Skip to main content
Loading Explore guides…
Charles Darwin's Early Life · Acedra
Home
Explore
Biology
Charles Darwin's Early Life
Sign in to save
Chat
If YouTube asks you to sign in, open the video on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube
Reload player
Transcript
116 segments
Copy
Hide video
0:04
The man known to history as Charles Darwin was born on the 12th of February 1809, in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, in the West of England. His father was Robert Waring Darwin, a physician, who was remembered in part for his towering stature and imposing frame, at over six feet in height, and weighing twenty-four stone; Darwin later recalled that his father was ‘the largest man’ he had ever seen and noted the conversations that he would have with his father,
0:39
who assumed that his son would follow him into the medical profession. Charles Darwin’s mother was Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood), who died suddenly when Charles was aged eight, of either a severe ulcer or stomach cancer; he later recalled that he could “remember hardly anything about her, except her death-bed, her black velvet gown and her curiously-constructed worktable”.
1:06
Charles’ grandfather on his father’s side was Erasmus Darwin, a noted scientist who had mooted a theory of evolution in his poem, The Loves of the Plants, written in 1789, in which he referenced vestigial organs in plants, flies and humans, noting, for instance, the fact that human males had nipples, and flies unused fourth wings; he also created designs for a rocket engine which would be powered by hydrogen and oxygen, a canal bridge which would lift barges,
1:40
and a copying machine, many of which were not realised in practice until long after his death. Erasmus Darwin was a notable writer, and an accomplished man of science, who turned down an offer from George III to become his royal physician, and instead directed his attention to the writing of poetry, and the management of a new club: the Lunar Society of Birmingham, which was devoted to philosophical discussion between industrialists, scientists and poets
2:11
to name a few. The relationship between Erasmus and his son, Robert was strained, leading Charles to have little contact with his grandfather’s theories and writings – these were not treasured by Robert, who instead attempted to encourage the young Charles to become a man of medicine.
2:29
The Darwin family also included several other children, including one younger and three older sisters, as well as a single brother – Erasmus, who was five years older than Charles; his sister, Caroline, provided Charles with his first education, despite being only nine years older than him. Having been educated for a time by Caroline, Charles later became a student of the Reverend G. Case, a Unitarian minister, who noted that Charles
2:58
had a passion for collecting various ephemera from the natural world, including seashells, minerals and stones. When aged nine, Charles was enrolled at Dr Butler’s school in Shrewsbury, where he boarded, despite only living a mile away; he recalled later that he would often run home before the school was closed for the night in order to see his family, which he argued was absolutely essential in maintaining his mental health and wellbeing.
3:28
Darwin spent much of his free time reading and was deeply interested in the poetic works of Byron and the writings of Shakespeare, although he later lost interest in them; he was also fascinated by the idea of travel, and enjoyed reading works which depicted adventure and foreign lands. Charles’ interest in science stemmed both from his readings, and from the activities of family members; his brother’s interest in chemistry led him to construct a
3:59
makeshift lab in their garden shed, and his uncle excitedly instructed Charles on the operation of a barometer. His fascination with fauna was augmented on family trips, such as those which the Darwins made to the Welsh coast, in which Charles noted that the insects and flowers to be found there were not always the same as in his home county. Charles performed with average success at school and entered the University of Edinburgh when he
4:27
was aged sixteen, although it was noted by his father that a significant reason for his leaving school early was because he lacked any great progress in his studies there. Charles was emotionally healthy, from what we can gather from contemporary reports and autobiographical statements, although he recalled that he had once kicked his puppy for the sense of power that it afforded him, and that he was sometimes frustrated by the social standing of the
4:57
sciences, which were often regarded as beneath a gentleman. Entrance to the University of Edinburgh was encouraged by Charles’ father on the basis that this would lead to his inevitable medical career – the University was a renowned centre for medical learning, and counted amongst its alumni, Charles Bell – the discoverer of Bell’s Palsy as well as the functions of the root of spinal nerves, William Hewson – the ‘father of haematology’ and James Lind – who discovered
5:28
cures for scurvy and typhus, as well as the model for the first clinical trial. Charles entered the University with some misgivings about his own enthusiasm for the course and was not helped by the poor teaching standards he found there, later recalling the boredom he had felt in lectures, and bemoaning the lack of hands-on experience which his teachers afforded him and his classmates.
5:53
University had nonetheless given Charles some experience which he would later come to rely upon – he presented his first academic paper to the Plinian Society whilst studying there, and had met an academic who would later come to support his Theory of Evolution, one Dr Grant. After two years at Edinburgh, Charles had decided that he no longer wished to study medicine, ; indeed, this was already the determined conclusionfollowing in the
6:19
footsteps of his brother, who had already quit his medical course at Edinburgh, and his father decided instead that he should enter the clergy as an alternative. Such was this, that Charles was entered at Christ’s College, at the University of Cambridge, when aged nineteen. H; he once again, by his own admission, wasted his student days by becoming involved with a group of fellow students who preferred the shooting field to the library, and he gained a pass mark in his final exams.
6:50
The University had been invaluable to Charles as a means of introducing him to academics who would be come important and formative in his own pursuit of science; JS Henslow and Adam Sedgwick both influenced Charles as a student, and later in his life. Henslow was the man who would arrange Charles’ journey on the Beagle, and often met with him for walks and discussions about science and art, and several others were to become friends with him,
7:16
including . Darwin also befriended H. Thompson, later an MP, and Dr William Whewell, who was to become the Master of Trinity College, and later the Dean of Hereford. Darwin left Christ’s college in 1831 and joined Sedgwick on an excursion the same year to North Wales, where he was taught in the theory and method of geology. and was given an opportunity to apply his newfound skills as part of an academic investigation.
7:45
In August 1831, Henslow wrote to Darwin and informed him of an expedition planned aboard the Beagle, a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy; her captain, Robert FitzRoy, had written to Henslow, and had stated that he would welcome a naturalist on his voyage, given that they would undertake the journey without pay. Darwin was delighted at the chance to undertake a voyage as a naturalist aboard a Royal Naval
8:13
vessel, although his father was angered that he was yet again stepping further from a career as a doctor or a clergyman; Charles implored his uncle to speak to his father, and, after a discussion between Josiah Wedgewood and his brother-in-law, Robert agreed to let Charles embark on the Beagle. On the 27th of December 1831, the HMS Beagle departed from Devonport; Charles, with a degree in Theology and Classics, was her resident naturalist – scientifically,
8:46
he was alone, and had no one of comparable experience or expertise, even though he lacked an academic background in the discipline which underpinned his vocation.
8:57
Charles spent his first day aboard the Beagle in constructing a timetable for himself, which would allow him to become acquainted more intimately with the subjects of Meteorology, Mathematics, and Biology, as well as other subjects such as French, and the Greek New Testament, which he decided would form the basis of his reading on Sundays; he also had copies of Paradise Lost, and Humboldt’s Personal Narrative,
9:23
in which the scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt detailed his adventures to the Americas. Darwin noted in letters home that he had a difficult relationship with the captain, FitzRoy, as did many other members of the crew; FitzRoy was a member of the aristocracy, and an illegitimate descendent of Charles II, with a wicked temper , which would flare erratically. , and remain fixed for hours on end; Darwin also recounted an event in which
9:50
he argued with FitzRoy on the subject of slavery, which the latter supported; Darwin wrote that the argument had been so fierce, that he had pondered leaving the Beagle altogether. Darwin shared his lodgings aboard the Beagle with Augustus Earle, a draughtsman, and became friendly with several other members of the crew, including John Stokes and Charles Musters, a first-class volunteer;
10:15
another, Simms Covington, was a cabin boy who was later to become a personal assistant to Darwin. Over the course of the voyage, Darwin’s notes show a man becoming ever-more convinced of the potency of natural selection, as well as his conviction that fossils were the remnants of lifeforms which had existed before humans had appeared, all of which he formulated during his first few weeks at sea, as he studied aboard the vessel in his cabin;
10:45
he concurrently battled seasickness, and wrote, simply, that the Bay of Biscay was “hell”. During the first weeks of 1832, Darwin commenced practical studies, and developed a net for collecting plankton, which he studied and wrote about emphatically in his diaries, noting the vast array of colours and forms which these creatures took. On the 16th of January, the Beagle made landfall on St Jago, a component ofin the Cape Verde
11:15
Islands off the coast of modern-day Mauritania; he recalled that upon setting foot on the island, he was entranced by the volcanic rocks, the song of strange birds, and the vast array of flora and fauna which reached his eyes.that he saw. During his time in the Cape Verde islands, Darwin developed a theory that hard white rocks, which littered the islands, were formerly molten lava flows which had flown over the seabed, and contained imprints from shells and coral reefs.
11:45
On the 28th of February, the crew of the Beagle alighted on the shores of Bahia, now a state of Brazil, and home to the city of Salvadore; he wrote that “[this] land is a chaos of delight”, and his time in Brazil was to have a great impact on him and his work. He wrote of the beauty of the wildlife and of the nature in Brazil and argued that this was “nature in its grandest form”; he also stated that, to a naturalist,
12:15
there was a “pleasant nuisance” in having to stop every few yards to study a new creature or flower. Darwin also encountered much slavery in Brazil, which was the last country in the western world to abolish the practice, which it eventually did in 1888; he was deeply disturbed by what he saw, and wrote that “I hope the day will come when they will assert their own rights, and forget to avenge their wrongs”.
12:44
Darwin and his companions settled at the small village of Botafogo, which was located a short distance outside of Rio de Janeiro, situated on a lagoon; he soon embarked on a three weekthree-week ride into the countryside from his base, during which he travelled a distance of several hundred miles – in what would have been a dramatic and exhaustive introduction to his new landscape. When working from his base in Botafogo, Darwin also maintained a strict routine,
13:15
and collected specimens one day, to be followed by a day of preserving and analysing his finds on the following day, a two daytwo-day timetable which he maintained for the duration of his stay. Darwin was able to observe dramatic and exciting natural events in-person when in Brazil, and noted with great interest an incident in which he had witnessed a vampire bat bite a horse, and made notes on glow worms, butterflies and fungi.
13:46
On the 5th of July 1832, the Beagle left Rio and travelled south for Montevideo, now the capital city of Uruguay; upon their arrival, the crew were informed that a revolution was taking place in the city – an event which was part of a series of conflicts which had emerged in Uruguay following the Declaration of Independence in 1828, and reflected a conflict between two political factions which had entered the vacuum which followed.
14:15
The conflict into which the Beagle had strayed was a rebellion by the Montevideo garrison in support of Juan Lavalleja, the leader of the Thirty-Three Orientals, a revolutionary faction, which opposed the presidency of Fructuoso Rivera, a veteran military commander, who was the incumbent leader. FitzRoy made the decision not to land in Montevideo, and instead proceeded to Buenos Aires, whereupon they were fired at by an
14:45
Argentine naval vessel – a problem which was later rectified by the Governor; after this, the Beagle returned again to Montevideo, and FitzRoy requested to land at a private mooring. After this stop, the Beagle continued south, hugging the coastline in order to observe it; it was during this stretch of the journey that Darwin was marooned for a single night, this was due to bad weather, which meant that the Beagle was unable to come and
15:14
pick him up from the island at which he had stopped in order to take samples; he would later write that he never knew such cold, although the experience allowed him to come across samples of fascinating fossils, such as that of the extinct giant armadillo, and the giant sloth. The ship continued to pace back and forth between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, allowing the crew to send and receive mail, and Darwin to ship off his specimens home; FitzRoy,
15:45
the captain of the Beagle, was also able to undertake a disturbing practice, when he released three Fuegian prisoners that he had attempted to “westernise” from a previous voyage – sending them back to their communities with a bizarre assortment of items, such as cabbages, tea trays, cutlery and wine glasses; this was an incident however, which Darwin expressed his opposition to. The next few weeks were spent by Darwin undertaking riding expeditions around Buenos
16:18
Aires and Patagonia, during which he reported to have felt the extremes of human comfort, writing that he often suffered from a great thirst, and that the seemingly endless riding had caused him to feel incredibly tired; he was also plagued by mosquitos, and reported that the jaguars which inhabited the surrounding forests had caused great fear amongst his guides. On returning from an expedition, back to Buenos Aires, Darwin found himself unable to enter the
16:49
city on account of another revolution, and instead was forced to remain outside the city proper for a great period of time – he was unable to reach the Beagle until the 4th of November, after which the vessel sailed, eventually calling into the Rio de Santa Cruz in Venezuela. The Beagle had been damaged over the course of her voyage and required repairs, which were undertaken at the mouth of the River; meanwhile, FitzRoy had planned an expedition to the Cordillera
17:20
de la Costa mountain range, which would require the crew to embark on a 245-mile trip upstream, a journey which was spread over thirteen days, and which the captain ultimately deemed a failure. On the 12th of May 1834, the Beagle set out on her final trip south, and crossed into the Pacific Ocean on the 9th of June, eventually reaching Valparaíso in Chile at the end of July; from here, Darwin trekked the Andes,
17:50
and was able to observe the differences in flora and fauna which correlated with their altitude. Darwin then contracted an illness, likely to be Chagas’ Disease, which caused him to experience fever, swollen lymph nodes and headaches, and to which was blamed by some historians on attributed his later poor health, such as his lethargy and heart problems; he reported at the time in his letters home that
18:16
he had experienced great periods of tiredness, and that he had suffered from blackouts and confusion. From Valparaiso, Darwin made one of his most important geological expeditions, and ascended 10,000 feet into the Andes in order to observe the segmentation of the earth from the sides of the mountains which surrounded him; he commented that “it was the first view I ever saw which really resembled those pretty sections which geologists make of the inside of the earth”.
18:48
Darwin also advanced on one of his longest expeditions, travelling some 450 miles to the north, during which he collected well over a hundred geological specimens, which he labelled and recorded; by this time, he had been away from home for over three and a half years, and his letters, despite showing his excitement at his work, reflected an ardent desire to return to England.
19:14
On the 7th of September 1835, the Beagle sailed for the Galápagos Islands, which were to become synonymous with Darwin’s work; as soon as the ship anchored off the islands, the focus of Darwin’s work switched from geology to biology, and he noted eagerly that the flora and fauna of the Islands closely reflected those of South America. Darwin’s observation of tortoises and birds on the Islands stemmed from his interest in the fact
19:43
that locals were able to identify which island an animal came from on the basis of their appearance, such was the localisation of their variance; he realised that finches on the various islands had differences in their appearance, which correlated with the island from which they had originated. The beaks of the Galapagos finches were of particular interest to Darwin, and he noted that some were better suited to the consumption of insects, and some seeds,; this was a biological
20:12
niche which suggesting they wereed a form of adaptions based on anto specific environments. However, his notes at the time suggest that he did not realise the implications of his observation, writing that “when I see these Islands in sight of each other and possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds but slightly different in structure and filling the same place in nature, I must suspect that they are only varieties”.
20:42
The Beagle remained in the Galápagos archipelago for a further four weeks, from which it sailed south over the Pacific, spending Christmas Day of 1835 in New Zealand; while there, he commended the work that was being performed by missionaries in the region; and indeed, one of his first published reports from the voyage was included in an edition of the South African Christian Recorder, in which he wrote “[missionaries] thoroughly deserve the
21:12
warmest support not only of individuals, but of the British government”; such was his interest in the work of these organisations, Darwin co-signed this statement with the Beagle’s Captain, FitzRoy. On the 12th of January 1836, the Beagle landed in Australia, in what was the fifth year of her expedition; he noted in his diary that he was pleased to have a level of immunity to European diseases, such was the suffering of native communities with illnesses such as measles.
21:45
In Australia, Darwin also noted the similarities between different species of mammal, and noted their development had occurred in tandem with those of other continents; he stated in his notes that he was surprised that such similarities had developed through such a varied pathway, noting that it seemed as if two creators had come by the same product through an entirely different process.
22:11
The Beagle soon set sail for home, and made an unexpected stop in Bahia, where the ship had landed four and a half years before; Darwin was exhausted, and craved a return to England, writing “[we have now] steered, thanks to God, a direct course for England”. Darwin, on the return voyage, reflected on the majesty of the untouched natural world which he had been able to encounter through his journey, and the power of nature, which
22:41
he had been able to discover “un-defaced”; this, he referred to as an almost religious experience, writing that it inspired a feeling “that there is more to man than the mere breadth of his body”. On the 2nd of October 1836, the Beagle landed at Falmouth in Cornwall, and two days later, Darwin had returned to his home in Shrewsbury for the first time in over five years; he found that his family welcomed him home with open arms, and his father,
23:12
impressed with his discoveries, accepted his choice of career as a naturalist. Once he had returned home, Darwin went to Cambridge, and then to London, in order to arrange and edit the official Zoology of the Voyage of the ‘Beagle’, in which he wrote extensively about the journey, as well as his discoveries and ideas; Humboldt, his hero, was impressed with Darwin’s work, and praised his writing on travels in the tropics.
23:40
Over the course of the 1840s, Darwin published further works which stemmed from research which he had conducted on the Beagle, including Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands and Geological Observations on South America, during which heand was able to encounter various great scientists, such as Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker. Lyell was a prominent scientist and proponent of the theory of uniformitarianism, in which he
24:09
arguedthe idea that present-day natural laws and processes exist not just here today, but through space and timehad contributed to the development of modern effects in geology; Darwin adopted this theory, and argued further that it was a dynamic process, which had a continued effect in the present, and could be used to explain a continuous process of reform and change in organisms. Hooker was a young man, and shared a great love of naturalism with Darwin;
24:31
the two became firm friends, and it was to Hooker that Darwin confined his theory of natural selection, which remained a secret between the two for a number of years.
24:44
By the time that he had returned from his voyage, Darwin was convinced that organisms underwent a process of change and adaption; he further theorised that this could be the case on a grand scale, and that the change which occurred within a species could be responsible for wholesale and dramatic changes both in their appearance, as well as their mode of life. In July 1837, Darwin commenced work on a new text, which he called The Transformation of Species,
25:16
and, only just over a year later, he had recorded what we now called the Theory of Natural Selection, which remains a fundamental basis on which modern science rests.. Darwin developed documented the thought process that led to this theory theory through a thought process which is evident fromin his notebooks; he began from an observation that sexual reproduction leads to greater variation in a species than does asexual
25:37
or parthenogenic reproduction, and which could be highly varied in its extent and nature. . Darwin noted that, through reproduction, offspring within a species had differences from one another, and from their parents – which can be referred to as ‘random variation’; these differences themselves did not appear to be directed toward any environmental advantage or design, and were random – sometimes inhibiting
26:02
the capacity of the genotype organism to live, and other times enhancing it. This process of randomA variation cwould, over a period of time, become ubiquitous amongst a population of offspring in whomif the varianceit provided was an advantage into life – those within a species who were better suited to a certain environment would live, and pass these characteristics on to their own offspring, leading an entire population of a species within a certain
26:29
area to bear these particular variations.; this is sometimes termed as adaptive niches. Much of Darwin’s theory was also based on establishing a common ancestor tof members of a species whicho had diverged from one another in present characteristics, which he did through an examination of fossils – demonstrating that species who shared relatively few characteristics with one another had in fact stemmed from the
26:54
same ancestor, and that they had diverged from one another through these adapting to particular environmentsve niches; Darwin noted this point in his writing, briefly, stating that “in South America parent of all Armadillos might be brother to Megatherium, now dead”. The level of variation in nature had been well covered in previous works; the archdeacon William Paley – often credited with articulating an argument for the existence of God
27:24
from design through an analogy involving a watch – had himself written of the great differences present amongst animals and plants, which he had presented in his work Evidence for Christianity. Darwin was puzzled by the potency of seemingly designed adaptations amongst species which had evidently undergone random variation; this evidently frustrated him, and he wrote later that “how selection could be applied
27:53
to organisms living in a state of nature remained for some time, a mystery to me”. It was whilst reading Thomas Robert Malthus’ work on population on the 3rd of October 1837, that Darwin finally cracked the mystery of selection – explaining the preservation of useful variation, and the disappearance of unhelpful or inhibiting variation. Much of the remainder of Darwin’s professional life was defined from this point – he was
28:24
committed to demonstrating the potency of natural selection as an explanative explanatory theory for the modern natural world, and worked hard to trace document it in nature. Darwin also had other matters on his mind in 1837; the latter part of the year saw him construct a document in which he debated the various pros and cons of getting married, in which he weighed a fear that he would be unable to travel and would have greater financial commitments to “a constant
28:53
companion, charms of music and female chitchat…”; he eventually erred on the side of marriage, and entertained the joys which would come with it, before concluding “marry, marry, marry – QED”. Darwin evidently also had a “constant companion” in mind when he wrote his list, and proposed to Emma Wedgwood soon afterwards – and, on the 11th of November 1838, the two were engaged to be married.
29:22
Darwin and Emma departed on a weeks’ holiday from London, after which they moved in to a town house at 12 Upper Gower Street, on New Year’s Day, 1839; indeed, 1839 started well for Darwin, and he was appointed a member of the Royal Society on the 24th of January, five days before his wedding. The couple remained in London for a time, although increasingly poor health had motivated them to make a change;
29:51
Darwin and Emma moved to a country home named Down House, in the Kentish village of Downe. Hooker and TH Huxley, a fellow biologist, were regular guests at Down House, and Darwin wrote lovingly of the rural isolation of the place, and the solace which it afforded him to conduct experiments, read, and spend time with his family and close friends. On the 27th of December 1839, William, the first of ten Darwin children, was born; William was
30:23
of great interest to his father in many ways, including scientific – and he kept a detailed record of his son and his activities, including the ways in which he developed and ‘adapted’. Darwin was, by all accounts, a loving and devoted father, who dedicated time in playing with and helping his children; he was very concerned with their health, but afforded them great freedom. Down House was a perfect environment in which Darwin could continue his researches,
30:54
and he stored vast amounts of information from his studies there – specimens and notes, as well as letters and documents that he had received from around the world, with information from experts and naturalists across the globe. Despite the joys of family, Down House and his advancing scientific work, Darwin was plagued by illness from 1837 until the time that he died in 1882; when his father died, he was too ill to attend the funeral procession,
31:25
and a dinner held after a scientific presentation could rob him of strength for a number of days. Darwin also suffered from a great deal of self-doubt, which he had surrounding the potency of his own theory of evolution; he refusinged to publish his findings until he had collected a wealth of evidence which he could use to overwhelm any potential critics.
31:51
Originally intended to be a short essay, Darwin produced a draft for a 230-page long work in which he outlined his theory, and provided an incredible barrage of evidence for it; he had intended to keep the work to himself, although was encouraged by Hooker and Lyell, who were impressed, and urged him to make his findings public. One of the major motives for Darwin’s eventual decision to go public with his findings was the receipt of a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace,
32:22
in which Wallace posited precisely the theory that Darwin had developed, and asked him for a comment. Darwin did not wish to rob Wallace of what was a perfectly legitimate although nearly timedindependent discovery, and arranged to have his findings published alongside Wallace’s in a joint paper; it was this product which that was presented before the Linnaean Society on the 1st of July 1858, and later published in the Society journal.
32:49
After this presentation, Darwin was motivated to more fully explain his own theory and findings, and did so in the form of the Origin of Species, which he managed to complete in the remarkably short period of thirteen months; he would go on to write ten further books, all of which laidying out and evidencing his position and provided evidence, and and in doing so he changed mankind’s perception of the natural world in a profound manner.
33:19
There are several reasons why Darwin waited such a long time to formally present his findings: he was greatly concerned with ensuring that he provided a mass of evidence to back up his claims, and was side tracked somewhat by his work with barnacles, work which led him to investigate their reproductive processes, and which showed him the significant variance in the phenotypes which developed.
33:45
One of the major forces which that influenced Darwin to produce and publish his Origin of Species was undoubtedly the influence of Wallace, and it is important that his work and research be remembered alongside that of Darwin as research which revolutionised biology. Once it had been produced and published, the Origin of Species was a hit; the first edition sold out on day one, and the subsequent editions which were drafted and produced were
34:15
in great demand; the book itself was thoughtful and well organised, presenting the basis of the theory of evolution alongside a wealth of evidence which covered all major areas of known biology. Darwin also tracked the evolutionary development of several organisms, and investigated how organs had become specialised to their roles, how some species had become extinct, and forecasted the explosion of the human population.
34:42
One of the reasons for the success of the work was the review it received from the noted zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who praised the work, and exclaimed “how extremely stupid not to have thought of that!”; several other highly influential scientists endorsed Darwin’s work, including Hooker, Lyell and Canon Tristram, the zoologist of the Bible. However Darwin encountered much criticism as well as praise for his work, and was
35:14
roundly attacked by writers such as Philip Gosse, who asserted, in his book Omphalos, that the world had been created by God in the way that it now appeared – in other words, that nothing had changed since the world had been created; his book fell flat. Other more articulate critics attacked Darwin on a scientific basis; Adam Sedgwick argued that he had abandoned the accepted scientific method as it had been formed under Francis Bacon,
35:43
and another dangerous opponent was presented in the form of Richard Owen, an anatomist and palaeontologist, who attacked the Origin of Species in a lengthy review, which Darwin himself stated was “malignant and clever”. Religious opposition to Darwin was furious, and he was accused by Henry Trimen, the botanist, that the threat he had posed to the doctrine of the Creation was so powerful, that the Origin of Species had made Darwin the ‘most dangerous man in England’; tensions on
36:17
this matter came to a head during a notable debate at the British Association in Oxford, during which Bishop Wilberforce attacked the theory of evolution, which was successfully and effectively defended by Huxley, who was at the height of his power. Indeed, Huxley remained a staunch defender of Darwin, and at a later public encounter with Bishop Wilberforce was reported to have informed the Bishop that he would rather have an ape for an
36:45
ancestor, than a man who used his reason and intellect to attack those seeking the truth; the incident apparently caused an audience member to faint, and Huxley’s following scientific arguments, combined with this comment led Wilberforce to silence; Darwin later jested to Huxley, ‘how durst you attack a live bishop in that fashion?’. Similar battles were fought between scientists and preachers across the world:
37:14
in the US, Germany and Russia, exchanges were held publicly between scientists and their opponents, bringing academics such as Ernst Haeckel to the fore, in a position similar to that of Huxley. Darwin attracted political as well as scientific attention; Karl Marx repeatedly tried to dedicate his book Das Kapital to Darwin, although this was rejected on numerous occasions; Darwin was later honoured with a statue in the Soviet Union,
37:44
which was used in part to spearhead a rejection of religious ideology.
37:50
After 1859, Darwin published ten biological works; six of which were engaged with particular botanical problems, dealing with questions concerning devices for securing cross-pollination, as well as the operation of climbing plants; one concerned earthworms and their effect on the natural environment, and the other three concerned themselves with evolutionary biology. Many of these later works were designed to augment and complement the theory that he had presented
38:22
in the Origin of Species, although they also contained some odd digressions into theories of sexual selection; the first of these was The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, which argued that variation was the basis of evolutionary development, and that variation within a population was the foundation of development, much of which was evidenced by research that he had done with pigeons. In this work
38:37
Darwin turned his attention to the significant variation which existed amongst domestic animals, and included dogs, cats and foals, in his study, examining and analysing the variation which they exhibited; he maintained from this his original conclusion that evolution was a slow process, which relied not upon sharp variance between members of a population, but on small, incremental differences which became increasingly potent in a species over a long period of time.
39:08
Later in his life, Darwin presented the theory of pangenesis, which was his attempt to examine and explain the ways through which characteristics were transferred between members of a species; he posited that something called ‘gemmules’ were transferred between beings through sexual reproduction – a theory which was of course erroneous, but which was nonetheless a valiant attempt to account for inheritance in the absence of any knowledge of DNA.
39:40
Following his Variations, Darwin worked on a new book, The Descent of Man, in which he sought to powerfully reject the idea that man had descended from Adam and Eve, and posited rather that they had developed over a great period of time through the process of natural selection. Darwin asserted that humans had descended from a form of ape-like primate which may have originated in Africa, a theory which remains highly supported by more recent
40:10
research conducted by academics such as Broom, and Dart and Leakey; many critics at the time were outraged at what they saw as his assertion that humans had monkeys as their ancestors, which was of course not at all whatnot in fact what he was arguing, since monkeys were the product of a period of evolutionary development which had been concurrent to that of humans. Darwin led his investigation with an examination of the similarities of humans and apes, and
40:39
noted the similaritysameness of the formation and operation of some organs and musculature between them, as well as the similarities in brain structure; he also noted several vestigial characteristics in humans, such as the embryonic formation of a vestigial tail, and that some humans possessed what later became known as ‘Darwin’s Point’, which manifests as a thickening of the helix at the tip of the human ear:
41:07
an inversion ofevolutionary trait connected to the pointed ear tips of several primates. Darwin also emphasised that humans and primates shared not only physical, but also emotional characteristics; he argued that apes demonstrated an advanced emotional maturity, which manifested itself in reason, imagination and sense of morality, although he emphasised that whilst recognisable as a distant embodiment of human-like intellect, that of mankind was doubtless greater.
41:41
Darwin also dedicated a great deal of The Descent of Man to the topic of sexual selection, and argued that much of the struggle in nature was in this regard was that for reproduction; mammals attempted to win out over one another for sexual engagement through physical combat, which enabled them to reflect shows of strength; he argued as well, that for many species, the size of the male was an important determining factor in the sexual freedoms it could enjoy,
42:10
and noted this as a significant factor in the mating behaviour of animals such as the sea-elephant, sometimes called the Elephant Seal. In birds, Darwin argued, sexual preferences and choices for members of a given species were more often determined by visual displays; male members of many avian species were more brightly coloured than females, and their mating behaviour often commenced with a dance or visual ritual,
42:40
which enabled the male to display their feathers and plumes to a female; Darwin noted this behaviour was particularly significant for birds of paradise, and hummingbirds. Some of these ideas have since been discredited, such as Darwin’s general assertion that animals were polygamous – we now know that many birds engage in monogamous relationships, and there have since been biological distinctions made between social and sexual monogamy,
43:09
which Darwin confused with one another; indeed, we now also know that coloured plumage on birds often acts to defend territory and intimidate attackers, as much as if not to a greater extent than it serves in determining sexual relationships.
43:27
These omissions informed Darwin’s further general assertion that sexual reproduction within a species was almost solely determined by the choice of the female in sexual partners; this view has since been discredited, and we now know that many of these rituals are in fact mutual in allowing both partners to make a decision. In the final chapter of his book, Darwin turned to the sexually selective practices of humanity, and
43:56
asserted that in this case, selection was almost always made by men, who, he argued, would choose a female partner based on several characteristics, such as their figure, and facial structure; he indicated that many fashions attempted to augment desirable characteristics amongst humans, and for men, fashion reflected wealth and social status, which informed the choice that women made. These theories are of course very much of their time, and have been
44:27
subject to countless criticisms from social scientists, and indeed there is an obvious omission of several fundamental aspects of human social and sexual engagement, such as the importance of the formation of emotional bonds between sexual partners, and the fact that female choice in human sexual preferences has been a constant throughout human history; Darwin’s theory was important for the fact that it
44:53
introduced the concept of displays as a form of choice-information in sexual preference, although the field has advanced significantly from his time.in the intervening years.
45:05
Emotions and their development were also of interest to Darwin, who noted that primates and humans shared several emotions, and had a similar reaction to emotional stimulation such as public shaming, and that both expressed more complex emotional responses, such as a desire for deliberate revenge when wronged. He pursued this field of study with his 1872 book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
45:34
in which he studied how emotions were expressed physically by certain species; he noted with interest the expressions of emotion in cats, horses, monkeys and apes, as well as a plethora of other animals such as porcupines, hyenas and kangaroos, leading him to conclude that emotional expression was innate to many animals. In his pursuit of data on genuinefor emotional expression in humans, which was unforced and
46:01
genuine, Darwin focussed his attention on the expressions of infants and inmates in asylums, obtaining photographs of facial expressions which he labelled and analysed for commonality; concluding from this, and a study he conducted internationally, that despite culture and region, human emotional expression was largely common across the world, and many behaviours and modes of expression would be recognised between humans wherever they were from.
46:29
Darwin further argued that these forms of emotional expression as they occurred in animals stemmed from a preparation for action – swans demonstrating a state of anger with arched wings and two-footed propulsion, dogs bearing their teeth in distress – which stemmed from an evolutionary practice of pre-preparing for action and thus giving animals with this behaviourthese displays of emotion an advantage in their prospects of survival.
46:59
Darwin also dedicated later books to the development of vegetables and plants, and argued against a prevalent view that some plants engaged in self-fertilisation; the variation which existed in these species would have to stem from some degree of cross-pollination, which wahes wanted to further investigate. Some work had already been done on the subject, notably by Christian Konrad Sprengel, who had
47:25
advanced the theory that flowers attracted bees and thus played a role in the process of reproduction and cross-pollination, in his 1793 book Das entdeckte Geheimnis der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen, which was groundbreaking work in the development of biological understanding but received little acclaim during the author’s lifetime. Darwin wished to build on this understanding through research
47:54
which analysed the reproductive processes of plants and the process of cross-pollination; he studied orchids in particular, and the ways in which the proboscis of moths had developed to obtain the nectar contained within them; one genus he studied was the Coryanthes orchid, which was structured in such a way that bees would tumble into the centre of the flower, and become covered with pollen, which, once they had crawled out, they would spread to other plants.
48:24
The various and ingenious ways in which plants were adapted to the process of cross-pollination was a source of immense interest to Darwin and led him to describe them as “beautiful adaptions… [which could] transcend in an incomparable manner the contrivances and adaptations of which the most fertile imagination of man could invent”.
48:48
Darwin examined these processes further in his later book Effects of Cross- and Self-Pollenisation in the Vegetable Kingdom, which argued that there must be some innate value in the cross pollenation of vegetables, and that over time, plants and pollenators, such as bees, become suited to one another, through features such as the development of an elongated proboscis or a flower which allowed access to a certain species of bee.
49:18
Darwin also advanced theories on the growth of plants, and indicated that stems had the capacity to bend as they grew through the process of asymmetrical growth on one side of a stem, overtaking the rate of growth on the other side and thus pulling the plant around a curve on the axis provided by the slowly-growing side; this process was often seen in plants which adapted themselves to make best-use of light conditions, although it was a process which
49:45
also took place at night, indicating that some residual hormone caused bymechanisms beyond the reflexive response to the imprint of light must play a role. Darwin’s last book was produced in 1881, and concerned earthworms; he conducted much of this research in his home in Down House, and erected a ‘Worm Stone’, so that he might record the rate at which the stone descended into the earth, and
50:10
thus how potent the influence of earthworms on the structural integrity of the soil in the lawn was; he conducted further experiments which allowed him to write about the anatomy, habits and physiology of earthworms, and even analysed the effect that music would have on their behaviour, noting that a bass note played on a piano would send them into their burrows. Darwin, now late into his life, demonstrated that earthworms had caused the monoliths
50:41
at Stonehenge to sink, and thus appear far shorter than they were; he also showed that their actions were responsible for a Roman villa sinking so deep into the earth that it was too submerged to be affected even by invasive agricultural practises such as ploughing. This thesis, a little-known work by a man who is best remembered for his other researches, nonetheless encapsulates the doctrine which was central to much of his work;
51:11
that small, incremental actions and processes would, over time, come to have significant effects on the natural world.
51:22
In the winter months of 1881 to 1882, Darwin experienced serious heart problems, and was incapacitated more completely than he had been already; in February 1882, he wrote in a letter to a friend that he believed his “course was nearly run”, and on the 19th of April, he died, a short time after his seventy-third birthday. Darwin was buried in Westminster Abbey and was carried to his grave by the President of the Royal Society, Huxley, Hooker and Wallace,
51:56
as well as several other notable persons; to be buried alongside Isaac Newton.
52:03
Darwin was notable in his life for many things: the fact that a man, with no formal scientific training would complete a voyage as testing as that undertaken on the Beagle, to then introduce one of the most powerful and influential models of biological development in human history, as well as a wealth of other botanical, palaeontological and geological theories which were ground-breaking in their own right was
52:30
truly remarkable, and he is today celebrated as the father of numerous scientific branches. The influence of Darwin’s central Theory of Evolution cannot be overstated; the disruptive effect that this had on biological, scientific, religious and social understanding remains truly significant across the world today, and he is often celebrated as a paladin of reason and scientific pathfinding. Darwin was characterised in great part by his humility, his dedication to his self-appointed
53:08
task of scientific advancement, and his insatiable thirst for knowledge; we undoubtedly owe our modern understanding of our own origins and existence to him, and he remains one of the most celebrated scientists ever to have lived.
53:26
What do you think of Charles Darwin? Does he deserve his reputation as one of the greatest and most influential scientists who has ever lived, or should some of the credit for the theories of evolution and natural selection be at least in part shared with largely forgotten figures, such as Alfred Wallace? Please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime, thank you very much for watching.”
Here to help you learn
Sign in to keep a private conversation with your course tutor.
Ask me anything about the material…
Sign in to chat