Development of Darwin's theory: Encyclopedia II - Development of Darwin's theory - First writings on the theory

Development of Darwin's theory - First writings on the theory

In January 1842 Darwin sent a tentative description of his ideas in a letter to Lyell, who was then touring America. Lyell, dismayed that his erstwhile ally had become a Transmutationist, noted that Darwin "denies seeing a beginning to each crop of species".

Illness was a continuing problem, and as his books on Coral Reefs and Fish reached print he and Emma left London on 18 May, visiting her parents at Maer Hall then moving on to Shrewsbury on 15 June for rest and quiet. Here Darwin formulated a 35 page '"Pencil Sketch"' of his theory. This discussed farmers breeding animals, gave the analogy of overpopulation and competition leading to "Natural Selection" through the "war of nature" and the mechanism of descent. Every living thing was related in a branching pedigree, not ascending a Lamarckian ladder, and this pedigree was the proper basis for classification. He thought it "derogatory" to argue that God had made every kind of parasite and worm on an individual whim. He believed that everything resulted from grand laws that should "exalt our notion of the power of the omniscient Creator" and concluded that "From death, famine, rapine and the concealed war of nature we can see that the highest good, which we can conceive, the creation of the higher animals has directly come."

Development of Darwin's theory - Essay

They returned on 18 July to a London seething with Chartist unrest, and Darwin copied and scribbled changes to his "Sketch" until it was almost illegible. He returned to house hunting and found a former parsonage in the rural hamlet of Downe at a good price. A general strike led to huge demonstrations all over London, but was crushed by troops by the time Darwin moved. On 17 September 1842 the family moved into Down House (around 1850 the village changed its name to Downe to avoid confusion with County Down in Ireland, but the house kept the old spelling). After a series of alterations Darwin settled in, and in 1843 returned to writing his Volcanic Islands. In May he began a (mostly geological) country diary he called The General Aspect. Asked by George Robert Waterhouse for advice on classification, he wrote of "descent from common stocks" and "members of the series, which have not become extinct", cautiously asking for the letter to be returned, but Waterhouse was influenced by Owen and in print attacked such heresies, setting his species in symbolic circles, not hereditary trees.

Darwin became a close friend of the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, and on 11 January 1844 wrote to him of Transmutation, describing this as being like confessing "a murder", hinting at Transmutation's association with radicals and riots. Hooker's reply was cautious but friendly, saying that there may have been "a gradual change of species. I shall be delighted to hear how you think that this change may have taken place, as no presently conceived opinions satisfy me on this subject."

Darwin worked up his "Sketch" into a 189 page '"Essay"' and in July entrusted the manuscript to the local schoolmaster to copy. He then wrote a difficult letter to be opened by his wife in the event of his death requesting that the essay be published posthumously. He started his Geological Observations on South America, and corresponded with Hooker about this, feeding in questions related to his secret "Essay". The copied "Essay", now 231 pages, was returned to him for corrections in September. Then one day he brought it to Emma and asked her to read it. She went through the pages, making notes in the margins pointing out unclear passages and showing where she disagreed.

Development of Darwin's theory - Vestiges published

In October 1844 Transmutation became a middle class talking point with the anonymous publication of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Robert Chambers presenting Lamarckian views. It brought the notion of transmutation out into the public arena and was a sensation, quickly becoming a best-seller and going into new editions. Darwin admired its prose, but the "geology strikes me as bad, & his zoology far worse".

By implying that God might not actively sustain the natural and social hierarchies, it threatened the social order and could provide ammunition to Chartists and revolutionaries. Anglican clergymen / naturalists attacked the book, revealing how many of the wealthy specialist naturalists were opposed to Transmutation. The Revd. Adam Sedgwick who had taught Darwin geology at university predicted "ruin and confusion in such a creed" which if taken up by the working classes "will undermine the whole moral and social fabric" bringing "discord and deadly mischief in its train." Darwin scorned such reaction as showing "the dogmatism of the pulpit".

The book was liked by many Quakers and Unitarians. Darwin's friend the Unitarian physiologist William Carpenter called it "a very beautiful and a very interesting book", and helped Chambers with correcting later editions. Critics thanked God that the author began "in ignorance and presumption", for the revised versions "would have been much more dangerous". Vestiges paved the way for discussion, but emphasised the need for secure mastery of awkward facts.

Development of Darwin's theory - Trifling facts

Darwin continued to gather "trifling facts". The Reverend Leonard Jenyns, a parson Darwin had met at natural history soirées at the University of Cambridge, became a useful source, particularly on bird mortality. Darwin explained his interest in finding reason behind a "grand body of facts", writing "The general conclusion at which I have slowly been driven from a directly opposite conviction is that species are mutable & that allied species are co-descendants of common stocks. I know how much I open myself, to reproach, for such a conclusion, but I have at least honestly & deliberately come to it." Jenyns rebuffed this deviation from Creation and never accepted an offer of reading the "Essay".

Hooker became Darwin's mainstay in the search to find and explain anomalous facts, though Darwin was greatly disappointed in February 1845 when Hooker was invited to teach botany at Edinburgh. Others helping included Captain Beaufort of the Admiralty who invited Darwin to list any facts he wanted checking, for investigation by ship's surgeons (naturalists) when their ship was in the appropriate part of the world.

In March Darwin followed his father's investment advice and became owner of a farmhouse and estate in Lincolnshire, where the Reverend Samuel Wilberforce advised local squires to take education in hand lest the countryfolk learn "a smattering of science" and forget their God-given duties. The publisher John Murray got Darwin to divert his attention from South America to a revised second edition of his Journal and Remarks incorporating latest information and interpretation. Darwin now saw the Galápagos Archipelago as "a little world within itself" where "we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact – that mystery of mysteries – the first appearance of new beings on this earth". He dedicated the new edition to Lyell, but having been horrified by Lyell's Travels in North America which saw no harm in slavery, he added a last section cataloguing atrocities starting with the words "I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave country."

Correspondence with Hooker continued, and later in 1845 Darwin offered his "rough Sketch" for comments, but when Hooker and a group of young naturalists visited Down in December Hooker, having no formed opinion of his own, stuck to the assumption that species were immutable. In the following year potato blight brought famine which impinged on the Darwin's servants and workmen, and lead to overthrow of the Corn Laws. Darwin welcomed this, but as a landowner now found that it affected his income from rent and he wrote to his agent that "Although I am on principle a free-trader, of course I am not willing to make a larger reduction than necessary to retain a good tenant." Despite his own illness recurring, Darwin pressed on with South America, having to jointly subsidise it with the publisher when the Treasury grant ran out, and it was completed by October 1846.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "First writings on the theory", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki