Inception of Darwin's theory
The inception of Darwin's theory occurred during an intensively busy period which began when Charles Darwin returned from the survey voyage of the Beagle, with his reputation as a fossil collector and geologist already established. He was given an allowance from his father to become a gentleman naturalist 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.
At Darwin's geological début, the anatomist
Animal observations of an
Reading about
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 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 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 and Geoffroy Saint Hilaire came to the same conclusion on the origin of species in the years 1794–95, anticipating Lamarck.[1]
After his early life in a
Then on
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
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 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
Owen and fossils
The geologist
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 interested in the reptiles. Darwin's reputation was being made by the giant mammal fossils. Owen's first surprising revelation was that a hippopotamus-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 was of an extinct rodent-like creature resembling a giant capybara, which Owen named Toxodon. Darwin wrote to his sister Caroline that "[the fossils] are 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!"[5] 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
Unhappy with life in a "dirty odious London" he returned to Cambridge on 13 December then wrote his first paper, showing that the Chilean coast and the South American 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 atolls. Darwin briefly returned to London to read his 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 took them on and was quick to notice the significance of specimens from the Galápagos Islands. 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" 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.[9]
Owen was finding unexpected relationships from the fossils: the batch included the horse sized
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.[10] 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 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.[11]
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'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.[11] 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.[12]
In their first meeting to discuss his detailed findings, Gould told Darwin that the Galápagos mockingbirds from different islands were separate species, not just varieties, and the finch group included the "wrens".[13] The two rheas were also distinct species, and on 14 March Gould's announcement of this finding to the Zoological Society of London was accompanied by Darwin, who presented a paper on how distribution of the two species of rheas changed going southwards.[14]
Transmutation
Context
Darwin was concerned to make sure that his theorising, whether published or private, fully complied with the accepted scientific methodology of his peers. In the scientific societies and at informal dinners he discussed methods with two leading authorities on the topic, John Herschel and William Whewell.[15]
Scientific circles were buzzing with ideas of
The medical establishment controlling the London
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, 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 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.[20]
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."[21] His first reference to transmutation appears in the Red Notebook around early March 1837, after John Gould 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<e>: 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 and the modern guanacos that Darwin had hunted in Patagonia: "The same kind of relation that common ostrich bears to [Petisse]: 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.[22]
He noted his thoughts on reproduction and extinction; "Tempted to believe animals created for a definite time: – not extinguished by change of circumstances", and various domesticated animals 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."[22]
Darwin's notes mention several papers based on his geological writings during the voyage.[23] At the Geographical Society meeting on 3 May 1837, Darwin read his paper on strata around Río de la Plata where he had found fossils including the Toxodon.[24] At the same meeting, announcements were made of the first discoveries of ancient fossil primates; finds by Proby Cautley and Hugh Falconer in Neogene strata of the Sivalik Hills, and by Édouard Lartet in Miocene beds at Sansan, Gers.[25] 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.[26] 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.[23]
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
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.[29] In June he gave this information to William Buckland.[30] As the Victorian era began, Darwin pressed on with writing his Journal, and in August 1837 began correcting printer's proofs.[31]
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",[21][32] 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".[33]
B notebook
The title page of the "B" notebook was headed
In a large population, "intermarriages" (crossing) would even out these variations and explain why species appeared constant, but reproductive isolation of a small sub-group could lead to divergence 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 mockingbirds, 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.[39]
Uniquely for his time, he envisaged this diverging
Darwin thought that the possibility of a common ancestor of "mammalia & fish" could not be ruled out when such strange forms as the
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
Darwin had avoided taking on official posts which would take valuable time, turning down William Whewell'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",[46][47] but in January 1838 he accepted the post.[48] On 7 March he read to the Society his longest paper yet, which explained the earthquake he had witnessed at Concepción, Chile, 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".[49]
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 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".[50][51] 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".[52] 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, 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."[53]
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
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 [as] the 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".[54] 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 – ".[55] 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."[56]
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.[57]
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".[58][59]
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!", and reminded himself to read Barclay "on organization!!"[60] 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
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."[62] In an early precursor of his work on The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 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.[63]
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.[64] 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."[65] 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."[50][66]
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. 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."[67][68]
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, 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
Fully recuperated and optimistic, he returned home to
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
Then in late September he began reading "for amusement" the 6th edition of
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.
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."[83] In the Farewell Discourse 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.[84] 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.[85][86]
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 [to its] exhaustion", 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",[87] so that in "species every part of newly acquired structure is fully practical & perfected."[88]
The second edition of Charles Babbage's The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. A Fragment published that year included a copy of a letter John Herschel had sent to Charles Lyell in 1836,[89] not long before Darwin visited Herschel in Cape Town. 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' ".[90] Herschel's letter advocated seeking natural causes, as opposed to miraculous causes, and gave philosophical justification to Darwin's project.[91]
Stress
The Zoology ran into difficulties, with Richard Owen having to halt work on Fossil Mammalia, and John Gould sailing off for Tasmania leaving Darwin to complete the half finished Birds.[92] "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'."[93] Emma had arranged to come with the Hensleigh Wedgwoods to London for a week to help with the search for a house,[94] and wrote telling him "It is very well I am coming to look after you my poor old man", before arriving on 6 December.[95]
On 19 December 1838 as secretary of the
During her visit, Emma thought Darwin looked unwell and overtired.[97] 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".[98]
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".[99] which he long recalled for its gaudy coloured walls and furniture that "combined all the colours of the macaw in hideous discord",[100] Emma rejoiced at their getting a house she liked, while hoping that they had got rid of "that dead dog out of the garden".[101] Darwin impatiently moved his "museum" in on 31 December, astounding himself, Erasmus and the porters with the weight of his luggage containing geological specimens.[102]
On 24 January 1839 he was honoured by being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society 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
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
- ^ Darwin 1861, p. xiii.
- ^ Keynes 2001, p. 447
- ^ Kees Rookmaaker & John van Wyhe (ed.). "Darwin, C. R. [Beagle diary (1831-1836)]. EH88202366". Darwin Online. p. 2. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
got to St Albans & so by the Wonder to Shrewsbury on Thursday 22d [September 1831] .... The Wonder coach ran daily, from Shrewsbury to London via Wolverhampton, Coventry and St. Albans, covering the 158 miles in 15 3⁄4 hours. It was started in 1825 by the landlord of the Lion Inn, Isaac Taylor and his two brothers.
- ^ "Letter no. 275 – Charles Darwin to Susan Elizabeth Darwin – 23 April 1835". Darwin Correspondence Project. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 321 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., (9 Nov 1836)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2009.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 205
- ^ "Letter 325; Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., (7 Dec 1836)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Harriet Martineau's Autobiography. With Memorials by Maria Weston Chapman; 2 volumes; Smith, Elder & Co, 1877, vol. I SectionII p. 268
- ^ Sulloway 1982, p. 21
- ^ Darwin 2006, pp. 13 recto
- ^ a b "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 346 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 27 Feb 1837". Retrieved 19 December 2008. proposes a move on Friday 3 March 1837
- ^ Darwin's Journal (Darwin 2006, pp. 12 verso) backdated from August 1838 gives a date of 6 March 1837
- ^ Sulloway 1982, pp. 20–23
- ^ Browne 1995, p. 360
"Darwin, C. R. (Read 14 March 1837) Notes on Rhea americana and Rhea darwinii, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London". Retrieved 17 December 2008. - ^ Bowler 1996, pp. 70–72
- ^ van Wyhe 2007, p. 197
- ^
Babbage, Charles (1837). The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise: A Fragment (2 ed.). London: J. Murray (published 1838). pp. 32–33. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
To illustrate the distinction between a system to which the restoring hand of its contriver is applied, either frequently or at distant intervals, and one which had received at its first formation the impress of the will of its author, foreseeing the varied but yet necessary laws of its action throughout the whole of its existence, we must have recourse to some machine, the produce of human skill. But far as all such engines must ever be placed at an immeasurable interval below the simplest of Nature's works, yet, from the vastness of those cycles which even human contrivance in some cases unfolds to our view, we may perhaps be enabled to form a faint estimate of the magnitude of that lowest step in the chain of reasoning, which leads us up to Nature's God.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 201, 212–21
- ^ Desmond 1989, pp. 4–6, 9–13
- ^ Herbert 1980, pp. 6, 12–14].
- ^ a b "Darwin's personal 'Journal' (1809–1881)". CUL-DAR158.1–7.
- ^ a b Herbert 1980, pp. 7–10
- ^ a b Herbert 1980, p. 13
- ^ Darwin, C. R. 1837. A sketch of the deposits containing extinct Mammalia in the neighbourhood of the Plata. [Read 3 May] Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2: 542–44.
- S2CID 85354584.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 222,
Allen, Grant, (March 1882) Sir Charles Lyell, Popular Science Monthly Volume 20 - ^ Browne 1995, pp. 367–69
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ Keynes 2000, p. 296
- ^ "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 359 – Darwin, C. R. to Buckland, William, (15 June 1837)". Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ Keynes 2001
- ^ Herbert 1980, p. 14
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 240
"Letter no. 1086, Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. [6 May 1847]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 5 August 2016. - ^ Darwin 1837, p. 3
- ^ van Wyhe 2008b, p. 44
Desmond & Moore 2009, p. 121 - ^ Bowler 1996, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 240
Darwin 1837, p. 90 - ^ a b Darwin 1837, p. 36
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 229–30
Darwin 1837, pp. 6–13 - ^ Bowler 1996, pp. 79–81
Darwin 1837, pp. 21, 25–26
Desmond & Moore 1991 - ^ Bowler 1996, pp. 81, 85
Darwin 1837, pp. 74, 169 - ^ Darwin 1837, pp. 97–104
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 225
Darwin 1837, pp. 161 - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 232
Darwin 1837, pp. 82, 192–93, 248 - ^ "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 404 – Buckland, William to Geological Society of London, 9 Mar 1838". Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 235.
- ^ "Letter no. 382, Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S." Darwin Correspondence Project. 14 October 1837. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ "Letter no. 400, Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S." Darwin Correspondence Project. 21 January 1838. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 236
Darwin, C. R. 1838. On the connexion of certain volcanic phænomena, and on the formation of mountain-chains and volcanos, as the effects of continental elevations. [Read 7 March] Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2: 654–60
"Letter no. 1805, Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, William Erasmus". Darwin Correspondence Project. 17 February 1857. Retrieved 28 July 2016. - ^ a b Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 248.
- ^ Darwin 1837, pp. 216–17
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 236–37
Darwin 1837, p. 228 - ^ Desmond & Moore 2009, pp. 114–15
Darwin 1837, p. 231 - ^ "Letter 407; Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., [1 Apr 1838]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 245–46
Darwin, C. R. 'Work finished If not marry' [Memorandum on marriage]. (1838) CUL-DAR210.8.1 (Darwin Online) - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 245
"Letter no. 411A, Darwin, C. R. to Whitley, C. T., [8 May 1838]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 5 August 2016. - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 247.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 247–48.
- ^ Darwin 1838, pp. 133–34
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 249–50
Darwin 1838, p. 166 - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 252
Darwin 1838, p. 220 - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 252–53
Darwin 1838, pp. 196–97 - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 251–53
Darwin 1838, pp. 243–44 - ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 252.
- ^ "Letter no. 411; Darwin, C. R. to Wedgwood, C. S. [May 1838]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Letter no. 419; Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D. [15 June 1838]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 253–54.
- ^ "Letter no. 424; Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 9 Aug [1838]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 256–57
- ^ Darwin, C. R. (7.1838) This is the Question Marry Not Marry [Memorandum on marriage]. CUL-DAR210.8.2
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 260–61
- ^ Darwin, C. R. (August 1838). "Notebook D: [Transmutation of species]. CUL-DAR123". pp. 36–37. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 262–63
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 264–68
- ^ Barrett, P. H. (1974). ". Early writings of Charles Darwin." Gruber, H. E., Darwin on man. A psychological study of scientific creativity; together with Darwin's early and unpublished notebooks. Transcribed and annotated by Paul H. Barrett, commentary by Howard E. Gruber. Foreword by Jean Piaget. London: Wildwood House. p. 394. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ An Essay on the Principle of Population 6th edition, 1826.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 264–65.
- ^ a b Charles Darwin: gentleman naturalist A biographical sketch by John van Wyhe, 2006
- ^ Huxley, Thomas, 1897, Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays", D. Appleton and Company, New York. Section IV, Capital – The Mother of Labour, pp. 162–63.
- ^ "Darwin transmutation notebook D pp. 134e–135e". Retrieved 10 September 2022.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 265.
- ^ Darwin 1958, p. 120
- ^ "Letter 441 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R." Darwin Correspondence Project. 21–22 November 1838. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
- ^ Browne 1995, pp. 396–97.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 270–71.
- ^ "Letter 444 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R." Darwin Correspondence Project. 25 November 1838. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ^ "Darwin transmutation notebook E p. 71". Retrieved 17 March 2009.
- ^ "Darwin transmutation notebook E p. 75". Retrieved 17 March 2009.
- ^ Babbage 1838, pp. 225–26
- ^ Darwin, C. R. "Notebook E: Transmutation of species (1838–1839) CUL-DAR124". p. 59. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ James Lennox (2004). "Darwinism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)". Retrieved 23 May 2009.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 274
- ^ "Letter 448 – Darwin, C. R. to Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma), (30 Nov 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Letter 447 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R., (30 Nov 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Letter 449 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R., (3 Dec 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 274–75
- ^ "Letter 460 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R., (23 Dec 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Letter 465 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R., (30 Dec 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Letter 463 – Darwin, C. R. to Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma), (29 Dec 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
- ^ Litchfield, H. E. [Recollection of Darwin on Macaw cottage]. CUL-DAR112.B99
Litchfield 1915, p. 18 - ^ "Letter 464 – Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma) to Darwin, C. R., (29 Dec 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ "Letter 466 – Darwin, C. R. to Wedgwood, Emma (Darwin, Emma), (31 Dec 1838 –) 1 Jan 1839". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
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 – 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.
- Works by Charles Darwin at Project Gutenberg; public domain
- Darwin Correspondence Project Text and notes for most of his letters