Charles Darwin's Past and Future Biographies

Maitland Frederick W. , The life and letters of Leslie Stephen (London, 1910), 300–1.

Romanes G. J. , “Life and character” of Charles Darwin, in Charles Darwin: Memorial notices reprinted from “Nature” (London, 1882), 2.

Miall L. C. , The life and work of Charles Darwin (Leeds, 1883); Allen Grant , Charles Darwin (London, 1885); Bettany G. T. , Life of Charles Darwin (London, 1887).

Darwin Francis , (ed.), The life and letters of Charles Darwin (2 vols, New York, 1897), i, 67–68.

Ibid., 68.

Ibid., 85–86.

Ibid., 112.

Anonymous review of Life and letters in “The Old Saloon”, Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, January 1888, 104–15, p. 105.

Bonney T. G. , review of Life and letters, in Nature, 24 November 1887, 73–75, p. 73.

Huxley Leonard , Charles Darwin (New York, 1927); Dorsey George , The evolution of Charles Darwin (New York, 1927); Ward Henshaw , Charles Darwin: The man and his warfare (Indianapolis, 1927).

Irvine William , Apes, angels and Victorians: The story of Darwin, Huxley, and evolution (New York, 1955), 83, 43–44, 121.

Bradford Gamaliel , Darwin (Boston and New York, 1926).

These concepts are discussed in Ruth Hoberman, Modernizing lives: Experiments in English biography, 1918–1939 (Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1987).

West Geoffrey , Charles Darwin: A portrait (New Haven, 1938), 334, 337, x.

Barzun Jacques , Darwin, Marx, Wagner: Critique of a heritage (New York, 1958), 79.

Poulton Edward B. , Charles Darwin and the theory of natural selection (New York, 1896), 220, 78–86.

Darwin , Life and letters (ref. 4), i, 68–69.

Huxley's Obituary of Darwin is in Huxley T. H. , Collected essays, iii: Darwiniana (New York, 1912), 253–302, pp. 280–1.

Poulton , Charles Darwin (ref. 16), 48.

Kohn David , “Darwin's Principle of divergence as internal dialogue”, in Kohn David (ed.), The Darwinian heritage (Princeton, 1985), 245–57. Henceforth referred to as Heritage.

Poulton , Charles Darwin (ref. 16), 220.

Keith Arthur , Darwin revalued (London, 1955), 286.

Ibid., 289.

ibid., viii.

Ibid., 221.

Himmelfarb Gertrude , Darwin and the Darwinian revolution (New York, 1959), 8, 38, 41, 165, 163, 354.

de Beer Gavin , “Darwin without modern science”, Nature, 8 August 1959, 385–8.

Eiseley Loren , Darwin's century: Evolution and the men who discovered it (New York, 1958), 145–8, 181, 187–92.

Eiseley Loren , “Charles Darwin, Edward Blyth, and the theory of natural selection”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (28 February 1959), 94–158.

Darlington C. D. , Darwin's place in history (Oxford, 1959), 62.

Barlow Nora , (ed.), The autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–1882, with original omissions restored (London, 1958), 102, 108, 104, 105, 126, 134, 106. Hereafter cited as Autobiography.

Life and letters (ref. 4), i, 282.

Autobiography (ref. 31), 94.

George Gaylord Simpson, “Charles Darwin in search of himself, Scientific American (August 1958), 117–22, p. 122.

Greene John C. , “Reflections on the progress of Darwin studies”, Journal of the history of biology, viii, (1975), 243–73; Burkhardt Frederick , “Editing Darwin”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, cxxx (1986), 367–73. The method of transcription used in editing Darwin's letters and documents is that formulated by Fredson Bowers and described in “Transcriptions of manuscripts: The record of variants”, Studies in bibliography, xxix (1976), 214–47.

Burkhardt , “Editing Darwin”, 368.

Ruse Michael , “The Darwin Industry — A critical evaluation”, History of science, xii (1974), 43–48. This seems to have been an early use of the term “Darwin Industry”.

Wassersug Richard J. Rose Michael R. , “A reader's guide and retrospective to the 1982 Darwin centennial”, The quarterly review of biology, lix (1984), 417–37.

Heritage (ref. 20).

Barrett Paul H. Gautrey Peter J. Herbert Sandra Kohn David Smith Sydney , (eds), Charles Darwin's Notebooks, 1836–1844: Geology, transmutation of species, metaphysical enquiries (London and Ithaca, New York, 1987). Hereafter called Notebooks.

Gavin de Beer transcribed the first four Notebooks on transmutation of species in 1960, and published two volumes of additions to these in 1961 and 1967; Paul Barrett edited and transcribed Darwin's notebooks on metaphysics, materialism, and the evolution of mind, in 1974 and 1980; Sandra Herbert edited and transcribed Darwin's notes on geology and transmutation, The red notebook of Charles Darwin, in 1980. The bibliographic details of these publications are given in the “Bibliography” of the Notebooks.

Paul Barrett died in November 1987.

A calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821–1882, ed. by Burkhardt Frederick Smith Sydney Kohn David Montgomery William Pocock Stephen V. (New York and London, 1985), hereafter cited as Calendar. The correspondence of Charles Darwin, i: 1821–1836, ed. by Burkhardt Frederick Smith Sydney Kohn David Montgomery William Pocock Stephen V. (Cambridge, 1985); ii: 1837–1843, ed. by Burkhardt Frederick Smith Sydney Browne Janet Kohn David Montgomery William Pocock Stephen V. Bowman Charlotte Secord Anne (Cambridge, 1986); iii: 1844–1846, idem (Cambridge, 1987). Hereafter cited as Correspondence, followed by volume number.

de Beer Gavin , Charles Darwin: Evolution by natural selection (New York, 1963).

Ibid., p. vi.

Olby Robert , Charles Darwin (Oxford, 1967).

Chancellor John , Charles Darwin (London, 1973).

Stevens L. Robert , Charles Darwin (Boston, 1978).

Brent Peter , Charles Darwin: A man of enlarged curiosity (New York, 1981).

Howard Jonathan , Darwin (Oxford, 1982).

George Wilma , Darwin (Glasgow, 1982).

Clark Ronald W. , The survival of Charles Darwin: A biography of a man and an idea (New York, 1984).

“Life”, in Correspondence (ref. 43), ii, 438–42. For a discussion of “Life” see Colp Ralph Jr , “‘I was born a naturalist’: Charles Darwin's 1838 notes about himself, Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, xxxv (1980), 8–39.

Autobiography (ref. 31), 28.

“Life” (ref. 53), 438–41; Autobiography, 22–23, 44, 45.

“Life”, 439–40.

Autobiography, 23; Correspondence, i, 11; “Life”, 440.

“Life”, 440. For a discussion of Darwin's fear of death see Schweber Silvan S. , “Some notes for a biography of Charles Darwin”, in Greenbaum A. A. Ivry A. L. , Thought and action: Essays in memory of Simon Ravidowicz (Tel Aviv, 1983), 13–42.

Correspondence, i, 1–18; Autobiography, 42–43.

Correspondence, i, 25.

The influence of Grant on Darwin is discussed in Colp Ralph Jr , “Notes on Charles Darwin's Autobiography”, Journal of the history of biology, xviii (1985), 357–401, pp. 369–370.

Autobiography, 56–57.

Correspondence, i, 59.

Ibid., 89.

Ibid., 72.

Ibid., 174.

Ibid., 99.

Ibid., 110.

Autobiography, 67–68.

Correspondence, i, 129.

Correspondence, i, 168.

Colp Ralph Jr , To be an invalid: The illness of Charles Darwin (Chicago, 1977), 8–9 (hereafter To be an invalid); Schweber, “Some notes for a biography of Charles Darwin” (ref. 58), 24–25.

Correspondence, i, Appendix IV: “The books on board the Beagle”, 553–66.

Correspondence, i, Appendix II: “Darwin's Beagle records”, 545–8.

Correspondence, i, 244–5.

Herbert Sandra , “Darwin as a geologist”, Scientific American (May 1986), 116–23.

Correspondence, i, 280.

Correspondence, i, 353, 392.

Autobiography, 78–79.

Correspondence, i, 405.

Barlow Nora , (ed.), Charles Darwin's diary of the voyage of H.M.S. “Beagle” (Cambridge, 1933), 293; Life and letters, ii, 238.

Charles Darwin's diary of the voyage of H.M.S. “Beagle”, 427.

Keynes Richard Darwin , (ed.), The ‘Beagle’ record: Selections from the original pictorial records and written accounts of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (Cambridge, 1979).

Correspondence, i, 253.

Life and letters, i, 195.

Correspondence, i, 301.

Ibid., 312.

Ibid., 312.

Ibid., 447–8.

Ibid., 503.

Sulloway Frank J. , “Darwin's early intellectual development: An overview of the Beagle voyage (1831–1836)”, Heritage (ref. 20), 121–54, pp. 146–7.

Colp , “Charles Darwin's 1838 notes about himself” (ref. 53), 9.

Darwin's “Journal”, Correspondence, ii, 432.

Darwin Charles , Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, R.N. from 1832 to 1836 (London, 1839).

Correspondence, ii, 54.

Ibid., 425–9, pp. 425–6.

The “Zoology” reference in the “Index” to Correspondence, ii, 603, cites the letters describing Darwin's dealings with his publishers, the Treasury, and everyone else involved in the publication of the Zoology.

The pioneer study of the beginning of Darwin's transmutation thoughts, based on documents in the Darwin Archive, was by Sydney Smith: “The origin of ‘The origin’, as discerned from Charles Darwin's notebooks and his annotations in the books he read between 1837 and 1842”, The British Association for the Advancement of Science, xvi (1960), 391–401. This was followed by a proliferation of studies which reached a climax in Frank J. Sulloway, “Darwin's conversion: The Beagle voyage and its aftermath”, xv (1982), 325–96. Two recent summaries of all of these studies, with bibliographies, is provided in the Notebooks: By Sandra Herbert, in her introduction to the “Red notebook”, 17–20; and by David Kohn, in his introduction to “Notebook B” (“the first of Darwin's notebooks exclusively ‘Transmutation of Species’”), 167–9.

In his “Notebook C” Darwin wrote that Lamarck “was endowed with what may be called the prophetic spirit in science — The highest endowment of lofty genius” (Notebooks, 275). Also see ref. 140 and the mention of it in this essay.

This passage was in Darwin's “Notebook D”, Notebooks, 375.

Kohn David , “Theories to work by: Rejected theories, reproduction, and Darwin's path to natural selection”, in Coleman William Limoges Camille (eds), Studies in history of biology, iv (Baltimore and London, 1980), 67–170, p. 140.

Kohn , introduction to “Notebook D”, Notebooks, 330.

Schweber Silvan S. , “The wider British context in Darwin's theorizing”, Heritage , 35–36, p. 35. Schweber more fully discussed Darwin's pre-Malthus intellectual position in: “The origin of the Origin revisited”, Journal of the history of biology, x (1977), 229–316. This was inspired by Sydney Smith's previously mentioned article (ref. 98).

Gruber Howard , “Going the limit: Toward the construction of Darwin's theory (1832–1839)”, Heritage (ref. 20), 9–34, p. 32.

In his “notebook M”, Darwin wrote: “perceiving myself skipping when wanting not to feel angry — Such efforts prevent anger, but observing eyes thus unconsciously discover struggle of feeling. — It is as much effort to walk then lightly as to endeavur [sic] to stop heart beating: One ceasing, so does other. —” Notebooks, 536.

Ibid., 527–8.

Correspondence, ii, 443–5.

Ibid., 117–24, 126–36, 143–52, 155–63, 165–73.

Ibid., 262–3.

Ibid., 29.

Ibid., 269.

Keegan Robert T. Gruber Howard E. , “Charles Darwin's unpublished ‘Diary of an infant’: An early phase in his psychological work”, in Eckardt Georg Bringmann Wolfgang G. Sprung Lothar (eds), Contributions to a history of developmental psychology: International William T. Preyer symposium (Berlin, New York and Amsterdam, 1985), 127–45, p. 129.

Correspondence, ii, 270. Also see To be an invalid (ref. 72), 20–27, 96–97.

Autobiography, 98.

See ref. 72.

Correspondence, ii, 107.

Ibid., 446–9.

Ibid., 219.

Autobiography, 84. An insightful, and very convincing, explanation of why Darwin persisted so long in believing in his theory of Glen Roy has been offered by Martin Rudwick (an English historian of geology) in: “Darwin and Glen Roy: A ‘Great failure’ in scientific method?”, Studies in history and philosophy of science, v (1974), 99–185. Rudwick shows that Darwin's persistence was caused by many factors including the connection between his theory of Glen Roy and his theory of natural selection, his reliance on the ideas of Lyell, and especially because of his reliance on the “principle of exclusion” — Espoused by John Herschel and William Whewell, two of his scientific and philosophical mentors.

Correspondence, ii, 270.

Darwin stated his refusal to take the Geological Society secretaryship in a 14 October 1837 letter to Henslow, Correspondence, ii, 50–52.

This letter of Darwin to his son is numbered 1805 in the Calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin (ref. 43). I thank Silvan Schweber for first informing me about it, Peter Gautrey for sending me a copy from the Darwin Archive, and Frederick Burkhardt for writing me that the most likely date is 17 February 1857.

Correspondence, ii, 260.

Ibid., 261.

The records of the Geological Society show that the last meeting that Darwin attended was on 26 February 1840. After this, while still holding the position of secretary, he did not attend any meetings until his resignation a year later (during this year there were fourteen meetings).

Correspondence, ii, 52, note 6.

Ibid., 355.

Moore James R. , “Darwin of Down: The evolutionist as squareson-naturalist”, Heritage (ref. 20), 435–81, pp. 459–60. Darwin omitted the ‘e’ when writing of his house, but the present day village retains the ‘e’ Hence mention of the village in this essay refers to it as “Downe”, and mention of Darwin's home omits the ‘e’.

Ibid., 460–76.

Correspondence, iii, 86.

Ibid., 55.

Correspondence, ii, 279.

Ibid., 378.

Correspondence, iii, 2. For a discussion of this letter, and Darwin's early disclosures of his theory to others, see Colp Ralph Jr , “‘Confessing a murder’: Darwin's first revelations about transmutation”, Isis, lxxvii (1986), 9–32, pp. 14–15.

For a summary of Darwin's contacts with Jenyns see Colp , “‘Confessing a murder’”, 20–22.

Correspondence, iii, 25.

Ibid., 43–45; Colp , “‘Confessing a murder’”, 16–19.

Correspondence, iii, 367. For Darwin's views about “prophetic” figures see ref. 99.

Darwin Charles , Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy, R.N., 2nd edn corr., with addns (London, 1845), 499–500.

Colp , “‘Confessing a Murder’”, 23–25.

Ibid., 27.

Brent , Charles Darwin: A man of enlarged curiosity (ref. 49), 369–70.

Colp , “‘Confessing a Murder’” (ref. 136), 32.

Darwin's “Journal”, Correspondence, iii, 397.

Correspondence, iii, 346.

Ibid., 345.

Ibid., 346.

Ibid., 346.

Life and letters, ii, 355.

Autobiography, 47.

Correspondence, i, 129.

Ibid., 312.

Two learned individuals, who lived near him in London and whom he often conversed with, were his brother Erasmus and cousin Hensleigh Wedgwood. Through them he met several leading intellectuals.

In his “notebook B”, Darwin predicted that a successful theory of transmutation would “give zest” to natural history and encompass “whole metaphysics” in the laws of life (Notebooks, 227–8). His ideas on human evolution, which he later published in The descent of man (1871), were largely thought out in his 1837–39 Notebooks ( Durant John R. , “The ascent of nature in Darwin's Descent of man”, Heritage (ref. 20), 283–306).

Correspondence, iii, 357–8, 363–6, 375.