The inception of Darwin's theory occurred during an intensively busy period which began when
Charles 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 ...
returned from the
survey voyage of the ''Beagle'', with his reputation as a
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 preserve ...
collector and
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
already established. He was given an allowance from his father to become a gentleman
naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
rather than a clergyman, and his first tasks were to find suitable experts to describe his collections, write out his ''
Journal and Remarks'', and present papers on his findings to the
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
.
At Darwin's geological début, the anatomist
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
's reports on the fossils showed that extinct species were related to current species in the same locality, and the ornithologist
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
showed that bird specimens from the
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...
were of distinct species related to places, not just varieties. These points convinced Darwin that
transmutation of species
The Transmutation of species and transformism are 18th and early 19th-century ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a ter ...
must be occurring, and in his ''Red Notebook'' he jotted down his first evolutionary ideas. He began specific transmutation notebooks with speculations on variation in offspring "to adapt & alter the race to ''changing'' world", and sketched an "irregularly branched"
genealogical
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
branching of a single
evolutionary tree.
Animal observations of an
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...
at the zoo showed how human its expressions looked, confirming his thoughts from the ''Beagle'' voyage that there was little gulf between man and animals. He investigated animal breeding and found parallels to nature removing runts and keeping the fit, with farmers deliberately selecting breeding animals so that through "a thousand intermediate forms" their descendants were significantly changed. His speculations on instincts and mental traits suggested habits, beliefs and facial expressions having evolved, and considered the social implications. While this was his "prime hobby", he was struggling with an immense workload and began suffering from
his illness. Having taken a break from work, his thoughts of marriage turned to his cousin
Emma Wedgwood
Emma Darwin (; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the cousin marriage, wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulth ...
.
Reading about
Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.
In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
and natural law led him to apply to his search the
Malthusian logic of social thinking of struggle for survival with no handouts, and he "had at last got a theory by which to work". He proposed to Emma and was accepted. In his theory, he compared breeders selecting traits to
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 Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...
from variants thrown up by "chance", and continued to look to the countryside for supporting information. On 24 January 1839 he was elected as Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, and on the 29th married Emma. The
development of Darwin's theory followed.
Background
Darwin was not the first to propose that species of organisms could become modified over time. In the third edition of ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...
'' Darwin provided a ''historical sketch'' of his predecessors in writing of descent with modification or natural selection, including those whom he had only learned of after the 1859 publication of ''The Origin''. His account essentially deals with 19th-century authors; "Passing over authors from the classical period to that of
Buffon, with whose writings I am not familiar,
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 biolo ...
was the first man whose conclusions on this subject excited much attention." However, in a footnote he remarks on how his grandfather, Dr.
Erasmus Darwin,
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
and
Geoffroy Saint Hilaire came to the same conclusion on the origin of species in the years 1794–95, anticipating Lamarck.
After his early life in a
Unitarian family, Charles Darwin
developed his interest in
natural history
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
. At
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
his work as a student of
Robert Edmund Grant involved him in pioneering investigations of the ideas of Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin on ''
homology'' showing
common descent
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...
, but he also saw how controversial and troubling such theories were.
Robert Jameson
image:Robert Jameson.jpg, Robert Jameson
Robert Jameson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish natural history, naturalist and mineralogist.
As Regius Professor of Natural History at the Univers ...
's course taught Darwin
stratigraphic
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...
geology
Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
, and closed with lectures on the "Origin of the Species of Animals". At
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
to qualify as an
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
clergyman, Darwin became passionate about beetle collecting, then shone in
John Stevens Henslow's botany course. He was convinced by Paley's ''Natural Theology'' which set out the
Teleological argument
The teleological argument (from ) also known as physico-theological argument, argument from design, or intelligent design argument, is a rational argument for the existence of God or, more generally, that complex functionality in the natural wor ...
that complexity of "design" in nature proved God's role as Creator, and by the views of Paley and
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 and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...
that creation was by laws which science could discover, not by intermittent miracles. The geology course of
Adam Sedgwick
Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did ...
and summer work mapping strata in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
emphasised that life on earth went back over eons of time.
Then on
his voyage on the ''Beagle'' Darwin became convinced 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 today for his association with Charles ...
's
uniformitarian theory of gradual geological process (see Lyell's
Principles of Geology
''Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation'' is a book by the Scottish geologist Charles Lyell that was first published in 3 volumes from 1830 to 1833. ...
, which Darwin took along on the ''Beagle''), and puzzled over how various
theories of creation fitted the evidence he saw. However, Darwin did not conceive the theory of evolution during the ''Beagle''s voyage, later recounting that:
it was equally evident that neither the action of the surrounding conditions, nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case of plants), could account for the innumerable cases in which organisms of every kind are beautifully adapted to their habitats of life—for instance, a woodpecker or a tree-frog to climb trees, or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I had always been much struck by such adaptations, and until these could be explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavour to prove by indirect evidence that species have been modified.
Return to England
When ''Beagle'' returned, it anchored at
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...
, on 2 October 1836. That same stormy night, Darwin set off on the
mail coach
A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. ...
for two days' travel to his family home –
The Mount House in
Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He arrived late at night on 4 October.
and having taken the coach for his last visit,
had thought he might sleep at the Lion coaching inn rather disturb them "in the dead of the night".
He greeted his family at breakfast in the morning, and began catching up with news of his family and of the country: "all England appears changed". The Reform Bill had brought what the Tory
Duke of Wellington described as a shift in power from decent
Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
s to
Whig manufacturers, shopkeepers and
atheists. Educated people were discussing the writings of
Thomas Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.
In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
on population outstripping resources as the ''New
Poor Law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
'', described by opponents as "a Malthusian bill designed to force the poor to emigrate, to work for lower wages, to live on a coarser sort of food", brought the construction of
workhouse
In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...
s in the southern counties despite riots and arson. The government had not yet dared introduce these measures to London and the industrial north, and recession was bringing threats of mass unemployment.
Darwin wrote to
Henslow that he was still "giddy with joy & confusion... I want your advice on so many points, indeed I am in the clouds" and on 15 October went on to
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
to get advice from Henslow and
Sedgwick on the task of organising the description and cataloguing of his collections accumulated from the ''Beagle'' expedition. Henslow took on the plants, and Darwin was given introductions to the best London naturalists with a warning that they would already be busy with other work.
Charles went on to stay with his brother
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, near the scientific institutions which were in the throes of renovation, while the city itself was being torn up to install new sewers and gas lighting. He went round the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, the
Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
, the
Linnean, the
Zoological Society and
Geological Society, trying to get the experts to take on his collections. Henslow had already established his former pupil's reputation during the ''Beagle'' expedition by giving selected naturalists access to fossil specimens sent back, as well as reading out ''
Extracts from Letters to Henslow'' to the
Cambridge Philosophical Society, which had them privately printed for distribution, while Darwin's geological notes from the letters were summarised by Sedgwick at the Geological Society, and extracts appeared in magazines. Darwin went "in most exciting dissipation amongst the Dons in science", and as
Charles Bunbury reported, "
eseems to be a universal collector" finding new species "to the surprise of all the big wigs". While geologists were quick to take on the rock samples, zoologists already had more specimens arriving than they could deal with. Their institutions were in turmoil as democrats argued for reforms replacing the aristocratic amateurs with professional salaried scientists as in the
French research institutes. At the Zoological Society the reformers were led by Darwin's tutor from Edinburgh days,
Robert Edmund Grant. Darwin now had an allowance plus stocks from his father, bringing him around £400 per year, and his sympathies were with the amateur clerical "Dons in science" of Cambridge.
Owen and fossils
The geologist
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 today for his association with Charles ...
invited Darwin to dinner on 29 October 1836. Over dinner Lyell listened eagerly to Darwin's stories (which supported Lyell's
uniformitarianism
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 ...
) and introduced him to
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
and
William Broderip
William John Broderip FRS (21 November 1789 – 27 February 1859) was an English lawyer and naturalist.
Life
Broderip, the eldest son of William Broderip, surgeon from Bristol, was born at Bristol on 21 November 1789, and, after being educat ...
,
Tories who had just been involved in voting Grant out of a position at the Zoological Society. Owen was rapidly ousting Grant as the country's leading anatomist. Darwin went to visit him at his
Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
, and Owen agreed to work on some animal specimens in spirits and the fossil bones. Owen shared Darwin's enthusiasm. He was a proponent of German ideas of "organising energy" and vehemently opposed to Grant's evolution. At around this time Grant was one of the few to volunteer his help with cataloguing the collection. Darwin turned down the offer, not wanting to be associated with a disreputable
radical who denounced his Cambridge friends.
On 12 November Darwin visited his Wedgwood relatives at
Maer Hall, and they encouraged him to publish a book of his travels based on his diary, an idea his sisters picked up when he visited his home.
On 2 December he returned to London and began finding takers for his specimens, with
Thomas Bell and the Revd.
William Buckland
William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist.
His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...
interested in the reptiles. Darwin's reputation was being made by the giant mammal fossils. Owen's first surprising revelation was that a
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...
-sized fossil skull 2 feet 4 inches (710 mm) long which Darwin had bought for about two shillings near
Mercedes while on a "galloping" trip 120 miles (190 km) from
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
was of an extinct
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
-like creature resembling a giant
capybara
The capybara or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') is the largest living rodent, native to South America. It is a member of the genus '' Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmi ...
, which Owen named ''
Toxodon''. Darwin wrote to his sister Caroline that "
he fossilsare turning out great treasures" and of the ''Toxodon'', "There is another head, as large as a Rhinoceros which as far as they can guess, must have been a gnawing animal. Conceive a Rat or a Hare of such a size – What famous Cats they ought to have had in those days!"
The College of Surgeons distributed casts of the fossils to the major scientific institutions.
Darwin paid a visit to his brother Erasmus's lady friend the literary
Whig Miss
Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...
who had strong views on egalitarianism and whose writings had popularised the ideas of Thomas Malthus. Around this time, she was writing her ''Society in America'' which included discussion of the geological "process of world making" that she had seen on her visit to the
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
. He sat there for almost an hour. "She was very agreeable and managed to talk on a most wonderful number of subjects, considering the limited time. I was astonished to find how little ugly she is, but as it appears to me, she is overwhelmed with her own projects, her own thoughts and own abilities. Erasmus palliated all this, by maintaining one ought not to look at her as a woman."
Charles Darwin wrote in one of his notebooks that he read her book on
How to Observe Morals and Manners during the first half of August 1838. He was inspired by Martineau's cultural relativism to conclude that morality can not only be influenced by culture, but also can be a social instinct that is shaped by heredity: "This probably is natural consequence of man, like deer, etc., being social animal, & this conscience or instinct may be most firmly fixed, but it will not prevent others being engrafted." In her autobiography, she later recalled Charles as being "simple, childlike, painstaking, effective".
Geological début, species related to places
Unhappy with life in a "dirty odious London" he returned to Cambridge on 13 December then wrote his first paper, showing that the
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an coast and the
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
n land-mass was rising slowly, and discussed his ideas with Lyell. To Lyell's delight, Darwin went further in balancing the rising continent with sinking mountains forming the basis of coral
atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
s. Moreover, according to contemporaneous entries in Darwin's notebooks, he had discussions with Lyell about the latter's manuscript, ''Elements of Geology'', which was subsequently to be published (in 1838). Lyell's geological findings, including his estimation of the age of the Earth, proved to be useful to Darwin, as he was formulating his ideas about the transmutation of species.
Darwin briefly returned to London to present a paper to the
Geological Society on 4 January 1837. Despite Darwin's nerves about his début, the talk was so well received that he felt "like a peacock admiring his tail".
On the same day, Darwin presented 80 mammal and 450 bird specimens to the
Zoological Society. The Mammalia were ably taken on by
George R. Waterhouse.
While the birds seemed almost an afterthought the ornithologist
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
took them on and was quick to notice the significance of specimens from the
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...
. He startlingly revealed at the next meeting on 10 January that what Darwin had taken to be wrens, blackbirds and slightly differing finches were "a series of ground finches which are so peculiar" as to form "an entirely new group" of 11 species. The story of what we now call "
Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. They are well known for being a classic example of adaptive radiation and for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. They ...
" was covered by the daily newspapers, though Darwin was in Cambridge and did not get details at this stage. In the minutes of the meeting the number was extended to 12 species.
Owen was finding unexpected relationships from the fossils: the batch included the horse sized
Scelidotherium which appeared to be closely allied to the
anteater
Anteaters are the four extant mammal species in the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue"), commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with sloths, they ar ...
,
[ a gigantic ]ground sloth
Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. ...
, and an ox-sized armoured armadillo
Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
which he called Glyptodon. The Patagonia
Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
n spine and leg bones from Port St Julian which Darwin had thought might be from a Mastodon
A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...
were apparently from a gigantic guanaco
The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations.
Etymology
The gua ...
or Llama
The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era.
Llamas are social animals and live with ...
, or perhaps camel
A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...
, which Owen named ''Macrauchenia
''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...
''. Lyell saw a "law of succession" with mammals being replaced by their own kind on each continent, and on 17 February used his presidential address at the Geological Society to present Owen's findings to date on Darwin's fossils, pointing out this inference that extinct species were related to current species in the same locality. He invited Darwin to come along, and the speech drew Darwin's attention to the question of why past and present species in one place should be so closely related. At the same meeting Darwin was elected to the Council of the Society. For Lyell this was "a glorious addition to my society of geologists", gentlemen (and amateurs of independent means) with duty only to scientific integrity, social stability and responsible religion, for Darwin it meant joining the respectable élite of eminent geologists developing a science dealing with the age of the Earth
The age of Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years. This age may represent the age of Earth's accretion (astrophysics), accretion, or Internal structure of Earth, core formation, or of the material from which Earth formed. This dating ...
and the Days of Creation.
Darwin had already been invited by FitzRoy to contribute his ''Journal'', based on his field notes, as the natural history section of the captain's account of the ''Beagle''s voyage, and this ended up keeping him fully occupied from 13 March to the end of September. He also plunged into writing a book on South American Geology, putting his and Lyell's ideas forward against the cataclysmic explanation of mountain formation Alcide d'Orbigny
Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropol ...
was promoting in a multi-volume account of the continent begun two years previously.
On Monday 27 February Darwin presented a talk to the Cambridge Philosophical Society on glassy tubes he had found amongst Maldonado sand dunes, explained by lightning having fused the sand.[
To supervise his collections Darwin had to return to London, and on Lyell's advice he planned to arrive on Friday 3 March 1837, in time for one of ]Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
's Saturday parties, talking shops about the latest developments "brilliantly attended by fashionable ladies, as well as literary and scientific gents" and "a good mixture of pretty women", bankers and politicians, where Babbage promoted such projects as his mechanical computer.[ proposes a move on Friday 3 March 1837] At first Darwin stayed with Erasmus, in his journal (written up later) he put his date of moving as 6 March 1837. On the 13th he moved to nearby lodgings, joining Erasmus's circle of friends including Martineau and Hensleigh and enjoying his intimate dinner parties with guests such as Lyell, Babbage and Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
.
In their first meeting to discuss his detailed findings, Gould told Darwin that the Galápagos mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family (biology), family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species Mimicry, mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly ...
s from different islands were separate species, not just varieties, and the finch group included the "wren
Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...
s". The two rheas were also distinct species, and on 14 March Gould's announcement of this finding to the Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...
was accompanied by Darwin, who presented a paper on how distribution of the two species of rheas changed going southwards.
Transmutation
Context
Darwin was concerned to make sure that his theorising, whether published or private, fully complied with the accepted scientific method
The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...
ology of his peers. In the scientific societies and at informal dinners he discussed methods with two leading authorities on the topic, 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 and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...
and William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry and mathematics.
The breadth of Whewell's endeavours is ...
.
Scientific circles were buzzing with ideas of natural theology
Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as ...
. In a letter to Lyell, Herschel had written of "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others". This was circulated and widely discussed, with scientists sharing Herschel's approach of looking for an answer through laws of nature and rejecting ''ad hoc
''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
'' miracles as an explanation. Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
expressed in his ''Ninth Bridgewater Treatise
The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise was published by the mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage in 1837 as a response to the eight Bridgewater Treatises that the Earl of Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl, had funded. The Bridgewater Trea ...
'' (1837) a view of "Nature's God" along the lines of a programmer of such laws.
Darwin's freethinking brother Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
was part of this Whig circle and a close friend of the writer Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...
, who promoted the Malthusianism
Malthusianism is a theory that population growth is potentially exponential, according to the Malthusian growth model, while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of trig ...
underlying the controversial Whig Poor Law reforms (1834) to stop welfare from causing overpopulation and more poverty, which were then being implemented piecemeal in the face of opposition to the new poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy.
Workhouses
In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...
s. As a Unitarian, Martineau welcomed the radical implications of transmutation of species
The Transmutation of species and transformism are 18th and early 19th-century ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a ter ...
, which was promoted by Grant and some medical men but anathema to Darwin's Anglican friends who saw it as a threat to the social order. Transmutation threatened the essential distinction between man and beast, and implied progressive improvement with the implication that the lower orders could aspire to the privileges of their aristocratic overlords.
The medical establishment controlling the London teaching hospital
A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...
s, including the Royal College of Surgeons
The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
, was restricted to Anglicans and dominated by the aristocracy who saw perfect animal design as proof of a natural theology
Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as ...
supporting their ideas of God-given rank and privilege. Since the 1820s large numbers of private medical schools joined by the new London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
had introduced the "philosophical anatomy" of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire based on unity of plan compatible with the transmutation of species, implying ideas of progressive improvement and supporting radical demands for democracy. This anatomy had already spread from Paris to the medical schools of Edinburgh, and the new London schools attracted Scots, including Grant. Numerous journals now promoted these radical ideas, including Thomas Wakley's ''The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication.
The journal publishes ...
'' (started in 1823 with support from William Cobbett and William Lawrence, whose 1819 publication of evolutionary ideas the Crown had prosecuted for blasphemy
Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...
). In response, the medical establishment gave support to the idealist biology of Joseph Henry Green (1791–1863) and of his younger protégé Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
(1804–1892), based on the vitalism
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
of German ''Naturphilosophie
"''Naturphilosophie''" (German for "nature-philosophy") is a term used in English-language philosophy to identify a current in the philosophical tradition of German idealism, as applied to the study of nature in the earlier 19th century. German ...
'' and Platonic idealism
The Theory of Forms or Theory of Ideas, also known as Platonic idealism or Platonic realism, is a philosophical theory credited to the Classical Greek philosopher Plato.
A major concept in metaphysics, the theory suggests that the physical w ...
, which saw anatomical forms as "archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
s" in the Divine mind, imposed through "descensive" powers of delegation of divine authority in accordance with traditional hierarchies.
Red Notebook
In 1836 Darwin used his ''Red Notebook'' to record field observations during the last stages of his ''Beagle'' voyage, from May to 25 September. Page 113 mentions a meeting with Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
, after the ship's return to England in October. Later notes mention discussions with other experts, including the geographer Sir Woodbine Parish, geologists 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 today for his association with Charles ...
and Roderick Murchison, and the conchologist James De Carle Sowerby. Darwin also took brief notes on what he was reading, reminders on planned publications including his Journal of the voyage, and his developing "theories", "conjectures", and "hypotheses". He continued using the notebook until May or June 1837.
In his later "Journal", Darwin recalled having been "greatly struck from about month of previous March on character of S. American fossils – & species on Galapagos Archipelago. – These facts origin (especially latter) of all my views."
His first reference to transmutation appears in the Red Notebook around early March 1837, after John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
told him that the common Rhea was a different species to the Petisse. Darwin wrote "Speculate on neutral ground of 2 ostriches; bigger one encroaches on smaller. change not progressif: produced at one blow. if one species altered", proposing a sudden change or saltation in contrast to Lamarck's idea that species graded imperceptibly into each other: later, Darwin referred to this jump as inosculation. He drew on the relationship Owen had shown between fossils of the extinct giant ''Macrauchenia
''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...
'' and the modern guanaco
The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations.
Etymology
The gua ...
s that Darwin had hunted in Patagonia
Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
: "The same kind of relation that common ostrich bears to etisse extinct Guanaco to recent: in former case position, in latter time. .... – As in first cases distinct species inosculate, so must we believe ancient ones: not gradual change or degeneration. from circumstances: if one species does change into another it must be per saltum – or species may perish." Here, he related the geographical distribution of species to their replacement over time, and tentatively proposed that the Rheas had a shared ancestor.
He noted his thoughts on reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...
and extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
; "Tempted to believe animals created for a definite time: – not extinguished by change of circumstances", and various domesticated animals
This page gives a list of domesticated animals, also including a list of domestication of animals, animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simp ...
had "all run wild & bred. no doubt with perfect success. – showing non-Creation does not bear upon solely adaptation of animals. – extinction in same manner may not depend. – There is no more wonder in extinction of species than of individual."
Darwin's notes mention several papers based on his geological writings during the voyage.
At the Geographical Society meeting on 3 May 1837, Darwin read his paper on strata around Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...
where he had found fossils including the '' Toxodon''. At the same meeting, announcements were made of the first discoveries of ancient fossil primate
Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
s; finds by Proby Cautley and Hugh Falconer in Neogene
The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
strata of the Sivalik Hills, and by Édouard Lartet in Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
beds at Sansan, Gers. Later, Lyell joked uncomfortably to his sister that "according to Lamarck's view, there may have been a great many thousand centuries for their tails to wear off, and the transformation to men to take place", but Darwin was beginning to look at these "wonderful" fossils in relation to transmutation.
Darwin's notes mentioned his "Coral Paper" which he had originally drafted in 1835; he presented this on 31 May 1837 at the Geological Society of London, and later used it as the basis for his book on '' The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs''.
At their frequent meetings, Owen argued that intrinsic "organising energy" in the "embryonic germ" set the lifespan of the species and precluded transmutation. The botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author
Entertainers and artists
* Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer
* Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...
showed Darwin a different concept, of "swarming atoms" ''inside'' the germ, allowing nature's self-development. Embarrassed by his lack of labels for his finch specimens, he examined FitzRoy's in the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and contacted seamen including Syms Covington for their collections. From this he was able to relate the finches to separate islands, with distinct species on each island. As well as pressing on with his ''Journal'', he started an ambitious project to get the expert reports on his collection published as a multi-volume ''Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle''. A search for sponsorship was answered when Henslow used his contacts with the Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Thomas Spring Rice to arrange a Treasury grant of £1,000, a sum equivalent to about £ in present-day terms.
During the ''Beagle'' voyage Darwin had noted the distribution of the two species of Galápagos iguanas and suspected that "this genus, the species of which are so well adapted to their respective localities, is peculiar to this group of Isds". He had identified the sea iguanas from a book on board as having been named ''Amblyrhyncus Cristatus'' by Bell from a specimen which had arrived in Mexico, probably found on the Pacific shore. In June he gave this information to William Buckland
William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist.
His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...
. As the Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
began, Darwin pressed on with writing his ''Journal'', and in August 1837 began correcting printer's proofs.
Transmutation notebooks
In mid-July 1837, as his '' Red Notebook'' filled up, Darwin reorganised his note-taking, and began two new notebooks: his ''"A" notebook'' on geology, and his ''"B" notebook'', the first of a series on "transmutation of Species", in which he scribbled down a framework for his speculations, jotting down thoughts on evolution. In a phrase he used later, this became "mental rioting".
B notebook
The title page of the ''"B" notebook'' was headed '' Zoönomia'', referring to his late grandfather's evolutionary ideas, and began with questions about the reasons for "generation" in which asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the f ...
resulted in copies of the original, while sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote tha ...
produced variation in the offspring, and organisms had short lifespans. The world was known to have changed over time, and "the young of living beings, become permanently changed or subject to variety, according to circumstances". This included plants, animals, and humanity: "in course of generations even mind and instinct become influenced. – child of savage not civilized man." Full-grown organisms might be unchangeable, but variability of their offspring would "adapt & alter the race to changing world." His ideas predated genetic concepts, and he continued to believe that variations arose through reproduction in a purposeful way responding to changes in the environment. Not all would succeed: "The father being climatized, climatizes the child. Whether every animal produces in course of ages ten thousand varieties (influenced itself perhaps by circumstances) & those alone preserved which are well adapted."
In a large population, "intermarriages" ( crossing) would even out these variations and explain why species appeared constant, but reproductive isolation
The mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a collection of evolutionary mechanisms, ethology, behaviors and physiology, physiological processes critical for speciation. They prevent members of different species from producing offspring, or ensu ...
of a small sub-group could lead to divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the rate that the vector field alters the volume in an infinitesimal neighborhood of each point. (In 2D this "volume" refers to ...
and geographic speciation: "animals on separate islands ought to become different if kept long enough apart with slightly differing circumstances", as in the various species he had seen of Galápagos tortoises and mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family (biology), family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species Mimicry, mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly ...
s, the Falkland Fox and the Chiloe fox, the " Inglish and Irish Hare". What Darwin called " inosculation" would abruptly introduce a clear distinction between even the most closely related species, explaining the rheas which remained distinct species with overlapping territories.
Uniquely for his time, he envisaged this diverging 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 p ...
as genealogical
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
branching from a common ancestor
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...
, an evolutionary tree: "Organized beings represent a tree irregularly branched some branches far more branched – Hence Genera. – ) As many terminal buds dying as new ones generated". Refining the concept, he proposed a coral of life; "The tree of life should perhaps be called the coral of life, base of branches dead; so that passages cannot be seen". With the words "I think", he sketched a diagram of this branching pattern.
This novel view contrasted with the ideas of transmutationists of the time (including 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 biolo ...
and Grant), who envisaged independent parallel lineages impelled by inner forces to make progress to higher forms. Darwin protested against these linear ideas of progress; "It is absurd to talk of one animal being higher than another. – We consider those, when the intellectual faculties rcerebral structure most developed, as highest. – A bee doubtless would when the instincts were". Later in the notebook, he set down a progressionist concept of human origins: "If all men were dead, then monkeys make men. – Men make angels".
Darwin thought that the possibility of a common ancestor of "mammalia & fish" could not be ruled out when such strange forms as the platypus
The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...
existed. The unique plants and animals on the Galápagos islands sharing features with mainland American species, while wandering birds such as sandpipers were unchanged, showed the way "creative power acted at Galapagos", confirmed "if we believe the Creator created by any laws, which I think is shown by the very facts of the Zoological character of these islands". A similar relationship in time was shown by the extinct armoured giant Glyptodon resembling the modern South American armadillo
Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
. He considered that the way that astronomers once thought that God ordered the movement of individual planets was comparable to individual creation of species in particular countries, but divine powers were "much more simple & sublime" in creating the first animals so that species then arose by "the fixed laws of generation". A hypothesis of "fresh creations" he saw as "mere assumption, it explains nothing further".
From Owen, he learnt of John Hunter's observations on "the production of monsters" (mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...
s) at birth, and he noted that this could "present an analogy to production of species". He jotted down thoughts on how organisms could reach new islands: could "Owls transport mice alive?". Seeds might be blown over, transported by floating trees or eaten by birds which flew to the islands. He noted a reminder to "Experimentise on land shells in salt water & lizards" ditto.
Under pressure with organising ''Zoology'' and correcting proofs of his ''Journal'' (which had to have the introduction revised when FitzRoy complained that he was "astonished at the total omission of any notice of the officers" for their help), Darwin's health suffered. On 20 September 1837 he suffered "an uncomfortable palpitation of the heart". His doctors advised him "''strongly'' to knock off all work" and to leave for the country. Two days later he went to Maer Hall, the Wedgwoods' home, for a month of recuperation. His relations wore him out with questions about gaucho
A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...
life. His invalid aunt was being cared for by the as-yet unmarried Emma, and his uncle Jos pointed out an area of ground where cinders had disappeared under loam which Jos though might have been the work of earthworm
An earthworm is a soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class (or subclass, depending on the author) Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they we ...
s. Darwin returned to London on 21 October and on 1 November gave a talk on the role of earthworms in soil formation to the Geological Society, a mundane subject which to them may have seemed eccentric. William Buckland
William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist.
His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...
subsequently recommended Darwin's paper for publication, praising it as "a new & important theory to explain Phenomena of universal occurrence on the surface of the Earth – in fact a new Geological Power", while rightly rejecting Darwin's suggestion that chalkland could have been formed in a similar way.
Darwin had avoided taking on official posts which would take valuable time, turning down William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry and mathematics.
The breadth of Whewell's endeavours is ...
's request that he become Secretary of the Geological Society with excuses including "anything which flurries me completely knocks me up afterwards and brings on a bad palpitation of the heart", but in January 1838 he accepted the post. On 7 March he read to the Society his longest paper yet, which explained the earthquake he had witnessed at Concepción, Chile
Concepción (; originally: ''Concepción de la Madre Santísima de la Luz'', "Conception of the Blessed Mother of Light") is a city and Communes of Chile, commune in south-central Chile, and the geographical and demographic core of the Greater Co ...
, in terms of gradual crustal movements, to the delight of Lyell. Despite hours of practice, as he later recalled; "I was so nervous at first, I somehow could see nothing all around me, & felt as if my body was gone, & only my head left".
At the same time, Darwin pondered likely opposition to his ideas. Sure that there must have been "a thousand intermediate forms" between the modern otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...
and its land-only ancestor, he thought. "Opponent will say. show them me. I will answer yes, if you will show me every step between bull Dog & Greyhound". He privately scorned Whewell's faith in a human-centred universe, perfectly adapted to man, and wrote that "My theory would give zest to recent & fossil Comparative Anatomy, it would lead to study of instincts, heredity & mind heredity, whole metaphysics".
Contrary to the views of his Cambridge professors that humans were "godlike", around February 1838 Darwin wrote in his B notebook; "Animals whom we have made our slaves we do not like to consider our equals. – Do not slave holders wish to make the black man other kind – animals with affections, imitation, fear of death, pain, sorrow for the dead. – respect." The expectation of finding "the father of mankind" was comparable to finding ''Macrauchenia
''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...
'', and "if we choose to let conjecture run wild then our animals our fellow brethern in pain, disease, death & suffering, & famine, our slaves in the most laborious works, our companions in our amusements. they may partake from our origin in one common ancestor; we may be all netted together."
C notebook: animal observations
By February 1838 Darwin was on to a new pocketbook, the maroon ''C notebook'', and was investigating the breeding of domestic animals. He found the newspaper wholesaler William Yarrell at the Zoological museum a fund of knowledge, and questioned if breeders weren't going against nature in "picking varieties". He was now writing of "Descent" rather than transmutation, and hinting at ideas of "adaptation" to climate.
At the zoo on 28 March he had his first sight of an ape, and was impressed at the orang-utan's antics "just like a naughty child" when the keeper held back an apple. In his notes he wrote "Let man visit Ourang-outang in domestication, hear expressive whine, see its intelligence.... let him look at savage...naked, artless, not improving yet improvable & let him dare to boast of his proud preeminence." Here Darwin was drawing on his experience of the natives of Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan.
The archipelago consists of the main is ...
and daring to think that there was little gulf between man and animals despite the theological doctrine that only humanity possessed a soul.
On 1 April Charles wrote to his older sister Susan that he had also seen the rhinoceros in the zoo let out for the first time that spring, "kicking & rearing" and galloping for joy. He then passed on the gossip that Miss Martineau had been "as frisky lately sthe Rhinoceros. – Erasmus has been with her noon, morning, and night: – if her character was not as secure, as a mountain in the polar regions she certainly would loose it. – Lyell called there the other day & there was a beautiful rose on the table, & she coolly showed it to him & said "Erasmus Darwin" gave me that. – How fortunate it is, she is so very plain; otherwise I should be frightened: She is a wonderful woman". He began thinking about marriage himself, and on the back of an old letter (dated 7 April 1838) he listed the pros and cons of London, Cambridge or the countryside, noting that "I have so much more pleasure in direct observation, that I could not go on as Lyell does, correcting & adding up new information to old train & I do not see what line can be followed by man tied down to London. – In country, experiment & observations on lower animals. – more space – ". In an 8 May letter to his Cambridge friend Charles Thomas Whitley, who had recently married, Darwin described himself as having "turned a complete scribbler", and said "Of the future I know nothing I never look further ahead than two or three Chapters – for my life is now measured by volume, chapters & sheets & has little to do with the sun – As for a wife, that most interesting specimen in the whole series of vertebrate animals, Providence only know whether I shall ever capture one or be able to feed her if caught."
Darwin found a pamphlet by Yarrell's friend Sir John Sebright, with a passage reading: A severe winter, or a scarcity of food, by destroying the weak and the unhealthy, has all the good effects of the most skilful selection. In cold or barren countries no animals can live to the age of maturity, but those who have strong constitutions; the weak and the unhealthy do not live to propagate their infirmities.
Sebright said females went to "the most vigorous males", and "the strongest individuals of both sexes, by driving away the weakest, will enjoy the best food, and the most favourable positions, for themselves and their offspring." After reading the pamphlet, Darwin commented "excellent observations of sickly offspring being cut off so that not propagated by nature. – Whole art of making varieties may be inferred from facts stated".
Speculations
Darwin's speculations in his notebooks deepened as he wondered how instincts and mental traits were passed on to offspring; "Thought (or desires more properly) being hereditary it is difficult to imagine it anything but structure of brain hereditary, analogy points out to this. – love of the deity effect of organization, oh you materialist
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...
!", and reminded himself to read Barclay "on organization!!"
He struggled on with the ''Beagle'' geology, overworked, worried and suffering stomach upsets and headaches which laid him up for days on end. Privately he thought of the social implications of evolution, writing "Educate all classes. avoid the contamination of castes, improve the women (double influence) & mankind must improve." This was similar to the position of the radical Lamarckians, but female education was already supported by the whole Wedgwood-Darwin family, and strongly advocated by Martineau.
Darwin wrote "Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy the interposition of a deity, more humble & I believe truer to consider him created from animals."
In an early precursor of his work on ''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, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' (1871). Initially in ...
'', Darwin turned round the theological idea of Charles Bell that humans were designed to expose their canine teeth when grinning, and explained the expression by shared descent: "no doubt a habit gained by formerly being a baboon with great canine teeth. – Blend this argument with his having canine teeth at all. – This way of viewing the subject important. Laughing modified barking, smiling modified laughing. Barking to tell other animals in associated kinds of good news, discovery of prey, arising no doubt from want of assistance. – crying is a puzzler. – Under this point of view expression of all animals becomes very curious – a dog snarling in play." Darwin had privately talked with his cousin " Hensleigh Wedgwood about the relationship of humans to animals; "Hensleigh says the love of the deity & thought of him or eternity only difference between the mind of man & animals. – yet how faint in a Fuegian or Australian!" Darwin's own experience with "savages" he had met on the ''Beagle'' expedition showed that not all humans shared these religious beliefs.
As he worried at these ideas and the ''Geology'' his illness intensified, with stomach upsets, headaches and heart troubles, so that he became overworked and laid up for days on end. In May he wrote to his sister Caroline Wedgwood hoping to visit his relatives in July or early August, "but I shall be cruelly hurried – as I have to go to Scotland for Geological work" and also had to be in London every second month for the publication of his ''Zoology''. "I hope I may be able to work on right hard during the next three years, otherwise I shall never have finished, – but I find the noddle & the stomach are antagonist powers, and that it is a great deal more easy to think too much in a day, than to think too little – What thought has to do with digesting roast beef, – I cannot say, but they are brother faculties."
Darwin's cousin William Darwin Fox gave helpful answers to his questions about crossing domestic breeds, and in his reply of 15 June, Darwin admitted for the first time that "It is my prime hobby & I really think some day, I shall be able to do something on that most intricate subject species & varieties."
At the same time Darwin was gaining public position, and on 21 June 1838 was elected to the establishment Athenæum Club, along with Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
. From the start of August, Darwin began going there each day to "dine at the Athenæum like a gentleman, or rather like a Lord, for I am sure the first evening I sat in that great drawing room, all on a sofa by myself, I felt just like a duke. – I am full of admiration at the Athenæum; one meets so many people there, that one likes to see. ... I enjoy it the more, because I fully expected to detest it."
Thoughts of marriage
The Hensleigh Wedgwoods were now living next door to Erasmus. In early June 1838 they were visited for a week by Catherine Darwin and Emma Wedgwood
Emma Darwin (; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the cousin marriage, wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulth ...
, returning from a family get-together in Paris. As Emma told her aunt a few weeks later, "Charles used to come from next door, so we were a very pleasant, merry party."
Illness prompted Darwin to take a break from the pressure of work: on 15 June he told his cousin William Darwin Fox; "I have not been very well of late, which has suddenly determined me to leave London earlier than I had anticipated. I go by the steam-packet to Edinburgh. – take a solitary walk on Salisbury crags & call up old thoughts of former times then go on to Glasgow & the great valley of Inverness, – near which I intend stopping a week to geologise the parallel roads of Glen Roy, – thence to Shrewsbury, Maer for one day, & London for smoke, ill health & hard work." On 23 June 1838 he took the steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...
to Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
to go "geologising" in Scotland. After revisiting Edinburgh on 28 June (the day that Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
had her coronation in London) he went on to Fort William. At Glen Roy in glorious weather he was convinced that he had solved the riddle of the "parallel roads" around the glen, which he identified as raised beaches, though later geologists would support the ideas of Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history.
Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...
that these had been formed by glaciation.
Fully recuperated and optimistic, he returned home to 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 successful local doctor Robert Darwin. His son Charles was born there o ...
. He discussed his ideas with his father and asked for advice about Emma. Speaking from experience, Doctor Robert Waring Darwin told his son to conceal religious doubts which could cause "extreme misery... Things went on pretty well until the husband or wife became out of health, and then some women suffered miserably by doubting about the salvation of their husbands, thus making them likewise to suffer." Charles drew up a list with two columns on a scrap of paper. Under ''Marry'' he listed benefits, "Children–if it please God–Constant companion & friend in old age will feel interested in one,–object to be beloved and played with, better than a dog anyhow", while under ''Not Marry'' he put "Freedom to go where one liked ... Not forced to visit relatives ... to have the expense and anxiety of children ... fatness & idleness ... if many children forced to earn one's bread ...". He jotted down further thoughts, then concluded "My God, it is intolerable to think of spending ones whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. – No, no won't do. – Imagine living all one's day solitarily in smoky dirty London House. – Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps – Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlbro' St. Marry–Marry–Marry Q.E.D."
Then he spent his fortnight being "Very idle at Shrewsbury" which meant starting his ''"D" notebook'' on the transmutation sequence and his ''"M" notebook'' on the evolutionary basis of moral and social behaviour, filling sixty pages with notes and anecdotes from his father about experiences with patients.
Having come down in favour, he went to visit his cousin Emma on 29 July. He did not get around to proposing, but failed to conceal his ideas on transmutation. Emma noted "he is the most open, transparent man I ever saw, and every word expresses his real thoughts." When she asked about ultimate origins he steered clear of the subject, aware that "it will become necessary to show how the first eye is formed" which he could not yet do.
Malthus and natural law
After returning to London on 1 August 1838 Darwin read a review of Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...
's ''Positive Philosophy'' at the Athenaeum Club. It bolstered his pantheist
Pantheism can refer to a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arisesAnn Thomson; Bodies ...
ideas of natural laws, making him remark "What a magnificent view one can take of the world" with everything synchronised "by certain laws of harmony", a vision "far grander" than the Almighty individually creating "a long succession of vile Molluscous animals – How beneath the dignity of Him"! Only a "cramped imagination" saw God "warring against those very laws he established in all organic nature." His work on ''Coral Reefs'' and a paper theorising that Glen Roy had been an arm of the sea soldiered on. He visited the zoo to experiment, observing the reactions of the apes and seeing emotions like "revenge and anger", implying that "Our descent, then, s the rootof our evil passions." He needed an ally, and hinted to Lyell that his work was "bearing on the question of species", amassing "facts, which begin to group themselves ''clearly'' under sub-laws."
Then in late September he began reading "for amusement" the 6th edition of Malthus's ''An Essay on the Principle of Population
The book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'' was first published anonymously in 1798, but the author was soon identified as Thomas Robert Malthus. The book warned of future difficulties, on an interpretation of the population increasing ...
'' which reminded him of Malthus's statistical proof that human populations breed beyond their means and compete to survive, at a time when he was primed to apply these ideas to animal species. Malthus had softened from the bleakness of the earlier editions, now allowing that the population crush could be mitigated by education, celibacy and emigration. Already Radical crowds were demonstrating against the harsh imposition of Malthusian ideas in the Poor Law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
s, and a slump was resulting in mass emigration. Lyell was convinced that animals were also driven to spread their territory by overpopulation, but Darwin went further in applying the Whig social thinking of struggle for survival with no handouts. His views were secular, but not atheistic. He asked how God's laws had produced "so high a mind" as ours, with purpose shown by descent geared towards the "production of higher animals", suggesting that "we are step towards some higher end".
Malthus's essay calculates from the birth rate that human population could double every 25 years, but in practice growth is kept in check by death, disease, wars and famine.[ Darwin was well prepared to see at once that this related to de Candolle's concept of "nature's war" and also applies to the struggle for existence amongst wildlife,] so that when there is more population than resources can maintain, favourable variations that allow the organism to better use the limited resources available tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones destroyed by being unable to get the means for existence, resulting in the formation of new species. On 28 September 1838 he noted this insight, describing it as a kind of wedging, forcing adapted structures into gaps in the economy of nature formed as weaker ones were thrust out. He now had a theory by which to work.[Charles Darwin: gentleman naturalist]
A biographical sketch by John van Wyhe, 2006
Proposal
Darwin's thoughts and work continued and he suffered repeated bouts of illness. On 11 November he returned to Maer Hall and proposed to Emma.
Again he discussed his ideas, and she subsequently wrote telling him of her "fear that our opinions on the most important subject should differ widely. My reason tells me that honest & conscientious doubts cannot be a sin, but I feel it would be a painful void between us. I thank you from my heart for your openness with me & I should dread the feeling that you were concealing your opinions from the fear of giving me pain." She continued; "my own dear Charley we now do belong to each other & I cannot help being open with you. Will you do me a favour? yes I am sure you will, it is to read our Saviours farewell discourse to his disciples which begins at the end of the 13th Chap of John. It is so full of love to them & devotion & every beautiful feeling." In the Farewell Discourse
In the New Testament, wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#14:1, chapters 14–17 of the Gospel of John are known as the Farewell Discourse given by Jesus to eleven of his Disciple (Christianity), disciples immediately after the conclusion o ...
from the Gospel of St. John, Jesus instructs his disciples to "love one another", a central part of Christian doctrine which emphasises the need for belief. For Emma the importance of faith had been reinforced by the death of her sister Fanny in 1832, and her need to meet Fanny again in the afterlife. She clearly felt that Darwin would be able to overcome doubt and believe. John 15 also says "If a man abide not in me...they are burned". Darwin's warm reply reassured her, and she replied that "To see you in earnest on the subject will be my greatest comfort & that I am sure you are. I believe I agree with every word you say, & it pleased me that you shd have felt inclined to enter a little more on the subject." However, this tension would remain.
Emma's father promised a dowry of £5,000 plus £400 a year, while Doctor Darwin added £10,000 for Charles, to be invested. They decided to move to London until Charles had "wearied the geological public" with his itch to write, then they would "decide, whether the pleasures of retirement & country... are preferable to society."
Theory
Charles went house-hunting by day. At night he thought about "innumerable variations" (which he still thought were acquired in some way) with competitive nature selecting the best leading to step by step change, while vestigial organs like the human coccyx (tail) were not, as commonly thought, God "rounding out his original thought o itsexhaustion", but ancestral remnants pointing to "the parent of man".
Darwin considered Malthus's argument, that human populations breed beyond their means and compete to survive, in relation to his findings about species relating to localities, earlier enquiries into animal breeding, and ideas of Natural "laws of harmony". Around late November 1838 he compared breeders selecting traits to a Malthusian Nature selecting from random variants, now thrown up by "chance", and in mid-December described this comparison as "a beautiful part of my theory, that domesticated races of organics are made by precisely same means as species – but latter far more perfectly & infinitely slower", so that in "species every part of newly acquired structure is fully practical & perfected."
The second edition of Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
's ''The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. A Fragment'' published that year included a copy of a letter 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 and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...
had sent to 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 today for his association with Charles ...
in 1836, not long before Darwin visited Herschel in Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
. On 2 December, Darwin wrote in his E Notebook "Babbage 2d Edit. p. 226 – Herschel calls the appearance of new species the mystery of mysteries, & has grand passage upon the problem.! Hurrah – 'intermediate causes' ". Herschel's letter advocated seeking natural causes, as opposed to miraculous causes, and gave philosophical justification to Darwin's project.
Stress
The ''Zoology'' ran into difficulties, with Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...
having to halt work on ''Fossil Mammalia'', and John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
sailing off for Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
leaving Darwin to complete the half finished ''Birds''. "What can a man have to say, who works all morning in describing hawks & owls; & then rushes out, & walks in a bewildered manner up one street & down another, looking out for the word To Let'." Emma had arranged to come with the Hensleigh Wedgwoods to London for a week to help with the search for a house, and wrote telling him "It is very well I am coming to look after you my poor old man", before arriving on 6 December.
On 19 December 1838 as secretary of the Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
Darwin witnessed the vicious interrogation by Owen and his allies including Sedgwick and Buckland of Darwin's old tutor Robert Edmund Grant when they ridiculed Grant's Lamarckian heresy in a clear reminder of establishment hatred of evolutionism.
During her visit, Emma thought Darwin looked unwell and overtired. At the end of December she wrote urging him "to leave town at once & get some rest. You have looked so unwell for some time that I fear you will be laid up... nothing ''could'' make me so happy as to feel that I could be of any use or comfort to my own dear Charles when he is not well. So don't be ill any more my dear Charley till I can be with you to nurse you".
Marriage
On 29 December 1838, Darwin took the let of a furnished property at 12 Upper Gower Street. He wrote to Emma that "Gower St is ours, yellow curtains & all", and of his delight at being the "possessor of Macaw Cottage". which he long recalled for its gaudy coloured walls and furniture that "combined all the colours of the macaw in hideous discord",[Litchfield, H. E. ecollection of Darwin on Macaw cottagebr>CUL-DAR112.B99]
br /> Emma rejoiced at their getting a house she liked, while hoping that they had got rid of "that dead dog out of the garden". Darwin impatiently moved his "museum" in on 31 December, astounding himself, Erasmus and the porters with the weight of his luggage containing geological specimens.
On 24 January 1839 he was honoured by being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and presented his paper on the Roads of Glen Roy. The next day he took the train home to Shrewsbury, then on the 28th travelled to Maer Hall.
On 29 January 1839, Charles married Emma at Maer, Staffordshire in an Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
ceremony arranged to also suit the Unitarians, conducted by the vicar, their cousin John Allen Wedgwood. Emma's bedridden mother slept through the service, sparing Emma "the pain of parting". Immediately afterwards Charles and Emma rushed off to the railway station, raising their relative's eyebrows, and ate their sandwiches and toasted their future from a "bottle of water" on the train. Back at Macaw Cottage, Charles noted in his journal "Married at Maer & returned to London 30 years old", and in his ''"E" notebook'' recorded uncle John Wedgwood's views on turnips.
''See the development of Darwin's theory for the ensuing developments, in the context of his life, work and outside influences at the time.''
Citations
References
''Note that this article is largely based on Desmond and Moore's book, with commentary summarised in other words and quotations (or extracts from quotations) repeated verbatim.''
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External links
* The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online
The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online (or Darwin Online) is a freely-accessible website containing the complete print and manuscript works of Charles Darwin, as well as related supplementary material.
Overview
Darwin Online is a research ...
�
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
Charles Darwin
History of evolutionary biology
John Gould