This week, we have launched an auction devoted to works about the Theory of Evolution – both by Darwin and others involved in the field.
To realise the impact that Darwin and Wallace’s work had on 19th Century society, you have to imagine the mindset of that word. Most people in Europe believed in the Bible – and they did so literally. God had created the world in seven days – no more. Eve was created from Adam’s rib. The world was created in 4004 BC (possibly in the afternoon).
Charles Darwin was not the fastest of workers. Although he first conceived of his Theory of Evolution in 1839, he spent almost 20 years refining the idea. Darwin had wanted to collect as much supporting evidence as possible before “going to market”
He knew the furor that would follow publication. Everything the bible had taught was wrong. Much of what science knew was ill informed. Fossils were not pretty trinkets to show God’s ingenuity, but proof that the world was million’s of years old. The scientific, religious and probably most other communities would put every argument at their disposal against Darwin – he HAD to be right, and be able to prove it.
Imagine Darwin’s consternation then, when he received a letter, in June 1858, from Alfred Wallace, who was collecting beetles and birds in the Malay Archipelago. In this letter, Wallace gave a clear and concise rendering of the concept of natural selection. This was in the form of an article “On The Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type” I would imagine Darwin was a little concerned that someone else would be given the credit, for all of his hard work. Nevertheless, he replied to Wallace, offering to arrange publication for him, even though “all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed.”
Darwin discussed the matter with Charles Lyell and John Hooker, (Eminent scientists themselves). Lyall pointed out that Darwin had largely outlined the same ideas in a paper to Hooker in 1844, and also in a letter he had written to Asa Gray. In a very British solution, they suggested that at the next meeting of the Linnean Society, three papers be presented. One by Darwin, the letter from Wallace, and the letter that Darwin had written to Asa Gray.
And so, on June 2nd 1858, the three papers were read out to the Linnean Society in London. These were initially printed in the “Journal of the Proceedings’ of the Society (Volume 3, pp. 45-62, dated August 30, 1858). Remarkably, they caused very little stir.
A much more widely read (and slightly less obscure) magazine, was “The Zoologist.” The editors of this reprinted the articles in their volume 16 pp 6293-6308. (which is the item offered in the Catawiki Evolution auction). Even at this stage, there was little impact.
The Linnean Society President Thomas Bell in his presidential report of May 1859 wrote that “The year which has passed has not, indeed, been marked by any of those striking discoveries which at once revolutionize, so to speak, the department of science on which they bear” (Browne (2002), Charles Darwin: vol. 2 The Power of Place. p40.)
Darwin continued working on his “abstract” of his great work on Natural Selection. This was published in 1859 as “On the Origin of Species” And the rest, as they say, is history.
The book itself
Darwin, C. [R.] and A. R. Wallace “Three papers on the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection.” Published as “The Zoologist” volum 16. Pp 6293-6308. London, J. van Voorst, 1858. 8vo (22.1 x 14.2 cm).
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