Darwin s writing. Richard Horton

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2 Darwin s writing Richard Horton Unlike most of today s scientists, Charles Darwin s fame is based on books. In a series of extraordinary volumes The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), On the Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals (1872) Darwin reported his observations, explained his ideas, and amplified his thinking in ways well beyond the contemporary expectations of science. His books were neither summaries nor simplifications: they were the core of his originality. Darwin richly deserves the recognition awarded to him by scientists. But he remains a badly (and sadly) neglected figure in the literary world. Darwin s reputation as a writer demands revision. Publication was as much a goal for Darwin in the 19th century as it is for any ambitious academic in the 21st. In a letter to Alfred Russel Wallace, for example, in 1859, he wrote that: If I can publish my Abstract [of The Origin of Species] and perhaps my greater work on the same subject, I shall look at my course as done. Unlike those scientists who see writing as an irritating burden, Darwin considered literate description a pleasure, as well as a duty. In a letter to his father (Feb 8, 1832), Darwin observed that, Whenever I enjoy anything, I always either look forward to writing it down, either in my log-book (which increases in bulk), or in a letter. He was a perfectionist. Writing to his second cousin, the Reverend William Darwin Fox, in February, 1858, Darwin noted that, I mean to make my book as perfect as ever I can. I shall not go to press at soonest for a couple of years. He believed that rushing Darwin s Gifts December 2008 S75

3 into publication, especially in the pages of a scientific journal, could have damaging consequences. To the naturalist the Reverend Leonard Jenyns, he wrote in 1845 that, I shall not publish on this subject for several years. In 1856 to Joseph Hooker, a botanist, explorer, and one of Darwin s closest friends, he wrote, I am fixed against any periodical or Journal, as I positively will not expose myself to an Editor or a Council allowing a publication for which they might be abused. If only today s authors were as considerate as Darwin. (Despite his anxieties about the Origin, Darwin continued to publish in journals throughout his life.) According to his son, Francis, Darwin s initial writing strategy for the Origin was not a book. His intention was to publish a series of articles under the auspices of the Linnaean Society. It was only after gathering his voluminous data and devising a writing plan that he realised that an inde pendent volume a book was the solution to his problem of material overload. Darwin took the challenge of conveying his ideas seriously because he knew that he had serious ideas to convey. He understood early on that his central proposal had significant implications. To his wife Emma (also his cousin, Emma Wedgwood), he wrote in 1844 that, If, as I believe, my theory in time be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science. Although Darwin enjoyed writing, he was also a harsh critic of his own work. To Hooker in 1854, he confessed that his ideas might amount to little more than an empty puff-ball. To Hooker again (1858): I am disgusted with my bad writing ; I find it unutterably difficult to write clearly. To his publisher, John Murray, in 1858, he admitted: I find the style incredibly bad How I could have written so badly is quite inconceivable. Darwin wrote books and was inspired by books too. He took two volumes with him on HMS Beagle in December, One was Charles Lyell s Principles of Geology; the other, Alexander Von Humboldt s Travel Writings. Of Humboldt, Darwin wrote (to his father): If you really want to have [an idea] of tropical countries, study Humboldt my feelings amount to admiration the more I read him. Darwin was an assiduous reader of science. His son, Francis, wrote that he used to read nearly the whole of Nature. In his early life, Darwin also enjoyed more aesthetic writing. He wrote in his Autobiography of his poetic fancy and his love of Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Coleridge, and Shelley. But as he grew older he came to loathe poetry. He preferred fiction, biography, history, and travel writing. This atrophy of his higher taste led to a partial loss of happiness for Darwin, as well as self-diagnosed injury to his intellect and moral character. The business and risks of publishing the Origin were never far from Darwin s thoughts during its writing. He was not without modest hopes. In an 1859 letter to Hooker, for example, he asked, Please do not say to anyone that I thought my book on species would be fairly popular, and have a fairly remunerative sale (which was the height of my ambition), for if it prove a dead failure, it would make me the more S76 Darwin s Gifts December 2008

4 ridiculous. Failure was a constant source of worry to Darwin. He wrote to Lyell in September, 1859, Murray has printed 1250 copies, which seems to me rather too large an edition, but I hope he will not lose (the first edition sold out on its first day). And to Dr W B Carpenter he wrote 2 months later: When I think of the many cases of men who have studied one subject for years, and have persuaded themselves of the truth of the foolishest doctrines, I feel sometimes a little frightened, whether I may not be one of these monomaniacs. Yet he was confident that his writing would not only interest scientists, but also find favour with the public. In April, 1859, he wrote two letters, one to his friend Hooker, and one to his publisher (Murray). To Hooker he suggested: You will think me presumptuous, but I think my book will be popular to a certain extent (enough to ensure [against] heavy loss) amongst scientific and semi-scientific men; why I think so is because I have found in conversation so great and surprising an interest amongst such men, and some O [non]-scientific men on this subject, and all my chapters are not nearly so dry and dull To his publisher he was more direct: It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original. (In his Autobiography, which was never intended for publication, Darwin later [1876] expressed disdain for pleasing a wider audience: I did not care much about the general public, he wrote. His earlier correspondence suggests otherwise.) Darwin s predictions proved to be correct. The Origin was published in November, In January, 1860, Darwin wrote to the American botanist, Dr Asa Gray, I never dreamed of my book being so successful with general readers. From that point on, he made sure that his books could span professional and public audiences alike. He had in mind a common reader, not merely a fellow scientist. He put the Origin s success at least partly down to its moderate size, a length that was more attuned to the patience of a broad reading public. He was sharp in his criticism of colleagues who left the public in a fog (as he wrote to Lyell in March, 1863). Still, even Darwin had his limits. He accepted Hooker s advice not to take this taste for public engagement too far: You give good advice about not writing in newspapers, he wrote in May, Darwin, like many writers, had a sensitive literary skin. Adverse public reactions to his first book provoked much personal pain. To Lyell in 1860 he wrote: It requires much study to appreciate all the bitter spite of many of the remarks against me It is painful to be hated. He railed at hostile reviews and stupid reviewers. He believed that personal disputes were anathema to the peaceful realms of science. In 1865, he revealed to Professor W Preyer that, I am continually abused or treated with contempt by writers of my own country. And in 1871, he called one Times reviewer a wind-bag full of metaphysics and classics (letter to Murray, April 13). Yet Darwin s revisionism struck again in his Autobiography: I have almost always been treated honestly by my reviewers, passing over those without scientific knowledge as not worthy of notice, he wrote in He had forgotten just how strongly he had once felt. Darwin s Gifts December 2008 S77

5 This criticism left him case-hardened (as he confessed to Hooker in 1860): the battle is worth fighting, he wrote. To Hooker again in 1860 he predicted that our cause will, in the long run, prevail. And to his great supporter, Professor T H Huxley, he indicated that, I have far more confidence in the general truth of the doctrine than I formerly had. Darwin was clear about his scientific influences. But who were his literary antecedents? Two stand out. Once again, one was Lyell. Born in 1797 (Darwin was born on Feb 12, 1809), Lyell began his intellectual life as a classicist and law student. Finding a future in neither of these fields of study, he committed his life (and financial security) to writing. The subject he chose was science, and specifically geology the description of the earth s structure and our theoretical speculations as to its formation. Geology offered an opportunity for philo sophical inquiries as well as scientific investigations, and so was especially suited to the discursive tendencies of a thoughtful writer. Lyell had also selected a discipline that was the centre of academic, public, and political concern. Lyell used geology to advance a particular vision of science an approach to the acquisition of knowledge based firmly on observing nature, gathering evidence, and using that evidence for a very distinct type of reasoning: induction. Lyell took the trouble in a glossary to his Principles to define his method precisely. Induction was the consequence, conclusion, or inference, drawn from propositions or principles first laid down, or from the observation and examination of phenomena. He used induction to demolish lamarckian thinking that is, the belief in the instability and transmutation of species, the progressive development of organic life, and the daily engagement of nature in a process of progressive perfection. His grammar of geology instead established the reality of species in nature and that each species was endowed, at the time of its creation, with the attributes and organisation by which it is now distinguished. Lyell was careful to argue that the stability of species did not violate the idea of variability within each species category, a crucial element of later darwinian argument. The success of Lyell s science was recognised by a Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1826, a chair in geology (briefly) at King s College, London, and two periods as President of the Geological Society of London ( and ). But it was writing rather than academia that dominated Lyell s life until his death in He repeatedly revised his Principles, publishing at least ten editions before its final two-volume version in (The Principles was first published in three volumes between 1830 and 1833). This literary achievement was of paramount importance to Darwin. Lyell showed Darwin what could be gained by broadening one s intellectual sweep and audience. He also showed Darwin that scientific inquiry could not be artificially separated from the great existential questions of the day, notably the position of the human species within the totality of living existence, the S78 Darwin s Gifts December 2008

6 laws that shaped the natural world (including human societies), and the relations that subsist between the finite process of man and the attributes of an Infinite and Eternal Being. What Lyell transmitted to Darwin was not only his indefatigable commitment to reason but also his method for applying reason to questions of public and political urgency. Darwin praised Lyell for his wonderful superiority and the powerful effects of his writing. Darwin s second major literary influence lay within his own family. Erasmus Darwin, Charles s grandfather, was born in His house in Lichfield, which remains open to the public to this day, is a treasure trove of Darwinia the keen interest in plants, scientific invention (he was a member of the Lunar Society), medicine, and literature are everywhere apparent. Erasmus was a towering public presence in the 18th century. For a brief moment in the 1790s, he was even considered by some critics as a rival talent to Milton and Shakespeare. Erasmus wrote seven books. His two translations of Linnaeus were judged workmanlike scientific treatises. The more playful The Loves of the Plants (1789) followed, and The Economy of Vegetation (1792) added further to his growing reputation as a botanist and poet. Erasmus Darwin s intellectual reputation was made in 1794 when the first volume of his Zoonomia: or the Laws of Organic Life was published. Zoonomia was a superlative medical textbook, one that critics thought did for medicine what Newton s Principia did for mathematics and physics. Erasmus Darwin used his book to fill a gap in the medical science of his day. The want of a theory, he wrote, to conduct the practice of medicine is lamented by its professors. Medicine in the late 18th century was less efficacious than it should be. It was scarred by endless error and false theory. Doctors were responsible for the destruction of thousands. Quacks caused unceasing injury. And so, A theory founded upon nature, that should bind together the scattered facts of medical knowledge, and converge into one point of view the laws of organic life, would thus on many accounts contribute to the interest of society. Erasmus Darwin s hopes were literary as well as scientific. Zoonomia, would capacitate men of moderate abilities to practise the art of healing with real advantage to the public; it would enable everyone of literary acquirement to distinguish the genuine disciples of medicine from those of boastful effrontery, or of wily address; and would teach mankind in some important situations the knowledge of themselves. After Zoonomia came his Plan for the Conduct of Female Education in Boarding Schools (1797) and Phytologia (1800). Erasmus Darwin died in His writing was unashamedly literary, combining medicine with science, poetry with philosophy. And his thought laid the groundwork for his grandson s evolutionary theory. Yet his greatest book was published only after his death in 1803: The Temple of Nature; or the Origin of Society: A Poem. With Philosophical Notes. The origin and progress of society was Erasmus Darwin s final preoccupation. He approached the question through a verse book, rather than a conventional scientific treatise. The Darwin s Gifts December 2008 S79

7 notion of origin in relation to human beings and human society cast a creative shadow over at least three subsequent generations of the Darwin family. But students of Charles Darwin have yet to recognise the extent of the influential writing and philosophy that surrounded him. The book, Charles must have noted (at least mentally), was a highly successful instrument for advancing new ideas. Books offered creative opportunities denied to those who clung to the formal limitations of journals. The literature is conflicting on Charles Darwin s views of Erasmus. Some of Charles s editors think he judged Erasmus as speculative and ineffectual. But Darwin s own words suggest immense respect and gratitude. He wished he could have read even so short and dull a sketch of the mind of my grandfather written by himself, and what he thought and did and how he worked. While acknowledging his grandfather s speculative tendencies, Charles also admitted that the hearing rather early in life [of] such views [about evolution] maintained and praised may have favoured my upholding them under a different form in my Origin of Species. Indeed, Charles, in his Life of Erasmus Darwin, sought to rehabilitate the tarnished reputation of his grandfather and repudiate the utter groundless criticisms he suffered. In some ways, Darwin s scientific style was dictated by his working method. He sailed from Devonport on Dec 27, He returned to the shores of England on Oct 2, For nearly 5 years he wrote a detailed diary and travelogue, filled with scientific description and interpretation. Such a rich assemblage of findings was not easily amenable to distillation or formal presentation. He recognised himself that his discursive approach created problems for any aspiring naturalist, problems that he was unable to resolve until 20 years later in the Origin. As far back as 1839, in The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin wrote that, it appears to me that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries The excitement from the novelty of objects, and the chance of success, stimulate him to increased activity. Moreover, as a number of isolated facts soon become uninteresting, the habit of comparison leads to generalisation. On the other hand, as the traveller stays but a short time in each place, his descriptions must generally consist of more sketches, instead of detailed observations. Hence arises, as I have found to my cost, a constant tendency to fill up the wide gaps of knowledge, by inaccurate and superficial hypotheses. Darwin s final two major public books were profound studies of human beings and their animal companions. Within these biological and behavioural investigations, language and communication occupied a particularly important place, signifying Darwin s respect for words and literacy. The habitual use of articulate language is, however, peculiar to man, he wrote in The Descent of Man. Whereas language was to some extent an instinctive tendency, writing was an art one that had to be slowly and deliberately learned. S80 Darwin s Gifts December 2008

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9 The wider importance of communication among human beings reached its ultimate appreciation in Darwin s The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals. Here, he explored the connections between literature, understanding, and our emotional states. He left his readers in no doubt as to the value he attached to words in the overall trajectory of human progress: The power of communication between the members of the same tribe by means of language has been of paramount importance in the development of man. And Darwin s own devotion to the art of communication was an example of what could be achieved in the advance of human development. In addition to his major public works, Darwin completed a remarkable series of scientific treatises all in book form: Coral Reefs (1842); Geological Observations on South America (1846); Fertilisation of Orchids (1862); The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868); Eff ects of Cross-and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom (1876); The Diff erent Forms of Flowers (1877); Power of Movement in Plants (1880); and The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881). By the time Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882, he had well and truly earned the title of Author. But any consideration of Darwin s writing would be incomplete without taking account of his remarkable letters. An edition collected by his son Francis (and advertised in The Lancet in 1882) is filled with memorable phrases and propositions, several of which deserve restatement for their forthright clarity. On his own motivation: You do me injustice when you think that I work for fame; I value it to a certain extent; but if I know myself, I work from a sort of instinct to try to make out truth (letter to Reverend Fox; March, 1859). On his method: As you say, there is an extraordinary pleasure in pure observation; not but what I suspect the pleasure in this case is rather derived from comparisons forming in one s mind with allied structures (letter to Hooker; November, 1846). On scientists: I have been accustomed to think second, third, and fourth-rate men of very high importance, at least in the case of Science (letter to W Graham; July 3, 1881). On vivisection: physiology cannot possibly progress except by means of experiment on living animals, and I feel the deepest conviction that he who retards the progress of physiology commits a crime against mankind (letter to Frithiof Holmgren, April 14, 1881). On politics: I would not be a Tory, if it was merely on account of their cold hearts about that scandal to Christian nations Slavery (quotation from Francis Darwin). On his anxieties: the thought of the eye made me cold all over The sight of a feather in a peacock s tail, when ever I gaze at it, makes me sick! (letter to Dr Asa Gray; April 3, 1860). On the public resistance to his ideas: I can pretty plainly see that, if my view is ever to be generally adopted, it will be by young men growing up and replacing the old workers (letter to Huxley; Dec 2, 1860). S82 Darwin s Gifts December 2008

10 On his concern that Alfred Russel Wallace might win priority for the doctrine of evolution: I always thought it very possible that I might be forestalled, but I fancied that I had a grand enough soul not to care; but I found myself mistaken and punished (letter to Hooker; July 13, 1858). On the publication of the Origin: I am infinitely pleased and proud at the appearance of my child (letter to Murray; 1859). On his legacy: I shall soon be viewed as the most despicable of men (letter to Wallace; July, 1871). On his contribution to humankind: I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting my life to science. I feel no remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often and often regretted that I have not done more direct good to my fellow creatures (Autobiography; 1876). On the poor state of his health: I never pass 24 hours without many hours of discomfort (letter to Dr Abbott; Nov 16, 1871). On the importance of science in his life: I am a withered leaf for every subject except Science (letter to Hooker; June 17, 1868). Modern interpretations of Darwin, such as that by Richard Dawkins, stress the value of Darwin s work in refuting the existence of God. Dawkins nuanced argument, explaining why evolution=atheism is now firmly believed, is, in the eyes of many casual readers, one of Darwin s major conclusions. But if one reads Darwin s own words on religion, one finds that theological speculation was a minor part of his total project. Indeed, he was far more cautious and less dramatic than some of his subsequent interpreters in applying his ideas to religious thought. In a letter to Lyell in 1859, Darwin warned: I do not discuss the origin of man. That I do not bring in any discussion about Genesis, etc, etc, and only give facts, and such conclusions from them as seem to me fair. He made his personal views very clear. He described himself on at least two occasions as an agnostic (once in his Autobiography and once in a letter to J Fordyce in 1879). In his Autobiography, not intended for publication, he described his disbelief in Christianity as slow to come at first, but which became at last complete. By contrast, in his published Descent, Darwin was respectful and circumspect. He acknowledged that a belief in God had been answered in the affirmative by some of the highest intellects that have ever existed. Religious conviction signified the reach of human imagination, curiosity, reason : No being could experience so complex an emotion until advanced in his intellectual and moral faculties to at least a moderately high level. These unseen spiritual agencies shew us what an infinite debt of gratitude we owe to the improvement of our reason, to science, and to our accumulated knowledge. That said, his comparison of the relation between Man and God to a dog and his master was defiantly provocative. Despite disabling illnesses and literary insecurity (in his Autobiography, he wrote, I doubt whether the work was worth the consumption of so much time ), Darwin Darwin s Gifts December 2008 S83

11 was an optimist. He wrote that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is. Why was Darwin so optimistic? The reason lay in the theory of evolution itself. In 1844, he wrote to Hooker: I have been now ever since my return engaged in a very presumptuous work I think I have found out (here s presumption!) the simple way by which species become exquisitely adapted to various ends. His conviction that he had, with his twin concepts of variation and natural selection, discovered the motive force behind the progress of humankind only strengthened with the years. Although Darwin valued the awards he received, such as the Royal Society s Copley Medal ( Such things make little difference to me ), he did so only to the extent that they revealed the acceptability of his ideas in the public mind. Those ideas depended on the success of his books. The Origin was the chief work of Darwin s life. Yet his ideas for books as levers for his thought were conceived early on. During his time on HMS Beagle, Darwin devised at least two volumes: one on the geology of the lands he was studying and another based on his journal. Darwin had a decidedly literary as well as scientific consciousness. He was deeply serious and reflective about his writing style and strategy. His books were the mile-stones of his life. Darwin s literary commitments are understandably overlooked by his more biologically minded heirs. That omission deserves to be corrected. For Charles Darwin was one of the most decisive literary as well as scientific figures of the past two centuries. Lancet 2008; 372: S75 84 Further reading Darwin C. Autobiographies. Neve M, Messenger S, eds. London: Penguin, Darwin C. Charles Darwin s The Life of Erasmus Darwin. King-Hele D, ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Darwin C. The Voyage of the Beagle. London: The Modern Library, Darwin C. The Origin of Species. London: Penguin, Darwin C. The Descent of Man. London: Penguin Classics, Darwin C. The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals. London: Fontana, Darwin E. Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life. Vol 1. Project Gutenberg, Darwin E. The Temple of Nature. Erasmus Darwin Foundation, Darwin F. Selected letters on evolution and origin of species. New York: Dover, Darwin F. Mr Charles Darwin s Letters. Lancet 1882; 1: 933. Dawkins R. The God Delusion. London: Bantam, Dawkins R. Connecting evolution and atheism. The Times 2008; August 9: 19. King-Hele D. Erasmus Darwin: master of interdisciplinary science. Interdiscip Science Rev 1985; 10: Lyell C. Principles of geology. London: Penguin Classics, S84 Darwin s Gifts December 2008