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DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT (1809-1882)
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See also:DARWIN, See also: Indeed naturalists were already everywhere considering and discussing the problem of See also:evolution, although See also:Alfred Russel See also:Wallace was the only one who, independently of Darwin, saw his way clearly to the See also:solution. It is true that hypotheses essentially the same as natural selection were suggested much earlier by W. C. See also:Wells (Phil. Trans., 1813), and See also:Patrick See also:Matthew (See also:Naval See also:Timber and See also:Arboriculture, 1831), but their views were lost sight of and produced no effect upon the great See also:body of naturalists. In the preparation for Darwin See also:Sir Charles See also:Lyell's Principles of See also:Geology played an important See also:part, accustoming men's minds to the vast changes brought about by natural processes, and leading them, by its lucid and temperate discussion of See also:Lamarck's and other views, to reflect upon evolution.
Darwin's See also:early education was conducted at Shrewsbury, first for a See also:year at a See also:day-school, then for seven years at Shrewsbury School under Dr See also:Samuel See also: Both at Edinburgh, where in 1826 he read his first scientific See also:paper, and at Cambridge he gained the friendship of much older scientific men—Robert Edmond See also: Had been greatly struck from about the See also:month of previous See also: But how selection could be applied to organisms living in a See also:state of nature remained for some time a See also:mystery to me." Various ideas as to the causes of evolution occurred to him, only to be successively abandoned. He had the idea of " See also:laws of See also:change " which affected species and finally led to their extinction, to some extent analogous to the causes which bring about the development, maturity and finally See also:death of an individual. He also had the conception that species must give rise to other species or else See also:die out, just as an individual See also:dies unrepresented if it bears no offspring. These and other ideas, of which traces exist in his See also:Diary, arose in his mind, together with perhaps some See also:general conception of natural selection, during the fifteen months after the opening of his note-book. In October 1838 he read See also:Malthus on See also:Population, and his observations having long since convinced him of the struggle for existence, it at once struck him " that under these circumstances favourable See also:variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to he destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, I had a theory by which to work." In See also:June 1842 he wrote out a See also:sketch, which two years later he See also:expanded to an See also:essay occupying 231 pages See also:folio. The idea of progressive divergence as an See also:advantage in itself, because the competition is most severe between organisms most closely related, did not occur to him until long after he had come to Down. During the growth of the Origin Sir See also:Joseph See also: R. Wallace, who was then at See also:Ternate in the See also:Moluccas. Wallace wanted Darwin's opinion on the essay, which he asked should be for-warded to Lyell. Darwin was much startled to find in the essay a See also:complete abstract of his own theory of natural selection. He forwarded it the same day, See also:writing to-Lyell, " your words have come true with a vengeance—that I should be forestalled." He placed himself in the hands of Well See also:wad Hooker, who decided tosend Wallace's essay to the Linnean Society, together with an abstract of Darwin's work, which they asked him to prepare, the See also:joint essay being accompanied by a See also:preface in the See also:form of an explanatory letter written by them to the secretary. The See also:title of the joint communication was " On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection." It was read on the 1st of July 1858, and appears in the Linn. Soc. Journal (See also:Zoology) for that year. In this statement of the theory of natural selection, Darwin's part consisted of two sections, the first being extracts from his 1844 essay, including a brief See also:account of sexual selection, and the second an abstract of his letter to Asa Gray dated the 5th of September 1857. This latter, probably his first See also:attempt to expound natural selection, cannot be surpassed as a clear statement of the theory. Darwin explained at the outset, what he insisted on elsewhere, that the facts of See also:adaptation or contrivance in nature are the real difficulty to be explained by a' theory of evolution, the stumbling-See also:block of every previous See also:suggestion. Until he could explain " the mistletoe, with its See also:pollen carried by See also:insects, and See also:seed by birds—the See also:woodpecker, with its feet and tail, See also:beak and See also:tongue, to climb the See also:tree and secure insects," he was " scientifically ' orthodox." Nevertheless he was led to believe in evolution, apart from any possible See also:motive-cause, by " general facts in the See also:affinities, See also:embryology, rudimentary See also:organs, geological See also:history, and See also:geographical See also:distribution of organic beings." He then proceeds to describe the manner in which he met the difficulty of adaptation by " his notions on the means by which Nature makes her species.' The essentials of the statement are as follows: I. Man has made his domestic breeds of animals and plants by selection, conscious or unconscious, of very slight or greater variations. II. The material for selection exists in nature, namely, slight variations of all parts of the organism. III. The " unerring See also:power " which sifts these variations is " natural selection . . . which selects exclusively for the See also:good of each organic being." The See also:rate of increase is such that only a few in each See also:generation can live: hence the never sufficiently appreciated struggle for life. " What a trifling difference must often determine which shall-survive and which perish!" The remaining heads explain the complex nature of the struggle, the reasons for deficient See also:direct See also:evidence, the advantage of divergence, &c. In the joint essay the phrases " natural selection " and " sexual selection " were first made public by Darwin, the " struggle for existence " by Wallace. Darwin and Wallace had met only once before the departure of the latter for the See also:East. Their rivalry in the See also:discovery of the great principle of natural selection was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Wallace was lying See also:ill with intermittent See also:fever at Ternate in February 1858 when he began to think of Malthus's Essay on Population, read several years before: suddenly the idea of the survival of the fittest flashed upon him. In two See also:hours he had " thought out almost the whole of the theory," and in three evenings had finished his essay. Darwin, also inspired after See also:reading Malthus, in October 1838, did not publish until nearly twenty years had elapsed, and then only when Wallace sent him his essay. See also:Canon H. B. Tristram was the first to apply the new theory, explaining by its aid the See also:colours of See also:desert birds, &c. (See also:Ibis, October 1859). Acting under the See also:advice of Lyell and Hooker, Darwin then began to prepare what was to become the great work of his life. It appeared on the 24th of November 1859, with the full title, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The whole edition of 1250 copies was exhausted on the day of issue. The first four chapters explain the operation of artificial selection by man and of natural selection in consequence of the struggle for existence. The fifth See also:chapter deals with the laws of variation and causes of modification other than natural selection. The five succeeding chapters consider difficulties in the way of a belief in evolution generally as well as in natural selection. The three remaining chapters (omitting the recapitulation which occupies the last) deal with the evidence for evolution. The theory which suggested a cause of evolution is thus given the foremost See also:place. and the evidence for the existence of evolution considered last of all. This method of presentation was no doubt adopted because it was just the want of a reasonable motive-cause which more than anything else prevented the See also:acceptance of evolution. But the other See also:side of the book must not be eclipsed by the brilliant theory of Darwin and Wallace. The evidence for evolution itself had never before been thought out and marshalled in a manner which bears any comparison with that of Darwin in the Origin, and the work would have been in the highest degree See also:epoch-making had it consisted of the later chapters alone. In the fifth chapter Darwin incorporated a certain proportion of the doctrines of See also:Buffon,—modifications due to the direct See also:influence of environment; and of Lamarck,—the hereditary effects of use and disuse. Lyell for a long time hesitated to accept the new teaching, and Darwin carried on a long correspondence with him. His public See also:confession of faith was made at the anniversary See also:dinner of the Royal Society in 1864. A See also:storm of controversy arose over the book, reaching its height at the See also:meeting of the See also:British Association at See also:Oxford in 186o, when the celebrated See also:duel between T. H. See also:Huxley and See also:Bishop See also:Wilberforce of Oxford took place. Throughout these struggles Huxley was the foremost See also:champion for evolution and for fair See also:play to natural selection, although he never entirely accepted the latter theory, holding that until man by his selection had made his domestic breed sterile inter se, there was no sufficient evidence that selection accounts for natural species which are thus separated by the barrier of sterility. The theory of natural selection was at first greatly misunderstood. Thus some writers thought it implied conscious choice in the animals themselves, others that it was the personification of some active power. By many it was thought to be practically the same idea as Lamarck's. See also:Herbert See also:Spencer's alternative phrase, " the survival of the fittest," probably helped to spread a clear appreciation of Darwin's meaning. The history of opinion since 1859 maybe summed up as follows. Evolution soon gained general acceptance, except among a certain number of those of See also:middle or more advanced See also:age at the time when the Origin appeared. Although natural selection had been an essential force in producing this conviction, there gradually See also:grew up a tendency to minimize its importance in relation to the causes originally suggested by Buffon and Lamarck, which were ably presented and further elaborated by Herbert Spencer. In America a school of Neo-Lamarckians appeared, and for a time flourished under the See also:inspiration of the vigorous See also:personality of E. D. See also:Cope. The writings of August See also:Weismann next raised a controversy over the See also:scope of See also:heredity, assailing the very See also:foundation of the hypotheses of Buffon, Lamarck and Herbert Spencer by demanding evidence that the " acquired characters " upon which they rest are capable of hereditary transmission. The quantitative determination of heredity has been the subject of much patient investigation under the leadership of Francis Galton. The question of See also:isolation as a See also:factor in species-formation has been greatly discussed, G. J. See also:Romanes proposing, in his hypothesis of " Physiological Selection," that the barrier of sterility may arise spontaneously by variation between two sets of individuals as the beginning instead of the See also:climax of specific distinction. Others have fixed their See also:attention upon the variations, which provided the material for natural selection, and have advocated the view that evolution proceeds by immense strides instead of the See also:minute steps in which Darwin and Wallace believed. Others, again, have found significance in the artificial See also:production of " monstrosities " or huge modifications during individual development. All through the See also:period a varying proportion of naturalists, probably larger now than at any other time, has followed the founders of the theory, and has sought the motive-cause of evolution in " the accumulative power of natural selection," which Darwin, as his first public statement indicates, looked upon " as by far the most important See also:element in the production of new forms." They hold, with Darwin and Wallace, that although variation provides the essential material, natural selection, from its accumulative power, is of such See also:paramount importance that it may be said to create new species as truly as a man may be said to make a See also:building out of the material providedby stones of various shapes, a See also:metaphor suggested and elaborated by Darwin, and forming the concluding sentences of The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. This, probably the second in importance of all his See also:works, was published in 1868, and may be looked upon as a complete account of the material of which he had given a very condensed abstract in the first chapter of the Origin, together with the conclusions suggested by it. He finally brought together an immense number of apparently disconnected sets of observations under his " provisional hypo-thesis of pangenesis," which assumes that every See also:cell in the body, at every See also:stage of growth and in maturity, is represented in each germ-cell by a gemmule. The germ-cell is only the meeting-place of gemmules, and the true reproductive power lies in the whole of the body-cells which despatch their representatives, hence " pangenesis." There are reasons for believing that this infinitely complex conception, in which, as his letters show, he had great confidence, was forced upon Darwin in See also:order to explain the hereditary transmission of acquired characters involved in the small proportion of Lamarckian See also:doctrine which he incorporated. If such transmission does not occur, a far simpler hypothesis based on the lines of Weismann's " continuity of the germ-plasm " is sufficient to account for the facts. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to See also:Sex, was published in 1871; as the title implies, it really consists of two distinct works. The first, and by far the shorter, was the full See also:justification of his statement in the Origin that " light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history." In the second part he brought together a large See also:mass of evidence in support of his hypothesis of sexual selection which he had briefly described in the 1858 essay. This hypothesis explains the development of colours and structures See also:peculiar to one sex and displayed by it in courtship, by the preferences of the other sex. The See also:majority of naturalists probably agree with Darwin in believing that the explanation is real, but relatively unimportant. It is interesting to note that only in this subject and those treated of in the Variation under Domestication had Darwin exhausted the whole of the material which he had collected. The Expression of the Emotions, published in 1872, offered a natural explanation of phenomena which appeared to be a difficulty in the way of the acceptance of evolution. In 1876 Darwin brought out his two previously published geological works on Volcanic Islands and South America as a single See also:volume. The widely read Formation of See also:Vegetable See also:Mould through the See also:Action of See also:Worms appeared in 1881. He also published various volumes on botanical subjects. The Fertilization of See also:Orchids appeared in 1862. The subject of See also:cross-fertilization of See also:flowers was in Darwin's mind, as shown by his note-book in 1837. In 1841 Robert See also: It is here shown that each different form, although possessing both kinds of sexual organs, is specially adapted to be fertilized by the pollen of another form, and that when artificially fertilized by its own pollen less vigorous offspring, bearing some resemblance to hybrids, are produced. He says, " no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much See also:pleasure as the making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers " (Autobiography). Climbing Plants was published in 1875, although it had, in large part, been communicated to the Linnean Society, in whose publications much of the material of several of his other works appeared. This inquiry into the nature of the movements of See also:twining plants was suggested to him in a paper by Asa Gray. The Power of Movement in Plants (188o) was produced by him in See also:conjunction with his son Francis. It was an inquiry into the minute power of movement possessed, he believed, by plants generally, out of which the larger movements of climbing plants of many different See also:groups had been evolved. The work included an investigation of other kinds of plant movement due to light, gravity, &c., all of which he regarded as modifications of the one fundamental movement (circumnutation) which exists in a highly specialized form in climbing plants. Insectivorous Plants (1875) is principally concerned with the description of experiments on the See also:Sun-See also:dew (Drosera), although other See also:insect-catching plants, such as Dionaea, are also investigated. Charles Darwin's long life of patient, continuous work, the most fruitful, the most inspiring, in the See also:annals of See also:modern science, came to an end on the 19th of See also:April 1882. He was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey on the 26th. It is of much See also:interest to attempt to set forth some of the See also:main characteristics of the man who did so much for modern science, and in so large a measure moulded the form of modern thought. Although his ill-health prevented Darwin, except on rare occasions, from attending scientific and social meetings, and thus from meeting and knowing the great body of scientific and intellectual workers of his time, probably no man has ever inspired a wider and deeper See also:personal interest and See also:affection. This was in part due to the intimate personal See also:friends who represented him in the circles he was unable frequently to enter, but chiefly to the kindly, generous, and courteous nature which was revealed in his large correspondence and published writings, and especially in his treatment of opponents. In a deeply interesting chapter of the Life and Letters Francis Darwin has given us his reminiscences of his father's everyday life. Rising early, he took a See also:short walk before breakfasting alone at 7.45, and then at once set to work, " considering the 1.-, hours between 8.o and 9.30 one of his best working times." He then read his letters and listened to reading aloud, returning to work at about 10.30. At 12 or 12.15 " he considered his day's work over," and went for a walk, whether wet or See also:fine. For a time he rode, but after accidents had occurred twice, was advised to give it up. After lunch he read the newspaper and wrote his letters or the MS. of his books. At about 3.0 he rested and smoked for an See also:hour while being read to, often going to See also:sleep. He then went for a short walk, and returning about 4.30, worked for an hour. After this he rested and smoked, and listened to reading until See also:tea at 7.30, a See also:meal which he came to prefer to See also:late dinner. He then played two See also:games of See also:backgammon, read to himself, and listened to See also:music and to reading aloud. He went to See also:bed, generally very much tired, at 10.30, and was often much troubled by wakefulness and the activity of his thoughts. It is thus apparent that the number of hours devoted to work in each day was comparatively few. The immense amount he achieved was due to concentration during these hours, also to the unfailing and, because of his health, the necessary regularity of his life.
The See also:appearance of Charles Darwin has been made well known in numerous portraits and statues. He was tall and thin, being about six feet high, but looked less because of a stoop, which increased towards the end of his life. As a See also:young man he had been active,with considerable powers of endurance, and possessed in a marked degree those qualities of See also:eye and See also:hand which make the successful sportsman.
Charles Darwin was, as a young man, a believer in See also:Christianity, and was sent to Cambridge with the idea that he would take orders. It is probable, however, that he had merely yielded to the influences of his home, without thinking much on the subject of See also:religion. He first began to reflect deeply on the subject during the two years and a See also:quarter which intervened between his return from the " Beagle " (October 2nd, 1836) and his See also:marriage (January 29th, 1839). His own words are, " disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I See also:felt no See also:distress." His attitude was that of the tolerant unaggressive agnostic, sympathizing with and helping in the social and charitable influences of the English See also: It isevident that Darwin's,health could barely have endured the See also:strain of working for a living, and that nothing would have been left over for his researches. A deep See also:debt of gratitude is owing to his father for placing him in a position in which all his See also:energy could be devoted to scientific work and thought. But his ill-health was such that this important and essential See also:condition would have been insufficient without another even more essential. Francis Darwin, in the Life and Letters (i. pp. 159-160), writes these eloquent and pathetic words:—" No one indeed, except my mother, knows the full amount of suffering he endured, or the full amount of his wonderful See also:patience. For all the latter years of his life she never left him for a See also:night; and her days were so planned that all his resting hours might be shared with her. She shielded him from every avoidable annoyance, and omitted nothing that might See also:save him trouble, or prevent him becoming over-tired, or that might alleviate the many discomforts of his ill-health. I hesitate. to speak thus freely of a thing so sacred as the )ifelong devotion which prompted all this See also:constant and See also:tender care. But it is, I repeat, a See also:principal feature of his life, that for nearly See also:forty years he never knew one day of the health of See also:ordinary men, and that thus his life was one long struggle against the weariness and the strain of sickness. And this cannot be told without speaking of the one condition which enabled him to See also:bear the strain and fight out the struggle to the end." Charles Darwin was honoured by the See also:chief See also:societies of the civilized world. He was made a See also:knight of the Prussian order, " Pour le Merite," in 1867, a corresponding member of the Berlin See also:Academy of Sciences in 1863, a See also:fellow in 1878, and later in the same year a corresponding member of the See also:French See also:Institute in the botanical See also:section. He received the Bressa See also:prize of the Royal Academy of See also:Turin, and the Baly See also:medal of the Royal College of Physicians in 1879, the See also:Wollaston medal of the Geological Society in 1859, a Royal medal of the Royal Society in 1853, and the See also:Copley medal in 1864. His health prevented him from accepting the honorary degree which Oxford University wished to confer on him, but his own university had stronger claims, and he received its honorary LL.D. in 1877.
Two daughters and five sons survived him, four of the latter becoming prominent in the scientific world,—Sir See also:George See also:Howard (b. 1845), who became See also:professor of See also:astronomy and experimental See also:philosophy at Cambridge in 1883; Francis (b. 1848), the distinguished botanist; Leonard (b. 1850), a See also:major in the royal See also:engineers, and afterwards well known as an economist; and See also:Horace (b. 1851), See also:civil engineer.
See The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an auto-See also:biographical chapter, edited by his son Francis Darwin (3 vols., London, 1887) ; Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, by E. B. Poulton (London, 1896) ; Life and Letters of See also: Romanes, Darwin and after Darwin (1895). Also the See also:article on T. H. HUxLEY. (E. B. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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