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OCCASIONAL PAPERS

OF THE

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

No. 155February 12, 2009

DARWIN

A READER"S GUIDE

Michael T. Ghiselin

DARWIN: A READER"S GUIDE

Michael T. Ghiselin

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

San Francisco, California, USA

2009

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Alan E. Leviton, Ph.D., Editor

Hallie Brignall, M.A., Managing Editor

Gary C. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Editor

Michael T. Ghiselin, Ph.D.,Associate Editor

Michele L. Aldrich, Ph.D., Consulting Editor

Copyright © 2009 by the California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, California 94118

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic

or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the publisher.

ISSN 0068-5461

Printed in the United States of America

Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Darwin"s Life and Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Journal of Researches (1839) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Geological Observations on South America (1846) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (1842) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands.... (1844) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

A Monograph on the Sub-Class Cirripedia, With Figures of All the Species....(1852-1855) . . .15 On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured

Races in the Struggle for Life(1859) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects,

and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing (1863) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species (1877) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom(1876) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex(1871) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals(1872) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Insectivorous Plants(1875) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants(1865) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

The Power of Movement in Plants(1880) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on

their Habits(1881) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Secondary literature and other sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Darwin Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Biographical Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Bibliographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

I. Publications of Charles Darwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

II. Publications based on Darwin"s Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

III. Secondary literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Supplement to the Secondary literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Preface

The inspiration for this guide can be traced to my decision way back in 1966 to read all of Darwin"s major

works and write a book about him, The Triumph of the Darwinian Method, published in 1969. Subsequently,

I have continued to be an avid reader of Darwin"s publications and have written quite a number of shorter

pieces on his life and works. The guide itself has evolved out of my notes, bibliographies, and other scholarly

apparatus. The chronology owes a great deal to my contributions to the Dictionnaire du Darwinisme edited by

Patrick Tort. An early version of the biographical dictionary was created when I prepared the Darwin CD ROM

in collaboration with Pete Goldie. Further material was gathered in the expectation of producing a third edi-

tion of the CD ROM. Alas, because of changes in the economics of electronic publishing, that project never

came to fruition, though the second edition is still available. This is not, however, a re-issue of materials pub-

lished earlier. The chronology and the biographies are based on notes that have been extensively reworked and

much expanded. Over the years I have continued to enlarge my personal, computerized bibliography, and the

selections from it presented here are based on literally years of work. Although the introductory section bears

some resemblance to those I have written for re-issues of Darwin"s books, it was written entirely from scratch.

With the approach of the bicentennial of Darwin"s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of

The Origin of Species, the need for a guide like this became increasingly obvious. My colleague Alan Leviton

gave me a great deal of encouragement and we worked out a plan to publish this guide in both hard copy and

on line.

Acknowledgments

Several persons have helped me assemble the materials used here and get them into electronic form and I

am most grateful to them. These include Rasmus Winther and Subir Trivedi. Michele Aldrich read a draft with

great care and provided much useful advice and greatly improved the manuscript. Alan Leviton was support-

ive of this project, both improving the manuscript and getting it ready for publication. I am particularly anx-

ious to thank my old friend Barbara Pope, a plant physiologist who has spent many months in the Darwin

archives at Cambridge University. She played various important roles in preparing the manuscript, volunteer-

ing her time and providing a generous donation in support of publication. Lastly, I want to thank Hallie

Brignall, the Academy"s Managing Editor of Scientific Publications, for critiquing galley proofs of this pub-

lication.GHISELIN: DARWIN - A READER"S GUIDE 5 harles Darwin"s book entitled On the

Origin of Species by Means of Natural

Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured

Races in the Struggle for Lifewas published in 1859. It shook the world like no other publication before or since and initiated a revolution in our thinking that is still gathering momentum. It is among the most important scientific books ever written, and for many of us the one most worthy of being read and under- stood. Although well written, and intended for a broad audience, it is anything but a piece of light literature.

It challenges the reader to study and to reflect.

Furthermore, the Originwas intended as an "abstract" of a much longer work, to be entitled Natural Selection, which was neither finished nor was it pub- lished in Darwin"s lifetime. Instead Darwin published a series of sequels to the Origin, which bear such titles as The Variation of Animals and Plants under

Domesticationand The Descent of Man, and

Selection in Relation to Sex. These too deserve to be read, and read with understanding.

Might we not say much the same of the entire

corpus of Darwin"s writings? After all, he was the author of a travel book recounting his voyage around the world that is a masterpiece of the genre and one that has delighted readers ever since it appeared in

1839. This first volume made his scientific reputation

as a geologist, and that aspect of his work is crucial to understanding what kind of thinker he was. A full twenty percent of his life"s work was devoted to a massive treatise on barnacles, a publication which, if not must reading for everybody, is of more than just historical interest. A variety of people, in addition to zoologists, might find parts of it quite fascinating. Much the same might be said of his writings on floral anatomy, plant physiology, plant and animal behavior, psychology, and, especially, earthworms.

Although the exercise of reading all of Darwin

can be rewarding, most readers will not have the time or the inclination to go so far. A good sample, suited to the reader"s tastes and interests, seems more realis- tic. But the reader might welcome an overview as well as some guidance with respect to the interpreta- tion of the various works. Beginners need to know where to begin, and even the most experienced mightappreciate some guidelines. Interested persons include both the more casual and general reader and the scholarly community, including students as well as professionals in many branches of knowledge. A fair number of readers might get more deeply involved with Darwin than they had originally intend- ed, and that would hardly be regrettable.

Bearing such needs in mind, I have prepared this

Guide, one that reflects my personal experience and draws upon the materials I have accumulated with the passage of decades. The Guidebegins with a short biography of Darwin that differs somewhat from some of my other biographical pieces in that it expressly focuses upon Darwin"s literary productions. It provides background, context, and explication for the texts. Because Darwin dealt with different topics at different times in his life, there is a roughly chrono- logical order, beginning with natural history and geol- ogy, and ending with physiology and psychology. That justifies emphasizing the major works and treat- ing them in a more or less logical sequence.

The next section of the Guideis a Chronology, or

timeline, showing dates relevant to the study of Darwin"s life. Some of these are obviously important, whereas others are rather trivial, perhaps being men- tioned solely for their curiosity value. Included are details of Darwin"s life both public and private. This part will probably be most useful to students and the community of professional Darwin scholars.

However, one can easily imagine uses to which it

might be put by the general reader. For example,

Darwin"s account of his trip around the world was

based largely on the journal that he kept. However, for literary reasons, he did not present his visits to particular places in strictly chronological order. So, if one is interested in knowing what he did, and when and where he did it, the task can be frustrating, espe- cially if one does not have the original version of his journal at hand.

Next comes the Darwin Biographical Dictionary,

an alphabetically-arranged series of biographical sketches of persons of interest to students of Darwin"s life and works. Similar biographical sketches can be found elsewhere, and readers also have recourse to standard biographical works including encyclopedias.GHISELIN: DARWIN - A READER"S GUIDE 7

INTRODUCTION

C

DARWIN: A READER"S GUIDE

Yet these do not always provide the kind of informa- tion that a student of Darwin needs. Here the goal has been to emphasize the relevance of each person to our understanding of Darwin and his life. The choice of whom to include has been a bit arbitrary at times.

Every effort has been made to include the persons

mentioned in the Chronology. Also included are many of the important people whose names are encountered in Darwin"s works and a fair number of minor figures as well.

The final section consists of bibliographies.

These have been prepared from my personal database on topics that interest me. I have not been able to check all of the references against the originals, espe- cially secondary sources taken from other bibliogra- phies. I have, however, checked many of these. In the case of Darwin"s own publications, I have been par- ticularly fastidious but fear I may have made some mistakes. However, I was able to identify and correct the year of publication normally attributed to one of

Darwin"s own works by examining the signatures of

an original copy in the California Academy of Sciences" library showing clearly that it could not have been published as early as had been thought.

Here is as good a place as any to point out how

often the titles of Darwin"s own books turn up in emended form, and this is often indicative of how poorly the work has been understood. Consider three examples. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Lifebecomes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. A clause that explains the then unfamiliar term 'natural selection" has been converted into an alterna- tive title. The Variation of Animals and Plants under

Domesticationbecomes The Variations.... A process

of varying is confused with the phenomenon of diver- sity. And finally, consider an example that suggests a failure to consult the original: A Monograph on the

Sub-Class Cirripediabecomes A Monograph of....

Let us not be too hard on those who make such mis- takes, especially now, when computers automatically and, seemingly, without apparent human intervention, introduce errors into texts! The first of the bibliographies is that of Darwin"s own publications. With a few minor exceptions, Iquotesdbs_dbs26.pdfusesText_32

[PDF] Biographie Charles Delvert - France

[PDF] Biographie Charles Dickens (TICE) - Anciens Et Réunions

[PDF] BIOGRAPHIE CHIMÈNE BADI Chimène Badi est née à Melun d`un - Anciens Et Réunions

[PDF] Biographie Christelle Loury - Gestion De Projet

[PDF] BIOGRAPHIE CHRISTOPHE CHANTEPY (FR)

[PDF] Biographie complète

[PDF] Biographie complète (fichier pdf)

[PDF] Biographie complète de Jean-Andre Delorme

[PDF] biographie complète d`Alfred Dreyfus - France

[PDF] Biographie complète en pdf - France

[PDF] biographie courte - Olivier Charlier - France

[PDF] Biographie courte - Virgil Boutellis-Taft - France

[PDF] Biographie courte de Yannick Rieu - France

[PDF] Biographie Cuarteto Casals - France

[PDF] BIOGRAPHIE C`est un pouvoir magique que possède Gyraf, celui de