Darwin, his publisher and Science Progress
| Autor: | Robin J. Rowbury |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Science Progress. 92:205-210 |
| ISSN: | 2047-7163 0036-8504 |
| Popis: | The article that begins this special number, by David McClay, throws considerable light on Darwin's friendships and character, and is of great interest. Many will not have realized the debt that Darwin felt towards Lyell. It is clear from David's article that Lyell's ideas on the relation between geological changes and time greatly influenced Darwin with respect to his theories on variation and natural selection, and with his characteristic generosity, Darwin makes his indebtedness clear and this led to a close friendship between the two men. Another interesting point clear from McClay's article is that in spite of his amazing ideas and continuing influence on biology, Darwin was a very human man, with unexpected faults with respect to both serious issues and trivial (humorous?) ones. On one serious issue, it is clear that Darwin was obsessive about his health, often consulting physicians, and never seeming happy about how he was feeling, "being continually bothered about illness; health worries seemed only rarely to leave him". One would have guessed that some of the symptoms point to imagined illness, but Campbell et al. in the article which follows that by McClay, clearly suggest otherwise! A second serious issue where his response shows how human he was, relates to Wallace's articles and ideas on evolution, variation and natural selection. Darwin becomes immediately slightly too obsessed with priority and the fear that someone else might receive most of the credit for views mainly resulting from his work. History tells how unjustified he was in fearing this, and no doubt he soon saw things more rationally. Two other points made by McClay show how human Darwin was with respect to more trivial matters. He first mentions that Darwin was almost obsessed with billiards. No doubt he used the "sport" to relax from his incredible work-load on scientific research and ideas, but we have to express surprise at this interest and particularly at his evident ability to play competently! How did he obtain this ability? Snooker is now more "de rigeur", but those of us who make their century breaks routinely are generally accused of a "misspent youth" hanging around billiard hails! And then Darwin is accused of reading trashy novels-how human can you get! The dates for this disgraceful behaviour are apparently around 1859, so we could speculate as to the most likely suspects-for example Wilkie Collins wrote "The Woman in White" in 1859, and it has the required elements namely a pretty girl and a satisfactory ending, although Count Fosco might not agree. I suspect that most of us will feel fascinated at learning of this "hobby" of Darwin, as well as delighted by the light that McClay has thrown on this amazing man. Campbell et al. in the article that follows McClay's, propose that many of Darwin's symptoms, for more than 40 years, are characteristic of lactose intolerance. The range of symptoms could suggest a range of other disorders, but his freedom from his normal illness symptoms, while aboard the "Beagle", which had no fresh milk, are in favour of a lactose intolerance explanation Darwin the man Most of the articles in this special number are concerned with either of two topics, the first relating to Darwin's experimental work and his theories and the second to the wider significance of his work, especially its effects on the Christian religion. I shall here mention some of the things that we can conclude from these articles about the character of the man himself. For many years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, there were sharp arguments between its supporters and their protagonists, with essentially no gentleness nor good manners discernible. Strikingly, the one exception to this was in the behaviour of Darwin himself. As shown in several of these articles, and in many of his letters mentioned in them, he comes over as a remarkably kindly and gracious man. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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