The Collected Complete Works of Charles Darwin E-Book

Charles Darwin.

• Herausgeber: Qasim Idrees
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution.Collection 23 Works of Charles Darwin________________________________________Charles Darwin His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published LettersCoral ReefsGeological Observations on South AmericaInsectivorous PlantsMore Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume IMore Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume IIMovements and Habits of Climbing PlantsOn the Origin of SpeciesThe Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Descent of ManThe Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same SpeciesThe Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable KingdomThe Expression of Emotion in Man and AnimalsThe Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of WormsThe Foundations of the Origin of SpeciesThe Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume IThe Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume IIThe Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection (6th Edition)The Power of Movement in PlantsThe Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume 1The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume 2The Voyage of the BeagleVolcanic Islands

Leseprobe

The Collected Complete Works of Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters

Coral Reefs

Geological Observations on South America

Insectivorous Plants

More Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I

More Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II

Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants

On the Origin of Species

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species

The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom

The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals

The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms

The Foundations of the Origin of Species

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II

The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection (6th Edition)

The Power of Movement in Plants

The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume 1

The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume 2

The Voyage of the Beagle

Volcanic Islands

[Pg i]

CHARLES DARWIN:HIS LIFE TOLD IN AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTER, AND IN A SELECTED SERIES OF HIS PUBLISHED LETTERS.EDITED BY HIS SON, FRANCIS DARWIN, F.R.S.

WITH A PORTRAIT.

LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1908.

[Pg ii]

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

[Pg iii]

TO DR. HOLLAND, ST. MORITZ.

13th July, 1892.

DEAR HOLLAND,

This book is associated in my mind with St. Moritz (where I worked at it), and therefore with you.

I inscribe your name on it, not only in token of my remembrance of your many acts of friendship, but also as a sign of my respect for one who lives a difficult life well.

Yours gratefully,

FRANCIS DARWIN.

[Pg iv]

"For myself I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; ... as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to reconsider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture. So I thought my nature had a kind of familiarity and relationship with Truth."—BACON. (Proem to the Interpretatio Naturæ.)

[Pg v]

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1892).

In preparing this volume, which is practically an abbreviation of the Life and Letters (1887), my aim has been to retain as far as possible the personal parts of those volumes. To render this feasible, large numbers of the more purely scientific letters are omitted, or represented by the citation of a few sentences.[1] In certain periods of my father's life the scientific and the personal elements run a parallel course, rising and falling together in their degree of interest. Thus the writing of the Origin of Species, and its publication, appeal equally to the reader who follows my father's career from interest in the man, and to the naturalist who desires to know something of this turning point in the history of Biology. This part of the story has therefore been told with nearly the full amount of available detail.

In arranging my material I have followed a roughly chronological sequence, but the character and variety of my father's researches make a strictly chronological order an impossibility. It was his habit to work more or less simultaneously at several subjects. Experimental work was often carried on as a refreshment or variety, while books entailing [Pg vi]reasoning and the marshalling of large bodies of facts were being written. Moreover many of his researches were dropped only to be resumed after years had elapsed. Thus a chronological record of his work would be a patchwork, from which it would be difficult to disentangle the history of any given subject. The Table of Contents will show how I have tried to avoid this result. It will be seen, for instance, that after Chapter VIII. a break occurs; the story turns back from 1854 to 1831 in order that the Evolutionary chapters which follow may tell a continuous story. In the same way the Botanical Work which occupied so much of my father's time during the latter part of his life is treated separately in Chapters XVI. and XVII.

With regard to Chapter IV., in which I have attempted to give an account of my father's manner of working, I may be allowed to say that I acted as his assistant during the last eight years of his life, and had therefore an opportunity of knowing something of his habits and methods.

My acknowledgments are gladly made to the publishers of the Century Magazine, who have courteously given me the use of one of their illustrations for the heading of Chapter IV.

FRANCIS DARWIN.

WYCHFIELD, CAMBRIDGE,      August, 1892.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] I have not thought it necessary to indicate all the omissions in the abbreviated letters.

NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

It is pleasure to me to acknowledge the kindness of Messrs. Elliott & Fry in allowing me to reproduce the fine photograph which appears as the frontispiece to the present issue.

FRANCIS DARWIN.

WYCHFIELD, CAMBRIDGE,      April, 1902.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTERPAGEI.—The Darwins1II.—Autobiography5III.—Religion55IV.—Reminiscences66V.—Cambridge Life—The Appointment to theBeagle: 1828-1831104VI.—The Voyage: 1831-1836124VII.—London and Cambridge: 1836-1842140VIII.—Life at Down: 1842-1854150IX.—The Foundations of theOrigin of Species: 1831-1844165X.—The Growth of theOrigin of Species: 1843-1858173XI.—The Writing of theOrigin of Species, June 1858, to November 1859185XII.—The Publication of theOrigin of Species, October to December 1859206XIII.—TheOrigin of Species—Reviews and Criticisms—Adhesions and Attacks: 1860223XIV.—The Spread of Evolution: 1861-1871245XV.—Miscellanea—Revival of Geological Work—The Vivisection Question—Honours281XVI.—The Fertilisation of Flowers297XVII.—Climbing Plants—Power of Movement in Plants—Insectivorous Plants—Kew Index of Plant Names313XVIII.—Conclusion325APPENDICES.APPENDIXI.—The Funeral in Westminster Abbey329II.—Portraits331INDEX333

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[—led to comprehend two affinities. [illeg] My theory would give zest to recent & fossil Comparative Anatomy, it would lead to study of instincts, heredity & mind heredity, whole metaphysics — it would lead to closest examination of hybridity & generation, causes of change in order to know what we have come from & to what we tend — to what circumstances favour crossing & what prevents it; this & direct examination of direct passages of [species (crossed out)] structures in species, might lead to laws of change, which would then be main object of study, to guide our [past (crossed out)] speculations]

[Pg 1]

CHARLES DARWIN.

CHAPTER I. THE DARWINS.

Charles Robert Darwin was the second son of Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, of Shrewsbury, where he was born on February 12, 1809. Dr. Darwin was a son of Erasmus Darwin, sometimes described as a poet, but more deservedly known as physician and naturalist. Charles Darwin's mother was Susannah, daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the well-known potter of Etruria, in Staffordshire.

If such speculations are permissible, we may hazard the guess that Charles Darwin inherited his sweetness of disposition from the Wedgwood side, while the character of his genius came rather from the Darwin grandfather.[2]

Robert Waring Darwin was a man of well-marked character. He had no pretensions to being a man of science, no tendency to generalise his knowledge, and though a successful physician he was guided more by intuition and everyday observation than by a deep knowledge of his subject. His chief mental characteristics were his keen powers of observation, and his knowledge of men, qualities which led him to "read the characters and even the thoughts of those whom he saw even for a short time." It is not therefore surprising that his help should have been sought, not merely in illness, but in cases of family trouble and sorrow. This was largely the case, and his wise sympathy, no less than his medical skill, obtained for him a strong influence over the lives of a large number of people. He was a man of a quick, vivid temperament, with a lively interest in even the smaller details in the lives of those with[Pg 2] whom he came in contact. He was fond of society, and entertained a good deal, and with his large practice and many friends, the life at Shrewsbury must have been a stirring and varied one—very different in this respect to the later home of his son at Down.[3]

We have a miniature of his wife, Susannah, with a remarkably sweet and happy face, bearing some resemblance to the portrait of her father painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds; a countenance expressive of the gentle and sympathetic nature which Miss Meteyard ascribes to her.