited by
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...
three times that winter,
and Darwin saw his lectures on the habits of North American birds.
[
]
With Coldstream, Darwin walked along the shore looking for animals in tidal pools, and became friends with oyster fishermen from nearby Newhaven who took them along to pick specimens from the catches. He went long walks with Grant and others, frequently with William Ainsworth, one of the Presidents who became a Wernerian geologist. As well as the shores of the Forth, he and Ainsworth took boat trips to Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
and the islands. On the Isle of May
The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about long and wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no ...
with the botanist Robert Kaye Greville
Dr. Robert Kaye Greville FRSE FLS LLD (13 December 1794 – 4 June 1866) was an England, English mycologist, bryology, bryologist, and botanist. He was an accomplished artist and illustrator of natural history. In addition to art and scien ...
, this "eminent cryptogam
A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...
ist" laughed so much at screeching seabirds that he had to "lie down on the greensward to enjoy his prolonged cachinnation." On another trip, Darwin and Ainsworth got stuck overnight on Inchkeith
Inchkeith (from the gd, Innis Cheith) is an island in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, administratively part of the Fife council area.
Inchkeith has had a colourful history as a result of its proximity to Edinburgh and strategic location for u ...
and had to stay in the lighthouse.[Bettany, G. T. (1887) ''Life of Charles Darwin''. London: Walter Scott, pp]
22–23
also
Routes to the Firth soon became familiar, and after another student presented a paper to the Plinian in the common literary form of describing the sights from a journey, Darwin and William Kay (another president) drafted a parody, to be read taking turns, describing "a complete failure" of an excursion from the university via Holyrood House
The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edi ...
, where Salisbury Craigs, ruined by quarrying, were completely hidden by " dense & impenetrable mist", along a dirty track to Portobello shore, where "Inch Keith, the Bas-rock, the distant hills in Fifeshire" were similarly hidden – the sole sight of interest, as Dr Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...
had said, was the "high-road to England". High tide prevented any seashore finds so, rejecting "Haggis
Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an a ...
or Scotch Collops
A collop is a slice of meat, according to one definition in the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. In Elizabethan times, "collops" came to refer specifically to slices of bacon. Shrove Monday, also known as Collop Monday, was traditionally the last ...
", they dined on (English) "Beef-steak".
Geology and ''Origin of the Species''
Jameson's own main topic was mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
, his natural history course covered zoology and geology, with instruction on meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
and hydrography
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...
, and some discussion on botany as it related to "the animal and mineral kingdoms." Lectures began on 9 November and were on five days a week for five months (ending a week into April). Zoology began with the natural history of man, followed by chief classes of vertebrates and invertebrates, then concluded with philosophy of zoology starting with "Origin of the Species of Animals". As well as field lectures, the course made full use of the Royal Museum of the University which Jameson had developed into one of the largest in Europe. Darwin's flat was near the entrance to the museum in the western part of the university, he assisted and made full use of the collections, spending hours studying, taking notes and stuffing specimens. He "had much interesting natural-history talk" with the curator, William MacGillivray
William MacGillivray FRSE (25 January 1796 – 4 September 1852) was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist.
Life and work
MacGillivray was born in Old Aberdeen and brought up on Harris. He returned to Aberdeen where he studied Medicin ...
, who later published a book on the birds of Scotland.
The geology course gave Darwin a grounding in mineralogy and stratigraphy
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigrap ...
geology. He bought Jameson's 1821 ''Manual of Mineralogy'', its first part classifies minerals comprehensively on the system of Friedrich Mohs
Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs (; 29 January 1773 – 29 September 1839) was a German chemist and mineralogist. He was the creator of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Mohs also introduced a classification of the crystal forms in crystal syst ...
, the second part includes concepts of field geology such as defining strike and dip
Strike and dip is a measurement convention used to describe the orientation, or attitude, of a planar geologic feature. A feature's strike is the azimuth of an imagined horizontal line across the plane, and its dip is the angle of inclination m ...
of strata. Darwin heavily annotated
An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For ann ...
his copy of the book, sometimes when in lectures (though not always paying attention), and noted where it related to museum exhibits. He also read Jameson's translation of Cuvier's ''Essay on the Theory of the Earth '', covering fossils and extinctions in revolutions
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
such as the Flood. In the preface, Jameson said geology discloses "the history of the first origin of organic beings, and traces their gradual from the monade to man himself".
The lectures were heavy going for a young student, and Darwin remembered Jameson as an "old brown, dry stick", He recalled Jameson's lectures as "incredibly dull. The sole effect they produced on me was the determination never as long as I lived to read a book on Geology or in any way to study the science. Yet I feel sure that I was prepared for a philosophical treatment of the subject", and he had been delighted when he read an explanation for erratic boulder
A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...
s.
Jameson still held to Werner's Neptunist
Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, proposing that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans.
The theory took its ...
concept that phenomena such as trap
A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research.
Trap or TRAP may also refer to:
Art and entertainment Films and television
* ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...
dykes had precipitated from a universal ocean. By then, geologists increasingly accepted that trap rock had igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
origins, a Plutonist view promoted by Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
, who had been James Hutton
James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...
's friend. From hearing exponents of both sides, Darwin learned the range of current opinion. His grandfather Erasmus had favoured Plutonism, and Darwin later supported Huttonian ideas. Almost fifty years after the course, Darwin recalled Jameson giving a field lecture at Salisbury Crags
Holyrood Park (also called the Queen's Park or King's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, loc ...
, "discoursing on a trap-dyke" with "volcanic rocks all around us", saying it was "a fissure filled with sediment from above, adding with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it had been injected from beneath in a molten condition. When I think of this lecture, I do not wonder that I determined never to attend to Geology."
Sealife homologies and monads
In his autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, begun in 1876, Darwin remembered Robert Edmond Grant
Robert Edmond Grant Doctor of Medicine, MD Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, FRCPEd Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE Zoological Society of London, FZS Geological Society of London, FGS (11 November 1793 – 23 August 1874) was a Br ...
as "dry and formal in manner, but with much enthusiasm beneath this outer crust. He one day, when we were walking together burst forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution. I listened in silent astonishment, and as far as I can judge, without any effect on my mind. I had previously read the Zoönomia of my grandfather, in which similar views are maintained, but without producing any effect on me."
Grant's doctoral dissertation
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
, prepared in 1813, cited Erasmus Darwin's '' Zoönomia'' which suggested that over geological time all organic life could have gradually arisen from a kind of "living filament" capable of heritable self-improvement. He found in Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...
's similar uniformitarian
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...
theoretical framework a similar idea that spontaneously generated simple animal ''monad
Monad may refer to:
Philosophy
* Monad (philosophy), a term meaning "unit"
**Monism, the concept of "one essence" in the metaphysical and theological theory
** Monad (Gnosticism), the most primal aspect of God in Gnosticism
* ''Great Monad'', a ...
s'' continually improved in complexity and perfection, while use or disuse of features to adapt to environmental changes diversified species and genera.
Funded by a small inheritance, Grant went to Paris University
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
in 1815, to study with Cuvier, the leading comparative anatomist
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...
, and his rival Geoffroy. Cuvier held that species were fixed, grouped into four entirely separate '' embranchements'', and any similarity of structures between species was merely due to functional needs. Grant favoured Geoffroy's view that similarities showed "unity of form", similar to Lamarck's ideas.
Like Lamarck, Grant investigated marine invertebrate
Marine invertebrates are the invertebrates that live in marine habitats. Invertebrate is a blanket term that includes all animals apart from the vertebrate members of the chordate phylum. Invertebrates lack a vertebral column, and some have evo ...
s, particularly sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...
s as naturalists disputed whether they were plants or animals. After specimen collecting and research in European universities, he returned to Edinburgh in 1820. Many species lived in the Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
, and Grant got winter use of Walford House, Prestonpans
Prestonpans ( gd, Baile an t-Sagairt, Scots: ''The Pans'') is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Council area of East Lothian. The population as of is. It is near the site of the 1745 ...
, with a garden gate in its high seawall leading to rock pools. He kept sponges alive in glass jars for long term observation, and at night used his microscope by candle light to dissect specimens in a watch glass
A watch glass is a circular concave piece of glass used in chemistry as a surface to evaporate a liquid, to hold solids while being weighed, for heating a small amount of substance and as a cover for a beaker. A larger watchglass may be referre ...
.
In spring 1825 at the ''Wernerian'', Grant dramatically dissected molluscs
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil sp ...
(squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
and sea-slugs) showing they had a simple pancreas analogous to the complex pancreas in fish, controversially suggesting shared ancestry
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...
between molluscs and Cuvier's "higher" ''embranchement'' of vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s. In the ''Edinburgh Philosophical Journal
The ''Edinburgh Philosophical Journal'' was founded by its editors Robert Jameson and David Brewster in 1819 as a scientific journal to publish articles on the latest science of the day. In 1826 the two editors fell out, and Jameson continued pu ...
'' Grant revealed that sponges had cilia
The cilium, plural cilia (), is a membrane-bound organelle found on most types of eukaryotic cell, and certain microorganisms known as ciliates. Cilia are absent in bacteria and archaea. The cilium has the shape of a slender threadlike projecti ...
to draw in water and expel waste, and their "ova" (larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
e) were self-propelled by cilia in "spontaneous motion" like that seen by Cavolini in "ova" of the soft coral Gorgonia
''Gorgonia'' is a genus of soft corals, sea fans in the family Gorgoniidae.
Species
The World Register of Marine Species lists these species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organi ...
. In October he said simple freshwater ''Spongilla
Overview
''Spongilla'' is a genus of freshwater sponges with over 200 different species. Spongilla was first publicly recognized in 1696 by Leonard Plukenet and can be found in lakes, ponds and slow streams.''Spongilla'' have a leuconoid body f ...
'' were ancient, ancestral to complex sponges that had adapted to sea changes, as the earth cooled and changing conditions drove life towards higher, hotter blooded forms. In May 1826 he said that "future observations" would determine if self-propelling "ova" were "general with zoophytes", his conclusions published in December included a detailed description of how sponge ova contain "monads-like bodies", and "swim about" by "the rapid vibration of ciliæ".[ – p]
129
says sponge ova "swim about" by "the rapid vibration of ciliæ".
Coldstream assisted Grant, and that winter Darwin joined the search, learning what to look for, and dissection techniques using a portable microscope. On 16 March 1827 he noted in a new notebook that he had "Procured from the black rocks at Leith" a lumpfish, "Dissected it with Dr Grant". Two days later he recorded "ova from the Newhaven rocks" said to be of the Doris ea slug"in rapid motion, & continued so for 7 days", then on 19 March saw ova of the ''Flustra foliacea
''Flustra foliacea'' is a species of bryozoans found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It is a colonial animal that is frequently mistaken for a seaweed. Colonies begin as encrusting mats, and only produce loose fronds after their first year of g ...
'' in motion. As recalled in his autobiography, he made "one interesting little discovery" that "the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement by means of cilia, and were in fact larvæ", and also that little black globular bodies found sticking to empty oyster shells, once thought to be the young of '' Fucus loreus'', were egg-cases (cocoons) of the ''Pontobdella muricata
''Pontobdella muricata'' is a species of marine leech in the family Piscicolidae. It is a parasite of fishes and is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Description
''Pontobdella mu ...
'' (skate leech). He believed "Dr. Grant noticed my small discovery in his excellent memoir on Flustra."
The ''Wernerian'' society minutes for 24 March record that Grant read "a Memoir regarding the Anatomy and Mode of Generation of Flustræ , illustrated by preparations and drawings", also a notice on "the Mode of Generation" of the skate leech. Three days later, on 27 March, the Plinian Society minutes record that Darwin "communicated to the Society" two discoveries, that "the ova of the flustra possess organs of motion", and the small black "ovum" of the ''Pontobdella muricata''. "At the request of the Society he promised to draw up an account of the facts and to lay them it, together with specimens, before the Society next evening." This was Darwin's first public presentation. In the next item, Browne argued that mind and consciousness were simply aspects of brain activity, not "souls" or spiritual entities separate from the body. Following a furious debate, the minute of this item was crossed out.
After recording more finds in April, Darwin copied into his notebook under the heading "20th" his first scientific papers. Newhaven dredge boats had provided the '' Flustra carbasea'' specimens, when "highly magnified" the "ciliae of the ova" were "seen in rapid motion", and "That such ova had organs of motion does not appear to have been hitherto observed either by Lamarck Cuvier Lamouroux or any other author." He wrote "This & the following communication was read both before the Wernerian & Plinian Societies", and wrote up a detailed account of his ''Pontobdella'' findings.[Darwin, C. R. dinburgh notebookCUL-DAR118. (Darwin Online]
16–18 March 1827
At the Plinian meeting, on 3 April, Darwin presented the Society with "A specimen of the ''Pontobdella muricata'', with its ova & young ones", but there is no record of the papers being presented or kept.
Grant in his publication about the leech eggs in the ''Edinburgh Journal of Science'' for July 1827 acknowledged "The merit of having first ascertained them to belong to that animal is due to my zealous young friend Mr Charles Darwin of Shrewsbury", the first time Darwin's name appeared in print. Grant's lengthy memoir read before the Wernerian on 24 March was split between the April and October issues of the ''Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal'', with more detail than Darwin had given: he had seen ova (larvae) of ''Flustra carbasea'' in February, after they swam about they stuck to the glass and began to form a new colony. He noted the similarity of the cilia in "other ova", with reference to his 1826 publication describing sponge ova. Darwin was not given credit for what he felt was his discovery, and in 1871, when he discussed "the paltry feeling" of scientific priority In science, priority is the credit given to the individual or group of individuals who first made the discovery or propose the theory. Fame and honours usually go to the first person or group to publish a new finding, even if several researchers arr ...
with his daughter Henrietta Henrietta may refer to:
* Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry
Places
* Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean
* Henrietta, Mauritius
* Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
United States
* Henrie ...
, she got him to repeat the story of "his first introduction to the jealousy of scientific men"; when he had seen the ova of ''Flustra'' move he "rushed instantly to Grant" who, rather than being "delighted with so curious a fact", told Darwin "it was very unfair of him to work at Prof G's subject & in fact that he shd take it ill if my Father published it." In European university practice, team leaders reported research without naming assistants, and clearly the find was derivative from Grant's research programme: it seems likely he had already seen the ova, like the sponge ova, moving by cilia. Grant phased announcement of discoveries rather than publishing quickly, and was now looking for a professorship before he ran out of funds, but young Darwin was disappointed. As Jameson noted in October, back in 1823 Dalyell had observed the ''Pontobdella'' young leaving their cocoons.
In notes dated 15 and 23 April, Darwin described specimens of the deep-water sea pen
Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea. There are 14 families within the order; 35 extant genera, and it is estimated that of 450 described species, around 200 are valid. Sea pens have a co ...
s (from fishing boats), and on 23 April, "with Mr Coldstream at the black rocks at Leith", he saw a starfish
Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...
doubled up, releasing its ova.
Summer 1827
Darwin left Edinburgh in late April, just 18 years old. In 1826 he had told his sister he would be "forced to go abroad for one year" of hospital studies, as he had to be 21 before taking his degree, but he was too upset by seeing blood or suffering, and had lost any ambition to be a doctor. He went a short tour, visiting Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
, Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
and Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, then in May made his first trip to London to visit his sister Caroline. They joined his uncle Josiah Wedgwood II
Josiah Wedgwood II (3 April 1769 – 12 July 1843), the son of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood, continued his father's firm and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-upon-Trent from 1832 to 1835. He was an abolitionist, and detested slav ...
on a trip to France, and on 26 May arrived in Paris, where Charles fended for himself for a few weeks: recently graduated Plinian society members, including Browne and Coldstream, were there for hospital studies. By July, Charles had returned to his home at The Mount, Shrewsbury
The Mount is the Georgian house in Shrewsbury, England where Charles Darwin was born.
Overview
The large Georgian house was built in 1800 by Charles Darwin's father, the local and successful doctor Robert Darwin. His son Charles was born th ...
. While indulging his hobby of shooting
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...
with his family's friends at the nearby Woodhouse estate of William Mostyn Owen, Darwin flirted with his second daughter, Frances Mostyn Owen.
Coldstream studied in Paris for a year, and visited places of interest. His diary notes religious thoughts, and occasional anguished comments such as "the foul mass of corruption within my own bosom", "corroding desires" and "lustful imaginations". A doctor who befriended him later said that though Coldstream had led "a blameless life", he was "more or less in the dark on the vital question of religion, and was troubled with doubts arising from certain Materialist views, which are, alas! too common among medical students." He left in June 1828 for a short tour on his way home, but fell ill in Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
, suffered a mental breakdown
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
, and got back to Leith late in July. In early December Coldstream began medical practice and gave it priority over natural history.
University of Cambridge
His father was unhappy that his younger son would not become a physician and "was very properly vehement against my turning into an idle sporting man, which then seemed my probable destination." He therefore enrolled Charles at Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
in 1827 for a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree as the qualification required before taking a specialised divinity course and becoming an Anglican parson
A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...
. He enrolled for an '' ordinary'' degree, as at that time only capable mathematicians would take the Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
. At that time the only way to get an honours degree was the mathematical Tripos examination, or the classical Tripos created in 1822, which was only open to those who already had high honours in mathematics, or those who were the sons of peers
Peers may refer to:
People
* Donald Peers
* Edgar Allison Peers, English academician
* Gavin Peers
* John Peers, Australian tennis player
* Kerry Peers
* Mark Peers
* Michael Peers
* Steve Peers
* Teddy Peers (1886–1935), Welsh international ...
.
This was a respectable career for a gentleman at a time when most naturalists in England were clergymen in the tradition of Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''.
Life
White was born on ...
, who saw it as part of their duties to "explore the wonders of God's creation". Charles had concerns about being able to declare his belief in all the dogmas of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, so as well as hunting and fishing, he studied divinity
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine ...](_blank)
books. He was particularly convinced by the reasoning of the Revd. John Bird Sumner
John Bird Sumner (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862) was a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury.
Early life
John Bird Sumner was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, on 25 February 1780. He was the eldest son of the R ...
's ''Evidences of Christianity''. John Bird Summer wrote that Jesus's religion was "wonderfully suitable... to our ideas of happiness in this & the next world" and there was "no other way... of explaining the series of evidence & probability." His Classics had lapsed since school, and he spent the autumn term at home studying Greek with a tutor. Darwin was accepted as a "pensioner", having paid his fees, on 15 October 1827, but did not attend Cambridge until the Lent Term which began on 13 January 1828. Eras returned from Edinburgh ready to sit his Bachelor of Medicine
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...
exam, and in the new year he and Charles set out together for Cambridge. Darwin came into residence in Cambridge on 26 January 1828, and matriculated
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...
at the University's Senate House on 26 February.[
Around this time he wrote to John Coldstream, asking after him, expressing "greif" about hearing that Coldstream had "entirely forsworn Natural History", and assuring him "that no pursuit is more becoming for a physician than Nat: Hist". Coldstream replied on 28 February that he was as much "inclined than ever, to look into the World of Nature", but had to focus first on medicine.]
His tutors at Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
were to include Joseph Shaw in 1828, John Graham (in 1829 – 1830) and Edward John Ash in 1830 – 1831. One of his university friends was Frederick Watkins, (1808–1888).
Beetle collecting
Arriving at the University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in January 1828, Darwin found this elite theological training institution governed by complex rules much more congenial than his experiences at Edinburgh. No rooms were available at Christ's College, so he took lodgings above a tobacconists
A tobacconist, also called a tobacco shop, a tobacconist's shop or a smoke shop, is a retailer of tobacco products in various forms and the related accoutrements, such as smoking pipe (tobacco), pipes, lighters, matches, pipe cleaners, and Pip ...
in Sidney Street, across the road. In April the older student Albert Way
Albert Way (23 June 1805 – 22 March 1874) was an English antiquary, and principal founder of the Royal Archaeological Institute.
Birth and family background
Way was born in Bath, Somerset, on 23 June 1805. He was the only son of Lewis Way ...
drew a comic coat of arms featuring tobacco pipes, cigars, wine barrel and tankards, with a Latin statement that they were best friends; at Edinburgh, Darwin had begun a life-long habit of taking snuff
Snuff may refer to:
Tobacco
* Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose
** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco
** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste
Media and entertainment
* Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder
Literat ...
. Extramural activities were important, and while Darwin did not take up sports or debating, his interests included music and his main passion was the current national craze for the (competitive) collecting of beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s. Trainee clergymen scoured Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
for specimens, referring to ''An Introduction to Entomology
Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...
'' by William Kirby and William Spence
William Guthrie Spence (7 August 1846 – 13 December 1926), was an Australian trade union leader and politician, played a leading role in the formation of both Australia's largest union, the Australian Workers' Union, and the Australian Labor ...
. Charles joined his older cousin William Darwin Fox
The Reverend William Darwin Fox (23 April 1805 – 8 April 1880) was an English clergyman, naturalist, and a second cousin of Charles Darwin.
Early life
Fox was born in 1805 and initially raised at Thurleston Grange near Elvaston, Derbys ...
who was already a skilled collector and like him got a small dog. The two and their dogs became inseparable. They explored the countryside as Darwin learnt about natural history from his cousin. Darwin became obsessed with winning the student accolade and collected avidly. Once he stripped bark from a dead tree and caught a ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it i ...
in each hand, then saw the rare Crucifix Ground Beetle, '' Panagaeus cruxmajor''. With the habits of an egg-collector, he popped one ground beetle in his mouth to free his hand, but it ejected some intensely acrid fluid which burnt his tongue and Darwin was forced to spit it out. He lost all three. The specimens he did not lose had to be mounted and identified, and his knowledge from Edinburgh of Lamarck proved useful. Fox introduced him for advice on identification to the Revd. John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany, and Darwin began attending his soirées, a club for budding naturalists. Here he could meet other professors including the geologist the Revd. Adam Sedgwick and the new mineralogist
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...
the Revd. William Whewell.
In the summer Darwin paid visits to Squire Owen, and romance seemed to be blossoming with the squire's daughter Fanny. Darwin joined other Cambridge friends on a three-month "reading party" at Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
on the coast of Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
to revise their studies with private tutors. For Charles it was an "Entomo-Mathematical expedition". Though he badly needed to catch up with his mathematics, the insect collecting predominated along with pleasant diversions such as hillwalking
Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much unculti ...
, boating and fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
. He went on daily walks with his close friend, the older student John Maurice Herbert who he dubbed "Cherbury" after Herbert of Cherbury
Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury (or Chirbury) Knight of the Bath, KB (3 March 1583 – 5 August 1648) was an English people, English soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher of the Kingdom of England.
Life
...
, the father of English Deism
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the Philosophy, philosophical position and Rationalism, rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that Empirical evi ...
. Herbert assisted with the insect collecting, but the usual outcome was that Darwin would examine Herbert's collecting bottle and say "Well, old Cherbury, none of these will do." In September Darwin wrote to tell "My dear old ''Cherbury''" that his own catches had included "some of the rarest of the British Insects, & their being found near Barmouth is quite unknown to the Entomological world: I think I shall write & inform some of the crack Entomologists." He described these ''"extremely rare"'' insects and asked Herbert to oblige him by collecting some more of them.
Second year doldrums
On 31 October Charles returned to Cambridge for the Michaelmas Term
Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Micha ...
, and was allocated a set of rooms on the south side of First Court in Christ's College. Although several biographers since the 1980s have referred to these rooms as traditionally having been occupied by the theologian William Paley
William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work ''Natural T ...
, research by John van Wyhe
John van Wyhe (born 1971) is a British historian of science, with a focus on Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, at the National University of Singapore. He holds various academic and research positions, ranging from founder and director of ...
found that historical documentation did not support this idea.
Darwin now had breakfast every day with his older cousin William Darwin Fox
The Reverend William Darwin Fox (23 April 1805 – 8 April 1880) was an English clergyman, naturalist, and a second cousin of Charles Darwin.
Early life
Fox was born in 1805 and initially raised at Thurleston Grange near Elvaston, Derbys ...
. This was Fox's last term before his BA exam, and he now had to cram desperately to make up for lost time. At the Christmas holiday Charles visited London with Eras, toured the scientific institutions "where Naturalists are gregarious" and through his friend the Revd. Frederick William Hope
Frederick William Hope (3 January 1797 – 15 April 1862) was an English clergyman, naturalist, collector, and entomologist, who founded a professorship at the University of Oxford to which he gave his entire collections of insects in 1849 (now ...
met other insect collectors. These included James Stephens, author of ''Illustrations of British Entomology''.
The January term brought miserable weather and a struggle to keep up with his studies. Around this time, he had an earnest conversation with John Herbert about going into Holy Orders, and asked him whether he could answer yes to the question that the Bishop would put in the ordination service, "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Spirit". When Herbert said that he could not, Darwin replied "Neither can I, and therefore I cannot take orders" to become an ordained priest.[ Even his interest in insect collecting waned. He fell out with one of the two locals he employed to catch beetles when he found that the local was giving first choice to a rival collector. In the doldrums, he joined a crowd of drinking pals in a frequent "debauch". He put in some hard riding. On one night he and three friends saw the sky lit up and "rode like incarnate devils" eleven miles to see the blaze. They arrived back at two in the morning and violated curfew. He was risking " rustication", temporary expulsion. Such behaviour would be noticed by the ]Proctor
Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
* In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...
s, university officials appointed from the colleges who patrolled the town in plain gowns to police the students.
Student resentment against two unpopular Proctors built up, and on 9 April 1829 a tumult broke out. Charles described how the Senior Proctor was "most gloriously hissed.. & pelted with mud", being "driven so furious" that his servant "dared not go near him for an hour." The Proctors had noted some faces in the mob, and four were rusticated and one fined for being out-of-gown and shouting abuse. Outraged by this leniency, the Proctors quit ''en masse'' and printed their resignation to post up around the colleges. Though the unpopular Proctors were gone, Charles was jolted into thinking of the consequences of law-breaking.
In the Spring, Darwin enrolled for John Stevens Henslow
John Stevens Henslow (6 February 1796 – 16 May 1861) was a British priest, botanist and geologist. He is best remembered as friend and mentor to his pupil Charles Darwin.
Early life
Henslow was born at Rochester, Kent, the son of a solici ...
's lectures on botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
. Professor Henslow's first "public herborizing expedition" of the year took place in May, an outing on which students assisted with collection of plants. However, Darwin made no mention of Henslow in his letters to Fox. On 18 May Darwin wrote to Fox enthusing about his success with beetle collecting, "I think I beat Jenyns in Colymbetes", contrasted with his lack of application to studies: "my time is solely occupied in riding & Entomologizing".
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
was briefly visited on 21 May by the Radicals Richard Carlile
Richard Carlile (8 December 1790 – 10 February 1843) was an important agitator for the establishment of universal suffrage and freedom of the press in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Born in Ashburton, Devon, he was the son of a shoemaker wh ...
and the Revd. Robert Taylor, both recently jailed for blasphemy, on an "infidel home missionary tour" which caused several days of controversy. Taylor was later nicknamed "the Devil's Chaplain
''The Devil's Chaplain'' is a 1929 American silent romance film directed by Duke Worne, written by Arthur Hoerl and George Bronson Howard and featuring Boris Karloff. It was produced by Trem Carr and released by Rayart Pictures.
Cast
* Corneli ...
", a phrase remembered by Darwin.
Charles had been sending records of the insects he had caught to the entomologist James Francis Stephens
James Francis Stephens (16 September 1792 – 22 December 1852) was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume ''Illustrations of British Entomology'' (1846) and the ''Manual of British Beetles'' (1839).
Early li ...
, and was thrilled when Stevens published about thirty of these records in ''Illustrations of British entomology; or, a synopsis of indigenous insects etc.'' which was printed in parts, with the first description under Darwin's name appearing in an appendix dated 15 June 1829.
That summer, amongst horse riding and beetle collecting, Charles visited his cousin Fox, and this time Charles was teaching entomology to his older cousin. Home at Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Shr ...
, he saw his brother Erasmus whose "delicate frame" led to him now giving up medicine and retiring at the age of 26. The brothers visited the Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
Music Festival for what Charles described as the "most glorious" experience.
Third year, theology and natural history
Back at Cambridge, Charles studied hard for his ''Little Go'' preliminary exam, as a fail would mean a re-sit the following year. He dropped his drinking companions and resumed attending Henslow's Friday evening soirées. For the exam he slogged away at Greek and Latin, and studied William Paley
William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work ''Natural T ...
's ''Evidences of Christianity'', becoming so delighted with Paley's logic that he learnt it well. This was a text he also had to study for his finals, and he was "convinced that I could have written out the whole of the ''Evidences'' with perfect correctness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley." Later, on the ''Beagle'' expedition, he saw evidence which challenged Paley's rose-tinted view, but at this time he was convinced that the Christian revelation established "a future state of reward and punishment" which "gives order for confusion: makes the moral world of a piece with the natural". As with Cambridge University, God gave authority and assigned stations in life, misconduct was penalised and excellence bountifully rewarded. Charles took the one-day verbal examination on 24 March 1830. There were three hours in the morning on the classics and three in the afternoon on the New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
and Paley. The next day he was delighted to be informed that he had passed.
Several of his friends celebrated their examination successes by dining in each other's rooms in rotation in a weekly club commonly known as the ''Glutton Club''. This name was proposed to ridicule another group whose Greek title meant "fond of dainties", but who dined out on "Mutton Chops, or Beans & Bacon". The ''Glutton Club'' attempted to live up to their title by experimentally dining on "birds and beasts which were before unknown to human palate" and tried hawk and bittern
Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern ...
, but gave up after eating an old brown owl, "which was indescribable". They had more amusement from concluding each meeting with "a game of mild vingt-et-un
Twenty-one, formerly known as vingt-un in Britain, France and America, is the name given to a family of popular card games of the gambling family, the progenitor of which is recorded in Spain in the early 17th century. The family includes the cas ...
".
Over Easter Charles stayed at Cambridge, mounting and cataloguing his beetle collection. He then became an enthusiastic member of the botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
course which the "good natured & agreeable" professor Henslow taught five days a week in the Botanic Gardens and on field trips. Henslow's outings were attended by 78 men including professor Whewell. Charles became the "favourite pupil", known as "the man who walks with Henslow", helping to find specimens and to set up "practicals" dissecting plants. He became interested in pollen. One day he watched through a microscope and saw "transparent cones" emerge from the side of a geranium pollen grain. Then one burst spraying out "numberless granules". Henslow explained that the granules were indeed the constituent atoms of pollen, but they had no intrinsic vital power – life was endowed from outside and ultimately derived its power from God, whatever more "speculative" naturalists argued regarding self-activating power. Darwin had been taught otherwise by Grant, and reflected quietly on this, biding his time.
For the summer holidays Darwin arranged to meet Fox at The Mount, but Darwin's father had been ill and family tensions led to a row. Charles went off with the Revd. Hope and other friends for three weeks "entomologizing" in North Wales, hunting for beetles and trout fishing. He went partridge shooting at Maer before returning home.
Fourth year finals and later attitude towards mathematics
Back at Cambridge, his final exams loomed. A "desperate" Charles focused on his studies and got private tuition from Henslow whose subjects were mathematics and theology. This term he had to study Euclid
Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...
and learn Paley's ''Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy'', though this old text was becoming outdated. It opposed arguments for increased democracy, but saw no divine right of rule for the sovereign or the state, only "expediency". Government could be opposed if grievances outweighed the danger and expense to society. The judgement was "Every man for himself". These ideas had suited the conditions of reasonable rule prevailing when the text was published in 1785, but in 1830 they were dangerous ideas. At this time the French king was deposed by middle class republicans and given refuge in England by the Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
government. In response, radical street protests demanded suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
, equality
Equality may refer to:
Society
* Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing
** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elite ...
and freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
. Then in November the Tory administration collapsed and the Whigs took over. Paley's text even supported abolition of the ''Thirty-nine Articles
The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...
of the Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
faith'' which every student at Cambridge (and Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
) was required to sign. Henslow insisted that "he should be grieved if a single word... was altered" and emphasised the need to respect authority. This happened even as campaigns of civil disobedience spread to starving agricultural labourers and villages close to Cambridge suffered riots and arson attacks.
In the third week of January 1831 Charles sat his final exam. There were three days of written papers covering the Classics, the two Paley texts and John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
's ''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'' is a work by John Locke concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. It first appeared in 1689 (although dated 1690) with the printed title ''An Essay Concerning Humane Understand ...
'', then mathematics and physics. At the end of the week when the results were posted he was dazed and proud to have come 10th out of a pass list of 178 doing the ''ordinary'' degree. Charles shone in theology and scraped through in the other subjects. He was also exhausted and depressed, writing to Fox "I do not know why the degree should make one so miserable." In later life he recalled Paley and Euclid being the only part of the course which was useful to him, and "By answering well the examination questions in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in Classics, I gained a good place among the οἱ πολλοί, or crowd of men who do not go in for honours."
On the specific issue of his mathematical education, Darwin came to regret his lack of ability and application: "I attempted mathematics, and even went during the summer of 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth, but I got on very slowly. The work was repugnant to me, chiefly from my not being able to see any meaning in the early steps in algebra. This impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand something of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to have an extra sense".
Natural theology and geology
Residence requirements kept Darwin in Cambridge till June. He resumed his beetle collecting, took career advice from Henslow, and read William Paley
William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work ''Natural T ...
's '''' which set out to refute David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
's argument that "design" by a Creator was merely a human projection onto the forces of nature. Paley saw a rational proof of God's existence in the complexity and perfect adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
to needs of living beings exquisitely fitted to their places in a happy world, while attacking the evolutionary ideas of Erasmus Darwin as coinciding with atheistic schemes and lacking evidence. Paley's benevolent God acted in nature though uniform and universal laws, not arbitrary miracles or changes of laws, and this use of secondary laws provided a theodicy
Theodicy () means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the problem of evil "to make the existence of ...
explaining the problem of evil
The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyclope ...
by separating nature from direct divine action. This convinced Charles and encouraged his interest in science. He later wrote "I do not think I hardly ever admired a book more than Paley's ''Natural Theology'': I could almost formerly have said it by heart."
He read John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...
's new ''Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy'', learning that nature was governed by laws, and the highest aim of natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...
was to understand them through an orderly process of induction
Induction, Inducible or Inductive may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Labor induction (birth/pregnancy)
* Induction chemotherapy, in medicine
* Induced stem cells, stem cells derived from somatic, reproductive, pluripotent or other cell t ...
, balancing observation and theorising. This was part of the liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 bill ...
of Darwin's tutors, who saw no disharmony between honest inductive science and religion. Such science was religion, and could not be heretical. Darwin also read Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
's ''Personal Narrative'', and the two books were immensely influential, stirring up in him "a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science."
As a young graduate, Henslow had geologised on the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
and the Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
, and he too had longed to visit Africa. Marriage and his position at the university now made the prospect remote, but he still had an unfulfilled ambition to "explore regions but little known, and enrich science with new species."
At home for Easter in early April, Darwin told his cousin Fox of "a scheme I have almost hatched" to visit the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
and see Tenerife
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
as recommended by Humboldt. On returning to Cambridge, he wrote to his sister that "my head is running about the Tropics: in the morning I go and gaze at Palm trees in the hot-house and come home and read Humboldt: my enthusiasm is so great that I cannot hardly sit still on my chair. Henslow & other Dons give us great credit for our plan: Henslow promises to cram me in geology". He was studying Spanish language, and was in "a Tropical glow".
Henslow introduced Darwin to the great geologist the Revd. Adam Sedgwick who had been his own tutor, and shared views on religion, politics and morals. Darwin was fired up by Sedgwick's Spring course of "equestrian outings" with its vistas of the grandeur of God's creation, so much of which was yet unexplored. He exclaimed, "What a capital hand is Sedgewick for drawing large cheques upon the Bank of Time!". When Sedgwick mentioned the effects of a local spring from a chalk hill depositing lime on twigs, Charles rode out to find the spring and threw a bush in, then later brought back the white coated spray which Sedgwick exhibited in class, inspiring others to do the same.
Darwin continued plotting his "Canary scheme", and on 11 May he told Fox "My other friends most sincerely wish me there I plague them so with talking about tropical scenery &c &c.". His father gave him "a 200£ note" to pay his college debts. In addition, "Some goodnatured Cambridge man has made me a most magnificent anonymous present of a Microscope: did ever hear of such a delightful piece of luck? one would like to know who it was, just to feel obliged to him." Darwin later found that the gift was from his friend John Herbert.
In mid June Darwin returned home to Shrewsbury, and continued "working like a tiger" for the Canary scheme, "at present Spanish & Geology, the former I find as intensely stupid, as the latter most interesting". By then his most likely companion on the trip was the tutor Marmaduke Ramsay. Darwin was "trying to make a map" of Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
, "but dont find it so easy as I expected."[ He ordered a ]clinometer
An inclinometer or clinometer is an instrument used for measuring angles of slope, elevation, or depression of an object with respect to gravity's direction. It is also known as a ''tilt indicator'', ''tilt sensor'', ''tilt meter'', ''slope ...
, and on 11 July wrote to tell Henslow that it had arrived and he had tried it out in his bedroom. "As yet I have only indulged in hypotheses; but they are such powerful ones, that I suppose, if they were put into action but for one day, the world would come to an end." In efforts to learn the basics of geology he extended his mapping of strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
as far away as Llanymynech
Llanymynech is a village straddling the border between Montgomeryshire/Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England, about 9 miles (14 km) north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh for "Church of the Monks". The village is on the ba ...
, some from Shrewsbury, using the terminology he had learnt in Edinburgh from Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist.
As Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, developing his predecessor John ...
. Already he was anxious that he had not heard from Sedgwick, and when he investigated ship sailings he found that they were only available in certain months. For this reason, the trip to Teneriffe had to be postponed to the following June, and it looked increasingly unlikely that Henslow would come on the trip. Darwin wrote to one of his student friends that he was "at present mad about Geology" and had plans to ride through Wales then meet with other students at Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
.
On 4 August 1831 Sedgwick arrived in his gig at The Mount, Shrewsbury
The Mount is the Georgian house in Shrewsbury, England where Charles Darwin was born.
Overview
The large Georgian house was built in 1800 by Charles Darwin's father, the local and successful doctor Robert Darwin. His son Charles was born th ...
, to take Charles as his assistant on a short geological expedition mapping strata in Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. That evening Charles told of a tropical shell found in a nearby gravel pit and was impressed when Sedgwick responded that it must have been thrown away there, as it contradicted the known geology of the area. This made him realise "that science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them." Sedgwick aimed to investigate and correct possible errors in George Greenough
George Hamilton Perkins Greenough (born November 6, 1941) is an influential surfer known during the 1960s and 1970s for his designs and work in film, board design, fin characteristics, and other creations for the aquatic medium. Greenough's and Mc ...
's geological map of 1820, and to trace the fossil record to the earliest times to rebut the uniformitarian
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...
ideas just published by Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
.[
On the morning of 5 August they went from Shrewsbury to ]Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
, and on 11 August reached Penrhyn Quarry
The Penrhyn quarry is a slate quarry located near Bethesda, North Wales. At the end of the nineteenth century it was the world's largest slate quarry; the main pit is nearly long and deep, and it was worked by nearly 3,000 quarrymen. It has ...
.[ After less than a week of doing hard practical work Charles had learnt how to identify specimens, interpret strata and generalise from his observations. Then he went off on his own to collect samples and investigate the ]Vale of Clwyd
The Vale of Clwyd ( cy, Dyffryn Clwyd) is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles (about 30 km) forming a triangl ...
, looking in vain for the Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...
shown by Greenough. They met up in Colwyn
Colwyn was a local government district with borough status from 1974 to 1996, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales.
History
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It cover ...
, and Sedgwick's pleasure at the confirmation that the map was incorrect made Darwin "exceedingly proud". They went on to Capel Curig
Capel Curig (; meaning " Curig's Chapel") is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Historically in Caernarfonshire, it lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226, reducing slightly to 206 ...
where Charles struck out on his own across 30 miles (50 km) of "some strange wild places" to Barmouth.
He had parted from Sedgwick by 20 August, and travelled via Ffestiniog
Ffestiniog () is a community in Gwynedd in Wales, containing several villages, in particular the settlements of Llan Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog. It has a population of 4,875.
History
Ffestiniog was a parish in Cantref Ardudwy; in 1284 ...
.
Voyage on the Beagle
Arriving at Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
on the evening of 23 August, Charles met up with a "reading party" of Cambridge friends for a time before he left on the morning of 29 August,[ to go back to Shrewsbury and on to partridge shooting with his Wedgwood relatives at ]Maer Hall file:Maer Hall - geograph.org.uk - 207996.jpg, upright=1.35, Maer Hall
Maer Hall is a large Grade II listed 17th-century country house in Maer, Staffordshire.
The large stone-built country house and estate of Maer Hall dominates the village of Mae ...
.[ He was grieved to have received a message that Ramsay had died. This upset Darwin's plans for a visit in the following year to Tenerife. He arrived home at ]The Mount, Shrewsbury
The Mount is the Georgian house in Shrewsbury, England where Charles Darwin was born.
Overview
The large Georgian house was built in 1800 by Charles Darwin's father, the local and successful doctor Robert Darwin. His son Charles was born th ...
, on 29 August, and found a letter from John Stevens Henslow. The Cambridge Fellow George Peacock had heard from Francis Beaufort of plans for the second survey voyage of HMS ''Beagle'', and had written to Henslow proposing Leonard Jenyns
Leonard Jenyns (25 May 1800 – 1 September 1893) was an English clergyman, author and naturalist. He was forced to take on the name Leonard Blomefield to receive an inheritance. He is chiefly remembered for his detailed phenology observations ...
as "a proper person to go out as a naturalist with this expedition", or if he was unavailable seeking recommendations for an alternative to take up this "glorious opportunity". When Jenyns decided not to leave his parish, he and Henslow thought of Darwin. Henslow's letter, read by Peacock and forwarded to Darwin, expected him to eagerly catch at the likely offer of a two-year trip to Terra del Fuego & home by the East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...
, not as "a ''finished'' Naturalist", but as a ''gentleman
A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...
'' "amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted in Natural History". The appointment was more as a companion to Captain Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...
, than as a mere collector. Henslow wrote "I assure you I think you are the very man they are in search of".
His father thought the voyage a waste of his son's time and strongly objected. Dejected, Charles declined the offer,[ and went to Maer for the partridge shooting with a note from his father to "Uncle Jos" Wedgwood. This contained a prescription for a bowel ailment and a note saying that Charles had quite given up the proposed "voyage of discovery", but "if you think differently from me I shall wish him to follow your advice."] Charles' hopes were revived by this unexpected news, and his relatives came out in favour of the voyage. He outlined his father's objections, and sat up that night drafting a reply with his uncle. Jos wrote suggesting that Charles would be likely to "acquire and strengthen, habits of application", and "Natural History... is very suitable to a Clergyman." Though "useless as regards his profession", for "a man of enlarged curiosity, it affords him such an opportunity of seeing men and things as happens to few". The Admiralty would look after him well, but "you & Charles... must decide." Charles begged "one favour... a decided answer, yes or no." This reply was sent post-haste early on the morning of 1 September and Charles went shooting. About 10 o'clock he received word from his uncle that they should go to The Mount at once.[ When they arrived a few hours later, Charles' father had decided that he would give "all the assistance in my power".]
Notes
References
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External links
* The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online
Darwin Online
Darwin's publications, private papers and bibliography, supplementary works including biographies, obituaries and reviews. Free to use, includes items not in public domain.
*; public domain
Darwin Correspondence Project
Text and notes for most of his letters
{{Darwin
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
History of evolutionary biology
Darwin