The development of Darwin's theory : natural history, natural theology, and natural selection, 1838-1859 / Dov Ospovat.

  • Ospovat, Dov.
Date:
1995, ©1981
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: The development of Darwin's theory : natural history, natural theology, and natural selection, 1838-1859 / Dov Ospovat. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Notes to pp. 83-g 76 DAR 16.2:303. 77 С notebook, pp. 174-5. 78 Origin, p. 201. 79 Ibid., p. 113; see also LLD, 1:480. 80 Sketch of 1842, p. 5; Essay of 1844, p. 85. 81 Origin, p. 45. 82 Ibid. Francis Darwin long ago noted this difference: Foundations, pp. xxviii-xxix, 8in. 83 Cf. Gruber, Darwin on Man, pp. 56, 124-7. J- Maynard Smith has re¬ marked that if species were perfecdy adapted evolution would cease (Optimization Theory of Evolution, p. 38). Until the 1850s this was Darwin's view, but he thought it ceased not because selective pressure keeps the perfect form constant, but rather because when forms are perfectly adapted there are no variations on which selection can work. 84 Origin, p. 84. 85 Essay of 1844, p. 109. 4. Part II of Darwin's work on species 1 С notebook, pp. 76-7, 177; D notebook, p. 69. 2 For one explanation of why difficulties are included in Part I, see M. J. S. Hodge's interesting discussion of the structure of Darwin's argument in the essays of the 1840s, Natural Selection, the Origin, and Darwin's projected multivolume work: The Structure and Strategy of Darwin's 'Long Argument.' 3 Charles Darwin, Autobiography, p. 118. The Black Box material, much of which was dated at the time it was written, makes it clear that it was in 1839, when the E notebook was concluded, that Darwin began his practice of keeping most of his notes in bulk {MLD, 1:76; LLD, 1:128-9). 4 These envelopes have been assigned the following numbers: DAR 205.1 (abortive organs), DAR 205.3 and DAR 205.4 (geographical distribution). DAR 205.5 (classification/divergence), DAR 205.6 (embryology), DAR 205.9 (paleontology and extinction). Each envelope probably contains the material from one of the portfolios mentioned in the Autobiography (pp. 137-8). I am indebted to Sydney Smith for helpful information on Darwin's filing system and more generally for sharing with me his un¬ paralleled knowledge of Darwin's habits of work. 5 Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animais and Plants under Domestication, 1:13-21. 6 Athenaeum, no. 1854 (May 9, 1863), p. 617; LLD, 2:207. 7 LLD, 2:163-4. Some years later, in a letter to H. N. Moseley, Darwin wrote: As long as a man believes in evolution biology will progress, and it signifies comparatively little whether he admits natural selection and then gains some light on the method, or remains in utter darkness (DAR 146). This letter was brought to my attention by Stan Rachootin. 8 Huxley MSS, vol. 5, fol. 252, Darwin to T. H. Huxley, January 22 [1862], Archives, Imperial College, London. On the importance of the Part II 251