(Mr Francis Darwin has related how his father occasionally came up from
Down to spend a few days with his brother Erasmus in London, and,
after his brother's death, with his daughter, Mrs Litchfield. On these
occasions, it was his habit to arrange meetings with Huxley, to talk
over zoological questions, with Hooker, to discuss botanical problems,
and with Lyell to hold conversations on geology. After the death of
Lyell, Darwin, knowing my close intimacy with his friend during his
later years, used to ask me to meet him when he came to town, and "talk
geology." The "talks" took place sometimes at Jermyn Street Museum, at
other times in the Royal College of Science, South Kensington; but
more frequently, after having lunch with him, at his brother's or his
daughter's house. On several occasions, however, I had the pleasure of
visiting him at Down. In the postscript of a letter (of April 15, 1880)
arranging one of these visits, he writes: "Since poor, dear Lyell's
death, I rarely have the pleasure of geological talk with anyone.")
In one of the very interesting conversations which I had with Charles
Darwin during the last seven years of his life, he asked me in a very
pointed manner if I were able to recall the circumstances, accidental or
otherwise, which had led me to devote myself to geological studies. He
informed me that he was making similar inquiries of other friends, and I
gathered from what he said that he contemplated at that time a study
of the causes producing SCIENTIFIC BIAS in individual minds. I have
no means of knowing how far this project ever assumed anything like
concrete form, but certain it is that Darwin himself often indulged
in the processes of mental introspection and analysis; and he has
thus fortunately left us--in his fragments of autobiography and in his
correspondence--the materials from which may be reconstructed a fairly
complete history of his own mental development.
There are two perfectly distinct inquiries which we have to undertake
in connection with the development of Darwin's ideas on the subject of
evolution:
FIRST. How, when, and under what conditions was Darwin led to a
conviction that species were not immutable, but were derived from
pre-existing forms?
SECONDLY. By what lines of reasoning and research was he brought to
regard "natural selection" as a vera causa in the process of evolution?
It is the first of these inquiries which specially interests the
geologist; though geology undoubtedly played a part--and by no means an
insignificant part--in respect to the second inquiry.
When, indeed, the history comes to be written of that great revolution
of thought in the nineteenth century, by which the doctrine of
evolution, from being the dream of poets and visionaries, gradually grew
to be the accepted creed of naturalists, the paramount influence exerted
by the infant science of geology--and especially that resulting from
the publication of Lyell's epoch-making work, the "Principles of
Geology"--cannot fail to be regarded as one of the leading factors.
Herbert Spencer in his "Autobiography" bears testimony to the effect
produced on his mind by the recently published "Principles", when, at
the age of twenty, he had already begun to speculate on the subject
of evolution (Herbert Spencer's "Autobiography", London, 1904, Vol. I.
pages 175-177.); and Alfred Russel Wallace is scarcely less emphatic
concerning the part played by Lyell's teaching in his scientific
education. (See "My Life; a record of Events and Opinions", London,
1905, Vol. I. page 355, etc. Also his review of Lyell's "Principles"
in "Quarterly Review" (Vol. 126), 1869, pages 359-394. See also "The
Darwin-Wallace Celebration by the Linnean Society" (1909), page 118.)
Huxley wrote in 1887 "I owe more than I can tell to the careful study
of the "Principles of Geology" in my young days." ("Science and Pseudo
Science"; "Collected Essays", London, 1902, Vol. V. page 101.) As for
Charles Darwin, he never tired--either in his published writings, his
private correspondence or his most intimate conversations--of ascribing
the awakening of his enthusiasm and the direction of his energies
towards the elucidation of the problem of development to the "Principles
of Geology" and the personal influence of its author. Huxley has well
expressed what the author of the "Origin of Species" so constantly
insisted upon, in the statements "Darwin's greatest work is the outcome
of the unflinching application to Biology of the leading idea and the
method applied in the "Principles" to Geology ("Proc. Roy. Soc." Vol.
XLIV. (1888), page viii.; "Collected Essays" II. page 268, 1902.), and
"Lyell, for others, as for myself, was the chief agent in smoothing the
road for Darwin." ("Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" II. page 190.)
We propose therefore to consider, first, what Darwin owed to geology and
its cultivators, and in the second place how he was able in the end so
fully to pay a great debt which he never failed to acknowledge. Thanks
to the invaluable materials contained in the "Life and Letters of
Charles Darwin" (3 vols.) published by Mr Francis Darwin in 1887; and to
"More Letters of Charles Darwin" (2 vols.) issued by the same author,
in conjunction with Professor A.C. Seward, in 1903, we are permitted to
follow the various movements in Darwin's mind, and are able to record
the story almost entirely in his own words. (The first of these works
is indicated in the following pages by the letters "L.L."; the second by
"M.L.")
From the point of view of the geologist, Darwin's life naturally divides
itself into four periods. In the first, covering twenty-two years,
various influences were at work militating, now for and now against,
his adoption of a geological career; in the second period--the five
memorable years of the voyage of the "Beagle"--the ardent sportsman with
some natural-history tastes, gradually became the most enthusiastic and
enlightened of geologists; in the third period, lasting ten years, the
valuable geological recruit devoted nearly all his energies and time
to geological study and discussion and to preparing for publication the
numerous observations made by him during the voyage; the fourth period,
which covers the latter half of his life, found Darwin gradually drawn
more and more from geological to biological studies, though always
retaining the deepest interest in the progress and fortunes of his "old
love." But geologists gladly recognise the fact that Darwin immeasurably
better served their science by this biological work, than he could
possibly have done by confining himself to purely geological questions.
From his earliest childhood, Darwin was a collector, though up to the
time when, at eight years of age, he went to a preparatory school,
seals, franks and similar trifles appear to have been the only objects
of his quest. But a stone, which one of his schoolfellows at that time
gave to him, seems to have attracted his attention and set him seeking
for pebbles and minerals; as the result of this newly acquired taste, he
says (writing in 1838) "I distinctly recollect the desire I had of being
able to know something about every pebble in front of the hall door--it
was my earliest and only geological aspiration at that time." ("M.L."
I. page 3.) He further suspects that while at Mr Case's school "I do
not remember any mental pursuits except those of collecting stones,"
etc... "I was born a naturalist." ("M.L." I. page 4.)
The court-yard in front of the hall door at the Mount House, Darwin's
birthplace and the home of his childhood, is surrounded by beds or
rockeries on which lie a number of pebbles. Some of these pebbles (in
quite recent times as I am informed) have been collected to form a
"cobbled" space in front of the gate in the outer wall, which fronts the
hall door; and a similar "cobbled area," there is reason to believe, may
have existed in Darwin's childhood before the door itself. The pebbles,
which were obtained from a neighbouring gravel-pit, being derived from
the glacial drift, exhibit very striking differences in colour and form.
It was probably this circumstance which awakened in the child his
love of observation and speculation. It is certainly remarkable that
"aspirations" of the kind should have arisen in the mind of a child of 9
or 10!
When he went to Shrewsbury School, he relates "I continued collecting
minerals with much zeal, but quite unscientifically,--all that I cared
about was a new-NAMED mineral, and I hardly attempted to classify them."
("L.L." I. page 34.)
There has stood from very early times in Darwin's native town of
Shrewsbury, a very notable boulder which has probably marked a boundary
and is known as the "Bell-stone"--giving its name to a house and street.
Darwin tells us in his "Autobiography" that while he was at Shrewsbury
School at the age of 13 or 14 "an old Mr Cotton in Shropshire, who knew
a good deal about rocks" pointed out to me "... the 'bell-stone'; he told
me that there was no rock of the same kind nearer than Cumberland or
Scotland, and he solemnly assured me that the world would come to an end
before anyone would be able to explain how this stone came where it
now lay"! Darwin adds "This produced a deep impression on me, and I
meditated over this wonderful stone." ("L.L." I. page 41.)
The "bell-stone" has now, owing to the necessities of building, been
removed a short distance from its original site, and is carefully
preserved within the walls of a bank. It is a block of irregular shape 3
feet long and 2 feet wide, and about 1 foot thick, weighing probably not
less than one-third of a ton. By the courtesy of the directors of the
National Provincial Bank of England, I have been able to make a minute
examination of it, and Professors Bonney and Watts, with Mr Harker and
Mr Fearnsides have given me their valuable assistance. The rock is a
much altered andesite and was probably derived from the Arenig district
in North Wales, or possibly from a point nearer the Welsh Border. (I
am greatly indebted to the Managers of the Bank at Shrewsbury for kind
assistance in the examination of this interesting memorial: and Mr
H.T. Beddoes, the Curator of the Shrewsbury Museum, has given me some
archaeological information concerning the stone. Mr Richard Cotton was
a good local naturalist, a Fellow both of the Geological and Linnean
Societies; and to the officers of these societies I am indebted for
information concerning him. He died in 1839, and although he does not
appear to have published any scientific papers, he did far more for
science by influencing the career of the school boy!) It was of course
brought to where Shrewsbury now stands by the agency of a glacier--as
Darwin afterwards learnt.
We can well believe from the perusal of these reminiscences that,
at this time, Darwin's mind was, as he himself says, "prepared for a
philosophical treatment of the subject" of Geology. ("L.L." I. page 41.)
When at the age of 16, however, he was entered as a medical student at
Edinburgh University, he not only did not get any encouragement of
his scientific tastes, but was positively repelled by the ordinary
instruction given there. Dr Hope's lectures on Chemistry, it is true,
interested the boy, who with his brother Erasmus had made a laboratory
in the toolhouse, and was nicknamed "Gas" by his schoolfellows, while
undergoing solemn and public reprimand from Dr Butler at Shrewsbury
School for thus wasting his time. ("L.L." I. page 35.) But most of
the other Edinburgh lectures were "intolerably dull," "as dull as the
professors" themselves, "something fearful to remember." In after life
the memory of these lectures was like a nightmare to him. He speaks in
1840 of Jameson's lectures as something "I... for my sins experienced!"
("L.L." I. page 340.) Darwin especially signalises these lectures on
Geology and Zoology, which he attended in his second year, as being
worst of all "incredibly dull. The sole effect they produced on me was
the determination never so long as I lived to read a book on Geology, or
in any way to study the science!" ("L.L." I. page 41.)
The misfortune was that Edinburgh at that time had become the cockpit in
which the barren conflict between "Neptunism" and "Plutonism" was being
waged with blind fury and theological bitterness. Jameson and his
pupils, on the one hand, and the friends and disciples of Hutton, on the
other, went to the wildest extremes in opposing each other's peculiar
tenets. Darwin tells us that he actually heard Jameson "in a field
lecture at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trap-dyke, with
amygdaloidal margins and the strata indurated on each side, with
volcanic rocks all around us, say that it was a fissure filled with
sediment from above, adding with a sneer that there were men who
maintained that it had been injected from beneath in a molten
condition." ("L.L." I. pages 41-42.) "When I think of this lecture,"
added Darwin, "I do not wonder that I determined never to attend to
Geology." (This was written in 1876 and Darwin had in the summer of 1839
revisited and carefully studied the locality ("L.L." I. page 290.) It is
probable that most of Jameson's teaching was of the same controversial
and unilluminating character as this field-lecture at Salisbury Craigs.
There can be no doubt that, while at Edinburgh, Darwin must have become
acquainted with the doctrines of the Huttonian School. Though so young,
he mixed freely with the scientific society of the city, Macgillivray,
Grant, Leonard Horner, Coldstream, Ainsworth and others being among
his acquaintances, while he attended and even read papers at the local
scientific societies. It is to be feared, however, that what Darwin
would hear most of, as characteristic of the Huttonian teaching, would
be assertions that chalk-flints were intrusions of molten silica, that
fossil wood and other petrifactions had been impregnated with fused
materials, that heat--but never water--was always the agent by which
the induration and crystallisation of rock-materials (even siliceous
conglomerate, limestone and rock-salt) had been effected! These
extravagant "anti-Wernerian" views the young student might well regard
as not one whit less absurd and repellant than the doctrine of the
"aqueous precipitation" of basalt. There is no evidence that Darwin,
even if he ever heard of them, was in any way impressed, in his early
career, by the suggestive passages in Hutton and Playfair, to which
Lyell afterwards called attention, and which foreshadowed the main
principles of Uniformitarianism.
As a matter of fact, I believe that the influence of Hutton and Playfair
in the development of a philosophical theory of geology has been very
greatly exaggerated by later writers on the subject. Just as Wells
and Matthew anticipated the views of Darwin on Natural Selection,
but without producing any real influence on the course of biological
thought, so Hutton and Playfair adumbrated doctrines which only became
the basis of vivifying theory in the hands of Lyell. Alfred Russel
Wallace has very justly remarked that when Lyell wrote the "Principles
of Geology", "the doctrines of Hutton and Playfair, so much in advance
of their age, seemed to be utterly forgotten." ("Quarterly Review", Vol.
CXXVI. (1869), page 363.) In proof of this it is only necessary to
point to the works of the great masters of English geology, who preceded
Lyell, in which the works of Hutton and his followers are scarcely ever
mentioned. This is true even of the "Researches in Theoretical Geology"
and the other works of the sagacious De la Beche. (Of the strength
and persistence of the prejudice felt against Lyell's views by his
contemporaries, I had a striking illustration some little time after
Lyell's death. One of the old geologists who in the early years of the
century had done really good work in connection with the Geological
Society expressed a hope that I was not "one of those who had been
carried away by poor Lyell's fads." My surprise was indeed great when
further conversation showed me that the whole of the "Principles" were
included in the "fads"!) Darwin himself possessed a copy of Playfair's
"Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory", and occasionally quotes it;
but I have met with only one reference to Hutton, and that a somewhat
enigmatical one, in all Darwin's writings. In a letter to Lyell in 1841,
when his mind was much exercised concerning glacial questions, he says
"What a grand new feature all this ice work is in Geology! How old
Hutton would have stared!" ("M.L." II. page 149.)
As a consequence of the influences brought to bear on his mind during
his two years' residence in Edinburgh, Darwin, who had entered that
University with strong geological aspirations, left it and proceeded to
Cambridge with a pronounced distaste for the whole subject. The result
of this was that, during his career as an under-graduate, he neglected
all the opportunities for geological study. During that important period
of life, when he was between eighteen and twenty years of age, Darwin
spent his time in riding, shooting and beetle-hunting, pursuits which
were undoubtedly an admirable preparation for his future work as an
explorer; but in none of his letters of this period does he even mention
geology. He says, however, "I was so sickened with lectures at
Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting
lectures." ("L.L." I. page 48.)
It was only after passing his examination, and when he went up to spend
two extra terms at Cambridge, that geology again began to attract his
attention. The reading of Sir John Herschel's "Introduction to the Study
of Natural Philosophy", and of Humboldt's "Personal Narrative", a
copy of which last had been given to him by his good friend and mentor
Henslow, roused his dormant enthusiasm for science, and awakened in his
mind a passionate desire for travel. And it was from Henslow, whom
he had accompanied in his excursions, but without imbibing any marked
taste, at that time, for botany, that the advice came to think of and to
"begin the study of geology." ("L.L." I. page 56.) This was in 1831, and
in the summer vacation of that year we find him back again at Shrewsbury
"working like a tiger" at geology and endeavouring to make a map
and section of Shropshire--work which he says was not "as easy as I
expected." ("L.L." I. page 189.) No better field for geological studies
could possibly be found than Darwin's native county.
Writing to Henslow at this time, and referring to a form of the
instrument devised by his friend, Darwin says: "I am very glad to say I
think the clinometer will answer admirably. I put all the tables in my
bedroom at every conceivable angle and direction. I will venture to say
that I have measured them as accurately as any geologist going could
do." But he adds: "I have been working at so many things that I have
not got on much with geology. I suspect the first expedition I take,
clinometer and hammer in hand, will send me back very little wiser and
a good deal more puzzled than when I started." ("L.L." I. page 189.)
Valuable aid was, however, at hand, for at this time Sedgwick, to whom
Darwin had been introduced by the ever-helpful Henslow, was making one
of his expeditions into Wales, and consented to accept the young student
as his companion during the geological tour. ("L.L." I. page 56.) We
find Darwin looking forward to this privilege with the keenest interest.
("L.L." I. page 189.)
When at the beginning of August (1831), Sedgwick arrived at his father's
house in Shrewsbury, where he spent a night, Darwin began to receive his
first and only instruction as a field-geologist. The journey they took
together led them through Llangollen, Conway, Bangor, and Capel Curig,
at which latter place they parted after spending many hours in examining
the rocks at Cwm Idwal with extreme care, seeking for fossils but
without success. Sedgwick's mode of instruction was admirable--he from
time to time sent the pupil off on a line parallel to his own, "telling
me to bring back specimens of the rocks and to mark the stratification
on a map." ("L.L." I. page 57.) On his return to Shrewsbury, Darwin
wrote to Henslow, "My trip with Sedgwick answered most perfectly,"
("L.L." I. page 195.), and in the following year he wrote again from
South America to the same friend, "Tell Professor Sedgwick he does not
know how much I am indebted to him for the Welsh expedition; it has
given me an interest in Geology which I would not give up for any
consideration. I do not think I ever spent a more delightful three weeks
than pounding the north-west mountains." ("L.L." I. pages 237-8.)
It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that at this time Darwin
had acquired anything like the affection for geological study, which
he afterwards developed. After parting with Sedgwick, he walked in a
straight line by compass and map across the mountains to Barmouth to
visit a reading party there, but taking care to return to Shropshire
before September 1st, in order to be ready for the shooting. For as
he candidly tells us, "I should have thought myself mad to give up the
first days of partridge-shooting for geology or any other science!"
("L.L." I. page 58.)
Any regret we may be disposed to feel that Darwin did not use his
opportunities at Edinburgh and Cambridge to obtain systematic and
practical instruction in mineralogy and geology, will be mitigated,
however, when we reflect on the danger which he would run of being
indoctrinated with the crude "catastrophic" views of geology, which were
at that time prevalent in all the centres of learning.
Writing to Henslow in the summer of 1831, Darwin says "As yet I have
only indulged in hypotheses, but they are such powerful ones that I
suppose, if they were put into action but for one day, the world would
come to an end." ("L.L." I. page 189.)
May we not read in this passage an indication that the self-taught
geologist had, even at this early stage, begun to feel a distrust for
the prevalent catastrophism, and that his mind was becoming a field in
which the seeds which Lyell was afterwards to sow would "fall on good
ground"?
The second period of Darwin's geological career--the five years spent
by him on board the "Beagle"--was the one in which by far the most
important stage in his mental development was accomplished. He left
England a healthy, vigorous and enthusiastic collector; he returned five
years later with unique experiences, the germs of great ideas, and
a knowledge which placed him at once in the foremost ranks of the
geologists of that day. Huxley has well said that "Darwin found on board
the "Beagle" that which neither the pedagogues of Shrewsbury, nor the
professoriate of Edinburgh, nor the tutors of Cambridge had managed
to give him." ("Proc. Roy. Soc." Vol. XLIV. (1888), page IX.) Darwin
himself wrote, referring to the date at which the voyage was expected to
begin: "My second life will then commence, and it shall be as a birthday
for the rest of my life." ("L.L." I. page 214.); and looking back on the
voyage after forty years, he wrote; "The voyage of the 'Beagle' has been
by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole
career;... I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real
training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several
branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were
improved, though they were always fairly developed." ("L.L." I. page
61.)
Referring to these general studies in natural history, however, Darwin
adds a very significant remark: "The investigation of the geology of
the places visited was far more important, as reasoning here comes into
play. On first examining a new district nothing can appear more hopeless
than the chaos of rocks; but by recording the stratification and nature
of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reasoning and predicting
what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district,
and the structure of the whole becomes more or less intelligible."
("L.L." I. page 62.)
The famous voyage began amid doubts, discouragements and
disappointments. Fearful of heart-disease, sad at parting from home
and friends, depressed by sea-sickness, the young explorer, after being
twice driven back by baffling winds, reached the great object of
his ambition, the island of Teneriffe, only to find that, owing to
quarantine regulations, landing was out of the question.
But soon this inauspicious opening of the voyage was forgotten. Henslow
had advised his pupil to take with him the first volume of Lyell's
"Principles of Geology", then just published--but cautioned him (as
nearly all the leaders in geological science at that day would certainly
have done) "on no account to accept the views therein advocated."
("L.L." I. page 73.) It is probable that the days of waiting, discomfort
and sea-sickness at the beginning of the voyage were relieved by the
reading of this volume. For he says that when he landed, three weeks
after setting sail from Plymouth, in St Jago, the largest of the Cape de
Verde Islands, the volume had already been "studied attentively; and
the book was of the highest service to me in many ways... " His first
original geological work, he declares, "showed me clearly the wonderful
superiority of Lyell's manner of treating geology, compared with that
of any other author, whose works I had with me or ever afterwards read."
("L.L." I. page 62.)
At St Jago Darwin first experienced the joy of making new discoveries,
and his delight was unbounded. Writing to his father he says,
"Geologising in a volcanic country is most delightful; besides the
interest attached to itself, it leads you into most beautiful and
retired spots." ("L.L." I. page 228.) To Henslow he wrote of St Jago:
"Here we spent three most delightful weeks... St Jago is singularly
barren, and produces few plants or insects, so that my hammer was my
usual companion, and in its company most delightful hours I spent." "The
geology was pre-eminently interesting, and I believe quite new; there
are some facts on a large scale of upraised coast (which is an excellent
epoch for all the volcanic rocks to date from), that would interest Mr
Lyell." ("L.L." I. page 235.) After more than forty years the memory of
this, his first geological work, seems as fresh as ever, and he wrote in
1876, "The geology of St Jago is very striking, yet simple: a stream
of lava formerly flowed over the bed of the sea, formed of triturated
recent shells and corals, which it has baked into a hard white rock.
Since then the whole island has been upheaved. But the line of white
rock revealed to me a new and important fact, namely, that there had
been afterwards subsidence round the craters, which had since been in
action, and had poured forth lava." ("L.L." I. page 65.)
It was at this time, probably, that Darwin made his first attempt at
drawing a sketch-map and section to illustrate the observations he had
made (see his "Volcanic Islands", pages 1 and 9). His first important
geological discovery, that of the subsidence of strata around volcanic
vents (which has since been confirmed by Mr Heaphy in New Zealand and
other authors) awakened an intense enthusiasm, and he writes: "It then
first dawned on me that I might perhaps write a book on the geology of
the various countries visited, and this made me thrill with delight.
That was a memorable hour to me, and how distinctly I can call to mind
the low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun glaring hot,
a few strange desert plants growing near, and with living corals in the
tidal pools at my feet." ("L.L." I. page 66.)
But it was when the "Beagle", after touching at St Paul's rock and
Tristan d'Acunha (for a sufficient time only to collect specimens),
reached the shores of South America, that Darwin's real work began; and
he was able, while the marine surveys were in progress, to make many
extensive journeys on land. His letters at this time show that geology
had become his chief delight, and such exclamations as "Geology carries
the day," "I find in Geology a never failing interest," etc. abound in
his correspondence.
Darwin's time was divided between the study of the great deposits of red
mud--the Pampean formation--with its interesting fossil bones and shells
affording proofs of slow and constant movements of the land, and the
underlying masses of metamorphic and plutonic rocks. Writing to Henslow
in March, 1834, he says: "I am quite charmed with Geology, but, like
the wise animal between two bundles of hay, I do not know which to
like best; the old crystalline groups of rocks, or the softer and
fossiliferous beds. When puzzling about stratification, etc., I
feel inclined to cry 'a fig for your big oysters, and your bigger
megatheriums.' But then when digging out some fine bones, I wonder how
any man can tire his arms with hammering granite." ("L.L." I. page
249.) We are told by Darwin that he loved to reason about and attempt to
predict the nature of the rocks in each new district before he arrived
at it.
This love of guessing as to the geology of a district he was about to
visit is amusingly expressed by him in a letter (of May, 1832) to his
cousin and old college-friend, Fox. After alluding to the beetles he
had been collecting--a taste his friend had in common with himself--he
writes of geology that "It is like the pleasure of gambling. Speculating
on first arriving, what the rocks may be, I often mentally cry out 3 to
1 tertiary against primitive; but the latter have hitherto won all the
bets." ("L.L." I. page 233.)
Not the least important of the educational results of the voyage to
Darwin was the acquirement by him of those habits of industry and method
which enabled him in after life to accomplish so much--in spite of
constant failures of health. From the outset, he daily undertook
and resolutely accomplished, in spite of sea-sickness and other
distractions, four important tasks. In the first place he regularly
wrote up the pages of his Journal, in which, paying great attention to
literary style and composition, he recorded only matters that would be
of general interest, such as remarks on scenery and vegetation, on the
peculiarities and habits of animals, and on the characters, avocations
and political institutions of the various races of men with whom he was
brought in contact. It was the freshness of these observations that gave
his "Narrative" so much charm. Only in those cases in which his ideas
had become fully crystallised, did he attempt to deal with scientific
matters in this journal. His second task was to write in voluminous
note-books facts concerning animals and plants, collected on sea or
land, which could not be well made out from specimens preserved in
spirit; but he tells us that, owing to want of skill in dissecting and
drawing, much of the time spent in this work was entirely thrown away,
"a great pile of MS. which I made during the voyage has proved almost
useless." ("L.L." I. page 62.) Huxley confirmed this judgment on his
biological work, declaring that "all his zeal and industry resulted, for
the most part, in a vast accumulation of useless manuscript." ("Proc.
Roy. Soc." Vol. XLIV. (1888), page IX.) Darwin's third task was of a
very different character and of infinitely greater value. It consisted
in writing notes of his journeys on land--the notes being devoted to
the geology of the districts visited by him. These formed the basis, not
only of a number of geological papers published on his return, but also
of the three important volumes forming "The Geology of the voyage of the
'Beagle'". On July 24th, 1834, when little more than half of the voyage
had been completed, Darwin wrote to Henslow, "My notes are becoming
bulky. I have about 600 small quarto pages full; about half of this is
Geology." ("M.L." I. page 14.) The last, and certainly not the least
important of all his duties, consisted in numbering, cataloguing, and
packing his specimens for despatch to Henslow, who had undertaken the
care of them. In his letters he often expresses the greatest solicitude
lest the value of these specimens should be impaired by the removal of
the numbers corresponding to his manuscript lists. Science owes much
to Henslow's patient care of the collections sent to him by Darwin. The
latter wrote in Henslow's biography, "During the five years' voyage,
he regularly corresponded with me and guided my efforts; he received,
opened, and took care of all the specimens sent home in many large
boxes." ("Life of Henslow", by L. Jenyns (Blomefield), London, 1862,
page 53.)
Darwin's geological specimens are now very appropriately lodged for the
most part in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, his original Catalogue with
subsequent annotations being preserved with them. From an examination of
these catalogues and specimens we are able to form a fair notion of
the work done by Darwin in his little cabin in the "Beagle", in the
intervals between his land journeys.
Besides writing up his notes, it is evident that he was able to
accomplish a considerable amount of study of his specimens, before they
were packed up for despatch to Henslow. Besides hand-magnifiers and
a microscope, Darwin had an equipment for blowpipe-analysis, a
contact-goniometer and magnet; and these were in constant use by him.
His small library of reference (now included in the Collection of books
placed by Mr F. Darwin in the Botany School at Cambridge ("Catalogue
of the Library of Charles Darwin now in the Botany School, Cambridge".
Compiled by H.W. Rutherford; with an introduction by Francis Darwin.
Cambridge, 1908.)) appears to have been admirably selected, and in all
probability contained (in addition to a good many works relating to
South America) a fair number of excellent books of reference. Among
those relating to mineralogy, he possessed the manuals of Phillips,
Alexander Brongniart, Beudant, von Kobell and Jameson: all the
"Cristallographie" of Brochant de Villers and, for blowpipe work, Dr
Children's translation of the book of Berzelius on the subject. In
addition to these, he had Henry's "Experimental Chemistry" and Ure's
"Dictionary" (of Chemistry). A work, he evidently often employed, was P.
Syme's book on "Werner's Nomenclature of Colours"; while, for Petrology,
he used Macculloch's "Geological Classification of Rocks". How
diligently and well he employed his instruments and books is shown by
the valuable observations recorded in the annotated Catalogues drawn up
on board ship.
These catalogues have on the right-hand pages numbers and descriptions
of the specimens, and on the opposite pages notes on the specimens--the
result of experiments made at the time and written in a very small hand.
Of the subsequently made pencil notes, I shall have to speak later.
(I am greatly indebted to my friend Mr A. Harker, F.R.S., for his
assistance in examining these specimens and catalogues. He has also
arranged the specimens in the Sedgwick Museum, so as to make reference
to them easy. The specimens from Ascension and a few others are however
in the Museum at Jermyn Street.)
It is a question of great interest to determine the period and the
occasion of Darwin's first awakening to the great problem of the
transmutation of species. He tells us himself that his grandfather's
"Zoonomia" had been read by him "but without producing any effect," and
that his friend Grant's rhapsodies on Lamarck and his views on evolution
only gave rise to "astonishment." ("L.L." I. page 38.)
Huxley, who had probably never seen the privately printed volume of
letters to Henslow, expressed the opinion that Darwin could not have
perceived the important bearing of his discovery of bones in the Pampean
Formation, until they had been studied in England, and their analogies
pronounced upon by competent comparative anatomists. And this seemed to
be confirmed by Darwin's own entry in his pocket-book for 1837, "In
July opened first notebook on Transmutation of Species. Had been greatly
struck from about the month of previous March on character of South
American fossils... " ("L.L." I. page 276.)
The second volume of Lyell's "Principles of Geology" was published in
January, 1832, and Darwin's copy (like that of the other two volumes,
in a sadly dilapidated condition from constant use) has in it the
inscription, "Charles Darwin, Monte Video. Nov. 1832." As everyone
knows, Darwin in dedicating the second edition of his Journal of the
Voyage to Lyell declared, "the chief part of whatever scientific merit
this journal and the other works of the author may possess, has been
derived from studying the well-known and admirable 'Principles of
Geology'".
In the first chapter of this second volume of the "Principles", Lyell
insists on the importance of the species question to the geologist,
but goes on to point out the difficulty of accepting the only
serious attempt at a transmutation theory which had up to that time
appeared--that of Lamarck. In subsequent chapters he discusses the
questions of the modification and variability of species, of hybridity,
and of the geographical distribution of plants and animals. He then
gives vivid pictures of the struggle for existence, ever going
on between various species, and of the causes which lead to their
extinction--not by overwhelming catastrophes, but by the silent and
almost unobserved action of natural causes. This leads him to consider
theories with regard to the introduction of new species, and, rejecting
the fanciful notions of "centres or foci of creation," he argues
strongly in favour of the view, as most reconcileable with observed
facts, that "each species may have had its origin in a single pair, or
individual, where an individual was sufficient, and species may have
been created in succession at such times and in such places as to enable
them to multiply and endure for an appointed period, and occupy an
appointed space on the globe." ("Principles of Geology", Vol. II. (1st
edition 1832), page 124. We now know, as has been so well pointed out
by Huxley, that Lyell, as early as 1827, was prepared to accept the
doctrine of the transmutation of species. In that year he wrote to
Mantell, "What changes species may really undergo! How impossible will
it be to distinguish and lay down a line, beyond which some of the
so-called extinct species may have never passed into recent ones"
(Lyell's "Life and Letters" Vol. I. page 168). To Sir John Herschel in
1836, he wrote, "In regard to the origination of new species, I am
very glad to find that you think it probable that it may be carried on
through the intervention of intermediate causes. I left this rather to
be inferred, not thinking it worth while to offend a certain class of
persons by embodying in words what would only be a speculation" (Ibid.
page 467). He expressed the same views to Whewell in 1837 (Ibid. Vol.
II. page 5.), and to Sedgwick (Ibid. Vol. II. page 36) to whom he says,
of "the theory, that the creation of new species is going on at the
present day"--"I really entertain it," but "I have studiously avoided
laying the doctrine down dogmatically as capable of proof" (see Huxley
in "L.L." II. pages 190-195.))
After pointing out how impossible it would be for a naturalist to prove
that a newly DISCOVERED species was really newly CREATED (Mr F. Darwin
has pointed out that his father (like Lyell) often used the term
"Creation" in speaking of the origin of new species ("L.L." II. chapter
1.)), Lyell argued that no satisfactory evidence OF THE WAY in which
these new forms were created, had as yet been discovered, but that he
entertained the hope of a possible solution of the problem being found
in the study of the geological record.
It is not difficult, in reading these chapters of Lyell's great work,
to realise what an effect they would have on the mind of Darwin, as
new facts were collected and fresh observations concerning extinct and
recent forms were made in his travels. We are not surprised to find him
writing home, "I am become a zealous disciple of Mr Lyell's views, as
known in his admirable book. Geologising in South America, I am tempted
to carry parts to a greater extent even than he does." ("L.L." I. page
263.)
Lyell's anticipation that the study of the geological record might
afford a clue to the discovery of how new species originate was
remarkably fulfilled, within a few months, by Darwin's discovery of
fossil bones in the red Pampean mud.
It is very true that, as Huxley remarked, Darwin's knowledge of
comparative anatomy must have been, at that time, slight; but that he
recognised the remarkable resemblances between the extinct and existing
mammals of South America is proved beyond all question by a passage in
his letter to Henslow, written November 24th, 1832: "I have been very
lucky with fossil bones; I have fragments of at least six
distinct animals... I found a large surface of osseous polygonal
plates... Immediately I saw them I thought they must belong to an
enormous armadillo, living species of which genus are so abundant here,"
and he goes on to say that he has "the lower jaw of some large animal
which, from the molar teeth, I should think belonged to the Edentata."
("M.L." I. pages 11, 12. See "Extracts of Letters addressed to Prof.
Henslow by C. Darwin" (1835), page 7.)
Having found this important clue, Darwin followed it up with
characteristic perseverance. In his quest for more fossil bones he was
indefatigable. Mr Francis Darwin tells us, "I have often heard him speak
of the despair with which he had to break off the projecting extremity
of a huge, partly excavated bone, when the boat waiting for him would
wait no longer." ("L.L." I. page 276 (footnote).) Writing to Haeckel in
1864, Darwin says: "I shall never forget my astonishment when I dug
out a gigantic piece of armour, like that of the living armadillo."
(Haeckel, "History of Creation", Vol. I. page 134, London, 1876.)
In a letter to Henslow in 1834 Darwin says: "I have just got scent
of some fossil bones... what they may be I do not know, but if gold or
galloping will get them they shall be mine." ("M.L." I. page 15.)
Darwin also showed his sense of the importance of the discovery of these
bones by his solicitude about their safe arrival and custody. From the
Falkland Isles (March, 1834), he writes to Henslow: "I have been alarmed
by your expression 'cleaning all the bones' as I am afraid the printed
numbers will be lost: the reason I am so anxious they should not be, is,
that a part were found in a gravel with recent shells, but others in a
very different bed. Now with these latter there were bones of an Agouti,
a genus of animals, I believe, peculiar to America, and it would
be curious to prove that some one of the genus co-existed with the
Megatherium: such and many other points depend on the numbers being
carefully preserved." ("Extracts from Letters etc.", pages 13-14.) In
the abstract of the notes read to the Geological Society in 1835, we
read: "In the gravel of Patagonia he (Darwin) also found many bones of
the Megatherium and of five or six other species of quadrupeds, among
which he has detected the bones of a species of Agouti. He also met with
several examples of the polygonal plates, etc." ("Proc. Geol. Soc." Vol.
II. pages 211-212.)
Darwin's own recollections entirely bear out the conclusion that he
fully recognised, WHILE IN SOUTH AMERICA, the wonderful significance
of the resemblances between the extinct and recent mammalian faunas. He
wrote in his "Autobiography": "During the voyage of the 'Beagle' I had
been deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation
great fossil animals covered with armour like that on the existing
armadillos." ("L.L." I. page 82.)
The impression made on Darwin's mind by the discovery of these fossil
bones, was doubtless deepened as, in his progress southward from Brazil
to Patagonia, he found similar species of Edentate animals everywhere
replacing one another among the living forms, while, whenever fossils
occurred, they also were seen to belong to the same remarkable group of
animals. (While Darwin was making these observations in South America,
a similar generalisation to that at which he arrived was being reached,
quite independently and almost simultaneously, with respect to the
fossil and recent mammals of Australia. In the year 1831, Clift gave
to Jameson a list of bones occurring in the caves and breccias of
Australia, and in publishing this list the latter referred to the fact
that the forms belonged to marsupials, similar to those of the
existing Australian fauna. But he also stated that, as a skull had been
identified (doubtless erroneously) as having belonged to a hippopotamus,
other mammals than marsupials must have spread over the island in late
Tertiary times. It is not necessary to point out that this paper was
quite unknown to Darwin while in South America. Lyell first noticed it
in the third edition of his "Principles", which was published in May,
1834 (see "Edinb. New Phil. Journ." Vol. X. (1831), pages 394-6, and
Lyell's "Principles" (3rd edition), Vol. III. page 421). Darwin referred
to this discovery in 1839 (see his "Journal", page 210.))
That the passage in Darwin's pocket-book for 1837 can only refer to an
AWAKENING of Darwin's interest in the subject--probably resulting from
a sight of the bones when they were being unpacked--I think there
cannot be the smallest doubt; AND WE MAY THEREFORE CONFIDENTLY FIX UPON
NOVEMBER, 1832, AS THE DATE AT WHICH DARWIN COMMENCED THAT LONG SERIES
OF OBSERVATIONS AND REASONINGS WHICH EVENTUALLY CULMINATED IN THE
PREPARATION OF THE "ORIGIN OF SPECIES". Equally certain is it, that it
was his geological work that led Darwin into those paths of research
which in the end conducted him to his great discoveries. I quite agree
with the view expressed by Mr F. Darwin and Professor Seward, that
Darwin, like Lyell, "thought it 'almost useless' to try to prove the
truth of evolution until the cause of change was discovered" ("M.L."
I. page 38.), and that possibly he may at times have vacillated in his
opinions, but I believe there is evidence that, from the date mentioned,
the "species question" was always more or less present in Darwin's mind.
(Although we admit with Huxley that Darwin's training in comparative
anatomy was very small, yet it may be remembered that he was a medical
student for two years, and, if he hated the lectures, he enjoyed the
society of naturalists. He had with him in the little "Beagle" library a
fair number of zoological books, including works on Osteology by Cuvier,
Desmarest and Lesson, as well as two French Encyclopaedias of Natural
History. As a sportsman, he would obtain specimens of recent mammals in
South America, and would thus have opportunities of studying their teeth
and general anatomy. Keen observer, as he undoubtedly was, we need not
then be surprised that he was able to make out the resemblances between
the recent and fossil forms.)
It is clear that, as time went on, Darwin became more and more absorbed
in his geological work. One very significant fact was that the once
ardent sportsman, when he found that shooting the necessary game and
zoological specimens interfered with his work with the hammer, gave up
his gun to his servant. ("L.L." I. page 63.) There is clear evidence
that Darwin gradually became aware how futile were his attempts to add
to zoological knowledge by dissection and drawing, while he felt ever
increasing satisfaction with his geological work.
The voyage fortunately extended to a much longer period (five years)
than the two originally intended, but after being absent nearly three
years, Darwin wrote to his sister in November, 1834, "Hurrah! hurrah!
it is fixed that the 'Beagle' shall not go one mile south of Cape
Tres Montes (about 200 miles south of Chiloe), and from that point to
Valparaiso will be finished in about five months. We shall examine the
Chonos Archipelago, entirely unknown, and the curious inland sea behind
Chiloe. For me it is glorious. Cape Tres Montes is the most southern
point where there is much geological interest, as there the modern beds
end. The Captain then talks of crossing the Pacific; but I think we
shall persuade him to finish the coast of Peru, where the climate
is delightful, the country hideously sterile, but abounding with the
highest interest to the geologist... I have long been grieved and most
sorry at the interminable length of the voyage (though I never would
have quitted it)... I could not make up my mind to return. I could not
give up all the geological castles in the air I had been building up for
the last two years." ("L.L." I. pages 257-58.)
In April, 1835, he wrote to another sister: "I returned a week ago from
my excursion across the Andes to Mendoza. Since leaving England I have
never made so successful a journey... how deeply I have enjoyed it; it
was something more than enjoyment; I cannot express the delight which I
felt at such a famous winding-up of all my geology in South America. I
literally could hardly sleep at nights for thinking over my day's work.
The scenery was so new, and so majestic; everything at an elevation
of 12,000 feet bears so different an aspect from that in the lower
country... To a geologist, also, there are such manifest proofs of
excessive violence; the strata of the highest pinnacles are tossed about
like the crust of a broken pie." ("L.L." I. pages 259-60.)
Darwin anticipated with intense pleasure his visit to the Galapagos
Islands. On July 12th, 1835, he wrote to Henslow: "In a few days' time
the "Beagle" will sail for the Galapagos Islands. I look forward with
joy and interest to this, both as being somewhat nearer to England and
for the sake of having a good look at an active volcano. Although
we have seen lava in abundance, I have never yet beheld the crater."
("M.L." I. page 26.) He could little anticipate, as he wrote these
lines, the important aid in the solution of the "species question" that
would ever after make his visit to the Galapagos Islands so memorable.
In 1832, as we have seen, the great discovery of the relations of living
to extinct mammals in the same area had dawned upon his mind; in 1835
he was to find a second key for opening up the great mystery, by
recognising the variations of similar types in adjoining islands among
the Galapagos.
The final chapter in the second volume of the "Principles" had aroused
in Darwin's mind a desire to study coral-reefs, which was gratified
during his voyage across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. His theory on
the subject was suggested about the end of 1834 or the beginning of
1835, as he himself tells us, before he had seen a coral-reef,
and resulted from his work during two years in which he had "been
incessantly attending to the effects on the shores of South America of
the intermittent elevation of the land, together with denudation and the
deposition of sediment." ("L.L." I. page 70.)
On arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in July, 1836, Darwin was greatly
gratified by hearing that Sedgwick had spoken to his father in high
terms of praise concerning the work done by him in South America.
Referring to the news from home, when he reached Bahia once more, on the
return voyage (August, 1836), he says: "The desert, volcanic rocks, and
wild sea of Ascension... suddenly wore a pleasing aspect, and I set to
work with a good-will at my old work of Geology." ("L.L." I. page 265.)
Writing fifty years later, he says: "I clambered over the mountains of
Ascension with a bounding step and made the volcanic rocks resound under
my geological hammer!" ("L.L." I. page 66.)
That his determination was now fixed to devote his own labours to the
task of working out the geological results of the voyage, and that
he was prepared to leave to more practised hands the study of his
biological collections, is clear from the letters he sent home at this
time. From St Helena he wrote to Henslow asking that he would propose
him as a Fellow of the Geological Society; and his Certificate, in
Henslow's handwriting, is dated September 8th, 1836, being signed from
personal knowledge by Henslow and Sedgwick. He was proposed on November
2nd and elected November 30th, being formally admitted to the Society
by Lyell, who was then President, on January 4th, 1837, on which date he
also read his first paper. Darwin did not become a Fellow of the Linnean
Society till eighteen years later (in 1854).
An estimate of the value and importance of Darwin's geological
discoveries during the voyage of the "Beagle" can best be made when
considering the various memoirs and books in which the author
described them. He was too cautious to allow himself to write his first
impressions in his Journal, and wisely waited till he could study his
specimens under better conditions and with help from others on his
return. The extracts published from his correspondence with Henslow and
others, while he was still abroad, showed, nevertheless, how great was
the mass of observation, how suggestive and pregnant with results were
the reasonings of the young geologist.
Two sets of these extracts from Darwin's letters to Henslow were
printed while he was still abroad. The first of these was the series of
"Geological Notes made during a survey of the East and West Coasts of
South America, in the years 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835, with an account
of a transverse section of the Cordilleras of the Andes between
Valparaiso and Mendoza". Professor Sedgwick, who read these notes to
the Geological Society on November 18th, 1835, stated that "they were
extracted from a series of letters (addressed to Professor Henslow),
containing a great mass of information connected with almost every
branch of natural history," and that he (Sedgwick) had made a selection
of the remarks which he thought would be more especially interesting to
the Geological Society. An abstract of three pages was published in the
"Proceedings of the Geological Society" (Vol. II. pages 210-12.), but so
unknown was the author at this time that he was described as F. Darwin,
Esq., of St John's College, Cambridge! Almost simultaneously (on
November 16th, 1835) a second set of extracts from these letters--this
time of a general character--were read to the Philosophical Society at
Cambridge, and these excited so much interest that they were privately
printed in pamphlet form for circulation among the members.
Many expeditions and "scientific missions" have been despatched to
various parts of the world since the return of the "Beagle" in 1836, but
it is doubtful whether any, even the most richly endowed of them, has
brought back such stores of new information and fresh discoveries as
did that little "ten-gun brig"--certainly no cabin or laboratory was the
birth-place of ideas of such fruitful character as was that narrow end
of a chart-room, where the solitary naturalist could climb into his
hammock and indulge in meditation.
The third and most active portion of Darwin's career as a geologist was
the period which followed his return to England at the end of 1836. His
immediate admission to the Geological Society, at the beginning of 1837,
coincided with an important crisis in the history of geological science.
The band of enthusiasts who nearly thirty years before had inaugurated
the Geological Society--weary of the fruitless conflicts between
"Neptunists" and "Plutonists"--had determined to eschew theory and
confine their labours to the collection of facts, their publications to
the careful record of observations. Greenough, the actual founder of the
Society, was an ardent Wernerian, and nearly all his fellow-workers had
come, more or less directly, under the Wernerian teaching. Macculloch
alone gave valuable support to the Huttonian doctrines, so far as they
related to the influence of igneous activity--but the most important
portion of the now celebrated "Theory of the Earth"--that dealing with
the competency of existing agencies to account for changes in past
geological times--was ignored by all alike. Macculloch's influence on
the development of geology, which might have had far-reaching effects,
was to a great extent neutralised by his peculiarities of mind and
temper; and, after a stormy and troublous career, he retired from the
society in 1832. In all the writings of the great pioneers in English
geology, Hutton and his splendid generalisation are scarcely ever
referred to. The great doctrines of Uniformitarianism, which he had
foreshadowed, were completely ignored, and only his extravagances of
"anti-Wernerianism" seem to have been remembered.
When between 1830 and 1832, Lyell, taking up the almost forgotten ideas
of Hutton, von Hoff and Prevost, published that bold challenge to
the Catastrophists--the "Principles of Geology"--he was met with the
strongest opposition, not only from the outside world, which was amused
by his "absurdities" and shocked by his "impiety"--but not less from
his fellow-workers and friends in the Geological Society. For Lyell's
numerous original observations, and his diligent collection of facts his
contemporaries had nothing but admiration, and they cheerfully admitted
him to the highest offices in the society, but they met his reasonings
on geological theory with vehement opposition and his conclusions with
coldness and contempt.
There is, indeed, a very striking parallelism between the reception of
the "Principles of Geology" by Lyell's contemporaries and the manner in
which the "Origin of Species" was met a quarter of a century later, as
is so vividly described by Huxley. ("L.L." II. pages 179-204.) Among
Lyell's fellow-geologists, two only--G. Poulett Scrope and John Herschel
(Both Lyell and Darwin fully realised the value of the support of these
two friends. Scrope in his appreciative reviews of the "Principles"
justly pointed out what was the weakest point, the inadequate
recognition of sub-aerial as compared with marine denudation. Darwin
also admitted that Scrope had to a great extent forestalled him in his
theory of Foliation. Herschel from the first insisted that the leading
idea of the "Principles" must be applied to organic as well as to
inorganic nature and must explain the appearance of new species (see
Lyell's "Life and Letters", Vol. I. page 467). Darwin tells us that
Herschel's "Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy" with
Humboldt's "Personal Narrative" "stirred up in me a burning zeal" in
his undergraduate days. I once heard Lyell exclaim with fervour "If
ever there was a heaven-born genius it was John Herschel!")--declared
themselves from the first his strong supporters. Scrope in two
luminous articles in the "Quarterly Review" did for Lyell what Huxley
accomplished for Darwin in his famous review in the "Times"; but Scrope
unfortunately was at that time immersed in the stormy sea of politics,
and devoted his great powers of exposition to the preparation of
fugitive pamphlets. Herschel, like Scrope, was unable to support
Lyell at the Geological Society, owing to his absence on the important
astronomical mission to the Cape.
It thus came about that, in the frequent conflicts of opinion within the
walls of the Geological Society, Lyell had to bear the brunt of battle
for Uniformitarianism quite alone, and it is to be feared that he found
himself sadly overmatched when opposed by the eloquence of Sedgwick, the
sarcasm of Buckland, and the dead weight of incredulity on the part of
Greenough, Conybeare, Murchison and other members of the band of pioneer
workers. As time went on there is evidence that the opposition of De la
Beche and Whewell somewhat relaxed; the brilliant "Paddy" Fitton (as his
friends called him) was sometimes found in alliance with Lyell, but was
characteristically apt to turn his weapon, as occasion served, on friend
or foe alike; the amiable John Phillips "sat upon the fence." Only when
a new generation arose--including Jukes, Ramsay, Forbes and Hooker--did
Lyell find his teachings received with anything like favour.
We can well understand, then, how Lyell would welcome such a recruit as
young Darwin--a man who had declared himself more Lyellian than Lyell,
and who brought to his support facts and observations gleaned from so
wide a field.
The first meeting of Lyell and Darwin was characteristic of the two men.
Darwin at once explained to Lyell that, with respect to the origin of
coral-reefs, he had arrived at views directly opposed to those published
by "his master." To give up his own theory, cost Lyell, as he told
Herschel, a "pang at first," but he was at once convinced of the
immeasurable superiority of Darwin's theory. I have heard members
of Lyell's family tell of the state of wild excitement and sustained
enthusiasm, which lasted for days with Lyell after this interview, and
his letters to Herschel, Whewell and others show his pleasure at the new
light thrown upon the subject and his impatience to have the matter laid
before the Geological Society.
Writing forty years afterwards, Darwin, speaking of the time of the
return of the "Beagle", says: "I saw a great deal of Lyell. One of his
chief characteristics was his sympathy with the work of others, and
I was as much astonished as delighted at the interest which he
showed when, on my return to England, I explained to him my views on
coral-reefs. This encouraged me greatly, and his advice and example had
much influence on me." ("L.L." I. page 68.) Darwin further states that
he saw more of Lyell at this time than of any other scientific man, and
at his request sent his first communication to the Geological Society.
("L.L." I. page 67.)
"Mr Lonsdale" (the able curator of the Geological Society), Darwin wrote
to Henslow, "with whom I had much interesting conversation," "gave me a
most cordial reception," and he adds, "If I was not much more inclined
for geology than the other branches of Natural History, I am sure Mr
Lyell's and Lonsdale's kindness ought to fix me. You cannot conceive
anything more thoroughly good-natured than the heart-and-soul manner in
which he put himself in my place and thought what would be best to do."
("L.L." I. page 275.)
Within a few days of Darwin's arrival in London we find Lyell writing to
Owen as follows:
"Mrs Lyell and I expect a few friends here on Saturday next, 29th
(October), to an early tea party at eight o'clock, and it will give us
great pleasure if you can join it. Among others you will meet Mr Charles
Darwin, whom I believe you have seen, just returned from South America,
where he has laboured for zoologists as well as for hammer-bearers.
I have also asked your friend Broderip." ("The Life of Richard Owen",
London, 1894, Vol. I. page 102.) It would probably be on this occasion
that the services of Owen were secured for the work on the fossil bones
sent home by Darwin.
On November 2nd, we find Lyell introducing Darwin as his guest at the
Geological Society Club; on December 14th, Lyell and Stokes proposed
Darwin as a member of the Club; between that date and May 3rd of the
following year, when his election to the Club took place, he was several
times dining as a guest.
On January 4th, 1837, as we have already seen, Darwin was formally
admitted to the Geological Society, and on the same evening he read
his first paper (I have already pointed out that the notes read at the
Geological Society on Nov. 18, 1835 were extracts made by Sedgwick from
letters sent to Henslow, and not a paper sent home for publication by
Darwin.) before the Society, "Observations of proofs of recent elevation
on the coast of Chili, made during the Survey of H.M.S. "Beagle",
commanded by Captain FitzRoy, R.N." By C. Darwin, F.G.S. This paper was
preceded by one on the same subject by Mr A. Caldcleugh, and the reading
of a letter and other communications from the Foreign Office also
relating to the earthquakes in Chili.
At the meeting of the Council of the Geological Society on February 1st,
Darwin was nominated as a member of the new Council, and he was elected
on February 17th.
The meeting of the Geological Society on April 19th was devoted to the
reading by Owen of his paper on Toxodon, perhaps the most remarkable
of the fossil mammals found by Darwin in South America; and at the
next meeting, on May 3rd, Darwin himself read "A Sketch of the Deposits
containing extinct Mammalia in the neighbourhood of the Plata". The
next following meeting, on May 17th, was devoted to Darwin's Coral-reef
paper, entitled "On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in
the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as deduced from the study of Coral
Formations". Neither of these three early papers of Darwin were
published in the Transactions of the Geological Society, but the
minutes of the Council show that they were "withdrawn by the author by
permission of the Council."
Darwin's activity during this session led to some rather alarming
effects upon his health, and he was induced to take a holiday in
Staffordshire and the Isle of Wight. He was not idle, however, for a
remark of his uncle, Mr Wedgwood, led him to make those interesting
observations on the work done by earthworms, that resulted in his
preparing a short memoir on the subject, and this paper, "On the
Formation of Mould", was read at the Society on November 1st, 1837,
being the first of Darwin's papers published in full; it appeared in
Vol. V. of the "Geological Transactions", pages 505-510.
During this session, Darwin attended nearly all the Council meetings,
and took such an active part in the work of the Society that it is not
surprising to find that he was now requested to accept the position of
Secretary. After some hesitation, in which he urged his inexperience
and want of knowledge of foreign languages, he consented to accept the
appointment. ("L.L." I. page 285.)
At the anniversary meeting on February 16th, 1838, the Wollaston Medal
was given to Owen in recognition of his services in describing the
fossil mammals sent home by Darwin. In his address, the President,
Professor Whewell, dwelt at length on the great value of the papers
which Darwin had laid before the Society during the preceding session.
On March 7th, Darwin read before the Society the most important perhaps
of all his geological papers, "On the Connexion of certain Volcanic
Phenomena in South America, and on the Formation of Mountain-Chains and
Volcanoes as the effect of Continental Elevations". In this paper he
boldly attacked the tenets of the Catastrophists. It is evident that
Darwin at this time, taking advantage of the temporary improvement in
his health, was throwing himself into the breach of Uniformitarianism
with the greatest ardour. Lyell wrote to Sedgwick on April 21st, 1837,
"Darwin is a glorious addition to any society of geologists, and is
working hard and making way, both in his book and in our discussions."
("The Life and Letters of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick", Vol. I. page 484,
Cambridge, 1890.)
We have unfortunately few records of the animated debates which took
place at this time between the old and new schools of geologists. I have
often heard Lyell tell how Lockhart would bring down a party of friends
from the Athenaeum Club to Somerset House on Geological nights, not, as
he carefully explained, that "he cared for geology, but because he liked
to while the fellows fight." But it fortunately happens that a few days
after this last of Darwin's great field-days, at the Geological Society,
Lyell, in a friendly letter to his father-in-law, Leonard Horner, wrote
a very lively account of the proceedings while his impressions were
still fresh; and this gives us an excellent idea of the character of
these discussions.