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Transcriber’s Note
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
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THE CENTURY SCIENCE SERIES
Edited by Sir Henry E. Roscoe, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.
CHARLES DARWIN
AND THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
* * * * * *
The Century Science Series.
EDITED BY
SIR HENRY E. ROSCOE, D.C.L., F.R.S.
John Dalton and the Rise of Modern Chemistry.
By Sir HENRY E. ROSCOE, F.R.S., &c.
Major Rennell, F.R.S., and the Rise of Modern English Geography.
By Sir CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, C.B., F.R.S., President of the Royal
Geographical Society.
Justus von Liebig: his Life and Work (1803–1873).
By W. A. SHENSTONE, F.I.C., Lecturer on Chemistry in Clifton College.
The Herschels and Modern Astronomy.
By AGNES M. CLERKE, Author of “A Popular History of Astronomy during
the 19th Century,” &c.
Charles Lyell and Modern Geology.
By Professor T. G. BONNEY, F.R.S., &c.
James Clerk Maxwell and Modern Physics.
By R. T. GLAZEBROOK, F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher.
By T. E. THORPE, LL.D., F.R.S.
Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection.
By EDWARD B. POULTON, M.A., F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology at the
University of Oxford, &c.
_In Preparation._
Michael Faraday: his Life and Work.
By Professor SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, F.R.S.
Pasteur: his Life and Work.
By M. ARMAND RUFFER, M.D., Director of the British Institute of
Preventive Medicine.
Hermann von Helmholtz.
By A. W. RÜCKER, F.R.S., Professor of Physics in the Royal College of
Science, London.
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, _London; Paris & Melbourne_.
* * * * * *
[Illustration:
_Photo by Mr. James C. Christie, F.G.S., Glasgow._
STATUE OF CHARLES DARWIN.
(_By Boehm._)
CENTRAL HALL OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.]
The Century Science Series
CHARLES DARWIN
AND THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
by
EDWARD B. POULTON
M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., ETC.
Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford
Corresp. Memb. of the New York Academy of Sciences
Corresp. Memb. of the Boston Society of Nat. Hist.
Cassell and Company, Limited
London, Paris & Melbourne
1896
All Rights Reserved
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTION
In the following pages I have tried to express a sense of the greatness
of my subject by simplicity and directness of statement. The limits
of the work necessarily prevented any detailed treatment, the subject
of the work prevented originality. We have had the great “Life and
Letters” with us for nine years, and this I have used as a mine,
extracting what I believed to be the statements of chief importance for
the work in hand, and grouping them so as to present what I hope is
a connected account of Darwin’s life, when considered in relation to
his marvellous work; and especially to the great central discovery of
Natural Selection and its exposition in the “Origin of Species.”
In addition to the invaluable volumes which we owe to the industry,
taste, and skill of Francis Darwin, an immense number of other works
have been consulted. We live in an age of writing, and of speeches and
addresses; and the many sides of Darwin’s life and work have again and
again inspired the ablest men of our time to write and speak their
best--a justification for the freedom with which quotations are spread
over the following pages.
It is my pleasant duty to express my hearty thanks to many kind friends
who have helped in the production of this little work. Mr. Francis
Darwin has kindly permitted the use of many of Darwin’s letters,
which have not as yet been published, and he has given me valuable
information and criticism on many points. I have also gained much
by discussion and correspondence with my friends Dr. A. R. Wallace,
Professor E. Ray Lankester, and Professor Meldola. The latter has
freely given me the use of his valuable series of letters; and I owe
to my friend, Mr. Rowland H. Wedgwood, the opportunity of publishing a
single letter of very great interest.
The greater part of the volume formed the subject of two short courses
of lectures delivered in the Hope Department of the Oxford University
Museum in Michaelmas Term 1894 and Lent Term 1895.
EDWARD B. POULTON.
Oxford, _October, 1896_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--THE SECRET OF DARWIN’S GREATNESS 9
II.--BOYHOOD--EDINBURGH--CAMBRIDGE (1817–31) 16
III.--VOYAGE OF THE “BEAGLE” (1831–36) 21
IV.--CAMBRIDGE--LONDON--WORK UPON THE
COLLECTIONS--MARRIAGE--GEOLOGICAL WORK--JOURNAL OF
THE VOYAGE--CORAL REEFS--FIRST RECORDED THOUGHTS ON
EVOLUTION (1837–42) 25
V.--DOWN--GEOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE--WORK ON CIRRIPEDES (1842–54) 35
VI.--THE GROWTH OF THE “ORIGIN OF SPECIES” (1837–58) 42
VII.--GROWTH OF THE “ORIGIN” (_continued_)--CORRESPONDENCE WITH
FRIENDS 50
VIII.--DARWIN AND WALLACE (1858) 60
IX.--DARWIN’S SECTION OF THE JOINT MEMOIR READ BEFORE THE
LINNEAN SOCIETY JULY 1, 1858 65
X.--WALLACE’S SECTION OF THE JOINT MEMOIR READ BEFORE THE
LINNEAN SOCIETY JULY 1, 1858 71
XI.--COMPARISON OF DARWIN’S AND WALLACE’S SECTIONS OF THE JOINT
MEMOIR--RECEPTION OF THEIR VIEWS--THEIR FRIENDSHIP 78
XII.--THE GROWTH OF WALLACE’S CONVICTIONS ON EVOLUTION AND
DISCOVERY OF NATURAL SELECTION--BORNEO 1855--TERNATE
1858 87
XIII.--CANON TRISTRAM THE FIRST PUBLICLY TO ACCEPT THE THEORY
OF NATURAL SELECTION (1859) 92
XIV.--THE PREPARATION OF THE “ORIGIN OF SPECIES” (1858–59) 95
XV.--THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES (1859) 100
XVI.--THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN UPON LYELL (1859–64) 105
XVII.--INFLUENCE OF DARWIN UPON HOOKER AND ASA GRAY--NATURAL
SELECTION AND DESIGN IN NATURE (1860–68) 111
XVIII.--INFLUENCE OF DARWIN UPON HUXLEY 119
XIX.--THE DIFFICULTY WITH WHICH THE “ORIGIN” WAS UNDERSTOOD 144
XX.--THE DIFFICULTY WITH WHICH THE “ORIGIN” WAS UNDERSTOOD
(_continued_)--VIEWS ON SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 153
XXI.--VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER DOMESTICATION:
PANGENESIS (1868) 161
XXII.--PANGENESIS AND CONTINUITY OF THE GERM-PLASM: DARWIN’S
CONFIDENCE IN PANGENESIS 178
XXIII.--DESCENT OF MAN--EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS--EARTH-WORMS
(1871–81) 186
XXIV.--BOTANICAL WORKS (1862–86) 193
XXV.--LETTERS FROM DARWIN TO PROFESSOR MELDOLA (1871–82) 199
XXVI.--HIS LAST ILLNESS (1882) 219
INDEX 221
CHARLES DARWIN
AND
THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION.
CHAPTER I.
THE SECRET OF DARWIN’S GREATNESS.
Charles Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809,
the year which witnessed the birth of Alfred Tennyson, W. E. Gladstone,
and Abraham Lincoln.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, born in the same year, delighted to speak of the
good company in which he came into the world. On January 27th, 1894,
I had the great pleasure of sitting next to him at a dinner of the
Saturday Club in Boston, and he then spoke of the subject with the same
enthusiasm with which he deals with it in his writings; mentioning the
four distinguished names, and giving a brief epigrammatic description
of each with characteristic felicity. Dr. Holmes further said that he
remembered with much satisfaction an occasion on which he was able to
correct Darwin on a matter of scientific fact. He could not remember
the details, but we may hope for their ultimate recovery, for he said
that Darwin had written a courteous reply accepting the correction.
[Sidenote: HIS FAMILY.]
Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), was a man of
great genius. He speculated upon the origin of species, and arrived at
views which were afterwards independently enunciated by Lamarck. He
resembled this great zoologist in fertility of imagination, and also in
the boldness with which he put forward suggestions, many of which were
crude and entirely untested by an appeal to facts. The poetical form in
which a part of his work was written was, doubtless, largely due to the
traditions and customs of the age in which he lived.
Robert Waring (1766–1848), the father of Charles Darwin, was the second
son of Erasmus. He married a daughter of the great Josiah Wedgwood.
Although his mother died when he was only eight years old, and Darwin
remembered very little of her, there is evidence that she directed his
attention to Nature (“Autobiography,” p. 28, footnote). Dr. Darwin
followed his father’s profession, commencing a very successful medical
practice at Shrewsbury before he was twenty-one. He was a man of great
penetration, especially in the discernment of character--a power which
was of the utmost value to him in his profession. Dr. Darwin had two
sons and four daughters: Charles was the younger son and fourth child,
his brother Erasmus being the third.
Even in this mere outline there is evidence of hereditary genius
in the Darwin family--evidence which becomes irresistible when all
available details of every member of the family are brought together,
as they are in the great “Life and Letters.” When it is further
remembered that two of Charles Darwin’s sons have achieved distinction
as scientific investigators, it will be admitted that the history of
the family affords a most striking example of hereditary intellectual
power.
There is nothing in this history to warrant the belief that the nature
and direction of hereditary genius receive any bias from the line of
intellectual effort pursued by a parent. We recognise the strongest
evidence for hereditary capacity, but none at all for the transmission
of results which follow the employment of capacity. Thus Erasmus
inherited high intellectual power, with a bias entirely different from
that of his younger brother Charles--his interests being literary
and artistic rather than scientific. The wide difference between the
brothers seems to have made a great impression upon Charles, for he
wrote:--
“Our minds and tastes were, however, so different, that I do not
think I owe much to him intellectually. I am inclined to agree
with Francis Galton in believing that education and environment
produce only a small effect on the mind of anyone, and that most
of our qualities are innate” (“Life and Letters,” 1887, p. 22).
Equally significant is the fact that Professor George Darwin’s
important researches in mathematics have been applied to
astronomy--subjects which were not pursued by his father.
[Sidenote: CHARACTER AND POWERS.]
It appears probable that Charles Darwin’s unique power was largely
due to the inheritance of the imagination of his grandfather combined
with the acute observation of his father. Although he possessed an
even larger share of both these qualities than his predecessors, it
is probable that he owed more to their co-operation than to the high
degree of their development.
It is a common error to suppose that the intellectual powers which
make the poet or the historian are essentially different from those
which make the man of science. Powers of observation, however acute,
could never make a scientific discoverer; for discovery requires the
creative effort of the imagination. The scientific man does not stumble
upon new facts or conclusions by accident; he finds what he looks for.
The problem before him is essentially similar to that of the historian
who tries to create an accurate and complete picture of an epoch out
of scattered records of contemporary impressions more or less true,
and none wholly true. Fertility of imagination is absolutely essential
for that step from the less to the more perfectly known which we call
discovery.
But fertility of imagination alone is insufficient for the highest
achievement in poetry, history, or science; for in all these subjects
the strictest self-criticism and the soundest judgment are necessary
in order to ensure that the results are an advance in the direction
of the truth. A delicately-adjusted balance between the powers of
imagination and the powers which hold imagination in check, is
essential in the historian who is to provide us with a picture of a
past age, which explains the mistaken impression gained by a more or
less prejudiced observer who saw but a small part of it from a limited
standpoint, and has handed down his impression to us. A poem which
sheds new light upon the relation between mind and mind, requires to
be tested and controlled by constant and correct observation, like a
hypothesis in the domain of the natural sciences.
It is probable, then, that the secret of Darwin’s strength lay in the
perfect balance between his powers of imagination and those of accurate
observation, the creative efforts of the one being ever subjected to
the most relentless criticism by the employment of the other. We shall
never know, I have heard Professor Michael Foster say, the countless
hypotheses which passed through the mind of Darwin, and which, however
wild and improbable, were tested by an appeal to Nature, and were then
dismissed for ever.
Darwin’s estimate of his own powers is given with characteristic
candour and modesty in the concluding paragraph of his “Autobiography”
(“Life and Letters,” 1887, p. 107):--
“Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this
may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can
judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and
conditions. Of these, the most important have been--the love
of science--unbounded patience in long reflecting over any
subject--industry in observing and collecting facts--and a fair
share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate
abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have
influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific men
on some important points.”
We also know from other sources that Darwin looked upon the creative
powers as essential to scientific progress. Thus he wrote to Wallace
in 1857: “I am a firm believer that without speculation there is no
good and original observation.” He also says in the “Autobiography”:
“I have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free so as to give up any
hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on
every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it.”
[Sidenote: VALUE OF HYPOTHESIS.]
I have thought it worth while to insist thus strongly on the high value
attached by Darwin to hypothesis, controlled by observation, in view
of certain recent attacks upon this necessary weapon for scientific
advance. Thus Bateson, in his “Materials for the Study of Variation”
(London, 1894), p. 7, says: “In the old time the facts of Nature
were beautiful in themselves and needed not the rouge of speculation
to quicken their charm, but that was long ago before Modern Science
was born.” The author does not specify the period in the history of
science when discovery proceeded without hypothesis. A study of the
earlier volumes of the _Philosophical Transactions_ reveals a far
greater interest in speculation than in the facts of Nature. We can
hardly call those ages anything but speculative which received with
approval the suggestions that geese were developed from barnacles which
grew upon trees; that swallows hibernated at the bottom of lakes;
that the Trade-winds were due to the breath of a sea-weed. Bateson’s
statement requires to be reversed in order to become correct. Modern
science differs from the science of long ago in its greater attention
to the facts of Nature and its more rigid control over the tendency
to hypothesis; although hypothesis remains, and must ever remain, as
the guide and inspirer of observation and the discovery of fact.[A]
Although Darwin has kindled the imagination of hundreds of workers, and
has thus been the cause of an immense amount of speculation, science
owes him an even larger debt for the innumerable facts discovered under
the guidance of this faculty.