imagine how they would have chastised their two "erring pupils"--more
in sorrow than in anger--had they been there. Greenough, too, was
absent--possibly unwilling to countenance even by his presence such
outrageous doctrines.
Darwin, after describing the great earthquakes which he had experienced
in South America, and the evidence of their connection with volcanic
outbursts, proceeded to show that earthquakes originated in fractures,
gradually formed in the earth's crust, and were accompanied by movements
of the land on either side of the fracture. In conclusion he boldly
advanced the view "that continental elevations, and the action of
volcanoes, are phenomena now in progress, caused by some great but slow
change in the interior of the earth; and, therefore, that it might
be anticipated, that the formation of mountain chains is likewise in
progress: and at a rate which may be judged of by either actions, but
most clearly by the growth of volcanoes." ("Proc. Geol. Soc." Vol. II.
pages 654-60.)
Lyell's account ("Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell,
Bart.", edited by his sister-in-law, Mrs Lyell, Vol. II. pages 40,
41 (Letter to Leonard Horner, 1838), 2 vols. London, 1881.) of the
discussion was as follows: "In support of my heretical notions," Darwin
"opened upon De la Beche, Phillips and others his whole battery of the
earthquakes and volcanoes of the Andes, and argued that spaces at least
a thousand miles long were simultaneously subject to earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions, and that the elevation of the Pampas, Patagonia,
etc., all depended on a common cause; also that the greater the
contortions of strata in a mountain chain, the smaller must have been
each separate and individual movement of that long series which was
necessary to upheave the chain. Had they been more violent, he
contended that the subterraneous fluid matter would have gushed out and
overflowed, and the strata would have been blown up and annihilated. (It
is interesting to compare this with what Darwin wrote to Henslow
seven years earlier.) He therefore introduces a cooling of one small
underground injection, and then the pumping in of other lava, or
porphyry, or granite, into the previously consolidated and first-formed
mass of igneous rock. (Ideas somewhat similar to this suggestion have
recently been revived by Dr See ("Proc. Am. Phil. Soc." Vol. XLVII.
1908, page 262.).) When he had done his description of the reiterated
strokes of his volcanic pump, De la Beche gave us a long oration about
the impossibility of strata of the Alps, etc., remaining flexible
for such a time as they must have done, if they were to be tilted,
convoluted, or overturned by gradual small shoves. He never, however,
explained his theory of original flexibility, and therefore I am as
unable as ever to comprehend why flexiblility is a quality so limited in
time.
"Phillips then got up and pronounced a panegyric upon the "Principles
of Geology", and although he still differed, thought the actual cause
doctrine had been so well put, that it had advanced the science and
formed a date or era, and that for centuries the two opposite doctrines
would divide geologists, some contending for greater pristine forces,
others satisfied, like Lyell and Darwin, with the same intensity as
nature now employs.
"Fitton quizzed Phillips a little for the warmth of his eulogy, saying
that he (Fitton) and others, who had Mr Lyell always with them, were in
the habit of admiring and quarrelling with him every day, as one
might do with a sister or cousin, whom one would only kiss and embrace
fervently after a long absence. This seemed to be Mr Phillips' case,
coming up occasionally from the provinces. Fitton then finished this
drollery by charging me with not having done justice to Hutton, who he
said was for gradual elevation.
"I replied, that most of the critics had attacked me for overrating
Hutton, and that Playfair understood him as I did.
"Whewell concluded by considering Hopkins' mathematical calculations, to
which Darwin had often referred. He also said that we ought not to try
and make out what Hutton would have taught and thought, if he had known
the facts which we now know."
It may be necessary to point out, in explanation of the above narrative,
that while it was perfectly clear from Hutton's rather obscure and
involved writings that he advocated slow and gradual change on
the earth's surface, his frequent references to violent action and
earthquakes led many--including Playfair, Lyell and Whewell--to believe
that he held the changes going on in the earth's interior to be of
a catastrophic nature. Fitton, however, maintained that Hutton was
consistently uniformitarian. Before the idea of the actual "flowing" of
solid bodies under intense pressure had been grasped by geologists,
De la Beche, like Playfair before him, maintained that the bending
and folding of rocks must have been effected before their complete
consolidation.
In concluding his account of this memorable discussion, Lyell adds: "I
was much struck with the different tone in which my gradual causes
was treated by all, even including De la Beche, from that which they
experienced in the same room four years ago, when Buckland, De la
Beche(?), Sedgwick, Whewell, and some others treated them with as much
ridicule as was consistent with politeness in my presence."
This important paper was, in spite of its theoretical character,
published in full in the "Transactions of the Geological Society" (Ser.
2, Vol. V. pages 601-630). It did not however appear till 1840, and
possibly some changes may have been made in it during the long interval
between reading and printing. During the year 1839, Darwin continued his
regular attendance at the Council meetings, but there is no record of
any discussions in which he may have taken part, and he contributed
no papers himself to the Society. At the beginning of 1840, he was
re-elected for the third time as Secretary, but the results of failing
health are indicated by the circumstance that, only at one meeting early
in the session, was he able to attend the Council. At the beginning of
the next session (Feb. 1841) Bunbury succeeded him as Secretary,
Darwin still remaining on the Council. It may be regarded as a striking
indication of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow geologists,
that Darwin remained on the Council for 14 consecutive years down to
1849, though his attendances were in some years very few. In 1843 and
1844 he was a Vice-president, but after his retirement at the beginning
of 1850, he never again accepted re-nomination. He continued, however,
to contribute papers to the Society, as we shall see, down to the end of
1862.
Although Darwin early became a member of the Geological Dining Club, it
is to be feared that he scarcely found himself in a congenial atmosphere
at those somewhat hilarious gatherings, where the hardy wielders of the
hammer not only drank port--and plenty of it--but wound up their
meal with a mixture of Scotch ale and soda water, a drink which, as
reminiscent of the "field," was regarded as especially appropriate to
geologists. Even after the meetings, which followed the dinners,
they reassembled for suppers, at which geological dainties, like
"pterodactyle pie" figured in the bill of fare, and fines of bumpers
were inflicted on those who talked the "ologies."
After being present at a fair number of meetings in 1837 and 1838,
Darwin's attendances at the Club fell off to two in 1839, and by 1841
he had ceased to be a member. In a letter to Lyell on Dec. 2nd, 1841,
Leonard Horner wrote that the day before "At the Council, I had the
satisfaction of seeing Darwin again in his place and looking well. He
tried the last evening meeting, but found it too much, but I hope before
the end of the season he will find himself equal to that also. I hail
Darwin's recovery as a vast gain to science." Darwin's probably last
attendance, this time as a guest, was in 1851, when Horner again
wrote to Lyell, "Charles Darwin was at the Geological Society's Club
yesterday, where he had not been for ten years--remarkably well, and
grown quite stout." ("Memoirs of Leonard Horner" (privately printed),
Vol. II. pages 39 and 195.)
It may be interesting to note that at the somewhat less lively dining
Club--the Philosophical--in the founding of which his friends Lyell and
Hooker had taken so active a part, Darwin found himself more at home,
and he was a frequent attendant--in spite of his residence being at
Down--from 1853 to 1864. He even made contributions on scientific
questions after these dinners. In a letter to Hooker he states that he
was deeply interested in the reforms of the Royal Society, which the
Club was founded to promote. He says also that he had arranged to come
to town every Club day "and then my head, I think, will allow me on an
average to go to every other meeting. But it is grievous how often any
change knocks me up." ("L.L." II. pages 42, 43.)
Of the years 1837 and 1838 Darwin himself says they were "the most
active ones which I ever spent, though I was occasionally unwell, and
so lost some time... I also went a little into society." ("L.L." I. pages
67, 68.) But of the four years from 1839 to 1842 he has to confess sadly
"I did less scientific work, though I worked as hard as I could, than
during any other equal length of time in my life. This was owing to
frequently recurring unwellness, and to one long and serious illness."
("L.L." I. page 69.)
Darwin's work at the Geological Society did not by any means engage the
whole of his energies, during the active years 1837 and 1838. In June of
the latter year, leaving town in somewhat bad health, he found himself
at Edinburgh again, and engaged in examining the Salisbury Craigs, in a
very different spirit to that excited by Jameson's discourse. ("L.L."
I. page 290.) Proceeding to the Highlands he then had eight days of hard
work at the famous "Parallel Roads of Glen Roy", being favoured with
glorious weather.
He says of the writing of the paper on the subject--the only memoir
contributed by Darwin to the Royal Society, to which he had been
recently elected--that it was "one of the most difficult and instructive
tasks I was ever engaged on." The paper extends to 40 quarto pages
and is illustrated by two plates. Though it is full of the records
of careful observation and acute reasoning, yet the theory of marine
beaches which he propounded was, as he candidly admitted in after years
("M.L." II page 188.), altogether wrong. The alternative lake-theory he
found himself unable to accept at the time, for he could not understand
how barriers could be formed at successive levels across the valleys;
and until the following year, when the existence of great glaciers
in the district was proved by the researches of Agassiz, Buckland and
others, the difficulty appeared to him an insuperable one. Although
Darwin said of this paper in after years that it "was a great failure
and I am ashamed of it"--yet he retained his interest in the question
ever afterwards, and he says "my error has been a good lesson to me
never to trust in science to the principle of exclusion." ("M.L." II.
pages 171-93.)
Although Darwin had not realised in 1838 that large parts of the British
Islands had been occupied by great glaciers, he had by no means failed
while in South America to recognise the importance of ice-action. His
observations, as recorded in his Journal, on glaciers coming down to
the sea-level, on the west coast of South America, in a latitude
corresponding to a much lower one than that of the British Islands,
profoundly interested geologists; and the same work contains many
valuable notes on the boulders and unstratified beds in South America in
which they were included.
But in 1840 Agassiz read his startling paper on the evidence of the
former existence of glaciers in the British Islands, and this was
followed by Buckland's memoir on the same subject. On April 14, 1841,
Darwin contributed to the Geological Society his important paper "On the
Distribution of Erratic Boulders and the Contemporaneous Unstratified
Deposits of South America", a paper full of suggestiveness for those
studying the glacial deposits of this country. It was published in the
"Transactions" in 1842.
The description of traces of glacial action in North Wales, by Buckland,
appears to have greatly excited the interest of Darwin. With Sedgwick he
had, in 1831, worked at the stratigraphy of that district, but neither
of them had noticed the very interesting surface features. ("L.L." I.
page 58.) Darwin was able to make a journey to North Wales in June,
1842 (alas! it was his last effort in field-geology) and as a result
he published his most able and convincing paper on the subject in the
September number of the "Philosophical Magazine" for 1842. Thus the
mystery of the bell-stone was at last solved and Darwin, writing many
years afterwards, said "I felt the keenest delight when I first read of
the action of icebergs in transporting boulders, and I gloried in the
progress of Geology." ("L.L." I. page 41.) To the "Geographical Journal"
he had sent in 1839 a note "On a Rock seen on an Iceberg in 16 deg S.
Latitude." For the subject of ice-action, indeed, Darwin retained the
greatest interest to the end of his life. ("M.L." II. pages 148-71.)
In 1846, Darwin read two papers to the Geological Society "On the
dust which falls on vessels in the Atlantic, and On the Geology of the
Falkland Islands"; in 1848 he contributed a note on the transport of
boulders from lower to higher levels; and in 1862 another note on the
thickness of the Pampean formation, as shown by recent borings at Buenos
Ayres. An account of the "British Fossil Lepadidae" read in 1850, was
withdrawn by him.
At the end of 1836 Darwin had settled himself in lodgings in Fitzwilliam
Street, Cambridge, and devoted three months to the work of unpacking his
specimens and studying his collection of rocks. The pencilled notes on
the Manuscript Catalogue in the Sedgwick Museum enable us to realise
his mode of work, and the diligence with which it was carried on. The
letters M and H, indicate the assistance he received from time to
time from Professor Miller, the crystallographer, and from his friend
Henslow. Miller not only measured many of the crystals submitted to him,
but evidently taught Darwin to use the reflecting goniometer himself
with considerable success. The "book of measurements" in which the
records were kept, appears to have been lost, but the pencilled notes
in the catalogue show how thoroughly the work was done. The letter R
attached to some of the numbers in the catalogue evidently refers to the
fact that they were submitted to Mr Trenham Reeks (who analysed some of
his specimens) at the Geological Survey quarters in Craig's Court. This
was at a later date when Darwin was writing the "Volcanic Islands" and
"South America".
It was about the month of March, 1837, that Darwin completed this work
upon his rocks, and also the unpacking and distribution of his fossil
bones and other specimens. We have seen that November, 1832, must
certainly be regarded as the date when he FIRST realised the important
fact that the fossil mammals of the Pampean formation were all closely
related to the existing forms in South America; while October, 1835,
was, as undoubtedly, the date when the study of the birds and other
forms of life in the several islands of the Galapagos Islands gave
him his SECOND impulse towards abandoning the prevalent view of the
immutability of species. When then in his pocket-book for 1837 Darwin
wrote the often quoted passage: "In July opened first note-book on
Transmutation of Species. Had been greatly struck from about the month
of previous March on character of South American fossils, and species on
Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (especially latter), origin of all my
views" ("L.L." I. page 276.), it is clear that he must refer, not to
his first inception of the idea of evolution, but to the flood of
recollections, the reawakening of his interest in the subject, which
could not fail to result from the sight of his specimens and the
reference to his notes.
Except during the summer vacation, when he was visiting his father and
uncle, and with the latter making his first observations upon the work
of earthworms, Darwin was busy with his arrangements for the publication
of the five volumes of the "Zoology of the 'Beagle'" and in getting the
necessary financial aid from the government for the preparation of the
plates. He was at the same time preparing his "Journal" for publication.
During the years 1837 to 1843, Darwin worked intermittently on the
volumes of Zoology, all of which he edited, while he wrote introductions
to those by Owen and Waterhouse and supplied notes to the others.
Although Darwin says of his Journal that the preparation of the book
"was not hard work, as my MS. Journal had been written with care." Yet
from the time that he settled at 36, Great Marlborough Street in March,
1837, to the following November he was occupied with this book. He tells
us that the account of his scientific observations was added at this
time. The work was not published till March, 1839, when it appeared
as the third volume of the "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.
Ships 'Adventure' and 'Beagle' between the years 1826 and 1836". The
book was probably a long time in the press, for there are no less than
20 pages of addenda in small print. Even in this, its first form, the
work is remarkable for its freshness and charm, and excited a great
amount of attention and interest. In addition to matters treated of in
greater detail in his other works, there are many geological notes of
extreme value in this volume, such as his account of lightning tubes, of
the organisms found in dust, and of the obsidian bombs of Australia.
Having thus got out of hand a number of preliminary duties, Darwin was
ready to set to work upon the three volumes which were designed by him
to constitute "The Geology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle'". The first of
these was to be on "The Structure and Distribution of Coral-reefs". He
commenced the writing of the book on October 5, 1838, and the last proof
was corrected on May 6, 1842. Allowing for the frequent interruptions
through illness, Darwin estimated that it cost him twenty months of hard
work.
Darwin has related how his theory of Coral-reefs which was begun in a
more "deductive spirit" than any of his other work, for in 1834 or 1835
it "was thought out on the west coast of South America, before I had
seen a true coral-reef." ("L.L." I. page 70.) The final chapter in
Lyell's second volume of the "Principles" was devoted to the subject
of Coral-reefs, and a theory was suggested to account for the peculiar
phenomena of "atolls." Darwin at once saw the difficulty of accepting
the view that the numerous and diverse atolls all represent submerged
volcanic craters. His own work had for two years been devoted to the
evidence of land movements over great areas in South America, and thus
he was led to announce his theory of subsidence to account for barrier
and encircling reefs as well as atolls.
Fortunately, during his voyage across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in
his visit to Australia and his twelve days' hard work at Keeling Island,
he had opportunities for putting his theory to the test of observation.
On his return to England, Darwin appears to have been greatly surprised
at the amount of interest that his new theory excited. Urged by Lyell,
he read to the Geological Society a paper on the subject, as we have
seen, with as little delay as possible, but this paper was "withdrawn by
permission of the Council." An abstract of three pages however appeared
in the "Proceedings of the Geological Society". (Vol. II. pages 552-554
(May 31, 1837).) A full account of the observations and the theory was
given in the "Journal" (1839) in the 40 pages devoted to Keeling
Island in particular and to Coral formations generally. ("Journal" (1st
edition), pages 439-69.)
It will be readily understood what an amount of labour the book on
Coral reefs cost Darwin when we reflect on the number of charts, sailing
directions, narratives of voyages and other works which, with the
friendly assistance of the authorities at the Admiralty, he had
to consult before he could draw up his sketch of the nature and
distribution of the reefs, and this was necessary before the theory, in
all its important bearings, could be clearly enunciated. Very pleasing
is it to read how Darwin, although arriving at a different conclusion to
Lyell, shows, by quoting a very suggestive passage in the "Principles"
(1st edition Vol. II. page 296.), how the latter only just missed the
true solution. This passage is cited, both in the "Journal" and the
volume on Coral-reefs. Lyell, as we have seen, received the new theory
not merely ungrudgingly, but with the utmost enthusiasm.
In 1849 Darwin was gratified by receiving the support of Dana, after his
prolonged investigation in connection with the U.S. Exploring Expedition
("M.L." II. pages 226-8.), and in 1874 he prepared a second edition of
his book, in which some objections which had been raised to the theory
were answered. A third edition, edited by Professor Bonney, appeared in
1880, and a fourth (a reprint of the first edition, with introduction by
myself) in 1890.
Although Professor Semper, in his account of the Pelew Islands, had
suggested difficulties in the acceptance of Darwin's theory, it was
not till after the return of the "Challenger" expedition in 1875 that a
rival theory was propounded, and somewhat heated discussions were raised
as to the respective merits of the two theories. While geologists have,
nearly without exception, strongly supported Darwin's views, the notes
of dissent have come almost entirely from zoologists. At the height
of the controversy unfounded charges of unfairness were made against
Darwin's supporters and the authorities of the Geological Society, but
this unpleasant subject has been disposed of, once for all, by Huxley.
("Essays upon some Controverted Questions", London, 1892, pages 314-328
and 623-625.)
Darwin's final and very characteristic utterance on the coral-reef
controversy is found in a letter which he wrote to Professor Alexander
Agassiz, May 5th, 1881: less than a year before his death: "If I am
wrong, the sooner I am knocked on the head and annihilated so much the
better. It still seems to me a marvellous thing that there should not
have been much, and long-continued, subsidence in the beds of the great
oceans. I wish that some doubly rich millionaire would take it into his
head to have borings made in some of the Pacific and Indian atolls, and
bring home cores for slicing from a depth of 500 or 600 feet." ("L.L."
III. page 184.)
Though the "doubly rich millionaire" has not been forthcoming, the
energy, in England, of Professor Sollas, and in New South Wales of
Professor Anderson Stuart served to set on foot a project, which, aided
at first by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and
afterwards taken up jointly by the Royal Society, the New South
Wales Government, and the Admiralty, has led to the most definite and
conclusive results.
The Committee appointed by the Royal Society to carry out the
undertaking included representatives of all the views that had been
put forward on the subject. The place for the experiment was, with the
consent of every member of the Committee, selected by the late Admiral
Sir W.J. Wharton--who was not himself an adherent of Darwin's views--and
no one has ventured to suggest that his selection, the splendid atoll of
Funafuti, was not a most judicious one.
By the pluck and perseverance of Professor Sollas in the preliminary
expedition, and of Professor T. Edgeworth David and his pupils, in
subsequent investigations of the island, the rather difficult piece
of work was brought to a highly satisfactory conclusion. The New South
Wales Government lent boring apparatus and workmen, and the Admiralty
carried the expedition to its destination in a surveying ship which,
under Captain (now Admiral) A. Mostyn Field, made the most complete
survey of the atoll and its surrounding seas that has ever been
undertaken in the case of a coral formation.
After some failures and many interruptions, the boring was carried to
the depth of 1114 feet, and the cores obtained were sent to England.
Here the examination of the materials was fortunately undertaken by
a zoologist of the highest repute, Dr G.J. Hinde--who has a wide
experience in the study of organisms by sections--and he was aided at
all points by specialists in the British Museum of Natural History
and by other naturalists. Nor were the chemical and other problems
neglected.
The verdict arrived at, after this most exhaustive study of a series of
cores obtained from depths twice as great as that thought necessary by
Darwin, was as follows:--"The whole of the cores are found to be built
up of those organisms which are seen forming coral-reefs near the
surface of the ocean--many of them evidently in situ; and not the
slightest indication could be detected, by chemical or microscopic
means, which suggested the proximity of non-calcareous rocks, even in
the lowest portions brought up."
But this was not all. Professor David succeeded in obtaining the aid
of a very skilful engineer from Australia, while the Admiralty allowed
Commander F.C.D. Sturdee to take a surveying ship into the lagoon
for further investigations. By very ingenious methods, and with great
perseverance, two borings were put down in the midst of the lagoon to
the depth of nearly 200 feet. The bottom of the lagoon, at the depth of
101 1/2 feet from sea-level, was found to be covered with remains of the
calcareous, green sea-weed Halimeda, mingled with many foraminifera; but
at a depth of 163 feet from the surface of the lagoon the boring tools
encountered great masses of coral, which were proved from the fragments
brought up to belong to species that live within AT MOST 120 feet from
the surface of the ocean, as admitted by all zoologists. ("The Atoll
of Funafuti; Report of the Coral Reef Committee of the Royal Society",
London, 1904.)
Darwin's theory, as is well known, is based on the fact that the
temperature of the ocean at any considerable depth does not permit of
the existence and luxuriant growth of the organisms that form the reefs.
He himself estimated this limit of depth to be from 120 to 130 feet;
Dana, as an extreme, 150 feet; while the recent very prolonged and
successful investigations of Professor Alexander Agassiz in the Pacific
and Indian Oceans lead him also to assign a limiting depth of 150 feet;
the EFFECTIVE, REEF-FORMING CORALS, however, flourishing at a much
smaller depth. Mr Stanley Gardiner gives for the most important
reef-forming corals depths between 30 and 90 feet, while a few are found
as low as 120 feet or even 180 feet.
It will thus be seen that the verdict of Funafuti is clearly and
unmistakeably in favour of Darwin's theory. It is true that some
zoologists find a difficulty in realising a slow sinking of parts of the
ocean floor, and have suggested new and alternative explanations: but
geologists generally, accepting the proofs of slow upheaval in
some areas--as shown by the admirable researches of Alexander
Agassiz--consider that it is absolutely necessary to admit that this
elevation is balanced by subsidence in other areas. If atolls and
barrier-reefs did not exist we should indeed be at a great loss to frame
a theory to account for their absence.
After finishing his book on Coral-reefs, Darwin made his summer
excursion to North Wales, and prepared his important memoir on the
glaciers of that district: but by October (1842) we find him fairly
settled at work upon the second volume of his "Geology of the
'Beagle'--Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, visited
during the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle'". The whole of the year 1843 was
devoted to this work, but he tells his friend Fox that he could "manage
only a couple of hours per day, and that not very regularly." ("L.L." I.
page 321.) Darwin's work on the various volcanic islands examined by
him had given him the most intense pleasure, but the work of writing
the book by the aid of his notes and specimens he found "uphill
work," especially as he feared the book would not be read, "even by
geologists." (Loc. cit.)
As a matter of fact the work is full of the most interesting
observations and valuable suggestions, and the three editions (or
reprints) which have appeared have proved a most valuable addition to
geological literature. It is not necessary to refer to the novel and
often very striking discoveries described in this well-known work. The
subsidence beneath volcanic vents, the enormous denudation of volcanic
cones reducing them to "basal wrecks," the effects of solfatarric action
and the formation of various minerals in the cavities of rocks--all
of these subjects find admirable illustration from his graphic
descriptions. One of the most important discussions in this volume is
that dealing with the "lamination" of lavas as especially well seen in
the rocks of Ascension. Like Scrope, Darwin recognised the close analogy
between the structure of these rocks and those of metamorphic origin--a
subject which he followed out in the volume "Geological Observations on
South America".
Of course in these days, since the application of the microscope to the
study of rocks in thin sections, Darwin's nomenclature and descriptions
of the petrological characters of the lavas appear to us somewhat crude.
But it happened that the "Challenger" visited most of the volcanic
islands described by Darwin, and the specimens brought home were
examined by the eminent petrologist Professor Renard. Renard was so
struck with the work done by Darwin, under disadvantageous conditions,
that he undertook a translation of Darwin's work into French, and I
cannot better indicate the manner in which the book is regarded by
geologists than by quoting a passage from Renard's preface. Referring
to his own work in studying the rocks brought home by the "Challenger"
(Renard's descriptions of these rocks are contained in the "Challenger
Reports". Mr Harker is supplementing these descriptions by a series of
petrological memoirs on Darwin's specimens, the first of which appeared
in the "Geological Magazine" for March, 1907.), he says:
"Je dus, en me livrant a ces recherches, suivre ligne par ligne les
divers chapitres des "Observations geologiques" consacrees aux iles de
l'Atlantique, oblige que j'etais de comparer d'une maniere suivie les
resultats auxquels j'etais conduit avec ceux de Darwin, qui servaient
de controle a mes constatations. Je ne tardai pas a eprouver une vive
admiration pour ce chercheur qui, sans autre appareil que la loupe,
sans autre reaction que quelques essais pyrognostiques, plus rarement
quelques mesures au goniometre, parvenait a discerner la nature des
agregats mineralogiques les plue complexes et les plus varies. Ce
coup d'oeil qui savait embrasser de si vastes horizons, penetre ici
profondement tous les details lithologiques. Avec quelle surete
et quelle exactitude la structure et la composition des roches ne
sont'elles pas determinees, l'origne de ces masses minerales deduite et
confirmee par l'etude comparee des manifestations volcaniques d'autres
regions; avec quelle science les relations entre les faits qu'il
decouvre et ceux signales ailleurs par ses devanciers ne sont'elles pas
etablies, et comme voici ebranlees les hypotheses regnantes, admises
sans preuves, celles, par exemple, des crateres de soulevement et de la
differenciation radicale des phenomenes plutoniques et volcaniques!
Ce qui acheve de donner a ce livre un incomparable merite, ce sont les
idees nouvelles qui s'y trouvent en germe et jetees la comme au
hasard ainsi qu'un superflu d'abondance intellectuelle inepuisable."
("Observations Geologiques sur les Iles Volcaniques... ", Paris, 1902,
pages vi., vii.)
While engaged in his study of banded lavas, Darwin was struck with the
analogy of their structure with that of glacier ice, and a note on the
subject, in the form of a letter addressed to Professor J.D. Forbes, was
published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh". (Vol.
II. (1844-5), pages 17, 18.)
From April, 1832, to September, 1835, Darwin had been occupied in
examining the coast or making inland journeys in the interior of the
South American continent. Thus while eighteen months were devoted, at
the beginning and end of the voyage to the study of volcanic islands
and coral-reefs, no less than three and a half years were given to South
American geology. The heavy task of dealing with the notes and specimens
accumulated during that long period was left by Darwin to the last.
Finishing the "Volcanic Islands" on February 14th, 1844, he, in July of
the same year, commenced the preparation of two important works which
engaged him till near the end of the year 1846. The first was his
"Geological Observations on South America", the second a recast of his
"Journal", published under the short title of "A Naturalist's Voyage
round the World".
The first of these works contains an immense amount of information
collected by the author under great difficulties and not unfrequently
at considerable risk to life and health. No sooner had Darwin landed
in South America than two sets of phenomena powerfully arrested his
attention. The first of these was the occurrence of great masses of red
mud containing bones and shells, which afforded striking evidence that
the whole continent had shared in a series of slow and gradual but
often interrupted movements. The second related to the great masses of
crystalline rocks which, underlying the muds, cover so great a part of
the continent. Darwin, almost as soon as he landed, was struck by
the circumstance that the direction, as shown by his compass, of
the prominent features of these great crystalline rock-masses--their
cleavage, master-joints, foliation and pegmatite veins--was the same as
the orientation described by Humboldt (whose works he had so carefully
studied) on the west of the same great continent.
The first five chapters of the book on South America were devoted to
formations of recent date and to the evidence collected on the east and
west coasts of the continent in regard to those grand earth-movements,
some of which could be shown to have been accompanied by
earthquake-shocks. The fossil bones, which had given him the first hint
concerning the mutability of species, had by this time been studied and
described by comparative anatomists, and Darwin was able to elaborate
much more fully the important conclusion that the existing fauna of
South America has a close analogy with that of the period immediately
preceding our own.
The remaining three chapters of the book dealt with the metamorphic and
plutonic rocks, and in them Darwin announced his important conclusions
concerning the relations of cleavage and foliation, and on the close
analogy of the latter structure with the banding found in rock-masses
of igneous origin. With respect to the first of these conclusions, he
received the powerful support of Daniel Sharpe, who in the years
1852 and 1854 published two papers on the structure of the Scottish
Highlands, supplying striking confirmation of the correctness of
Darwin's views. Although Darwin's and Sharpe's conclusions were
contested by Murchison and other geologists, they are now universally
accepted. In his theory concerning the origin of foliation, Darwin had
been to some extent anticipated by Scrope, but he supplied many facts
and illustrations leading to the gradual acceptance of a doctrine which,
when first enunciated, was treated with neglect, if not with contempt.
The whole of this volume on South American geology is crowded with the
records of patient observations and suggestions of the greatest value;
but, as Darwin himself saw, it was a book for the working geologist and
"caviare to the general." Its author, indeed, frequently expressed
his sense of the "dryness" of the book; he even says "I long hesitated
whether I would publish it or not," and he wrote to Leonard Horner "I am
astonished that you should have had the courage to go right through my
book." ("M.L." II. page 221.)
Fortunately the second book, on which Darwin was engaged at this time,
was of a very different character. His "Journal", almost as he had
written it on board ship, with facts and observations fresh in his mind,
had been published in 1839 and attracted much attention. In 1845, he
says, "I took much pains in correcting a new edition," and the work
which was commenced in April, 1845, was not finished till August of
that year. The volume contains a history of the voyage with "a sketch
of those observations in Natural History and Geology, which I think will
possess some interest for the general reader." It is not necessary
to speak of the merits of this scientific classic. It became a
great favourite with the general public--having passed through many
editions--it was, moreover, translated into a number of different
languages. Darwin was much gratified by these evidences of popularity,
and naively remarks in his "Autobiography", "The success of this my
first literary child tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other
books" ("L.L." I. page 80.)--and this was written after the "Origin of
Species" had become famous!
In Darwin's letters there are many evidences that his labours during
these ten years devoted to the working out of the geological results
of the voyage often made many demands on his patience and indomitable
courage. Most geologists have experience of the contrast between the
pleasures felt when wielding the hammer in the field, and the duller
labour of plying the pen in the study. But in Darwin's case, innumerable
interruptions from sickness and other causes, and the oft-deferred hope
of reaching the end of his task were not the only causes operating to
make the work irksome. The great project, which was destined to become
the crowning achievement of his life, was now gradually assuming more
definite shape, and absorbing more of his time and energies.
Nevertheless, during all this period, Darwin so far regarded his
geological pursuits as his PROPER "work," that attention to other
matters was always spoken of by him as "indulging in idleness." If at
the end of this period the world had sustained the great misfortune of
losing Darwin by death before the age of forty--and several times that
event seemed only too probable--he might have been remembered only as
a very able geologist of most advanced views, and a traveller who had
written a scientific narrative of more than ordinary excellence!
The completion of the "Geology of the 'Beagle'" and the preparation of
a revised narrative of the voyage mark the termination of that period of
fifteen years of Darwin's life during which geological studies were
his principal occupation. Henceforth, though his interest in geological
questions remained ever keen, biological problems engaged more and more
of his attention to the partial exclusion of geology.
The eight years from October, 1846, to October, 1854, were mainly
devoted to the preparation of his two important monographs on the recent
and fossil Cirripedia. Apart from the value of his description of the
fossil forms, this work of Darwin's had an important influence on the
progress of geological science. Up to that time a practice had prevailed
for the student of a particular geological formation to take up the
description of the plant and animal remains in it--often without
having anything more than a rudimentary knowledge of the living forms
corresponding to them. Darwin in his monograph gave a very admirable
illustration of the enormous advantage to be gained--alike for biology
and geology--by undertaking the study of the living and fossil forms
of a natural group of organisms in connection with one another. Of the
advantage of these eight years of work to Darwin himself, in preparing
for the great task lying before him, Huxley has expressed a very strong
opinion indeed. ("L.L." II. pages 247-48.)
But during these eight years of "species work," Darwin found
opportunities for not a few excursions into the field of geology. He
occasionally attended the Geological Society, and, as we have already
seen, read several papers there during this period. His friend, Dr
Hooker, then acting as botanist to the Geological Survey, was engaged
in studying the Carboniferous flora, and many discussions on Palaezoic
plants and on the origin of coal took place at this period. On this last
subject he felt the deepest interest and told Hooker, "I shall never
rest easy in Down churchyard without the problem be solved by some one
before I die." ("M.L." I. pages 63, 64.)
As at all times, conversations and letters with Lyell on every branch of
geological science continued with unabated vigour, and in spite of the
absorbing character of the work on the Cirripedes, time was found for
all. In 1849 his friend Herschel induced him to supply a chapter of
forty pages on Geology to the Admiralty "Manual of Scientific Inquiry"
which he was editing. This is Darwin's single contribution to books of
an "educational" kind. It is remarkable for its clearness and simplicity
and attention to minute details. It may be read by the student of
Darwin's life with much interest, for the directions he gives to an
explorer are without doubt those which he, as a self-taught geologist,
proved to be serviceable during his life on the "Beagle".
On the completion of the Cirripede volumes, in 1854, Darwin was able to
grapple with the immense pile of MS. notes which he had accumulated
on the species question. The first sketch of 35 pages (1842), had been
enlarged in 1844 into one of 230 pages ([The first draft of the "Origin"
is being prepared for Press by Mr Francis Darwin and will be published
by the Cambridge University Press this year (1909). A.C.S.]); but in
1856 was commenced the work (never to be completed) which was designed
on a scale three or four times more extensive than that on which the
"Origin of Species" was in the end written.
In drawing up those two masterly chapters of the "Origin", "On
the Imperfection of the Geological Record," and "On the Geological
Succession of Organic Beings", Darwin had need of all the experience and
knowledge he had been gathering during thirty years, the first half
of which had been almost wholly devoted to geological study. The most
enlightened geologists of the day found much that was new, and still
more that was startling from the manner of its presentation, in these
wonderful essays. Of Darwin's own sense of the importance of the
geological evidence in any presentation of his theory a striking proof
will be found in a passage of the touching letter to his wife, enjoining
the publication of his sketch of 1844. "In case of my sudden death,"
he wrote, "... the editor must be a geologist as well as a naturalist."
("L.L." II. pages 16, 17.)
In spite of the numerous and valuable palaeontological discoveries made
since the publication of "The Origin of Species", the importance of the
first of these two geological chapters is as great as ever. It still
remains true that "Those who believe that the geological record is in
any degree perfect, will at once reject the theory"--as indeed they must
reject any theory of evolution. The striking passage with which Darwin
concludes this chapter--in which he compares the record of the rocks
to the much mutilated volumes of a human history--remains as apt an
illustration as it did when first written.
And the second geological chapter, on the Succession of Organic
Beings--though it has been strengthened in a thousand ways, by the
discoveries concerning the pedigrees of the horse, the elephant and
many other aberrant types, though new light has been thrown even on the
origin of great groups like the mammals, and the gymnosperms, though
not a few fresh links have been discovered in the chains of evidence,
concerning the order of appearance of new forms of life--we would
not wish to have re-written. Only the same line of argument could be
adopted, though with innumerable fresh illustrations. Those who reject
the reasonings of this chapter, neither would they be persuaded if a
long and complete succession of "ancestral forms" could rise from the
dead and pass in procession before them.
Among the geological discussions, which so frequently occupied Darwin's
attention during the later years of his life, there was one concerning
which his attitude seemed somewhat remarkable--I allude to his views
on "the permanence of Continents and Ocean-basins." In a letter to Mr
Mellard Reade, written at the end of 1880, he wrote: "On the whole, I
lean to the side that the continents have since Cambrian times occupied
approximately their present positions. But, as I have said, the question
seems a difficult one, and the more it is discussed the better." ("M.L."
II. page 147.) Since this was written, the important contribution to the
subject by the late Dr W.T. Blanford (himself, like Darwin, a naturalist
and geologist) has appeared in an address to the Geological Society in
1890; and many discoveries, like that of Dr Woolnough in Fiji, have
led to considerable qualifications of the generalisation that all the
islands in the great ocean are wholly of volcanic or coral origin.
I remember once expressing surprise to Darwin that, after the views
which he had originated concerning the existence of areas of elevation
and others of subsidence in the Pacific Ocean, and in face of the
admitted difficulty of accounting for the distribution of certain
terrestrial animals and plants, if the land and sea areas had been
permanent in position, he still maintained that theory. Looking at me
with a whimsical smile, he said: "I have seen many of my old friends
make fools of themselves, by putting forward new theoretical views or
revising old ones, AFTER THEY WERE SIXTY YEARS OF AGE; so, long ago,
I determined that on reaching that age I would write nothing more of a
speculative character."
Though Darwin's letters and conversations on geology during these later
years were the chief manifestations of the interest he preserved in his
"old love," as he continued to call it, yet in the sunset of that active
life a gleam of the old enthusiasm for geology broke forth once more.
There can be no doubt that Darwin's inability to occupy himself with
field-work proved an insuperable difficulty to any attempt on his part
to resume active geological research. But, as is shown by the series of
charming volumes on plant-life, Darwin had found compensation in making
patient and persevering experiment take the place of enterprising and
exact observation; and there was one direction in which he could indulge
the "old love" by employment of the new faculty.
We have seen that the earliest memoir written by Darwin, which was
published in full, was a paper "On the Formation of Mould" which was
read at the Geological Society on November 1st, 1837, but did not appear
in the "Transactions" of the Society till 1840, where it occupied four
and a half quarto pages, including some supplementary matter, obtained
later, and a woodcut. This little paper was confined to observations
made in his uncle's fields in Staffordshire, where burnt clay, cinders,
and sand were found to be buried under a layer of black earth, evidently
brought from below by earthworms, and to a recital of similar facts from
Scotland obtained through the agency of Lyell. The subsequent history
of Darwin's work on this question affords a striking example of the
tenacity of purpose with which he continued his enquiries on any subject
that interested him.
In 1842, as soon as he was settled at Down, he began a series of
observations on a foot-path and in his fields, that continued with
intermissions during his whole life, and he extended his enquiries from
time to time to the neighbouring parks of Knole and Holwood. In 1844
we find him making a communication to the "Gardener's Chronicle" on the
subject. About 1870, his attention to the question was stimulated by the
circumstance that his niece (Miss L. Wedgwood) undertook to collect and
weigh the worm-casts thrown up, during a whole year, on measured
squares selected for the purpose, at Leith Hill Place. He also obtained
information from Professor Ramsay concerning observations made by him on
a pavement near his house in 1871. Darwin at this time began to realise
the great importance of the action of worms to the archaeologist. At
an earlier date he appears to have obtained some information concerning
articles found buried on the battle-field of Shrewsbury, and the old
Roman town of Uriconium, near his early home; between 1871 and 1878 Mr
(afterwards Lord) Farrer carried on a series of investigations at the
Roman Villa discovered on his land at Abinger; Darwin's son William
examined for his father the evidence at Beaulieu Abbey, Brading,
Stonehenge and other localities in the neighbourhood of his home; his
sons Francis and Horace were enlisted to make similar enquiries at
Chideock and Silchester; while Francis Galton contributed facts noticed
in his walks in Hyde Park. By correspondence with Fritz Muller and Dr
Ernst, Darwin obtained information concerning the worm-casts found in
South America; from Dr Kreft those of Australia; and from Mr Scott
and Dr (afterwards Sir George) King, those of India; the last-named
correspondent also supplied him with much valuable information obtained
in the South of Europe. Help too was obtained from the memoirs on
Earthworms published by Perrier in 1874 and van Hensen in 1877, while
Professor Ray Lankester supplied important facts with regard to their
anatomy.
When therefore the series of interesting monographs on plant-life had
been completed, Darwin set to work in bringing the information that he
had gradually accumulated during forty-four years to bear on the subject
of his early paper. He also utilised the skill and ingenuity he had
acquired in botanical work to aid in the elucidation of many of the
difficulties that presented themselves. I well remember a visit which
I paid to Down at this period. At the side of the little study stood
flower-pots containing earth with worms, and, without interrupting
our conversation, Darwin would from time to time lift the glass plate
covering a pot to watch what was going on. Occasionally, with a humorous
smile, he would murmur something about a book in another room, and slip
away; returning shortly, without the book but with unmistakeable signs
of having visited the snuff-jar outside. After working about a year at
the worms, he was able at the end of 1881 to publish the charming little
book--"The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms,
with Observations on their Habits". This was the last of his books, and
its reception by reviewers and the public alike afforded the patient old
worker no little gratification. Darwin's scientific career, which had
begun with geological research, most appropriately ended with a return
to it.
It has been impossible to sketch the origin and influence of Darwin's
geological work without, at almost every step, referring to the part
played by Lyell and the "Principles of Geology". Haeckel, in the
chapters on Lyell and Darwin in his "History of Creation", and Huxley in
his striking essay "On the Reception of the Origin of Species" ("L.L."
II. pages 179-204.) have both strongly insisted on the fact that the
"Origin" of Darwin was a necessary corollary to the "Principles" of
Lyell.
It is true that, in an earlier essay, Huxley had spoken of the doctrine
of Uniformitarianism as being, in a certain sense, opposed to that of
Evolution (Huxley's Address to the Geological Society, 1869. "Collected
Essays", Vol. VIII. page 305, London, 1896.); but in his later years he
took up a very different and more logical position, and maintained
that "Consistent uniformitarianism postulates evolution as much in the
organic as in the inorganic world. The origin of a new species by other
than ordinary agencies would be a vastly greater 'catastrophe' than
any of those which Lyell success fully eliminated from sober geological
speculation." ("L.L." II. page 190.)
Huxley's admiration for the "Principles of Geology", and his conviction
of the greatness of the revolution of thought brought about by Lyell,
was almost as marked as in the case of Darwin himself. (See his Essay
on "Science and Pseudo Science". "Collected Essays", Vol. V. page 90,
London, 1902.) He felt, however, as many others have done, that in one
respect the very success of Lyell's masterpiece has been the reason why
its originality and influence have not been so fully recognised as they
deserved to be. Written as the book was before its author had arrived at
the age of thirty, no less than eleven editions of the "Principles"
were called for in his lifetime. With the most scrupulous care, Lyell,
devoting all his time and energies to the task of collecting and sifting
all evidence bearing on the subjects of his work, revised and re-revised
it; and as in each edition, eliminations, modifications, corrections,
and additions were made, the book, while it increased in value as a
storehouse of facts, lost much of its freshness, vigour and charm as a
piece of connected reasoning.
Darwin undoubtedly realised this when he wrote concerning the
"Principles", "the first edition, my old true love, which I never
deserted for the later editions." ("M.L." II. page 222.) Huxley once
told me that when, in later life, he read the first edition, he was both
surprised and delighted, feeling as if it were a new book to him. (I
have before me a letter which illustrates this feeling on Huxley's
part. He had lamented to me that he did not possess a copy of the first
edition of the "Principles", when, shortly afterwards, I picked up a
dilapidated copy on a bookstall; this I had bound and sent to my old
teacher and colleague. His reply is characteristic:
October 8, 1884.
My Dear Judd,
You could not have made me a more agreeable present than the copy of the
first edition of Lyell, which I find on my table. I have never been able
to meet with the book, and your copy is, as the old woman said of her
Bible, "the best of books in the best of bindings."
Ever yours sincerely,
T.H. Huxley.
(I cannot refrain from relating an incident which very strikingly
exemplifies the affection for one another felt by Lyell and Huxley. In
his last illness, when confined to his bed, Lyell heard that Huxley was
to lecture at the Royal Institution on the "Results of the 'Challenger'
expedition": he begged me to attend the lecture and bring him an account
of it. Happening to mention this to Huxley, he at once undertook to
go to Lyell in my place, and he did so on the morning following his
lecture. I shall never forget the look of gratitude on the face of the
invalid when he told me, shortly afterwards, how Huxley had sat by his
bedside and "repeated the whole lecture to him.")
Darwin's generous nature seems often to have made him experience a fear
lest he should do less than justice to his "dear old master," and to the
influence that the "Principles of Geology" had in moulding his mind. In
1845 he wrote to Lyell, "I have long wished, not so much for your sake,
as for my own feelings of honesty, to acknowledge more plainly than by
mere reference, how much I geologically owe you. Those authors, however,
who like you, educate people's minds as well as teach them special
facts, can never, I should think, have full justice done them except by
posterity, for the mind thus insensibly improved can hardly perceive
its own upward ascent." ("L.L." I. pages 337-8.) In another letter, to
Leonard Horner, he says: "I always feel as if my books came half out of
Lyell's brain, and that I never acknowledge this sufficiently." ("M.L."
II. page 117.) Darwin's own most favourite book, the "Narrative of the
Voyage", was dedicated to Lyell in glowing terms; and in the "Origin of
Species" he wrote of "Lyell's grand work on the "Principles of
Geology", which the future historian will recognise as having produced a
revolution in Natural Science." "What glorious good that work has done"
he fervently exclaims on another occasion. ("L.L." I. page 342.)
To the very end of his life, as all who were in the habit of talking
with Darwin can testify, this sense of his indebtedness to Lyell
remained with him. In his "Autobiography", written in 1876, the year
after Lyell's death, he spoke in the warmest terms of the value to him
of the "Principles" while on the voyage and of the aid afforded to him
by Lyell on his return to England. ("L.L." I. page 62.) But the year
before his own death, Darwin felt constrained to return to the subject
and to place on record a final appreciation--one as honourable to the
writer as it is to his lost friend:
"I saw more of Lyell than of any other man, both before and after
my marriage. His mind was characterised, as it appeared to me, by
clearness, caution, sound judgment, and a good deal of originality. When
I made any remark to him on Geology, he never rested until he saw the
whole case clearly, and often made me see it more clearly than I had
done before. He would advance all possible objections to my suggestion,
and even after these were exhausted would remain long dubious. A second
characteristic was his hearty sympathy with the work of other scientific
men... His delight in science was ardent, and he felt the
keenest interest in the future progress of mankind. He was very
kind-hearted... His candour was highly remarkable. He exhibited this by
becoming a convert to the Descent theory, though he had gained much fame
by opposing Lamarck's views, and this after he had grown old."
"THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY IS ENORMOUSLY INDEBTED TO LYELL--MORE SO, AS I
BELIEVE, THAN TO ANY OTHER MAN WHO EVER LIVED." ("L.L." I. pages 71-2
(the italics are mine.))
Those who knew Lyell intimately will recognise the truth of the portrait
drawn by his dearest friend, and I believe that posterity will endorse
Darwin's deliberate verdict concerning the value of his labours.
It was my own good fortune, to be brought into close contact with these
two great men during the later years of their life, and I may perhaps be
permitted to put on record the impressions made upon me during friendly
intercourse with both.
In some respects, there was an extraordinary resemblance in their modes
and habits of thought, between Lyell and Darwin; and this likeness was
also seen in their modesty, their deference to the opinion of younger
men, their enthusiasm for science, their freedom from petty jealousies
and their righteous indignation for what was mean and unworthy in
others. But yet there was a difference. Both Lyell and Darwin were
cautious, but perhaps Lyell carried his caution to the verge of
timidity. I think Darwin possessed, and Lyell lacked, what I can only
describe by the theological term, "faith--the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen." Both had been constrained to feel
that the immutability of species could not be maintained. Both,
too, recognised the fact that it would be useless to proclaim this
conviction, unless prepared with a satisfactory alternative to what
Huxley called "the Miltonic hypothesis." But Darwin's conviction was so
far vital and operative that it sustained him while working unceasingly
for twenty-two years in collecting evidence bearing on the question,
till at last he was in the position of being able to justify that
conviction to others.
And yet Lyell's attitude--and that of Hooker, which was very
similar--proved of inestimable service to science, as Darwin often
acknowledged. One of the greatest merits of the "Origin of Species" is
that so many difficulties and objections are anticipated and fairly met;
and this was to a great extent the result of the persistent and very
candid--if always friendly--criticism of Lyell and Hooker.
I think the divergence of mental attitude in Lyell and Darwin must
be attributed to a difference in temperament, the evidence of which
sometimes appears in a very striking manner in their correspondence.
Thus in 1838, while they were in the thick of the fight with
the Catastrophists of the Geological Society, Lyell wrote
characteristically: "I really find, when bringing up my Preliminary
Essays in "Principles" to the science of the present day, so far as I
know it, that the great outline, and even most of the details, stand
so uninjured, and in many cases they are so much strengthened by new
discoveries, especially by yours, that we may begin to hope that
the great principles there insisted on will stand the test of new
discoveries." (Lyell's "Life, Letters and Journals", Vol. II. page 44.)
To which the more youthful and impetuous Darwin replies: "BEGIN TO HOPE:
why the POSSIBILITY of a doubt has never crossed my mind for many a day.
This may be very unphilosophical, but my geological salvation is staked
on it... it makes me quite indignant that you should talk of HOPING."
("L.L." I. page 296.)
It was not only Darwin's "geological salvation" that was at stake, when
he surrendered himself to his enthusiasm for an idea. To his firm faith
in the doctrine of continuity we owe the "Origin of Species"; and while
Darwin became the "Paul" of evolution, Lyell long remained the "doubting
Thomas."
Many must have felt like H.C. Watson when he wrote: "How could Sir
C. Lyell... for thirty years read, write, and think, on the subject of
species AND THEIR SUCCESSION, and yet constantly look down the wrong
road!" ("L.L." II. page 227.) Huxley attributed this hesitation of Lyell
to his "profound antipathy" to the doctrine of the "pithecoid origin of
man." ("L.L." II. page 193.) Without denying that this had considerable
influence (and those who knew Lyell and his great devotion to his wife
and her memory, are aware that he and she felt much stronger convictions
concerning such subjects as the immortality of the soul than Darwin
was able to confess to) yet I think Darwin had divined the real
characteristics of his friend's mind, when he wrote: "He would advance
all possible objections... AND EVEN AFTER THESE WERE EXHAUSTED, WOULD
REMAIN LONG DUBIOUS."
Very touching indeed was the friendship maintained to the end between
these two leaders of thought--free as their intercourse was from any
smallest trace of self-seeking or jealousy. When in 1874 I spent some
time with Lyell in his Forfarshire home, a communication from Darwin was
always an event which made a "red-letter day," as Lyell used to say;
and he gave me many indications in his conversation of how strongly he
relied upon the opinion of Darwin--more indeed than on the judgment
of any other man--this confidence not being confined to questions of
science, but extending to those of morals, politics, and religion.
I have heard those who knew Lyell only slightly, speak of his manners
as cold and reserved. His complete absorption in his scientific work,
coupled with extreme short-sightedness, almost in the end amounting to
blindness, may have permitted those having but a casual acquaintance
with him to accept such a view. But those privileged to know him
intimately recognised the nobleness of his character and can realise
the justice and force of Hooker's words when he heard of his death: "My
loved, my best friend, for well nigh forty years of my life. The most
generous sharer of my own and my family's hopes, joys and sorrows, whose
affection for me was truly that of a father and brother combined."
But the strongest of all testimonies to the grandeur of Lyell's
character is the lifelong devotion to him of such a man as Darwin.
Before the two met, we find Darwin constantly writing of facts and
observations that he thinks "will interest Mr Lyell"; and when they came
together the mutual esteem rapidly ripened into the warmest affection.
Both having the advantage of a moderate independence, permitting of an
entire devotion of their lives to scientific research, they had much in
common, and the elder man--who had already achieved both scientific and
literary distinction--was able to give good advice and friendly help
to the younger one. The warmth of their friendship comes out very
strikingly in their correspondence. When Darwin first conceived the idea
of writing a book on the "species question," soon after his return from
the voyage, it was "by following the example of Lyell in Geology" that
he hoped to succeed ("L.L." I. page 83.); when in 1844, Darwin had
finished his first sketch of the work, and, fearing that his life might
not be spared to complete his great undertaking, committed the care of
it in a touching letter to his wife, it was his friend Lyell whom he
named as her adviser and the possible editor of the book ("L.L." II.
pages 17-18.); it was Lyell who, in 1856, induced Darwin to lay the
foundations of a treatise ("L.L." I. page 84.) for which the author
himself selected the "Principles" as his model; and when the dilemma
arose from the receipt of Wallace's essay, it was to Lyell jointly with
Hooker that Darwin turned, not in vain, for advice and help.
During the later years of his life, I never heard Darwin allude to his
lost friend--and he did so very often--without coupling his name
with some term of affection. For a brief period, it is true, Lyell's
excessive caution when the "Origin" was published, seemed to try even
the patience of Darwin; but when "the master" was at last able to
declare himself fully convinced, he was the occasion of more rejoicing
on the part of Darwin, than any other convert to his views. The latter
was never tired of talking of Lyell's "magnanimity" and asserted that,
"To have maintained in the position of a master, one side of a question
for thirty years, and then deliberately give it up, is a fact to which I
much doubt whether the records of science offer a parallel." ("L.L." II.
pages 229-30.)
Of Darwin himself, I can safely affirm that I never knew anyone who
had met him, even for the briefest period, who was not charmed by his
personality. Who could forget the hearty hand-grip at meeting, the
gentle and lingering pressure of the palm at parting, and above all
that winning smile which transformed his countenance--so as to make
portraits, and even photographs, seem ever afterwards unsatisfying!
Looking back, one is indeed tempted to forget the profoundness of the
philosopher, in recollection of the loveableness of the man.