The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert.

  • Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
Date:
1980
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/184 (page 10)
    10 SANDRA HERBERT The third line of evidence joining the Red Notebook to Darwin's insights of March 1837 derives from a comparison between the passages on species in the note¬ book with those in the opening pages of a notebook, labelled 'B', begun in July 1837.In general, Notebook В carries forward discussions on species begun in the Red Notebook. Identical elements appear in Notebook В as in the Red Notebook but they are handled with greater assurance and, in certain cases, with the addition of new material. Compare, for example, the opening sentence on page 130 of the Red Note¬ book with the statement on pages 16-17 of Notebook B: I look at two Ostriches as strong argument of possibility of such change; as we see them in space, so might they in time.— Similarly, the notion of representative species reappears in Notebook B, although now in conjunction with the idea of isolation as a mechanism for species change. A series of entries on pages 7-10 of Notebook В reads as follows: Let a pair be introduced and increase slowly, from many enemies, so as often to intermarry—who will dare say what result. According to this view animals on separate islands, ought to become different if kept long enough apart, with slightly differ[ent] circumstances.—Now Galapagos tortoises, mocking birds, Falkland fox, Chiloe fox.—English and Irish Hare.— As we thus believe species vary, in changing climate we ought to find representative species; this we do in South America closely approaching.—But as they inosculate, we must suppose the change is effected at once, something like a variety produced—every grade in that case [it] seems is not produced ?— # # # If species (1) may be derived from form (2) etc.,—then (remember¬ ing Lyell's arguments of transportal) island near continents might have some species same as nearest land, which were late arrivals, others old ones (of which none of same kind had in interval arrived) might have grown altered. Hence the type would be of the continent, though species all different.— The greater sophistication of this treatment of the notion of representative species— its ennumeration of examples, discussion of the transportal of species, and indication of isolation as a mechanism for change—suggests that it postdates the passages on species in the Red Notebook. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Darwin made his entries on the species question in the Red Notebook before he opened Notebook В—that is, some time before July 1837.^® Evidence for dating the important run of entries on pages 127-133 of the Red Notebook can now be summarized. As already mentioned, the dependence of some entries in that series on Richard Owen's work of January 1837 makes that the earliest possible date for the series taken as a whole, while the existence of Notebook В