Publication of Darwin's theory

The publication of Darwin's theory followed on from the development of Darwin's theory of evolution and culminated in the publication of his book On the Origin of Species. After the initial development of his theory, Darwin slowly accumulated information and experimented to test and develop his ideas. When Alfred Russel Wallace became involved, Charles Darwin's work took on a new urgency.

Human origins, Wallace encouraged

As Darwin pressed on with his Natural Selection manuscript in December 1857, Wallace wrote to ask if it would delve into human origins. Sensitive to Lyell's fears on this, Darwin responded that "I think I shall avoid the whole subject, as so surrounded with prejudices, though I fully admit that it is the highest & most interesting problem for the naturalist". He encouraged Wallace's theorising, saying "without speculation there is no good & original observation", adding that "I go much further than you".

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Huxley used his March 1858 Royal Institution lecture to claim that structurally gorillas are as close to humans than they are to baboons. He added "Nay more I believe that the mental & moral faculties are essentially & fundamentally the same kind in animals & ourselves". This was a clear challenge to Owen's lecture claiming human uniqueness, given at the same venue. In a subsequent lecture Huxley stated that if there was a solution to the problem of species, it "must come from the side of indefinite modifiability", an indication that he was moving towards Darwin's position. In June he used his lecture at the Royal Society to attack Owen's "etherial archetype". Having struggled to gain a foothold in science with the aid of the Westminster Review group led by John Chapman and Herbert Spencer, he was out to dislodge the domination of science by wealthy clergymen, led by Owen, instead wanting to create a professional salaried scientific civil service. To Spencer, animal species had developed by "adaptions upon adaptions". Huxley was using arguments on origins to split science from theology, arguing that "it is as respectable to be modified monkey as modified dirt".

Related Topics:
1858 - Royal Institution - Baboon - Royal Society - Westminster Review - John Chapman - Herbert Spencer

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Forestalled

Darwin was throwing himself into his work and his book on Natural Selection was well under way, when on 18 June 1858 he received a parcel from Wallace. It enclosed about twenty pages describing an evolutionary mechanism, an unexpected response to Darwin's recent encouragement, with a request to send it on to Lyell. Darwin wrote to Lyell that "your words have come true with a vengeance,... forestalled" and "If Wallace had my MS. sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a better short abstract!" While Wallace had not asked for publication, Darwin would, "of course, at once write and offer to send to any journal" that Wallace chose. He sadly added that "all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed".

Related Topics:
18 June - 1858 - Wallace

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There were differences, though these were not evident to Darwin on reading the paper. Wallace's idea of selection was the environment eliminating the unfit rather than cut-throat competition among individuals, and he took an egalitarian view of the Dayak natives he was among, while Darwin had seen the Fuegians as backwards savages, albeit capable of improvement.

Related Topics:
Dayak - Fuegians

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It had come at a bad time, as the Doctor running Moor Park spa had just been arrested, and five days later the baby Charles Waring Darwin came down with scarlet fever. Lyell's considered response to Darwin was a recommendation that they should announce their theories jointly. Darwin could point to the Essay he had shown to others earlier, "so that I could most truly say and prove that I take nothing from Wallace. I should be extremely glad now to publish a sketch of my general views in about a dozen pages or so. But I cannot persuade myself that I can do so honourably... I would far rather burn my whole book than that he or any man should think that I had behaved in a paltry spirit". He wanted Hooker to give a second opinion, but was overwrought when baby Charles Waring died on 28 June. When Hooker got in touch his response was "I cannot think now", and he put matters into the hands of Lyell and Hooker.

Related Topics:
Charles Waring Darwin - Scarlet fever - 28 June

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