Charles Darwin

by Andrew Norman

  Dearest Philos …

  Believe it, or not, – the news is true – I am going to be married!!!!!! To Mary O’Brien … . All is settled and we shall be married in December. Yours most sincerely, Robt FitzRoy.12

  In his letter to Henslow of 30/31 October Darwin declared:

  I have not made much progress with the great men [of science, whom he had tried to interest in the collections of specimens which he had brought back from South America]. I find, as you told me, that they are overwhelmed with their own business. [However] Mr Lyell has entered in the most goodnatured manner, & almost without being asked, into all my plans.

  Sir Charles Lyell was a Scottish barrister. He was also President of the Geological Society and a man whom Darwin greatly respected, and about whom he said, ‘The science of Geology is enormously indebted to Lyell – more so, as I believe, than to any other man who ever lived.13 He tells me, however, the same story, namely that I must do all myself. Mr Owen seems anxious to dissect some of the animals in spirits, & besides these two I have scarcely met anyone who seems to wish to possess any of my specimens.’

  Richard Owen, a comparative anatomist, was Hunterian Professor in the Royal College of Surgeons. Continued Darwin to Henslow:

  As far as I can yet see, my best plan will be to spend several months in Cambridge, & then, when by your assistance, I know on what grounds I stand, to emigrate to London, where I can complete my geology, & try to push on [with] the Zoology14

  From this, it may be deduced a), that Darwin is disappointed in the lack of interest shown in the specimens which he had collected so painstakingly and laboriously during the Beagle voyage and b), that as far as he was concerned, all thoughts of becoming a clergyman in the Church of England had vanished.

  Astonishingly, mislaid artefacts collected by Darwin during the course of the Beagle expedition, were only rediscovered in April 2011 by Dr Howard Falcon-Lang, a palaeobotanist at Royal Holloway, University of London, when, in a ‘gloomy corner’ of the headquarters of the British Geological Survey, Nottingham, he had ‘stumbled upon … an old wooden cabinet’ which contained glass slides on which had been placed for examination specimens of fossils. One of the first slides Falcon-Lang had come across was, to his astonishment, labelled ‘C. Darwin Esq’.

  It transpired that the collection consisted of 314 slides of specimens, collected not only by Darwin but also by botanist and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker, John Stevens Henslow and others. One, for example, depicted a section of fossilized wood, 40 million years old and collected by Darwin in 1834 from Chiloe Island, South America during the voyage of the Beagle.15

  In that same month of October, Emma Wedgwood, Darwin’s cousin (and daughter of Josiah Wedgwood II), who was now aged twenty-eight, declared

  We are getting impatient for Charles’s arrival. We all ought to get up a little knowledge for him. I have taken to no deeper study than Capt Head’s gallop which I have never read before.

  The book to which Emma referred was entitled Rough Notes taken during some Rapid Journeys Across the Pampas and among the Andes by Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and known as ‘galloping Head’, published in 1828.16

  Was Emma’s desire to be reunited with Darwin simply occasioned by a sense of family love and loyalty, or was there a deeper reason? Time would tell.

  On 21 November, following Darwin’s visit to Maer, Emma declared, ‘We enjoyed Charles’s visit uncommonly. [He] talked away most pleasantly all the time; we plied him with questions without any mercy.17’

  Emma Wedgwood

  Emma Wedgwood was to play an increasingly important role in Darwin’s life. She was born on 2 May 1808, the youngest of the eight surviving children of Josiah Wedgwood (II) and his wife Elizabeth, née Allen, of Maer Hall, Staffordshire. Emma was, therefore, almost a year older than Darwin (who, as already mentioned, was her cousin: Darwin’s father Robert, having married Josiah Wedgwood (I)’s daughter Susannah, on 18 April 1796).

  As might be expected of two families which were so closely related, there was frequent interaction between them. For example, when, in summer 1823, the Wedgwoods paid a visit to the seaside resort of Scarborough, Yorkshire, they were joined by Darwin’s sister Susan.18

  Emma kept a diary that reveals that her reading matter was largely of a religious nature. For example, she lists the books which she read in the year 1824. They included Moral Philosophy and Horae Paulinae, or the Truth of the Scripture History of St Paul, by the Reverend William Paley; Isaiah: A New Translation, by Bishop Robert Lowth, and Sermons on the Efficacy of Prayer and Intercession by the Reverend Samuel Ogden.19

  When Emma left school she taught at the Sunday school (as did other members of her family), which was attended by sixty children and held in the laundry room of Maer Hall.20 In March 1827, Emma and her family visited Geneva. That autumn Darwin’s sisters Susan and Catherine, visited Maer for a month, where ‘Emma Wedgwood, now nineteen, was leading a happy, girlish life, taking what parties, balls and archery meetings came in her way’.21

  When Emma’s beloved older sister Francis (‘Fanny’), died on 20 August 1832 at the age of twenty-six, Emma recorded her feelings.

  Oh, Lord, help me to become more like her, and grant that I may join her with Thee never to part again.22

  * * *

  Lyell wrote an admiring letter to Darwin in February 1837 referring to

  your new Llama [the South American guanaco, or wild llama, which Darwin had described], Armadillos, gigantic rodents, & other glorious additions to the Menagerie of that new continent … . [Furthermore] Your lines of Elevation & subsidence will deservedly get you as great a name as de Beaumont’s parallel Elevations, & yours are true, which is more than can be said of his.23

  This was a reference to French geologist Jean-Baptiste de Beaumont and his theory of the origin of mountain ranges.

  On 7 March, recorded Darwin,

  I took lodgings in Great Marlborough Street in London, and remained there for nearly two years, until I was married. During these two years I finished my Journal, read several papers before the Geological Society, began preparing the MS [manuscript] for my Geological Observations, and arranged for the publication of the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle. In July I opened my first note-book for facts in relation to the Origin of Species, about which I had long reflected, and never ceased working for the next twenty years.24

  By May/June, Darwin was exercising his mind as to why it was that in

  so many cases where ships with all their crew in good health have yet caused strange contagious disorders at [British East India Company’s Naval] Station Islands in the Pacific … [and how it was that the] first mingling … of the European race with the natives of distant climes always produces disease.25

  Darwin wrote to William Whewell, Professor of Mineralogy and Moral Theology at Cambridge and President of the Geological Society on 18 June to say, ‘I have been much interested on the subject of earthquake waves [i.e. tsunamis.]’.26 However, the letter contained an item of far greater significance.

  My first note-book was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles [moving from specific observations to broader generalisations and theories, as practised by philosopher Francis Bacon, 1561–1626], and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially with respect to domesticated productions, [animals and plants which had been selectively bred] by printed enquiries [to fellow enthusiasts], by conversation with skilful breeders and gardeners, and by extensive reading. I soon perceived that selection was the keystone of man’s success in making useful races of animals and plants. But how selection could be applied to organisms living in a state of nature remained for some time a mystery to me.27

  By recognizing the possible significance of ‘selection’ in respect of the natural world, Darwin had taken another step towards formulating his great theory.

  Darwin wrote to John Richardson, surgeon, explorer, and naturalist on 24 July with questions about
vegetation in cold climates.

  My object in these questions, is to be enabled to compare the mere quantity of vegetation, in parts of South America, where large animals formerly did live, and likewise in Africa where large animals are now living, with the quantity growing in climates far north, and extremely cold.28

  During his time in London, Darwin, who was ever-inquisitive and whose mind ranged freely across the entire panoply of the natural world

  read before the Geological Society papers on the ‘Formation by the Agency of Earth-worms of Mould’ (1838), ‘Earthquakes’ (1840), and the ‘Erratic Boulders of South America’ (1842).29

  In a letter to Susan in April 1838 Darwin described a visit he had made to the Zoological Society (the London Zoo) where he saw

  the [Orang-utan] in great perfection: the keeper showed her an apple, but would not give it [to] her, whereupon she threw herself on her back, kicked & cried, precisely like a naughty child. She then looked very sulky & after two or three fits of [passion] the keeper said, ‘Jenny if you will stop bawling & be a good girl, I will give you the apple. She certainly understood every word of this, &, though like a child, she had great work [i.e. was obliged to make a great effort] to stop whining, she at last succeeded, & then got the apple, with which she jumped into an arm chair & began eating it, with the most contented countenance imaginable.30

  Darwin was elected to the Athenaeum on 21 June. This was a club founded in 1824 for men of distinction in the fields of medicine, law, the arts, etc., and also for high-ranking clergymen. To Lyell, who had supported him in his candidature, he declared

  I am full of admiration for the Athenaeum; one meets so many people there, that one likes to see … Your helping me into the Athenaeum has not been thrown away, & I enjoy it the more because I fully expected to detest it.31

  From August 1838 until December 1881 Darwin kept a Journal in which he ‘recorded the periods he was away from home, the progress and publication of his work and important events in his family life’.32 That summer, in the typically analytical manner of the trained scientist, he listed what, to his mind, were the pros and cons of marriage.

  Marry

  Children – (if it Please God) Constant companion (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, object to be beloved & played with. better than a dog anyhow. Home & someone to take care of house. Charms of music & female chit-chat. These things good for one’s health. but terrible loss of time.

  My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working & nothing after all. No, no won’t do. Imagine living all one’s days solitarily in smoky dirty London House. Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps – Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt Marlbro’ Street.

  Not marry

  Freedom to go where one liked – choice of Society & little of it. Conversation of clever men at clubs– not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle. to have the expense & anxiety of children – perhaps quarrelling – Loss of time [it was no coincidence that these two words were highlighted by him, workaholic that he was]. cannot read in the Evenings – fatness & idleness – Anxiety & responsibility – less money for books &c – if [I have] many children [to be] forced to gain one’s bread [i.e. work in a conventional way in order to earn a living]. (But then it is very bad for one’s health to work too much).

  Perhaps my wife won’t like London; then the sentence is banishment & degradation into indolent, idle fool … .

  As the pros outweighed the cons, the conclusion he reaches, therefore, is ‘Marry – Mary [sic] – Marry. QED.’ Finally, ‘It being necessary to Marry’, he poses the question, ‘When? Soon or Late’.33

  The fact that Darwin does not include ‘To whom?’ in the question, indicates that he has already made up his mind as to the subject of his love and affection – i.e. Emma Wedgwood.

  Were it not for the words ‘object to be beloved’, written in relation to a prospective spouse, one might be forgiven for believing that Darwin regarded marriage merely as a cold, calculated transaction, based on the premise ‘What is there in this for me?’ But what did Darwin himself have to offer? Was this scientist with an analytical mind capable of fulfilling the role of husband, and subsequently perhaps, parent, with all that this entailed, including the giving of love and emotional support? Only time would tell.

  In his autobiography, Darwin made the following, highly significant entry

  In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry [into ‘how selection could be applied to organisms living in a state of nature’], I happened to read for amusement [Thomas R.] Malthus [economist and clergyman] on Population …34

  NOTES

  1. Darwin, Francis, p.41.

  2. Ibid, p.36.

  3. Oxford Dictionaries Online.

  4. Darwin, Francis, p.37.

  5. Oxford Dictionaries Online.

  6. Darwin, Francis, p.44.

  7. Darwin, C. R., 1844, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle, etc. p.74.

  8. Ibid, p.93 (Footnote).

  9. Darwin, Francis, p.39.

  10. Ibid, pp.39, 41.

  11. Darwin to Josiah Wedgwood (II), 5 October 1836, Litchfield, Henrietta. Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters 1792–1896, Volume 1, p.271.

  12. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, p.359.

  13. Darwin, Francis, p.46.

  14. Darwin to J. S. Henslow [30/31 October 1836], Cor.1, p.512.

  15. ‘U.K. Scientists find Lost Darwin Fossils’ 17 January 2012. http://www.technogypsie.com/science/?tag=dr-howard-falcon-lang and ‘Why Evolution is True: Cache of Darwin Fossils Found’. http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/cache-of-darwins-fossils-found

  16. Emma Wedgwood to Mrs Hensleigh Wedgwood, October 1836, Litchfield, Henrietta. Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters 1792–1896, Volume 1, p.272, and Note (i).

  17. Emma Wedgwood to Mrs Hensleigh Wedgwood, 21 November 1836, Litchfield, Henrietta. Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters 1792–1896, Volume 1, p.273.

  18. Litchfield, Henrietta, Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters 1792–1896, Volume 1, p.149.

  19. Emma Darwin’s Diaries 1824–96: Dr John van Wyhe, editor, 2002, The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

  20. Litchfield, Henrietta, op. cit., p.141.

  21. Ibid, p.210.

  22. Ibid, p.250.

  23. Darwin to Charles Lyell, 13 February 1837, Cor.2, p.4. 24.

  24. Darwin, Francis, p.42.

  25. Darwin to Caroline, 19 May-16 June 1837, Cor.2, p.19.

  26. Darwin to William Whewell, 18 June 1837, Cor.2, p.24.

  27. Darwin, Francis, pp.56–7.

  28. Darwin to John Richardson [24 and 25 July 1837], Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter 366f.

  29. Darwin, Francis, pp.44–5.

  30. Darwin to Susan Darwin, 1 April 1838, Cor.2, p.80.

  31. Darwin to Charles Lyell, 9 August [1838], Cor.2, p.97

  32. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 4, 1847–1850, p.383.

  33. Cor.2, pp.443–5.

  34. Darwin, Francis, p.57.

  Chapter 11

  Thomas Robert Malthus

  Thomas Malthus, clergyman and economist, was born in 1766. In 1788 he graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge, and immediately took Holy Orders. Of his belief in Christianity there is no doubt. Said he

  Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. We are not patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it. [And] the more wisely he [the individual] directs his efforts … the more he will probably improve and exalt his own mind and the more completely does he appear to fulfil the will of his Creator.1

  In his magnum opus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (published in 1798), he wrote

  I think I may fairly make two postulata.

  First, th
at food is necessary to the existence of man.

  Secondly, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state.2

  Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence [‘the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level’] increases in an only arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of [with] the second.

  By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal.

  This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from [i.e. because of] the difficulty of subsistence [i.e. in the face of a food supply which is struggling to keep pace].3

  ‘So diversified are the natural objects around us’, wrote Malthus, and ‘so many instances of mighty power [i.e. the power of the Deity] daily offer themselves to our view’. Such seemingly ‘trifling … little bits of matter’, as ‘a grain of wheat, and an acorn’ were

  possessed [of] such curious powers of selection, combination, arrangement, and almost of creation, that upon being put into the ground, they would choose, amongst all the dirt and moisture that surrounded them, those parts which best suited their purpose, that they would collect and arrange these parts with wonderful taste, judgement, and execution, and would rise up into beautiful forms, scarcely in any respect analogous to the little bits of matter which were first placed in the earth.4

  The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, which every seed shews, are truly miraculous.

  What did Malthus mean by the terms ‘selection’ and ‘transmutation’? To him, ‘selection’ meant the ability of seeds, by some means which he did not specify, to transform themselves – ‘transmute’ – so as to make the very best of the environment in which they found themselves, and thus ‘rise up into beautiful forms’.5