The Invention of Nature

Chapter 17: Evolution and Nature

1

‘wretchedly out of spirits’: Darwin, 30 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.

2

Darwin seasick: Darwin, 29 December 1831, ibid., pp.17–18; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

3

poop cabin: Thomson 1995, p.124ff.; HMS

Beagle

sketch of poop cabin by B.J. Sulivan, CUL DAR.107.

4

Darwin’s books on

Beagle

: Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, Appendix IV, pp.558–66.

5

Darwin on Lyell: Darwin 1958, p.77.

6

‘You are of course’ (footnote): Robert FitzRoy to Darwin, 23 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.167.

7

‘My admiration of his’: Darwin to D.T. Gardner, August 1874, published in

New York Times

, 15 September 1874.

8

passed Madeira: Darwin, 4 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.19; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

9

‘for cheering the heart’: Darwin, 31 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.

10

‘Oh misery, misery’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, ibid., p.19; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.

11

‘Already can I understand’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.201–2.

12

‘like parting from a’: Darwin, 7 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20.

13

‘wildest Castles’: Darwin, 17 December 1831, ibid., p.14.

14

‘subsist with some comfort’: Darwin 1958, p.46.

15

Darwin at university: Ibid., p.56ff.

16

Darwin and beetles: Ibid., pp.50, 62.

17

‘stirred up in me a’: Darwin wrote that he read AH’s

Personal Narrative

‘during my last year in Cambridge’, Darwin 1958, p.67–8

18

Darwin, Henslow and reading aloud: Ibid., pp.64ff., 68; Browne 2003a, pp.123, 131; Thomson 2009, pp.94, 102; Darwin to Fox, 5 November 1830, Darwin Correspondence vol.1, p.110.

19

‘I talk, think, &’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 7 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.120.

20

‘I cannot hardly sit’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831; see also Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 11 May 1831 and 9 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122, 123, 124; Darwin 1958, pp.68–70.

21

‘gaze at the Palm trees’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122.

22

‘read and reread Humboldt’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 11 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.125–6.

23

‘I plague them’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 11 May 1831, ibid., p.123.

24

‘to fan your Canary’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 11 July 1831, ibid., p.125.

25

‘I have written myself’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831, ibid., p.122; for Spanish expressions, see Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 9 July 1831, ibid., p.124.

26

Henslow bailed out: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 1 August 1831, ibid., p.127; see also Browne 2003a, p.135; Thomson 2009, p.131.

27

FitzRoy looked for naturalist: John Stevens Henslow to Darwin, 24 August 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.128–9.

28

‘a wild scheme’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831, ibid., p.133; see also Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 30 August 1831; Robert Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood, 30–31 August 1831; Josiah Wedgwood II to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831, ibid., pp.131–4; Darwin 1958, pp.71–2; Darwin 31 August–1 September 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.3; Browne 2003a, p.152ff.

29

Darwin’s father savvy investor: Browne 2003a, p.7.

30

‘If I saw Charles’: Josiah Wedgwood II to Robert Darwin, 31 August 1831; Darwin’s father agrees to expedition, Robert Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood II, 1 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.134–5.

31

lighter clothes: Darwin, 10 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.21; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.202.

32

crew on

Beagle

: Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, Appendix III, p.549.

33

Captain FitzRoy: Browne 2003a, pp.144–9; Thomson 2009, p.139ff.

34

‘bordering on insanity’: Darwin 1958, p.73ff.; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.203; see also Thomson 1995, p.155.

35

‘The hold would contain’: Darwin, 23 October 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.8; for

Beagle

and supplies, see also Browne 2003a, p.169; Darwin to Susan Darwin, 6 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.144; Thomson 1995, pp.115, 123, 128.

36

first landfall Santiago: Darwin, 16 January 1832 and following entries, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.23ff.

37

‘perfect hurricane of delight’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, May 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.232.

38

‘heavily laden with’: Darwin, 17 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.24.

39

Darwin like child: Robert FitzRoy to Francis Beaufort, 5 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.205, n.1.

40

‘like giving to a blind’: Darwin, 16 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.23.

41

‘if you really want’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832; see also Darwin to William Darwin Fox, May 1832, ibid., pp.204, 233.

42

‘much struck by the justness’: Darwin, 26 May 1832; see also 6 February, 9 April and 2 June 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, pp.34, 55, 67, 70.

43

Darwin on Lyell: Darwin 1958, p.77.

44

Darwin reading rocks at Santiago: Thomson 2009, p.148; Browne 2003a, p.185; see also Darwin 1958, pp.77, 81, 101.

45

‘I shall be able to’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 10 February 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.206; see also Darwin 1958, p.81.

46

like

Arabian Nights:

Darwin to Frederick Watson, 18 August 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.260.

47

‘My feelings amount’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, ibid., p.204.

48

‘I formerly admired Humboldt’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 18 May–16 June 1832 ibid., p.237.

49

‘rare union of poetry’: Darwin, 28 February 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.42.

50

walking in a new world: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.202ff.

51

‘I am at present red-hot’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 18 May–16 June 1832, ibid., p.238.

52

‘make a florist go’: Darwin, 1 March 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.43.

53

‘I am at present fit’: Darwin, 28 February 1832, ibid., p.42.

54

‘a great wanderer’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 25 October 1833, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.344.

55

routine

Beagle

: Browne 2003a, p.191ff.

56

‘everything is so close’: Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.202.

57

dinner in mess-room and food: Browne 2003a, pp.193, 222.

58

‘Philos’ and ‘flycatcher’: Thomson 2009, pp.142–3.

59

others helped with collections: Browne 2003a, p.225

60

‘damned beastly bedevilment’: Thomson 1995, p.156.

61

collections to Henslow: Browne 2003a, p.230.

62

Darwin asked for AH’s books: Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 5 July 1832; see also Erasmus Darwin to Darwin, 18 August 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.247, 258.

63

southern stars: Darwin, 24, 25, 26 March 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.48.

64

‘new sensations’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, p.69.

65

‘very refreshing, after being’: Darwin, 12 February 1835, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.288.

66

‘one instant is sufficient’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.321.

67

‘an earthquake like’: Darwin, 20 February 1835, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.292.

68

‘spreads life’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, p.8.

69

Darwin on kelp: Darwin, 1 June 1834, Darwin 1997, pp.228–9.

70

‘that you had, probably’: Caroline Darwin to Darwin, 28 October 1833, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.345.

71

‘vivid, Humboldt-like’: Herman Kindt to Darwin, 16 September 1864, ibid., vol.12, p.328.

72

animals Galapagos Islands: Darwin, 17 September 1835, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.353.

73

‘There never was a Ship’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 15 February 1836, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1. p.491.

74

‘most dangerous inclination’: Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 14 February 1836; for dreaming of England, Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 9 July 1836 and Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 18 July 1836, ibid., pp.490, 501, 503.

75

longing for horse chestnut: Darwin to Susan Darwin, 4 April 1836, 1, p.503

76

‘zig-zag manner’: Ibid.

77

‘I hate every wave’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 15 February 1836, ibid., p.491.

78

‘All mine were taken’: Darwin, after 25 September 1836, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.443.

79

Beagle

arrived at Falmouth: Darwin, 2 October 1836, ibid., p.447.

80

fields greener: Darwin to Robert FitzRoy, 6 October 1836, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.506.

81

‘looking very thin’: Caroline Darwin to Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood, 5 October 1836, ibid., p.504.

82

Darwin to London: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 6 October 1836, ibid., p.507.

83

Darwin and Geological Society: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 9 July 1838, ibid., p.499.

84

‘The voyage of the Beagle’: Darwin 1958, p.76.

85

‘resemble on a humbler scale’ (footnote): Darwin to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April 1837, Darwin Correspondence, vol.2, p.16.

86

Darwin worked on journal: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 28 March and 18 May 1837; Darwin to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April 1837, ibid., pp.14, 16, 18; Browne 2003a, p.417.

87

Voyage of the Beagle:

Darwin’s account was the third volume of

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle

, which was a four-volume account of the

Beagle

voyages written by FitzRoy. Darwin’s volume proved so popular that it was reissued in August 1839 as a separate publication called

Journal of Researches

. It became known as the

Voyage of the Beagle

.

88

‘for I know no more’: Darwin to John Washington, 1 November 1839, Darwin Correspondence, vol.2, p.241.

89

‘they might ever be present’: Darwin to AH, 1 November 1839, ibid., p.240.

90

‘excellent and admirable book’: AH to Darwin, 18 September 1839, ibid., pp.425–6.

91

‘one of the most remarkable’: AH, 6 September 1839,

Journal Geographical Society

, 1839, vol.9, p.505.

92

‘Few things in my life’: Darwin to John Washington, 14 October 1839, Darwin Correspondence, vol.2, p.230.

93

Darwin honoured: Darwin to AH, 1 November 1839, ibid., p.239.

94

‘I must with

unpardonable

’: Darwin to Joseph Hooker, 3–17 February 1844, ibid., vol.3, p.9.

95

‘I cannot bear to’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 21 January 1838, ibid., vol.2, p.69.

96

‘flurries me’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 14 October 1837; for heart palpitations, see also 20 September 1837, ibid., pp.47, 51–2; Thomson 2009, p.205.

97

Darwin and transmutation: Darwin started thinking seriously about transmutation in late spring 1837. By July 1837 he began a new notebook devoted to the transmutation of species (Notebook B), Thomson 2009, p.182ff.; see also Darwin, Notebook B, Transmutation of species 1837–38, CUL MS.DAR.121.

98

Darwin and Galapagos: Thomson 2009, p.180ff

99

Lamarck and transmutation: Lamarck’s

Système des animaux sans vertèbres

(1801) and

Philosophie zoologique

(1809).

100 row at Académie: between Georges Cuvier and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, see Päßler 2009, p.139ff.; for AH whispering comments, see Louis Agassiz about AH, October–December 1830, Beck 1959, p.123.

101 ‘gradual transformations of’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.112; AH Views 2014, p.201; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.135 (this is not in the German 1808 edition of Views of Nature but similar p.185); already in his Essay on the Geography of Plants, Humboldt had discussed how accidental varieties of plants might have transformed into ‘permanent ones’, AH Geography 2009, p.68.

102 ‘must also have been subjected’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.20; AH Views 2014, p.163.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.25; see also AH Ansichten 1808, p.185.

103 ‘key-stone of the’: Darwin to Joseph Dalton Hooker, 10 February 1845, Darwin Correspondence, vol.3, p.140.

104 similar plants across continents: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, pp.491–5; Darwin highlighted this in his copy.

105 similar climate not always similar plants: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.112; AH Views 2014, p.201; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.136.

106 ‘In Humboldt great work’ (footnote): Darwin, Notebook B, Transmutation of species 1837–38, pp.92, 156, CUL MS.DAR.121.

107 tigers, birds and crocodiles: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, pp.180, 183, 221ff. CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301.

108 ‘like Patagonia’: Ibid., vol.4, pp.336, 384 and vol.5, pp.24, 79, 110.

109 ‘When studying Geograph’: Ibid., vol.1, endpapers; Darwin, Notebook A, Geology 1837–1839, p.15, CUL DAR127; Darwin, Santiago Notebook, EH1.18, p.123, English Heritage, Darwin Online

110 ‘Nothing respect to’: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, endpapers, CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301

111 Darwin and species migration: ibid., vol.1, endpapers; see also Werner 2009, p.77ff.

112 ‘how transported was’: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.1, list at back, CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301.

113 ‘so dispersed’: Ibid., vol.5, p.543.

114 ‘the investigation of the origin’: Ibid., p.180; see also vol.3, p.496 (Darwin underlined both).

115 ‘the shape of our’: AH Views 2014, pp.162–3; AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.19; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.24.

116 ‘veritable rubbish’: Darwin to Joseph Hooker, 10–11 November 1844, Darwin Correspondence, vol.3, p.79.

117 Darwin read Malthus: Darwin 1958, p.120; Thomson 2009, p.214.

118 AH on turtle eggs: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.489, CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301.

119 ‘a theory by which’: Darwin 1958, p.120.

120 ‘limit each other’s’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.114; AH Views 2014, p.202; AH Ansichten 1849, p.138.

121 ‘long continued contest’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.114; AH Views 2014, p.202; AH Ansichten 1849, p.138; see also AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.437.

122 ‘fear each other’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–1829, vol.4, pp.421–2.

123 ‘two powerful enemies’: Ibid., p.426.

124 ‘affrighted at this struggle’: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–1829, vol.4, p.437; see also vol.5, p.590, CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301.

125 ‘What hourly carnage’: Ibid., vol.5, p.590

126 ‘are bound together’: Darwin, 1838, Harman 2009, p.226.

127 tree of life: Darwin, Notebook B, p.36f, CUL MS.DAR.121.

128 Darwin marks inspiration to tangled bank: Darwin’s copy of AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, pp.505–6, CUL, DAR.LIB:T.301.

129 ‘The beasts of the forest’ (footnote): Ibid.

130 ‘It is interesting to’: Darwin 1859, p.489.