OF SCIENCE LIVING SYSTEMS 12
UNDERSTANDING DARWINISM:
MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LECTURE 2 ___________________________________________________________ 2
February 3rd, 2009 __________________________________________________________ 2
Genesis _________________________________________________________________________ 2
LECTURE 3 ___________________________________________________________ 3
February 5th, 2009 ___________________________________________________________ 3
William Paley, Na tural Theology _____________________________________________________ 3
Char les Darw in, Autob iography ______________________________________________________ 4
Janet Browne, Origin: A Biography ( Ch. 1-2) ___________________________________________ 5
LECTURE 4 ___________________________________________________________ 7
February 10th, 2009 __________________________________________________________ 7
Alfred Russel Wallace, On th e Law _______________________________________________ 7
Andrew Berry, In fin ite Trop ics _____________________________________________________ 9
LECTURE 5 __________________________________________________________ 11
February 12th, 2009 _________________________________________________________ 11
TR Malthus, Essay on Popula tion _________________________________________________ 11
Darwin and W allace, On the Tend ency of Species _____________________________________ 12
LECTURE 6 __________________________________________________________ 16
February 17th, 2009 _________________________________________________________ 16
Georges Cuvier, Memoir on the Species of Elephants __________________________________ 16
Robert Chamb ers, Vestiges (ex tract) __________________________________________________ 17
Herbert Spencer, The Development Hypo thesis _________________________________________ 18
Coyne, Wh y Evolu tion is True (Ch . 1) ________________________________________________ 19
LECTURE 7 __________________________________________________________ 20
February 19th, 2009 _________________________________________________________ 20
Char les Darw in, Orig in of Species ( Ch. 1-4) ___________________________________________ 20
Letter: Adam Sedgw ick to D arwin ___________________________________________________ 28
Janet Brown, O rig in: A Biography (Ch . 3) _____________________________________________ 29
LECTURE 8 __________________________________________________________ 31
February 24th, 2009 _________________________________________________________ 31
Char les Darw in, Galapagos ________________________________________________________ 31
Frank Sulloway, Darwin and His Finches: The Evolu tion o f a Legend _______________________ 32
Coyne, Wh y Evolu tion is True (Chs. 3-4) ______________________________________________ 33
LECTURE 9 __________________________________________________________ 36
February 26th, 2009 _________________________________________________________ 36
Letters: Asay Gray to D arwin , D arwin to Asa Gr ay ______________________________________ 36
Louis Ag assiz, Essay on Classification _______________________________________________ 36
TH Huxley, Mans Pla ce in Na ture __________________________________________________ 37
Samuel Wilberforce, r eview of O rig ins _____________________________________________ 37
Monkeyan a _____________________________________________________________________ 38
Janet Browne, Origin: A Biography ( Ch. 4) ____________________________________________ 38
LECTURE NOTES 2-9 _________________________________________________ 40
1
LECTURE 2
F e b r u a r y 3 rd, 2 0 0 9
Genesis
Name: Carolyn Puente
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Genesis Ch 1-3, 6-8;
Author: this is the Bible ;
Year Published: a really long time ago
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Genesis
In Chapters 1-3, this reading explores Gods days of creation of the universe
God creates light and darkness, land and water, grass and herbs, living creatures
after his kind, and man in his own image
Man is formed from dust, and God breathes into his nostrils the breath of life; Eve
is formed from Adams rib
God makes serpents crawl for deceiving Eve, women have painful childbirth for
eating the fruit, and man mortal because Adam listened to Eve
In Chapters 6-8, God sees the Earth as corrupt and man as wickedHe repents
for having created it
God sends a flood to destroy all of Earth, but instructs Noah to build an ark for
himself and his family, and pairs of each sort of creature
It rains for 40 days and 40 nights, only life remains in the ark
The waters finally abate. The creatures leave the ark and multiply
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
I think this text is pretty self explanatorycoming from the Bible this is the
principle reasoning behind creationism and the theological explanation of the
origin of species that dominated society and was primarily used against Darwin
and his ideas of evolution
Species were created by God at the start of the world, rather than evolving into
modified adaptations of new species under certain environmental conditions.
2
LECTURE 3
F e b r u a r y 5 th, 2 0 0 9
William Paley, Natural Theology
Name: Carolyn Puente
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Natural Theology
Author: William Paley
Year Published: 1802
A. THE TEXT
A.2. William PaleyNatural Theology
In pages 1-8, Paley compares fossils and stones to watches
The watch itself is so perfectly shaped in the right manner and order. To come
across a watch on the ground, without knowing where it came from, we would
still know that this watch had a maker
Even if we ourselves didnt know how to make it, or how anyone would make it,
we still wouldnt doubt that it had a creator
Even if sometimes the watch didnt work properly, we still wouldnt doubt its
design
Similar logic continues for the first 8 pages On the last page, the conclusion is
that whatever is done, whatever we see on earth, God could have created it
without the intervention of instruments or means; the fact that we are all so well
adapted to our environment is the evidence of creative intelligence
A.2B. What is the argument in the text?
The argument is that we are too perfectly designed and adapted to our
environment (as all creatures are) for our creation to be anything but intentional.
There is no way that beings as complex and perfectly designed as humans,
animals, plantscould have just become that way by chance and random
modifications over time
Watches are similarly complex and perfectly designedwe would never doubt
their creation by an intelligent mind
Applying this same logic to the rest of the world is an undeniable argument in
favor of a Creator
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.2. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This article is another strong voice in favor of the Creationist argument. This is
the same reasoning that many people of the time used to deny the evidence for
evolution and confirm an acceptance for a higher being.
This is again an argument against Darwin and his two main evolutionary points:
natural selection and descent with modification. Life was designed to be complex;
there was no progression from a simple state to a more intricate, adapted form.
3
When we come across stones and fossils, just because we dont know when they
were formed or by whom, we shouldnt deny that they were at some point put
together by someone else
Charles Darwin, Autobiography
Name: Carolyn Puente
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Autobiography Extract
Author: Charles Darwin
Year Published: 1887
A. THE TEXT
A.3. Charles Darwin Autobiography excerpts
After two sessions in Edinburgh Darwin realized he didnt want to be a physician
Darwins father then suggested a career as a clergyman, and as Darwin did not
doubt then the truth of the Bible he considered it; later he saw this as ludicrous
because the Church attacked him so much
this dream died when he sailed on the Beagle
Darwin saw his years at Cambridge as a waste in which he attended compulsory
lectures on the classicshis favorite pursuit of the time was collecting beetles
From September 1854 on, Darwin devoted his time to organizing notes,
observing, and experimenting on the transmutation of species
fossils and slight differences between birds suggested to him mutation or
modification
He read Malthus and received a letter from AR Wallace and these contributed to
his ideas
the Origin of Species in 1859 sold 16000 copies by 1876 in England, and Darwin
was content with the moderate success of the book
He felt Wallace made his work better received by the public and that he had been
treated honestly by his reviewers
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.3. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
There is no real argument to this as it is an autobiographical account. This more
gives us insight into the life of Charles Darwin, how he viewed the change in his
career and how he viewed the publication of the Origin of Species. Honestly, its
all up in part A, folks. Not much more analysis than that Charles Darwin makes
on his own account.
4
Janet Browne, Origin: A Biography (Ch. 1-2)
Lecture: Who Was Charles Darwin?
Date: February 5, 2009
Name: Noor Iqbal
E-mail: [e-mail] and/or [e-mail]
Reading: Darwins Origin of Species: A Biography
Author: Janet Browne
Year Published: 2006
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary
Chapter 1: Beginnings
o Charles Robert Darwin (b. April 1809 d. 1882)
o Importance of family wealth, particularly from Josiah Wedgwoodhad a
comfortable place in upper middle class society and the prospect of a
comfortable inheritancevery UNLIKE Wallace
o Elite education: Shrewsbury School Edinburgh Medical School (1825,
first introduction to science classes) Cambridge University
o Darwin and Paleys Natural Theology (1802)
Paleys clockmaker metaphor; such exquisite design demands a
maker
o Influence of Humboldts travels on Darwins desire to go on a voyage
invited to join a British surveying ship, the HMS Beagle, by his botany
professor, John Stevens Henslow was a paying guest/explorer
1831-1836: Duration of the Beagle voyage, stopped at many
different places
Dynamic between Captain FitzRoys religiosity and Darwins
theism?
These five years on the Beagle voyage were the making of him
(22)
regularly shipped his collections back to Henslow
Beagle voyage was not the culmination of Darwins theory; in fact,
it was the starting point for his views for three reasons (25)
Fossils
Geographical distribution
Animal life in the Galapagos
o Darwin was vehemently anti-slavery and this was crucial to his views
about the unity of mankind
o Influence of Charles Lyells Principles of Geologyhe was delighted by
the grand theoretical schemesand excited by Lyells rejection of
Biblical authority as a source of geological explanation. (30)
Rejectin of Cuviers theory of stages
The earth is immeasurably old
There is no God-given direction of progression
5
Gradualism
o Darwin did not develop his theory of evolution on the BeagleDarwin
stepped on to the dock at Falmouth in October 1836 a changed man but
not yet an evolutionist (34)
Chapter 2: A theory by which to work
o British society was being transformed by the Industrial Revolution when
Darwin was writingsociety was evolving
o There was widespread unease about social/political upheavals
Jena Baptiste Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin were two political
radicals capable of shaking up the status quothey believed that
organisms and plants spontaneously generated from inorganic
materials, they were not directly controlled by a divine creator (37)
Use and disuse
Inheritance of acquired characteristics
Belief in human progress over time
o 1839: Darwin married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood
o Influence of Malthusstruggle for survival
Darwin suggested that it was nature itself that did the selecting. In
short, he hit upon a way of explaining Paleys perfectly designed
adaptations without any reference to a creator Darwin acquires
his theory by which to work (45)
kept his theory a secret
o Religionconsidered himself a theist but had given up on
organized/formal religion
o Darwins chronic ill-healthperhaps a symptom of the pressure generated
by his subversive theories
o Influence of Chambers Vestiges (1844) which dramatically changed the
nature of public debate on evolutionChambers thesis was strikingly
similar to Darwins, particularly the principle of gradual, natural origins
o Darwin worked to find support for his theory for the next 15 years
Conducted experiments, bred pigeons, studied barnacles
Developed a principle of divergence to explain how natural
selection could produce branches
o 1851: Death of his daughter, AnnieAnnies death may have tipped
Darwin finally into disbelief. The doctrines of the Bible in which Emma
took comfort were hurdles that he could no jump (55)
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
Darwins Origin of Species is not a typical scientific publicationno graphs or
math, very personal writing style, no specialized language; science is becoming
developed as a discipline
Browne argues that Darwins writings challenged everything that had previously
been thought about living beings and became a crucial factor in the intellectual,
social, and religious transformations that took place in the West during the 19th
century. (2)
How accurate is the term Darwinian Revolution?
6
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Contrast between Darwin and Wallaces voyagesDarwin was a paid guest on an
official expeditions while Wallace was a one-man show who often met with
disaster
Darwin noted that extinct animals were built on broadly the same anatomical
plan as the current inhabitants of the pampas. There seemed to be a continuity of
type over long periods of time. (26)
o This seems to conflict with Wallaces theory of speciation
Some relevant themes:
o How do scientific discoveries come into being? Is there a eureka
moment?
Darwin did not have his eureka moment on the Beagle; in fact,
he didnt even notice the diversification of species on the
Galapagos Islands or suspect that geographic location/isolation
was important
o Importance of the social contextDarwins anti-slavery position; the
Beagle was traveling when Britain passed the Emancipation Act of 1832
o Scientists were not operating in a vacuumboth Wallace and Darwin
were heavily influenced by Lyell and Malthus
LECTURE 4
F e b r u a r y 1 0 th, 2 0 0 9
Alfred Russel Wallace, On the Law
Lecture: Who Was Alfred Russel Wallace?
Date: February 10, 2009
Name: Noor Iqbal
E-mail: [e-mail] and/or [e-mail]
Reading: On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species/ The
Sarawak Law Paper
Author: Alfred Russel Wallace
Year Published: 1855
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary
The paper conveys Wallaces first formal statement of his understandingof the
process of biological evolution
7
Wallace was influenced by Lyells Principles of Geology, particularly the notion
that the surface of the earth is continuously undergoing successive changeshe
thinks it is impossible to explain the present state of the earth and its organisms
without understanding this approach to geology
the present condition of the organic world is clearly derived by a natural process
of gradual extinction and creation of species
Explains the difficulties in classifying species, the species being so numerous,
and the modifications of form and structure so varied.
o The branching tree is the best mode of representing the natural
arrangement of species and their successive creation
Cites the importance of isolationuses example of the Galapagos and mountain
peaks as having very different species of flora and fauna
o The more recently an island is created (either by volcanic activity or
separation from the continent), the less likely it is to have specific
organisms peculiar to it speciation takes long periods of isolation
Wonders how/why species become extinct
o Geology provides proof that extinction occurred but doesnt necessarily
explain how or why (gradual dying out or sudden change?)
o We have no reason for believing that the number of species on the earth
at any former period was much less than at the present.
Wonders if change is directionaldo organisms progress from a lower to higher
degree of organization?
Rejects Professor Forbes assumption that scientists (at the time) had a pretty
complete knowledge of the whole series of organisms that had ever been present
on earth
Identifies rudimentary organs in some animals, like snakes and whalesif each
species had been created separately, without relation to pre-existing species, then
what explains the appearance of useless, vestigial organs and limbs?
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
In this text, Wallace is trying to explain how and why new species arise and how
they are geographically dispersednew species have been created in each on
the plan of pre-existing ones and closely allied species in rich groups [are]
found geographically near each other
Wallace says he has been thinking about a law regarding speciation for ten
yearshe presents his hypothesis based on geography and geology
o Geography
The more closely related the organisms, the more likely it is that
they will be found in the same geographical region/locality
o Geology
Species of one genusoccurring in the same geological time are
more closely allied than those separated in time
no species or genus occurs in two very distant localities without
being also found in intermediate placesno group or species has
come into existence twice
8
Every species has come into existence coincident in both space
and time with pre-existing closely allied species the Sarawak
Law
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This paper shook the long standing belief hat species were immutablethere is
no spontaneous appearance of species
Lyell urged Darwin to publish his theorywhat if he hadnt?
Some relevant themes:
o Challenges of classificationwhen do two organisms with a common
ancestor become too different to mate?
o Theories of geological changesudden or gradual?
o The importance of biogeography
o How do theories come aboutis there a Eureka moment?
How does this text evidence a particular way of thinking of Darwins
contemporaries (or predecessors)?
o Wallace bases his theory off of observations he made while on his
voyages, not necessarily from talking with Darwin or other scientists
o Wallaces thinking was not far off from Darwinshow should we assign
credit?
Andrew Berry, Infinite Tropics
Lecture: Who Was Alfred Russel Wallace?
Date: February 10, 2009
Name: Noor Iqbal
E-mail: [e-mail] and/or [e-mail]
Reading: Infinite Tropics pp. 1-26
Author: Andrew Berry
Year Published: 2002
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary
Alfred Russel Wallace (b. Jan 8, 1823 d. Nov 7, 1913)
Wallace was born into genteel povertyas a result, his education was not as
elite as Darwins, but he did enjoy reading and had access to many books
Wallace acquired surveying/map-making skills by working with his brother as a
builder starting in 1837surveying both stimulated Wallace to compensate for
the shortcomings of his education and supplied Wallace with opportunities to
nurture his nascent interest in natural history (5)
1843: Wallace spent a year in Leicester as a teacher where he met Henry Walter
Bates, an avid beetle collector and Wallaces future traveling companion Bates
inspired Wallace to become a collector
9
1846: Wallace had read works by Lyell, Humboldt, and Darwin. It was W.H.
Edwards A Voyage up the Amazon published n 1847 which made him
determined to visit the tropics as a collector
o Wallace and Bates were going as commercial collectors: their expenses
would be paid by the saleof their specimens (10-11)
1848: Wallace and Bates arrived in Brazil but soon decided to travel separately
o 1853: Wallace published an account of his travels, A Narrative of Travels
on the Amazon and Rio Negro
1852: Wallace returned to England after a harrowing journey (his ship caught on
fire, he lost most of his specimens, and he spent 10 days in an open boat before
being rescued)
1854: Wallaces second journey, this time to Southeast Asia. He remained for 8
years, traveled 14,000 miles, and collected 125,660 specimens
o made his two most important insights: natural selection and Wallaces
Linethe boundary of the biogeographic discontinuity between Asian +
Australasian fauna
o Wallaces Southeast Asian collections and publications assured him on
his return of a place in Britains scientific elite. (16) friendly wit
Huxley, Lyell, Hooker, and Spencer
1864: published a paper on natural selection in human evolution, a topic that
Darwin deliberately avoided
1869: wrote The Malay Archipelago led Wallace into the world of domestic
social issues in Britain became a socialist by 1889
1876: Geographical Distribution of Animals established the science of
zoogeography + used evolutionary factors to explain the geographical distribution
of animals
1893: elected to the Royal Society
After his return from Southeast Asia, Wallace faced financial problems due to
ailed investments and an inability to find a job 1881, finally received a Civil
Service pension
Wallaces death in 1913: For Wallace, a fervent spiritualist to the end, death was
merely a gateway to another form for existence.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
Berrys goal in this text is to highlight Alfred Russel Wallaces importance as a
scientist in the Victorian age and to shed light on his contributions to evolutionary
theory, a theory often credited solely to Charles Darwin, and wrongly so.
In his attempt to remove Wallace from Darwins shadow, Berry concerns himself
with dispelling some of the myths regarding Wallaces life, research, and ideas.
o Wallace is best known for writing the letter that pushed Darwin to publish
his Origins; however, he independently discovered natural selection and
was an important scientist in his own right. (1)
o He is considered the father of evolutionary biogeographythe study of
the geographical distribution of animals and plantsand established the
Wallace Line
10
o His interests were inter-disciplinary, ranging from biology to anthropology
to geology
o Unlike the majority of his Victorian scientific colleagues, Wallace grew
up poor and was largely an autodidact [self-taught] (1)
o Wallace was also passionate about combating social inequality
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This reading is very similar to the material presented in Andrew Berrys lecture
on Alfred Russel Wallace: Evolutions Other Man (2/10).
Some relevant themes:
o The importance of practical (hands-on) knowledgeWallaces practical
education as a surveyor inspired his interest in travel and natural history
o The social context of Victorian EnglandWallace campaigned actively
against urban inequality and other social issues; became a socialist
o The prevalence of ideas/theories of speciation and evolutionWallace
and Darwin were not working in a vacuum and were certainly not the only
ones writing about evolutionary theory
o The commercial motivation for travelWallace paid for his journeys by
selling specimens he collected
How does this text evidence a particular way of thinking of Darwins
contemporaries (or predecessors)?
o Wallace looked up to Darwin, even though they can be considered the codiscoverers of evolution by natural selection
o Chambers Vestiges was published in 1844 and incited public outrage
evolutionary theories were certainly part of the intellectual discourse of
the time
o Berry alludes to Wallaces spiritualismthe clash between religion and
science was a major factor that shaped evolutionary theory at the time
LECTURE 5
F e b r u a r y 1 2 th, 2 0 0 9
TR Malthus, Essay on Population
Name: Anna Raginskaya
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Essay on Population
Author: TR Malthus
Year Published: 1888
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary of the text
11
Malthus makes two postula
o Food is necessary to the existence of man
o Man is destined to continue reproducing, unstoppable passion of the sexes.
The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to
produce subsistence for man.
o Population increases in a geometrical ratio, while subsistence increases in
an arithmetical ratio.
The limits of subsistence provide checks on population.
In humans, these limits lead to misery and vice.
Malthus sees his argument as standing in the way of the perfectibility of society
through fancied equality or agarian regulations it simply cannot work.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to
produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a
geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight
acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in
comparison with the second."
Malthus argument if very straightforward due to limitations in resources,
populations too are limited and cannot expand indefinitely.
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Referenced by both Darwin and Wallace, Malthus theory served as a stepping
stone to Darwins idea of survival of the fittest.
Darwin called his theory an application of the doctrines of Malthus in an area
without the complicating factor of human intelligence. Darwin referred to
Malthus as "that great philosopher, and Wallace called Malthus's essay "...the
most important book I read..." and considered it "the most interesting
coincidence" that reading Malthus led both himself and Darwin, independently,
towards the idea of evolution. This is a commentary on the intellectual climate in
which Wallace and Darwin worked.
Thanks to Malthus, Darwin recognized the significance of competition between
populations of the same species, as well as the importance of competition between
species.
Darwin and Wallace, On the Tendency of Species
Name: Anna Raginskaya
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: On the Tendency of s pecies to form varieties; and on the per pe tuation of
varieties and s pecies b y means of natural selection
Author: Charles Darwin and A.R. Wallace
Year Published: 1839/1858
A. THE TEXT
12
A.1. Summary of the text
1) Introduction
a) Darwin and Wallace, independently and unknown to one another, conceived
the same theory for the appearance and perpetuation of varieties and of
specific forms on our planet.
b) Since both fairly lay claim to this theory and neither had published beforehand
(though Darwin was urged to do so), both papers are turned into the Linnaean
Society for presentation.
2) Extract from an unpublished Work on Species, consisting of a portion of a
Chapter entitled On the Variation of Organic Beings in a state of Nature; on
the Natural Means of Selection; on the Comparison of Domestic Races and true
Species. Sketched in 1839, copied in 1844. First read by Dr. Hooker, then Sir
Charles Lyell.
a) All nature is at war, in recurring periods. Darwin cites Malthus, noting the
geometrical nature of human, animal and plant reproduction versus the
constant amount of food available. Checks exist which limit the populations of
species.
b) The rapid tendency to increase (as evidenced by introductions of new species
to new and favorable countries) is checked each individual must hold its
place, either by its own struggle and capacity of acquiring nourishment or by
the struggle of its parents.
c) If the external conditions of a country alter and continue progressing,
assuming a small number of inhabitants and no entering/leaving, the original
inhabitants must cease to be as perfectly adapted to the changed conditions as
they were originally.
d) As each individual struggles for subsistence, any minute variation in structure,
habits, or instincts that would better adapt that individual to the new
conditions would have an effect on its vigor and health, making it more likely
to survive. Repeated over many generations, this functions as a mechanism of
selection.
e) Example: If a canine animal preys chiefly on rabbits on an Island populated
by Rabbits and Hares, and changes cause the number of Rabbits to decrease,
those canines with a more plastic organization (with variations making them
better apt to catch hares, such as longer limbs) would be favored, tend to live,
longer, rearing more young, who would inherit these slight peculiarities
thousands of generations functioning in this way would produce a marked
effect.
f) Besides this natural means of selection, is also sexual selection in the struggle
of males for the females (as in displays of strength or bird plumage displays).
The perfectly adapted males (the most vigorous and healthy) are better able to
attract females, and the mechanism operates by giving the less perfect males
fewer descendents.
3) Abstract of Letter from C. Darwin to Prof. Asa Gray, Boston, Sept. 5 1857.
a) Darwin is convinced that intentional and occasional selection (as by breeders
of dogs) has been the main agent for the production of domestic races.
13
Selection acts by accumulation of slight or greater variations, caused by
external conditions or natural variations in the child, not evident in the
parents. Through accumulating variations, man is able to adapt living beings
to serve the functions he wants.
b) Darwin believes that changed conditions of existence are the main cause for
variation in offspring, over millions of generations.
c) Natural selection selects exclusively for the good of each organic being.
d) As species change, the variety formed will either coexist or (more likely)
exterminate its parent form.
e) The principle of divergence plays an important part in the origin of species.
The same spot will support more life if occupied by very diverse forms.
f) Like the limbs of a tree new forms will branch out, flourishing and destroying
the less vigorous genera and families, which will become extinct.
4) Wallace, On the tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original
type. February 1858
a) Domesticated animals (those bred in domesticity), if returned to the wild,
typically start to assume the parent of wild form. This leads to a prejudiced
belief in the stability of species, as well as the belief in permanent or true
varieties which are two populations with varied forms that are considered to
be of one species. Both of these ideas are false.
b) Wallace presents his ideas on the general principle in nature which will cause
many varieties to survive the parent species, and to give rise to successive
variations departing further and further from the original type which
explains the tendency of varieties to return to the parent form in domesticated
animals placed into the wild.
c) Struggle for existence explains the excessive abundance of some species,
and rarity of others that are closely related.
i) While animals have a tendency to increase rapidly if unchecked, populations
tend to remain stagnant, dependent on the quantity of good available.
ii) The passenger pigeon few young, vulnerable to attacks. However, very large
population. Shows that in this case, the ability to procure a constant supply of
food is almost the sole condition necessary for insuring the rapid increase of
this species. Same reason why aquatic birds are so numerous.
iii) The rabbit is more abundant than the wildcat (which has no enemies) because
the rabbits supply of food is more stable than the wildcats.
iv) The weakest and least perfectly organized die in the struggle for existence,
those with best health and vigor, those most able to get subsistence survive in
this struggle. This is the chief factor in determining the abundance or scarcity
of the individuals of various species.
v) What happens on the level of species also happens on the level of individuals
within a population.
d) Varieties
i) Most variations have some definable effect on the habits or capacities of
individuals, from safety to ability to procure food.
ii) If a variation increases an organisms powers of preserving existence, it must
inevitably in time acquire a superiority in numbers.
14
(1) Scenario if after a drought only individuals with the beneficial variation
survive, while the parent species becomes extinct. Eventually, with the
superior variety alone remaining, they would increase in numbers and
occupy the place of the now extinct parent variety
(2) It represents a more perfectly developed and highly organized form, better
adapted to secure its safety, and to prolong its individual existence and
that of the race.
iii) Varieties in domesticated animals
(1) Domesticated animals only partially employ their faculties for survival.
(2) Every variation has an equal chance of continuance, and many of the
varieties they poses would disadvantage them in the wild. So, to survive,
domestic varieties when returned to the wild return to a form nearer to the
type of the original wild type, or become extinct. (Think of a Chihuahua in
the forest).
(3) Domesticated animals, according the Wallace, abnormal, irregular and
artificial.
e) Wallace disproves Lamarcks hypothesis that progressive changes in species
have been produced by the attempts of animals to increase the development of
their own organs, thus modifying their own structures and habits.
f) Instead, Wallace asserts that all changes occur as a result of variations
advantageous to the animals survival, who is then able to pass these traits on
to succeeding generations.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
This text highlights the incredible coincidence of Wallace and Darwins
simultaneously developed theories.
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This text highlights a dramatic incident in the development of the theory. Here is
a summary of the events from our class notes:
Wallace stars up a correspon den ce with Darwin, Lyell.
Darwin receives the letter, st rangely waits a m onth, but writes to Lyell,
Darwin is shocked by t he striking coin ciden ce. Wallace wrote a brilliant abstract .
Lyell was at t he height of the English scientif ic establishment , asked to publish
Wallaces paper, suggested t hat Darwin add f ootn otes. Paper read 1st July, 1858 at
the Linnean Society in London. Neither author was there.
Joint paper is in reading***
Wallaces journey t hrough Southeast Asia ultimately bound for N ew Guinea.
Not recognized by Bell, the direct or of t he society.
Wallace was excited about these event s, but Darwin immediately began writ ing
the Origin of Species.
Origin of Species Published 24 N ovem ber 1859. Wallace completely defers to
Darwin as t he sen ior author, highly praised.
15
LECTURE 6
F e b r u a r y 1 7 th, 2 0 0 9
Georges Cuvier, Memoir on the Species of Elephants
Name: Yae Na Woo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Fossil Bones, and Geological Catastrophes: Memoir on the Species of
Elephants, Both Living and Fossil
Author: Georges Cuvier
Year Published: 1796
A.1. Summary of the Text
There are considerable differences between elephants from Asia and Africa
One reason why there maybe more than one species of elephants: differences in
molar teeth (shape is different)
Elephant skulls had different shapes also
Fossils show that animals in the past are different from the current animals
There are animal species that are extinct
Petrified human bones are not found
The world that existed before the current one was destroyed by some kind of
catastrophe
A.2 What is the argument in the text?
Cuvier argues that there was some kind of natural disaster that caused extinction
of species.
Different kinds of fossils show that although the animal species may seem same,
there are different types of animals over various time period
Everyone knows that bones of enormous animals are found underground in
Siberia, Germany, France, Canada, and even Peru, and that they cannot have
belonged to any of the species that live today in those climates.
These [fossil] animals thus differ from the elephant as much as, or more than, the
dog differs from the jackal and the hyena.
All these facts, consistent among themselves, and not opposed by any report,
seem to me to prove the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some
kind of catastrophe.
B.1 How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Some historical background on Cuvier: He called himself the Napoleon of
Natural History Sciences.
Cuvier believes that there was a massive extinction due to natural catastrophe and
God creates different species to fill in the gaps over and over again. (ex. God
created the flood for the extinction)
Cuviers idea of natural extinction causes Darwin to think about emergence of
new species
16
Robert Chambers, Vestiges (extract)
Name: Yae Na Woo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
Author: Robert Chambers
Year Published: 1844
A.1. Summary of the Text
Species start in the simple form
Simple species give birth to another type of species that are in a higher or more
complex form; this process repeats
Man is involved in this process of evolution; man is the highest form of species in
this process
Every individual passes through characters of insects, fish, and reptile as humans
are developed through this evolution process
God used inferior organisms which are in the bottom of this process as means
of production of the higher organisms
Inferior organisms should not be regarded with contempt because they are part
products of Almighty Conception created by God
Everything should be regarded as part of the grand plan by God
A.2 What is the argument in the text?
The author argues that evolution happened in a series, where inferior forms of
organisms led to creation of a higher organism that has more developed
features.
Humans are part of this process in that humans are the highest end product of the
evolution.
Chambers claims that God is part of this evolution process.
All of them [inferior organisms] have had assigned to them by their Great Father
a part in the drama of the organic world, as well as ourselves
It has pleased Providence to arrange that one species should give birth to
another, until the second highest gave birth to man, who is the very highest
The simplest and most primitive type, under a law to which that of likeproduction is subordinate, gave birth to the type next above it, that this again
produced the next higher, and so on to the very highest
B.1 How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Chambers published this text 50 years before Darwin published the Origins
Vestiges was a revolutionary idea in the society; first published anonymously
(Chambers became known as Mr. Vestiges)
Idea of evolution of human species was introducedcontroversial
This text influenced Darwin and all other scientists thinking about
evolution/natural selection, etc.
17
Herbert Spencer, The Development Hypothesis
Name: Yae Na Woo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: The Development Hypothesis
Author: Herbert Spencer
Year Published: March 1852
A.1. Summary of the Text
People who reject the evolution theory forget that their own theory is not
supported by any facts.
There are ten million animal and vegetable species (both extinct and present
ones).
Two theories that exist: ten million species have been specially created (all
created at once) vs. continual modifications have produced ten millions of
varieties (change over time)
Creation of one new species is complex processhow do ten million species
appear at once?
Development Hypothesisbelieving that species develop into variations over
time based on new environment (becoming fit for the new condition)
Modification of different organisms is the rational way to think about things
Example of different shapes of curves: circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola
may be quite different in nature, but all are producible by a single process of
modification of the curves
A.2 What is the argument in the text?
The author argues for the Development Hypothesis where new species are
produced over time because of changes due to new environment.
It is more logical to believe that small number of new species has been created by
modification over time rather than all possible species appearing at once.
Is [a new species] thrown down from the clouds? Or must we hold to the notion
that it struggles up out of the ground?asking how new species are produced
Which, then, is the most rational hypothesis?that of special creations which
has neither a fact to support it nor is even definitely conceivable; or that of
modification, which is not only definitely conceivable, but is countenanced by the
habitudes of every existing organism?
B.1 How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Herbert Spencer is Darwins predecessor; background of Darwins argument
Darwins idea of divergence of species is supported by Spencers claim for
Development Hypothesis
This text shows the start of changing thoughts within the intellectual
communityno mention of God or religion directly in the text (although
Creationism is indirectly discussed by comparing people who believe in
creationism vs. development hypothesis)
18
Coyne, Why Evolution is True (Ch. 1)
Name: Yae Na Woo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Why Evolution is True Chapter 1
Author: Jerry A. Coyne
Year Published: 2009
A.1. Summary of the Text
William PaleyWatchmaker theoryif there is a watch, then there should be a
watch maker; same thought was applied to the organisms and God being the
creator
Darwinismtheory of evolution by natural selection
Six different parts of Darwinism
o Evolutionspecies undergoes genetic change over time
o Gradualismit takes several generations to see the changes
o Speciationsplitting; one species coming from another species;
speciation is the evolution of different groups that cant interbreed
o Common Ancestrywhen looking back in time, all the organisms lead to
one common ancestor
o Natural Selectionmaterialistic process that does not involve creation or
guidance by supernatural forces; animals adapt to their new condition,
which leaves only the fittest to survive
o Processes other than natural selection can cause evolutionary change
random changes in genes may cause evolution
The concept of theoryfor a scientific theory, its not just a guess; it is wellthought-out group of propositions meant to explain facts about the real world
Theory must be testable and make verifiable predictions
Ways to test the theory of evolution:
o Look at evolutionary change of organisms in the fossil record
o Find cases of speciation in the fossil record
o Find genetic variation for many traits in species
o Retrodiction: there are data that only make sense in the light of evolution.
A.2 What is the argument in the text?
Darwinism is a scientifically proven theory that is true.
The author ends by saying that evolution is true
By dividing up the Darwinism into six different parts, the author shows that
although the theory may seem complex, all the parts are combined to show that
evolution happened/is happening.
Darwin was the first to use data from nature to convince people that evolution
was true, and his idea of natural selection was truly novel.
B.1 How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
19
As a book published in 2009, this introduction argues that Darwins theory is
scientifically proven/testable, looking at all of the historical changes that have
taken over time.
The author specifically focuses on defining Darwinism with six different parts
and dissects them; shows why even at the present, Darwinism remains true.
LECTURE 7
F e b r u a r y 1 9 th, 2 0 0 9
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species (Ch. 1-4)
Name: Michelle Parilo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Origin of Species, chs. 1-2 (3-4 from Nico)
Author: C. Darwin
Year Published: 1859
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary of the text (A great summary of this text is on page 70 of Janet
Brownes Biography of Origins)
Overview of Ch 1-2: Set variations in domestic world, then in the wild.
An analogy between selection of domesticated organisms and selection in the
wild.
Natural explanations for special creation and design.
First idea was variability, but Darwin did not know how the variability arose. So
he demonstrated that variations indisputably did occur in domestic organisms.
Next point: too many offspring were born. Explanation: the living world had
deadly competition and slaughter. Then introduced idea of natural selection (he
often personified natural selection- God? Divine gardener in the sky?).
Chapter One: Causes of Variability
Causes of variability
o Male and female reproductive elements affected prior to the act of
conception.
o Remarkable effect which confinement or cultivation has on the functions
or reproductive system.
o Variation is not connected with act of generation
Little different between bud and ovule in their beginning stage
o Conditions of life (food, light, climate)
o Habit
Laws regulating variation (many unknown)
o Correlation of growth with selection, he modifies other parts of the
structure
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o Look at the inheritance of every character as the rule and non-inheritance
as the anomaly
o Get a trait later in life (and the same point the parent did) = explains
embryology
o When under nature, the conditions of life do change, variations and
reversions of character occur. But natural selection determines how far
characters will be preserved.
Natural selection
o Less uniformity of character in hereditary varieties of race in domestic
animals and plants
o Domestic races of same species differ from e/o in same manner or less
than closely-allied species in same state of nature.
o No permanent race has been formed.
o Breeds of domestic pigeon: astonishing diversity but all descend from
rock pigeon (Columbia Livia)
Some extreme differences of structure can be connected by a
nearly perfect series.
o Long continued study- impressed with differences between races
Differences accumulate during many successive generations
Naturalists know less re: laws of inheritance than the breeder
o Selection: steps by which domestic races have been produced (breeders
make the variations in domestic animals- man can make useful breeds that
he needs)
o Accumulative selection: nature gives successive variations
o Horticulturalists (plants/flowers) use methodological selection: eminent
breeders
o Large amount of change in our cultivated plants- slowly and
unconsciously so we cannot always recognize parent stocks
o Great change is not necessary to catch the fanciers eye
Chapter 2: Variation Under Nature
o Naturalists definition of species= unknown element of a distinct act of
creation
Naturalists have difficulty determining what differences to
consider specific or varieties. There is no clear demarcation.
o Protean or polymorphic = an inordinate amount of variation
o Darwin looks at individual differences- looks at varieties
o Dominant species = there is a wide range of varieties across the world, the
specie is diffused within one country, and are the most numerous.
o Principle of divergence:
Advantageous for living beings to diversify.
Competition for the same places in nature (niches) forced
animals and plants to specialize, which in turn stimulated a
multiplication of places and greater efficiency in the use of
resources.
21
o Varieties have same general characteristics as species (for they cant be
distinguished from species except by 1. Discovery of intermediary forms,
and 2. Littler difference = variety, large difference = species).
o Larger genera vary more and break into smaller groups and thus forms of
life become divided into groups subordinate to groups.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
An analogical argument is one in which you compare two things. You can
compare two pens, or you can compare domestic animals to wild ones, which is
what Darwin did. The point of comparing two things is that if
you know the two things are similar in some respects it is likely they will be
similar in other respects as well.
Okay, so Darwin compares domestic animals to wild ones. How are they similar?
Both domestic and wild animals exhibit variation. That's one thing they have
in common. Both domestic and wild animals are also subject to selection.
Domestic animals are subject to artificial selection whereas wild animals are
subject to natural selection (natural selection follows from the observation
about food supply in Malthus). So that's two ways in which they are similar.
Now, we know that domestic animals can change over time because they vary and
are subject to selection. So, the analogical reasoning is that since wild
animals also vary and are also subject to selection they should change too:
they evolve.
But, analogical arguments are not foolproof! Just because two things are
similar in some respects does not mean they are similar in all respects. So you
cannot be ABSOLUTELY SURE that just because domestic animals change as a
result of variation and selection then wild animals will too. One reason for this is
that in fact domestic animals and wild animals are not subject to precisely the
same kind of selection: one is subject to artificial selection and the other to
natural selection. To make the argument by analogy fully convincing Darwin
adduced much additional evidence in favor of claim that wild animals change,
i.e., evolve. This additional evidence was independent of his analogical
argument. This is what he does in many of the chapters of the Origin that we
did not read in class.
The main thing is to make sure you understand the basic argument by analogy
Darwin makes. It is good if you also understand why the argument is convincing
but not fully foolproof.
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Controversy: The book was written by someone who did not want to trespass or
offend. Darwin wanted to give his theory much strength and public appeal. He did
not want it to be like Vestiges.
22
There were a variety of responses to Darwins book:
o Thomas Henry Huxley: strong supporter- says Darwin dispels the
darkness.
o Darwins Professor Adam Sedgwick- professor of Geology- does not
support Darwins book.
Addendum - Summary of Chapter 3 & 4
Chapter 3 Struggle for Existence
This chap ter discusses the fact that all organisms are engaged in a constan t competition
with one another, with their habitats, and with their climates, for survival. The primary
cause for this s truggle is the fact that organisms produce at rapid rates and the world
could not po s sibly sus tain all of the organisms that were thus produced. Therefore,
some--in fact, even mos t--mus t die off.
The reason it is necessar y to discuss the "s truggle for existence" is that it is the primary
force behind natural selection, which will be discussed in later chap ters. In the case of
artificial selection, which was discussed in Chap ter 1, the intentions of humans were the
p rimary forces that caused plants and animals to accumulate certain kinds of traits and
change gradually over time into different forms in life. Obviously, in the wild, this kind of
p ur po seful selection does not exist. However, since there is a constan t s truggle to live
and reproduce in the wild, an organism which poss esses traits that help it survive and
re produce will generally be at an advantage over other organisms and those traits will be
pa s sed on, while traits that are not helpful will not be. Over time, these traits will
accumulate and large changes can occur in s pecies.
The s truggle for existence is caused primarily b y the fact that organisms re produce at very
quick, geometric rates. That is, if one organism gives birth to four offs pring, and each
offs pring gives birth to four more offs pring, in just two generations one organism has
p roduced sixteen new organisms. Over the course of time, an y organism could produce so
many offs pring that the y could not su p p or t all of them. It is similar to the doctrine of
M al thus, who believed that the human po pulation would eventually fall into a period of
s tarvation when the needs of the po pulation exceeded the amount of food that could be
p roduced. However, in the case of plants and animals, food cannot be artificially
increased, as in the case of humans, and therefore the point at which there becomes a
serious s truggle for food (and for other necessities) occurs much sooner.
While ever y s pecies naturally tries to increase its number through reproduction, what
slows down this process is different for each. In some cases, it is the des truction or
eating of seeds or eggs, which slows down reproduction. In other cases, it might be that
the organism serves as pre y for another. Ultimately , a s pecies can only grow to such a
size that can be su p p orted b y the amount of food available to it, if there is no other check
on its grow th. Thus, the number of carnivorous wolves in a fores t could only grow so
23
large before some would starve due to a lack of prey . Climate pla y s a limiting role on
s pecies as well, although in a slightly different wa y . In extreme climates, such as towards
the to p s of mountains or in the Arctic, competition tends to be less between different
organisms and more with the climate itself. Furthermore, as climates and terrains become
more hos tile, there tend to be fewer s pecies.
The checks on the grow th of po pulations of s pecies can be very complex and interwoven
with other s pecies. For example, a certain parasite lives in South America that infects and
often kills young cat tle. These parasites are likely eaten b y birds that thrive on insects.
In turn, those birds are hunted b y birds of pre y, such as hawks. Therefore, if there were
an increase in the number of birds of pre y, this would mean a decrease in the number of
birds to hunt the parasites and, in turn, an increase in the number of parasites. This
would cause a corres ponding decrease in the number of cat tle that reach maturit y.
However, as complex as relationship s can be between organisms as remote as birds of
p re y and cat tle parasites, the mos t significant checks to the growth of a s pecies generally
come from organisms that are mos t similar to it. The reason for this is that the y will
generally tend to interfere with one another in the mos t realms of life.
These reasons explain wh y foreign plants and animals introduced into new regions often
do not pros per, even if certain external conditions are the same, such as climate or terrain.
The y do not pros per simpl y because the y are not adap ted to compe te with the s pecific
organisms that inhabit the new land.
Chapter 4: Natural S e l ection
Natural selection is a process that is the result of the ideas expressed in the previous t wo
chap ters: variations that occur in the wild and the struggle for survival among all
organisms. While perhap s mos t variations that occur are not helpful for surviving, very
rarely, a variation does occur which helps an organism to survive and reproduce. Given
that many more organisms are produced than can survive, those traits which are helpful in
surviving will tend to be passed on, while those traits which are not helpful will tend to
be weeded out. If a variation is neither helpful nor unhelpful, it is not subject to natural
selection.
The process of natural selection can be illustrated b y considering a region that undergoes a
dramatic change in climate. The result of this would surely be to drastically change the
p o pulations of organisms. Some s pecies might go extinct. O ther s pecies might enter the
newly changed region from others. Additionally, as was argued previously, dramatic
changes to the circumstances of organisms increases the likelihood of variations occurring
in a given po pulation. Therefore, natural selection would act very quickly to adap t the
various s pecies bet ter to the new conditions in which the y live.
The sco pe of natural selection is much broader than domestic selection by humans. While
24
domes tic selection only targets those features which are impor tant to humans, and
generally only those which are observable by humans, natural selection ap plies to every
change in trait, whether it be internal or external. Natural selection also favors some traits
that may seem unimpor tant and trivial to observers, but, in fact, are very im portant for
the survival of the s pecies.
There is a sub-class of natural selection called sexual selection. In sexual selection, the
relevant s truggle is not among animals all struggling to sim pl y survive. Rather, the
s truggle in sexual selection is among members of one gender vying for the abilit y to
re produce with members of the other gender. The kinds of traits favored by sexual
selection include bet ter ph y sical abilit y and other adap ta tions to ph y sically fight sexual
competitors. The force of sexual selection is greater among animals in which the male
mates with multi ple females. In animals that mate with only one partner, there is
relatively less competi tion. Sexual competition does not alway s take the form of ph y sical
conflict. In birds, for example, the competition often takes the form of males at temp ting
to at tract the at tention of females by singing or by dis pla ying their feathers. In these
cases, the female, after being courted, so to s peak, b y many males, will pick the one the y
find mos t at tractive. B y this selection, the female is favoring certain traits and pas sing
them while preventing other traits from being pass ed on. Jus t as with o ther forms of
natural selection, the result is an accumulation of traits over the course of time.
Sexual selection is also the main reason for differences between the various genders of
organisms. For example, in most s pecies the comp etition mainly occurs among males
tr ying to mate with females. Therefore, those males which are bes t-equip ped to
p h y sically fighting other males will tend to have their traits pas sed on. This leads to
males tending to be ph y sically s tronger and more dangerous than their female
counter part s are. However, not all differences between the genders can be explained in
this wa y.
Natural selection also explains the se paration of the sexes in organisms to begin with.
Naturalist s generally agree that biological functions tend to be more efficient when the y
are done by different part s of an organism. For example, a plant tends to thrive more
when one part produces pollens and another part, once fertilized with pollen, produces
seeds. This is similar to the economic theor y of the division of labor, the notion that
human economies tend to be improved when individuals s pecialize in a certain trade,
rather than attem p ting to do every thing themselves. Therefore, as plants become more
s pecialized in certain functions, over the course of time, there may be such a great
dis tinction as to produce two altogether different genders.
Natural selection generally works b y accumulating ver y small, even impercep tible, traits
over the course of a very long time. While this not ion might at first be counterintuitive to
peo ple who are ske p tical that such tin y changes can add up to entirely new s pecies, it is
comparable to the theor y of geology that large valley s or mountains are the result of
25
waves eroding them over the course of thousands of years. If natural selection is
accep ted, it will undermine the belief that new s pecies are continually being created from
nothing or that great changes hap pen suddenly to s pecies.
Natural selection also explains wh y organisms tend to pair with other organisms in
re production. This principle ap plies not onl y in the case of animals that have two
genders, but also a p plies to those plants and animals that are hermaphrodites--that is,
which do not have distinct genders. While there are some excep tions, most
hermaphrodites do pair with other organisms for rep roduction regularly. It is likely
however that even those hermaphrodites which do not regularly pair with other organisms
for reproduction do pair with o thers occasionally. The reason for this is the general rule
that organisms which are distinct from one another tend to produce stronger and bet ter
offs pring. On the other hand, organisms that are the result of close inbreeding tend to be
weak and have a difficult time surviving. Therefore, natural selection will favor traits that
lead to pairing in reproduction.
Certain conditions tend to favor the action of natural selection. Larger po pulations tend
to be favored more b y natural selection, simpl y for the reason that in larger po pulation,
the likelihood of variations--and, therefore, positive variations--is increased. Larger
p o pulations will tend to ada p t more rapidly to changed circumstances and smaller
p o pulations will adap t more slowl y and be more likely to be extinct altogether.
Inter-crossing between individuals of the s pecies can also pla y a role in helping or
hindering natural selection. While having large po p ulations is useful in producing positive
traits, free inter-breeding between individuals of the s pecies can make it difficult for
p o sitive traits to be selected for, if individuals of the s pecies live in ver y different
circumstances. For example, if there is a po pulation of insects which lives in both a very
hot climate and a ver y cold climate, natural selection will work much more effectively if
the insects living in the hot climate are not able to mate with insects living in the cold
climate. The reason for this is that if a variation favorable to living in the cold occurs in an
insect it may not be favorable to living in the heat and, therefore, once it is passed to an
insect living in the hot climate, it will no longer be selected for.
Therefore, isolation pla y s an important factor in natural selection. If, in the above case,
the two po pulations of insects were isolated from each other in such a wa y, it would be
much easier for natural selection to change the two p o pulations in wa ys more suited for
their climates. Furthermore, isolation also allows s maller po pulations to change and
adap t. Isolation limits the amount of competition the s pecies will face and, therefore, the
chance of going extinct will be lessened. This reasoning may explain wh y there are so
many unique s pecies on small islands. If the same p o pulations were to exist on large
continents, the y would necessarily encounter many more s pecies, any of which might
have caused them to go extinct. However, on a relativel y small island, the competi tion is
much less intense. This also means, however, that the gradual change of s pecies on small
26
islands (or other very isolated regions) will occur more slowl y. Some biologists have
s peculated that the plants of certain islands, for example, resemble what the plants of
Europe used to be like. This phenomenon could easily be explained by the forces of
natural selection acting more slowl y on the plants of the island.
Natural selection is a very slow process and it dep ends u pon there being room for
improvement of animals in a given region. These op p or tunities for improvement can be
brought about b y ph y sical changes, such as rising or lowering of the sea level causing
regions to be connected or se parated. However, the op p or tunities will also arise simpl y
from other inhabitant s of the same region changing and causing the circumstances for all of
the other s pecies to change. This slow process accords with the findings of geology
which show that the earth has very slowl y and gradually changed over thousands of
years.
Varieties of a s pecies are, in a way, the predecessors to new s pecies. Over time, the
differences between various varieties will become so pronounced that the y will no longer
belong to the same s pecies. In domesticated animals, breeders tend to favor those animals
with extreme characteris tics. For example, a bird with a very long beak might be favored
b y one breeder and a bird with very colorful tail feathers might be favored by another.
However, a bird with an average-sized beak and plain tail feathers will generally be
favored b y no breeder. Therefore, if different individuals of a s pecies of bird were to have
one of these traits, it will generally be bred and preferred, while those birds with average
characteristics will tend to be ignored. Thus, over time, a variet y of this bird will emerge
which has a long beak and another variet y will emerge that has colorful tail feathers.
However, it is unlikely that a very average variet y, which has no extreme or interesting
characteristics, will emerge, simpl y due to the lack of atten tion from breeders.
A similar phenomenon hap pens with natural selection. Organisms survive and reproduce
b y finding s pecific niches in the sta te of nature. A bird that is very good at hunting
insects beneath the bark of trees, for example, will tend to pros per more than a bird that is
onl y moderately good at hun ting those insects and onl y moderately good at hun ting flying
insects, for in both areas it will be at a disadvantage agains t its compe tition. Therefore,
jus t as human breeders tend to favor extreme characteris tics, so too does natural selection.
Natural selection produces new s pecies over a very long, gradual period, and before a new
s pecies is produced, many intermediate varieties firs t mus t occur. As was argued
p reviousl y, there is no difference between a variety and a s pecies other than degree of
difference. As natural selection gradually accumulates certain traits, the difference
between two forms of life will increase, so long as interbreeding does not occur and the y
are isolated in some wa y. After a certain period, the organism will become a variet y.
Then, after another long period, it will become a more distinct variet y. The process will
continue until the organism is an altogether different s pecies. In fact, over a sufficientl y
large period, the process of natural selection can even create new genera of organisms.
27
Nor does the process s to p with genera. Over a sufficientl y long period, even large
divisions of life can be created, such as new families, classes, and orders.
However, the process of natural selection does not alway s produce two distinct s pecies
that live alongside one another. Given the necessary similarit y between the two s pecies
once the y are made distinct, it is likely that the newer and bet ter-adap ted s pecies will
re place the old s pecies and cause it to go extinct.
Letter: Adam Sedgwick to Darwin
Name: Michelle Parilo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Letter: Adam Sedgwick to Darwin
Author: Adam Sedgwick
Year Published: November, 1859
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary of the text
Starts by explaining how busy his life is- proves that he and Darwin have a good
personal relationship.
He goes on to critique the text. Sedgwick said he read the book with more pain
than pleasure. Sedgwick does not believe Darwin used the true method of
deductive logic. He made to man wide conclusions based on assumptions which
cannot be proved or disproved.
On natural selection: believes this is just a secondary consequence of primary
facts. He believes development is a better word.
Sedgwick believes Darwin explains naturalists correctly.
o But goes on to explain there is a moral and metaphysical part of nature, as
well as a physical.
o Some of the passages shocked Sedgwicks moral taste. He believes that
when Darwin speculates upon organic descent, he overstates the evidence
of geology, and understates when talking about the broken links of natural
pedigree.
Sedgwick dislikes the conclusion- it is a good summary- but he dislikes darwins
triumphant confidence in which he appeals to the rising generation.
He finishes the letter with more updates on his personal life. He points out that
they disagree in some points of the deepest moral interest, but they have the spirit
of brotherly love, and are true-hearted friends.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
Darwins Professor: Adam Sedgwick- professor of geology- Cambridge
University.
o Did not like Darwins work. The reasons are listed above- but the main
reason is that Sedgwick does not agree with Darwins morals.
28
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Professor Sedgwick represented one extreme side of the controversial debate. He
believed it was radical, materialist thought. The other side of the spectrum thought
it was a good theory, and some believed he just needed to bring God back in.
They were readers who fell in between these two extremes
There is no question that Darwins book led to great public discourse.
Janet Brown, Origin: A Biography (Ch. 3)
Name: Michelle Parilo
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Origin, A Biography, Chapter 3
Author: Browne
Year Published: 2006
A. THE TEXT
A.1. Summary of the text
Darwins book was born in crisis. He had received the letter from Alfred Russel
Wallace and scared at the coincidences of their theories.
Darwins friends, Lyell and Hooker, recommended that Darwin send in Wallaces
essay with Darwins comments on the theory as well. Their joint announcement
was made in the Linnean Society (leading scientific society for natural history in
Great Britain) in 1958. Little excitement from the audience.
o Wallace and Darwin were not in attendance.
Wallace came from the other side of the social scale. Did not have a private
income, and was self-educated. Wallace had a Malthusian moment and saw that
the Papuan (from Papua New Guinea) population was gradually being
exterminated by invasion of Malays. Saw the war/competition between
individuals (Darwin had this awe moment when he saw the intellectual
development of the Galapagos finches on his Beagle voyage.). Darwin realized he
needed to get down to business and write the book because he was not alone in his
discoveries. He wrote the book in 13 months- tight and compact.
Currents of change in Britain: critical thought about the Bible. Victorian thinkers
were questioning the world around them.
o Spencer and Buckle: development in society and nature.
Buckle: developed societies will always overcome the less
developed.
Spencer applied the ideas to animals, plants, politics, economics,
technology, and human society. Led to his development
hypothesis = transmutation (George Henry Lewes also thought of
this.)
Origins: Darwin regretted leaving out so much of the solid evidence that he had
struggled to collect. He called this book one long argument.
o Darwins underlying theme = gradualism.
29
o He wrote in a likeable, autobiographical style.
o Argument divided in two:
1. Set out the apparent facts of nature and led up to Darwins
presentation of the theory of natural selection in Chapter 4.
Sheer variability of organisms.
Problem: Darwin had no idea of how the variations arose
(did not know genetics)
2. Showed how the theory could explain or illuminate key
biological areas such as embryology, classification, paleontology,
and geographical distribution.
Evocative conclusion: invited readers to consider his point of view
without prejudice.
o He could not use the world evolution because that described unfolding of
hidden embryological structures. So he used descent with modification.
o Withhiscoretheorysetout,Darwincouldthentalkaboutbiological
concepts.
o Darwinincludedachapterondifficulties:hediscussedmanyofthe
problemsthatwouldimmediatelyenterareadersmind.
Lackofintermediaryformsoffossils.
OmittedGodandHumans.Andavoidedfirstoriginoflife.
o He differed from Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin: Darwin did not include
doctrine of necessary progression or inner striving for perfection. In
Darwins view, organisms shifted randomly. An insect was as wonderfully
adapted as man.
o Darwin differed from Chambers (Mr. Vestiges): in the solidity of his infogave Darwin superior standing in the scientific circles.
o Footnotes omitted- the book was undeniably Darwins masterpiece.
o Murray published it well known.
o Emma Darwin helped- did not stop him.
o Darwin was in an absorbed, slavish, overworked state.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
This is Professor Brownes explanation of why Darwin had to write the book so
quickly. Professor Browne discusses Darwins argument and tells us about the
process in which he wrote it.
This is a very helpful read for better understanding Darwins book. She is very
clear about Darwins argument.
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This text gives the background for why Darwin wrote Origins. It shares with us
his thought and writing process. It discusses his friends and family. It is good
background for better understanding his book.
30
LECTURE 8
F e b r u a r y 2 4 th, 2 0 0 9
Charles Darwin, Galapagos
Name: Andrs Castro Samayoa
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Section of Voyage of the Beagle, Galapagos Archipelago
Author: Charles Darwin
Year Published: 1839
A. THE TEXT
A.1.1. Summary of the text
These selections document Darwins notes on his encounter with the finches in
the Galagapos.
It is written retrospectively, and thus, shows that Mr. Gould (John Gould, a
British ornithologist) had claimed that there were thirteen different species;
distributed among 4 sub-genera).
More than the differences in their bill, Darwin seems to stress the differences in
their color.
Note that the selections that we have from Voyage have two different dates of
publication. The second date of publication (1845) contains the key passage on
the role of the finches in Darwins thinking of differentiation of the species: one
might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago,
one species had been taken and modified for different ends (365).
o Sulloways paper goes into detail about this change (see page 5 in
Sulloway).
Also note that the figure with the four finches and their differing bills was
included in this text (the second edition). These have gone on to become the
iconic symbol for evolutionary theory
After discussing the finches, Darwin turns to his study of the reptiles of the
islands. Darwin documents the behavior of tortoises the documents their ability
to drink water in large quantities drinking up to four days and then returning to a
particularly dry area.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
The observations presented in Voyage document Darwins experiences in the
Galapagos.
This is the primary evidence where Darwin suggest, though not with
contemporary language, that there is adaptive radiation (he makes this claim in
relation to the finches that he has caught)
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
31
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
This article is best understood when coupled with Sulloways article that
documents the importance of Darwins finches as part of the scientific canon.
These texts are important because they reveal that Darwin was unable to articulate
the full importance of the finches in his first Voyage. Thus, to regard the finches
as a pivotal point is a misrepresentation of the process of Darwins ideas.
Frank Sulloway, Darwin and His Finches: The Evolution of a Legend
Name: Andrs Castro Samayoa
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Darwin and His Finches: The Evolution of a Legend
Author: Frank J. Sulloway
Year Published: 1982
A. THE TEXT
A.1.1. Summary of the text
Sulloway revisits and contextualizes Darwins analysis of the finches in the
Galapos as one of the evidences for his theory of evolution with three guiding
questions:
o How did Darwin initially interpret the morphology and behavior of the
various species?
o To what extent did he appreciate the striking correlation between
geographic isolation and the diversity of endemic finch forms?
o What aspects of Darwins understanding of this avian group were
retrospective, that is, developed after he had left the Galapagos?
Darwins finches disparity in the form of their beaks due to four processes:
o Geographic isolation
o Speciation
o Recolonization
o Adaptive radiation
Sulloway claims that ccording to David Lack, Darwins evolutionary
understanding of the finches was largely retrospective
o He only made a single reference to the finches in his diary during the
voyage of the Beagle.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
This text attempts to demystify the role of the finches in Darwins thinking.
As we saw in lecture, rather than conceiving of Darwin as a moment of Eureka
that is, as a pivotal moment that developed quickly, Darwins thoughts on the role
of the finches with his evolutionary theory were a long process.
Furthermore, Sulloway is careful to credit other people who helped Darwin (e.g.
John Gouldthe ornithologist)
32
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
An interesting fact that Sulloway reveals here is how he presents evidence that
the disagreements between Darwin and Cpt. Robert FitzRoy were not due to the
captains religious beliefs. This is because Captain FitzRoy did not undergo the
religious conversion before he returned from the Beagless voyage.
o In this light, Sulloway cautions us from the way we perceive the history of
Darwins narrative.
Coyne, Why Evolution is True (Chs. 3-4)
Name: Andrs Castro Samayoa
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Why Evolution is True
Author: Jerry A. Coyne
Year Published: 2009
A. THE TEXT
A.1.1. Summary of the text Chapter 3: Remnants
This chapter presents a series of characteristics that further Darwins theory.
o Vestiges
Vestigial traits are a feature of a species that was an adaptation in
its ancestors, but that has either lost its usefulness completely, or,
as in the ostrich, has been co-opted for new uses
The example of the ostrich: instead of flying, wings are
now used for balance and mating rituals/intimidation.
Other examples include the human appendix.
o Atavism
Atavisms are sporadically expressed remnants of ancestral
features.
Note that a human with extra legs would not be an atavism
given that none of our ancestors had three legs.
o One theory for their existence is the expression of
dormant genes that existed before.
Atavisms can be created synthetically (e.g. Chickens can be made
to have teeth when coupled with the embryo of a rat the rat
provides the missing protein in the sequence of the chicken that
enables it to form teeth).
o Dead Genes
Pseudogene: a gene that doesnt function.
There are varying degrees of activation of genes from our
Olfactory Receptor (humans have a few hundred, but dolphins
have just a few over 80% of dolphins OR genes are
deactivated).
33
o Embryos
All vertebrates begin development in a similar way.
Embryological development seems to lead a linear development
that models the transition from one simple organism to a more
complex one. In this sense, a mammal will pass through
embryological stages comparable to a fish, then an amphibian.
Essentially, It is best for things to evolved later to be programmed
to develop later in the embryo (78)
Ernst Haeckel formulated a biogenetic law in 1866
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.
o Development replays evolutionary history.
o Bad Design
If organisms were built from scratch by a designer, there would be
no imperfections.
The flounder fish has to shift eyes to one side and deform
its skull so it can lie flat on the seabed.
Our tracheal nerve is twice as long as it needs to be
(making it prone to injuries that could make it result in
trouble swallowing or speaking.
Ultimately, there are so many things that are imperfect (e.g.
Fallopian tubes separated from the ovaries).
A.1.2 Summary of the text Chapter 4: The Geography of Life
Endemic species are those that are in a particular location and nowhere else in
the world.
Biogeography The study of the distribution of species on earth
Although Darwin noted that there were several similarities between species found
in islands and elsewhere, he also acknowledged some fundamental differences
between. However, he was unable to articulate reasons for these differences.
o Nowadays, though we are able to further his claims by explanations of
continental drift
For example, North America, south America and Africa
were once part of Gondwana (the name given to the large
mass)
molecular taxonomy.
As species diverge from their common ancestors, their
DNA sequences change in roughly a straight-line fashion
with time.
Convergent Evolution Species that live in similar habitats will experience
similar selection pressures from their environment, so they may evolve similar
adaptations or converge. Thus, they come to look alike even though they are
unrelated.
o Convergent evolution demonstrates three parts of evolutionary theory:
Common Ancestry accounts for why Australian marsupials share
some features, while placental mammals share different features
(yet they both look remarkably similar)
34
Speciation The process by which each common ancestor gives
rise to many different descendants
Natural selection Makes each species well adapted to its
environment
A closer look at land masses:
o Islands
Continental islands those islands once connected to a continent
but later separated.
Oceanic Islands One the other hand, are those that were never
connected to a continent; they arose from the seafloor.
These have unbalanced biotas which are missing major
groups of organisms and the same ones are missing on
different islands. The types of organisms that are there
often comprise many similar speciesa radiationand
they are the type of species, like birds and insects, that can
disperse most easily over large stretches of oceans.
o Therefore, its not necessary for these islands to be
from the continental mass since species will
eventually inhabit the islands.
This explains why speciation and natural selection go wild
on islands, producing adaptive radiations like that of the
Hawaiian honeycreepers which had around 400 different
closely-related species.
A.2. What is the argument in the text?
Coynes overriding argument is to provide contemporary scientific evidence that
fills the gap in Darwins theories.
o For example, he focuses on the role of continental drift to account for the
adaptive radiation of species found in different islands (such as the
Galapagos recall that the Galapagos are Oceanic islands given that they
are on a hotspot).
B. THE BROAD PERSPECTIVE
B.1. How does this article relate to the broader historical theme?
Coynes agenda is overridingly dismissive of the Creationist perspective.
Throughout the narrative he continuously dismisses the claims that may account
for an approach akin to Paleys teleological argument of the watchmaker.
An interesting comparison would be to regard Coyne as the 21st century Huxley
he is evidently an ardent defender of the evolutionary theory and attempts to
cover its ground by presenting the evidence that is most useful.
35
LECTURE 9
F e b r u a r y 2 6 th, 2 0 0 9
Letters: Asay Gray to Darwin, Darwin to Asa Gray
Reading: Letter from Asa Gray to Darwin
Author: Asa Gray
Year Published: 1860
A. The Text
-writes to Darwin about the parts of Origin that he finds the strongest and the weakest:
Strongest:
-layout of the book, sheer amount of evidence, his rational approach
-the fact that Darwin admits to the weaknesses in his argument
Weakest:
-his chapter on the formation of organs read quite Lamarckian
-he doesnt account for sterility between species that share a recent
common ancestor
B. The Broader Perspective
-Gray refers to Darwins theory as a probably hypothesis at least. This is important b/c
it shows that his close friend approached the idea with at least some caution, didnt want
to buy whole-heartedly into it at first. This was the approach of many philosophers to
Darwins theory as well (see above notes on Browne, chapter 4)
-highlights the issue that Darwin struggled with most in regards to his theory: inheritance
of traits (and the question of sterility)
Louis Agassiz, Essay on Classification
Reading: Essay on Classification
Author: Agassiz
Year Published: 1859
A. The Text
-there is great diversity of life, but all living things are united under a single plan
-And yet this logical connection, these beautiful harmonies, this infinite diversity in
unity, are represented by some as the result of forces exhibiting no trace of intelligence,
no power of thinking, no faculty of combination, no knowledge of time and space.
B. The Broader Perspective
- shows Agassizs great opposition to the idea of evolution by natural selection
-argument is based on the need for One Supreme Intelligence behind everything, since
even humans, with all their intelligence, understand so little
-Agassizs belittlement of humans is interesting, considering the emphasis that many who
opposed evolution placed on mans greatness/superiority over other creatures. Thus,
36
Agassizs opposition to evolutionary theory was based not so much on the need to
preserve humanitys special place above all other creation, but more on the need to
maintain the Creators role in the process
-he emphasizes the natural order and a law that pervades the universe for him,
everything is connected (similar to evolutionary theory) but according to a Divine plan
(different from evolutionary theory)
TH Huxley, Mans Place in Nature
Reading: Mans Place in Nature
Author: Huxley
Year Published: 1863
A. The Text
-contrary to what many people think, humans are descended from animals
-however, this knowledge does not have to make us feel insecure about either who we are
as humans or where civilization is headed in the future:
Is it, indeed, true, that the Port, or the Philosopher, or the Artist whose genius is
the glory of his age, is degraded from his high estate by the undoubted historical
probabilitythat he is the direct descendent of some naked and bestial savage whose
intelligence was just sufficient to make him a little more cunning than the Fox, and by so
much more dangerous than the Tiger? (130)
-in fact, as people learn the truth about humanitys evolutionary history, they will gain a
new appreciation and awe for humanitys achievements and the possibilities for our
future
The Broader Perspective
-provides an answer to the big anxiety behind most opposition to Darwins theory: the
anxiety that man is descended from an ape and therefore base and savage, and without a
basis for morality
Samuel Wilberforce, review of Origins
Reading: Review of Darwins Origin of Species
Author: Wilberforce
Year Published: 1860
A. The Text
-But the types of those lower forms of being [such as protozoa] must be found in the
animals which never advance beyond them not in man for whom they are but the
foundation of an after-development; whilst he too, Creations crown and perfection, thus
bears witness in his own frame to the law of order which pervades the universe
-If these transmutations were actually occurring, must there not, in some part of the
great economy of nature round us, be somewhere at least some instance to be quotes of
37
the accomplishments of the change?...yet never have the longing observations of Mr.
Darwin and the transmutationists found one such instance to establish their theory
B. The Broader Perspective
-trying to reconcile science (mention of the protozoa) and religion. Shows that the
reaction against evolutionary theory was mostly based on the need to separate humans
from the rest of the animal kingdom.
-shows one method of refutation of evolution: claiming Darwin did not have enough
evidence
Monkeyana
Reading: Monkeyana
Author: not mentioned. Featured in the journal Zoological Gardens
Year Published: May 1861
A. The Text
-poem in the journal Zoological Gardens
-about the many sides of the debate regarding evolutionary theory. Refers to:
-Darwin
-Vestiges
-Darwin
-Huxley and Owen
-Du Chaillu
(and others, but theyre not as important)
B. The Broader Perspective
-shows the popularization of the debate over evolutionary theory, particularly the way in
which the Huxley/Own debate was entertaining to a lot of outsiders
Janet Browne, Origin: A Biography (Ch. 4)
Name: Eliza Dewey
E-mail: [e-mail]
Reading: Darwins Origin of Species: A Biography chapter 4
Author: Janet Browne
Year Published: 2006
A. The Text
I. [Evolutionary theory] was one of the first genuinely public debates about science to
stretch across general society. (85)
38
II. Historical developments that helped with the spread of his theory:
-expansion of postal system (facilitated his correspondence with other
scientists he sent 500 letters/year!)
-political stability and empires expansion wide audience
-expanding publishing business, new scholarly journals
-societal appreciation of science b/c of public lectures, museums,
advancements in technology like the railroad
-the Darwin alliance: Charles Lyell, Joseph Hooker, Asa Gray and
Thomas Henry Huxley
III. Darwins posse and the interaction between the theory/religion:
Lyell: showed that humans were much older than previously
thought and popularized the idea that humans had gone through various stages of
development; although he still believed in a human soul
Hooker: a botanist, showed how Darwins theory fit into plant
kingdom
Gray: tied religion into Darwins ideas; said that God created
useful and good variations in a population which natural selection then preserved
rival with Agassiz, another Harvard professor who vehemently
opposed evolution on theological grounds
Huxley: very opposed to religion mixing with science, defended
Darwins ideas with vigor, got entrenched in a public debate (mostly with Owen)
regarding mans relation to gorillas Huxley believed there were big similarities between
humans and apes that showed a relation, Owen said humans had different brain structures
and were clearly set apart from apes. The debate in the public sphere brought in peoples
anxieties about being related to brutish ancestors, and about the source of mans
soul/morality if he was just a product of natural forces.
Darwins response: in second edition, said the process of nat sel was started by
the breath of the Creator
IV. responses from philosophy: not all accepted his ideas, but there was respect for the
possibility of his hypothesis being right
V. responses from literature: shared in Darwins questioning of humanitys origins
VI. rejections from science:
1. Darwin did not preset a satisfactory explanation for the origin of
variation, or its preservation (blending theory) Mendels findings largely ignore when
published
2. earth not old enough for evolution to have happened not
solved until radioactive theory
VII. Social Darwinism popularized by Spencer, and by economic giants like
Carnegie, Rockefeller
39
got tied in with eugenics (Galton) and imperialism used to justify
extermination of indigenous populations, and get rid of state policies that helped the poor
(the unfit, who some believed should be weeded out from society)
VIII. debate with Wallace regarding humanitys origins:
Wallace claimed natural selection only brought animals to the
cusp of humanity, after which the power of the human mind drove development.
Believed in a hierarchy of civilized over savage
Darwin printed new books: The Descent of Man and The
Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Claimed all humanity was from
animals. Sexual selection drove the emergence of the different races revealed his
belief in a hierarchy of races, and of the sexes (he claimed that in humans, the men do the
choosing brought disagreements from early suffragettes, feminists)
B. The Broader Perspective
I. The debate between Darwins theory and religion was not a black-or-white issue; there
were supporters of his theory that still included a Creator in their conception of
humanitys origins (Asa Gray, etc), and there were people who opposed his theory on
scientific (not religious) grounds.
II. The religious-based opposition to Darwins ideas centered on the question of mans
origins/place in nature/source of morality. This question was intimately associated with
questions Europe was confronting via colonial expansion, slavery, eugenics, the nature of
the state (as in, should the state take care of poor people or let them die off as part of the
course of natural selection?)
LECTURE NOT ES 2- 9
Lecture: 1
Date: 1/29/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Why evolution?
Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution Dobzhansky
Our understanding of who we are is informed by evolution. Origin of Species is a
disabuse of the notion that are humans somehow different from animals.
- Explaining biological diversity
o The evolution of species and systems
o The brain as an extraordinary achievement of evolution
o 500,000 years ago the dawn of complex life
- Explaining adaptation
o Diverging process helpful to the organism
o Lyre bird imitates the sound of other species, sexual selection on sound
o Peacocks sexual selection on vision
40
-
o Crows and nuts on pedestrian crossings
Explaining history
Explaining ourselves
o Evolutionary biology as the most important philosophy
o Human brain is a process of selection, a biological lens that evolved
o We must situate ourselves within the natural world.
Darwin
Is materialism atheism? Berry claims there are plenty of meeting points. Darwin operates
in an accessible material domain, while God operates in the Spiritual domain. They do
not overlap
Darwins ideas have shifted with changes, controversies and anxieties
Darwin has become an icon, made an obvious commitment to reason, rationality and
evidence.
Darwin did not believe in the idea of progress people just saw it in his scheme.
Huxley Mans place in nature.
o Darwins greatest defender. Aggressive writer and speaker, viewer evolution
in a sequential way skeletons evolving into each other.
o Darwinism is a worldwide phenomenon, the first worldwide scientific theory.
Major controversies inspired:
o Religious
We want to understand why they are prevalent and fierce, and why
they emerged.
The Scopes trial
Darwinism can be expressed as a completely non-theological way of
though. We dont have to reject the theological mode (like Dawkins)
Creationism was central to 18th/19th century views of the world.
Darwin contributes to a shift in these views. Replaced by scientific
view questions answered by the Bible now answered by science.
Movements had cultural impact.
Lecture: 2
Date: 2/03/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Knowing the past
o Historical
o Biological
Equating the history of evolution with the world of modern evolutionary biology. How do
we know the historical past (evidence?) How do we know the past happened? The history
is not fiction?
Ways of supporting this knowledge
1. Epistemology, how we know what we know the archaeological record. Solid
object indicate how humans describe their world.
41
2. Myths and legends about origins and goals, traditions. Narratives transmitted
orally.
3. Written things concern historians most.
4. Cultural authority we rely on professors who tell us how things are/were.
Cultural weight the reservoir of embedded knowledge.
Creation stories
The Christian story is one of many, and they all bear similarities in common such as a
time of chaos, out of which a world emerges, separation of light and dark, day and night,
plants and animals, then man. The emergence of good and evil. There is a moral sense
from the moment of origin. A succession of worlds, descent into the underworld to make
the upper world complete. The Christian story is the background setting for the
introduction of Darwins ideas.
BEING THERE: LIVING FOSSILS
WORKING BACKWARD: PHYLOGENY
TIME TRAVEL: FOSSIL RECORD
Living fossils
Taxa which have changed very little over time, e.g. horseshoe crabs
Morphologically very similar to examples alive 150 mya, a residual element of the past
still alive today.
Phylogeny
Geneological splitting a treelike reconstructing process known as phylogenetic
reconstruction. Appears early on in Darwins notebooks and the only drawing in The
Origins of Species.
Ernst Haeckels tree represents the idea as an actual tree with humans on top in a
creationist way.
Logic of Phylogenic reconstruction
1. On the basis of overall similarity (phenetics)
o Appearences
o Confuses you by instances of convergent evolution distinct things that
under evolutionary pressures end up looking the same.
2. On the basis of shared characteristic (cladistics)
o A more sophisticated approach. Pass the organism into individual traits,
identify which are more representative for providing data for phylogenetic
reconstruction.
o All descendents on a branch are a clade
o Toes bad. Blood temperature Good.
o We look for shared, derived characteristics which define groups. For
example, the tetrapod limb, amnion, and feathers all only evolved once.
3. DNA sequences
o Reveal shared-derived characteristics AAAA
o Numbers referring to total inferred DNA basepair difference between species.
Identifies sites that are different among taxa
42
o DNA characters diverge in a regular, clocklike sort of way.
o Genetic analysis of the human louse fauna reveals the timing of key events in
human evolution Pubic louse more closely related to gorilla louse than head
and body louse. Suggests that 3.3 million years ago humans lost their hair,
pubic region new territory for gorilla louse to settle. Body louse adapt to live
in clothing.
Fossils
Form in sedimentary rocks. The process of fossilization example dies, buried repeatedly
under mud, erodes, is revealed. Magma, ingenious rocks, erosion, sedimentary rocks.
Microraptor gui 13 myo four winged dinosaur.
Lecture: 2
Date: 2/03/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
Knowing the Past
Knowing the (Historical) Past
Janet- Hist of Sci
The way that we know the human historical past and the evidence we have to
support our knowledge.
Archaeology, documents, legends
Metaphysical Questions: How do we know that the past happened at all? How do
we know that we were not just dropped into the current world as we are? How do
we know history happened and we are not just imagining it?
o Technical Sense: Hystomology (how do we know what we know?)
o PHYSICAL OBJECTS: Archaeological record of the human paststretched back to Aztecs in N. America, and so much more. Solid objects
that indicate humans were thinking, describing their world.
o MYTHS AND LEGENDS about human pasts, about origins of different
societies, gods that, stories and narratives about the past. Often transmitted
orally. There is a documentary record of this.
o WRITTEN THINGS (goes with myths and legends?): Historians deal with
written things (written on bark, stone, paper, all kinds of ways). History of
Science works with paper.
o CULTURAL AUTHORITY- We rely on people, like professors, to tell us
how things were/are. This is what we call the weight of our culture. Our
culture has embedded knowledge.
Every culture seeks to know its own beginnings. There are many creation stories:
o Involve a chaotic story. A moment when light is separated from dark/light
(night/day). Moment when life is breathed into forms.
o Moral sense to these stories (Christian Story) - good and evil emerge.
Devils. Scandinavia does trolls. Things being split into 2.
o Succession of worlds (one is made, it doesnt work, and another is made).
Like the Christian story.
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The maker has to descend into the underworld and bring something
back to make the upper world complete.
Aztecs- stone (excavated in 1798)
o Wheels around it indicate the 4 previous eras (earlier worlds). Outside
circle is a calendar. The middle is a deity. The rim has serpents giving
birth to the gods (visual representation of creation).
Aztecs overrun by Spanish Conquistadores: Page from Kodex Masoda (done in
16th)
o We can look at written materials (like this one).
o The invading forces made a record of what they found- so we have a
written record of the Aztecs.
Quilt- made by black slave in Georgia in 1837
o Each square documents part of her life, and her history in Africa
o it doesnt have to be written
Egyptian Gods- Papyrus
o Shows the sun god (Raw) lifting the 7 Gods out of the water in the boat
ready to take over the world
o Raw creates the sky and the earth
o Cycle of the sun moving from the underworld into day time and back
down at night. Raw governs it.
o Many Egyptian stories, but Raw is the most famous
Buddha
o Representation of god and gods works
o Another visual representation of creationism
Sharma walks into the underworld along a trail, then he gathers the info he needs
to make the world perfect.
Koran the word of God. Written on a tablet by Mohamed (revealed to him by
arch angel Gabriel)
o Bits of creation story not one full story
o Duties to god who created them, and duties to fellow man.
o God created the heaven and earth in 6 days, created man from dust.
Hindu
o Brahma is the creator. Here is represented at the top. The worlds that have
emerged, faded away, and re-emerged.
o Supported by 8 elephants
o Center= alligator (in charge of sun and moon)
o Top left is brahma (directed the story)
Aboriginal cultures
o Australia, Tazmania: their creator story was never written- it is now lost
because the aboriginal culture
Visual representation of the 7 days of Genesis.
o Top right: chaos.
o Top left: day/night
o Bottom left: God creates plants
o Bottom Right: he cleans the waters
Reading is from the Christianization of the Old Testament story (Genesis).
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o Makes such a setting for Darwin to bring forward evolutionary views.
o Darwins views dont match the Christian story.
o God made the world
SLIDE: Rembrandt
Created Adam, then he gave him a wife (Eve).
Gave them a garden (SLIDE picture).
The garden was paradise. Adam could name the animals in the
garden. God gave the world to Adam (aka he gave the world to us).
Adam and Eve sin. Eve eats the apple from the tree of knowledge.
Given to them by the serpeant.
God punishes them by expelling them from the Garden.
God pushes the world by sending a flood (he kills the people)
Saves Noah, his wife, his 3 sons (and their wives)
And 2 of each animal
Punishment and amazing global event
Another world emerges: fresh, pure and different.
Morality of the story: the new world is made out of it.
o Consistent themes in these creation stories. The Christian story makes us
more relativistic about the story. The Christian story is just one story.
Professor Berry- Knowing the (Biological) Past (through using organisms, etc.):
Evolutionary History
Outline:
1. Being There: Living Fossils
2. Working Backward: Phylogeny
3. Time Travel: Fossil Record
Evolutionary biologist- 3.5 billion years of life
What we see today is the product of evolutionary nature.
How can we recover that past?
1, Being there: Living Fossils
Modern horseshow crab (NJ, USA) Every spring- 1000s emerge from the sea.
Swarm around the wet sand. First to leave the sea and venture onto land. One of
the greatest natural spectacles.
You can study the past by looking at what we have today
2, Working Backward: Phylogeny
Phylogenetic Reconstruction: taking the twigs, trunk of the tree, etc.
o Who thought of this?
o First phylogeny: stick figure, iconic, scratchy image: Darwin was the first
to come up with this!
o Only picture in Origin: early genetic tree.
o Logic of phylogenetic reconstruction:
Scientific creation myth by Ernst Haeckel: Menschen at the top
(men), even through a branch like tree
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The logic of phylogenetic reconstruction: how to make a tree? (the lecture notes
work up to the best approach)
o On the basis of overall similarity (phonetics) just look at it!!!
o SLIDE: Evolution: butterfly, moth, wasp
Moths and Butterfly have a recent common ancestor, and their
common ancestor with wasp is further back
Premise: overall similarity
o Another: (cant just look at it- phonetics- need to use convergent evolution:
Lobster, Barnacle (smaller than limpets, cut your feet and get
infected by them), Limpet (look like Chinese peasant hats)
But using
o Which two have a common ancestor?
Cant just look at the similarities
Distinct, different, genealogical independent things- end up
looking the same
Both need hard shell (came about it independently)
Convergent Evolution will beat a simple phonetic approach (just
looking)
More sophisticated approach (look at individual characteristics, traits
(cladistics)
o On the bases of particular shared characteristics (cladistics)
Evolution- ancestor of mammals and reptiles is further back (360
million years ago). Then amphibian to reptile.
Based on trait: No of toes (unite lizard and human, then horse is on
the outside)
Ancestral characteristics: toe number
Based on characteristic: Blood Temp (horse and human together,
then lizard)
Were no longer using ancestral characteristic
Ancestral state is cold blooded, but then a derived
characteristic for the horse and human (warm)
Derived characteristics- unite groups based on this
SLIDE: each characters evolved only once. Shared derived
characters define groupings.
o DNA Sequence: Our Family Tree
Applying the shared-derived logic to DNA
Strings of A, T, C, G
Showing sites that are different- you can apply the same logic that
we used before. This is an innovation- AAAAA shared by all the
great apes
Shared derived DNA character that defines the great apes
GG: derived, innovation, new: define a subgroup of the
great apes (humans and chimps)
Computer spits out phylogeny: hierarchical marched back
into time (numbers referred the total of inferred DNA
basepair differences along a branch of the tree)
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o Gradually two groups will diverge: Mutation will arrive in one group and
not the other.
o Lousy History:
Genetic analysis of the rich human louse fauna permits estimates
of the timing of key events in human evolution
Head louse, body louse (lives in your clothes), pubic louse
o Completely separate species.
We can look at the phylogeny of our louse find that body
and head louse are similar. Distantly related to pubic louse
(more closely related to the guerilla louse)- suggests there
was a transfer pre-history from the guerillas to the human
drawing.
We can make inferences about phylogeny:
Guerilla couldnt get on the human body (covered in hair,
so couldnt invade the head louse). 3.3 million years ago
they are able to get on the body. This may be a marker
when humans lost their body hair. Body louse live in
clothing- so it may be coincident with start of clothing.
Phylogentic info about louse, tells about human history
(when we lost our body hair and when we first started
wearing clothes).
Thats it on phylogenetic historynow onto Fossils
3, Fossils (101 Geology)
Fossils form in sedimentary rocks
Rocks erode (from volcanos?) into particular matter and form sedimentary rocks.
Primer of -- ? Process of Fossilization:
o 1. Dead thing
o 2. Buried repeatedly under mud (squashed)- so most fossils are 2D
All the soft parts are missing (mainly bone)
o 3. Rock
o 4. 2nd phase of erosion
o End: mineralized things
How can you take squashed thing into biologically data?
Discovery in China: Microraptor gui
o Wings on its hind legs from 130 years ago
o Movie: American Museum of Natural History Museum- bone by bone
reconstruction
o Model builders take the info from the science team
o Movie at MIT: squashed flat thing to creating posture by forming it to fly
in a wind tunnel. Brings legs forward to pitch up and land on a tree.
Lecture: 3
Date: 2/05/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
47
Darwin as a person and thinker.
Importance of the Beagle voyage.
Overview of 19th Century Britain progress. Big changes. Britain was a leader in
bringing forth an industrial world. First rail, notion of cultures coming into contact with
each other, notion of travel and exchange. Consumer goods and industries developed.
Queen Victoria became enthroned in 1836, Victorian Times, Albert and Victoria model
couple for rising middle classes. Held precursor to the worlds fair in the Crystal
Palace, marks the high point to the Victorian era, highlights the Victorian sense of
achievement. Scientist coined as a term for a certain kind of thinker.
Michael Faraday physicist. To practice science you needed to have enough income to
sustain your own laboratory.
High brow academic and literary journals are being produced. Scientific clubs and
societies.
An age of exploration Alexander von Humboldt in the Cordilleras, 1803. Voyages and
expeditions with colonial overtones. Humbolts plant zones, 1805. Names species found
on the mountain of Chimborazo.
Charles Darwin b. February 12 1809
Came from a relatively prosperous background. Never really had to take a job.
Went to Christ College, Cambridge, thought he would become a member of the Anglican
church. Not many science classes offered to him, had some training in botany and
geology.
He collected beetles Darwin and his hobby go it Charlie!
Joined together as amateur entomologists, became extremely knowledgeable in how to
collect, catalogue, name. Became proficient enough that the university noticed. Identified
as someone who was clever.
Darwin converts Gods design (as explained by William Paley) into natural
adaptations.
Paley agrues that the world around is is all exquisitely suited to their purpose. All does
what it is meant to do. Paleys natural theology is that everything in the natural world is
an example of great design this design logic requires the existence of a designer. He
likening his process to a watch.
Darwins great achievement was to rethink this proposal. Suggests that the great
adaptation is made itself comes into being through natural selection.
Shift from adaptation as evidence of design/designer adaptation as evidence of natural
selection.
The Beagle Voyage transforms him. The voyage had many purposes, the captain wanted
to take a gentleman scientist with him. Darwin learnt how to record things so that they
could be systematically analyzed at a later date.
Three main themes of the voyage
o Geology the earth is changing slowly and in small steps. Small changes can gather
momentum and turn an animal into something else.
o Animal distribution species replace each other across a landscape.
(Northern/Southern forms of ostrich)
o Fossils extinct forms of life were built on the same plan as living animals of the
same area.
SEE NOTEBOOK FOR THE REST OF THESE NOTES
48
Lecture: 3
Date: 2/05/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
Introduction to the 19th century to Darwin as a thinker and a person
Begel voyage transformed his life.
Early 19th Britain in the European and global context
o People felt they were living through change- everything is changing
(slower than today)- helps us to understand some of the metaphors that
Darwin would use
o Overview of 19th Britain
o Great review of taxing policies in Britain
o Britain led industrialization roads, canals built to transport the goods the
new consumers wanted
o Beginnings of mechanical technologies
Inventing steam power: George Stephensons Puffing Billy, first
railway line in UK, 1825
Heralded as an enormous sign of progress. 6mph (just faster than a
man can run.
Picture shows class division in carriages
There was a sense of movement
o Kings Cross station, London, 1860
Britain was criss-crossed with railroads
Contact, communication, transport stations
Victorian engineering = great engineering
o Steam presses for printing industry- helped printing presses
More instant news, bigger newspaper = indivs were up to date
o Factories and mills- developing the consumer goods
Industries of the era
Generating wealth
Generating a need for larger towns
Urban poor created
Concentration of the people in the cities
o The Great Exhibition, 1851 in the Crystal Palace in London
o Victorianism = 1840s onward (Victorias reign)
She married her cousin, Prince Albert
Model couple for the rising middle classes- painted and
photographed in domestic settings, had many children
Albert promoted arts, culture, new designs
Held great expedition of achievement of every great
countrys achievement in Hyde Park- looked like
greenhouse (named Crystal Palace)- arranged displays from
every nation that wished to come
Precursor to Worlds Fair
49
This palace/exhibition marks high point of Victorian
period- showcases the Victorian sense of achievement and
advance
Science became widely distributed
University lectures
Natural philosophy science (new word)
Scientists was how you describe a person
New ways of thinking about the world
Science was not separated from life- there were
gentlemens clubs and societies
Private laboratorieso Michael faraday- chemist, electrician, physicist
o Needed an income to finance your own lab
Political and literary reviews
o Slide: prospectus for the Westminster review, 1857
o Discuss political, social, cultural, scientific news of
the day
Local scientific clubs and societies
o Experiments, labs
o Men and women were interested together
Museums and curiosities
o Brought the biological world to the people
o Animals- large ones in front of the smaller ones
o Armor on the walls
Public lectures in the new mechanics institutes and halls of
science
o Opportunities for lectures to travel- road show
o People paid per ticket, and lecturers got all the
money
o Full of fantastical modern effects
o Lots of ways of getting to know science
Great geographical exploration
Alexander von Humboldt in the Cordilleras, 1803
o German naturalist
o King of Portugal let him travel through Brazil,
Andes, Venezuela
o The westerner with his instrument and an
indigenous person helping him- colonial hint
Voyages to gather knowledge- some political concerns
Majority: increase of knowledge was significant
Knowledge was power
Natural history helped governments feel they were in
control
What does Humboldt do with the information? Tabulate it,
put it into a system
o Slide: Humboldts plant zones, 1805 Chimborazo
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o Scale has changed to fit the mountain on a chart
o All necessary information down the sides
o Processing was a big endeavor
o Had to bring it back to a big center
Charles Darwin, Born 12 February 1809
Came from a prosperous background
o Father was a doctor- invested his wealth
Darwin was a trust fund baby- he never had to take a job
Darwin went to local public school, boarder
o Family home in Shrewsbury
Father sent him to Edinburgh to be a doctor like his older brother
He didnt take to medicine
He learned a lot of natural history in his classes- meant to educate
doctors in botany of pharmaceutically active class
Independent natural history work- joined a small society- met
naturalists who talked to him about evolutionary theory
He naturalized in and around the beaches/sea shores
Can see this training coming out of his work
Christs College Cambridge
o Wasnt going to be a doctor- so his father wanted him to be sure he had a
college education
o Ordinary degree- then carry on to become an Anglican Vicker - ironic
o No science classes, except one botany class
o Attended the geology class on a freelance basis
o Mostly: collected beetles- GO IT CHARLIE!
o Became knowledgeable about how to collect
How to name them, collect them, and they became noticedespecially by botany professor- John Henslow- as a man with a
brain. Darwin thought to go far if he had discipline
o Read Alexander von Humboldt in the Orinoco very influential
o Darwin converts Gods design (as explained by William Paley) into
entirely natural applications
System of thinking about the natural world
He likens this process to a watch- watchmaker imagery all its
parts were manufactured- it all works- logically requires someone
to make it
Achievements of the origins of species- perfect application of it
being designed **Darwin turns it around-- There is no designer- its come
into being by natural selection
Beagle Voyage- transforms him
o 2 years 5 years
o Intention: survey coast of South America (Rio de Jenero, Argentina,
southern coast of Chile). Looking for safe harbors, minerals, est friendly
relations with the military, sort out trading issues with Chile
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o Captain Robert Fitzroy- wanted to resettle 3 indigenous inhabitants of
Tierra del Fuego
o Wanted to take a gentleman scientist with him
o Slide: Darwins list of his fathers objections to the voyage
Young man just graduated from Cambridge, on a field trip with
Botany professor Henslow- received an invite- and sent it on to
Darwin
a wild scheme, disreputable to his credibility as a clergyman
will never settle down after uncomfortable dangerous
useless undertaking
Uncle Josiah Wedgewood- son of the great Wedgewood
manufacturer who had transformed consumer taste (blue and white
china)
Convinced the father to let Darwin go
o Darwins father had to pay- he went as a private individual on an admiral
ship
o Darwins Beagle Notebooks
Learned how to record things so that they could be systematically
analyzed at a later date
One small selection of his- he brought back many collected objects
(minerals, etc)
Habitat descriptions, dissections he did on board, their
color
o 3 main themes of the voyage:
1. Geology- the earth is changing slowly and in small steps
Modern thought
Key underlying methodology of the Origin of Species
2. Animal distribution- species replace each other across a
landscape
Noticed this particularly in South America
Northern and southern form of the ostrich (he was seeking
the southern form)
3. Fossils- extinct forms of life were built on the same plan as the
living animals of the same area
o Lyells Principles of Geology
Learned all his geology from this book
Much of lyells thesis: great blocks of the earth/s crust was
elevating out of the sea
Slide: Darwins own coloring indicating geological regions of
South America
o Slide: Catching a Rhea
Illustrative gaucho- Darwin spent a great amount of time going
around to collect things
Shot animals and cooked them
o Missing= humans! On expedition until
o Met Fuegians
52
They were almost like another species of mankind
Contributed to unsettling his views of the natural world
The way humans can slip in and out of the natural world
They could move back and forth on the scale of civilizationhumans were very flexible- he thought more coherently about the
origins, and different races of human beings
o Galapagos
Iguanas, mocking bird (tame), pork (tame)
Put the birds in a bag from one island
He visited 5 islands
Then he realized on his way home that they are diff on each island
Finches identified by John Gould in March 1837
***Diversification from a single finch ancestry
Diary entry 1837 from about month of previous March
(month Gould ID finch)
o Full of info about the specimens he brought home- distributed them to
experts in London
Helped them name him and publish them
o Attempted to write an account a travel journal
He read Thomas Robert Malthus Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
o Got the idea of differential survival
o Population always increasing
o Food is limited
o The weakest will die first
Darwin was not the only one- other evolutionists (called it development (English),
transmutation (french), metamorphosis (german):
o Herbert Spencer, Robert Chambers, Alfred Russel Wallace
o How do species originate? What are the connections between them? Why
is there a hierarchical setup of nature?
He didnt publish his writings for a while
o Discipline of his ideas
o Once he had the idea, materials from the Beagle voyage, how he could
transform the work of William Paley (on design)
o Emphasize: this time after he came upon his theory, after: spent in an
extraordinary program of research- he didnt need a job.
o Moved to Down House and garden (in the countryside)
o Married a rich cousin, and $$ from father
o So he is able to provide detailed, cumulated support for his findings
o Staff in his home
o Income from the books he published from beagle voyage
o Loves pigeons
o Spent 8 years on barnacles- group of organisms interesting- adapted
brought one home from Beagle voyage- it was a parasite- he researched
this- it was so abhorrent- he had to look wider to find its ancestors- so he
would redo the whole barnacle classification in order to fit his one
barnacle in the scheme
53
Gives him the street credentials of being a naturalist
He received a gold medal from the Academy- made him a first rate
naturalist
o Origins has great supporting material- one of the great triumphs of the
book
It didnt just itemize the theory
It needed to be presented this way to get a judgmental audience
Her research:
o One of his major research tools-rapid letter correspondence
o Conducted most of his scientific interaction this way
o Goes global- he writes to people all over the world- even writing to Alfred
Wallace (alternative to Darwin)
o Slide: Darwins study- his center
Lived in a cabin on the Beagle for 5 years- direct connection to the
natural world, then correspond with friends and colleagues
Takes this way of life with him when he returns
Metaphorically still on a ship in Downs House
Lecture: 4
Date: 2/10/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Who was Alfred Wallace?
Evolutions other man. The much neglected co-discoverer of evolution by natural
selection. Arguably the leading tropical biologist of his day, and the founder of studies of
biogeography.
Early Life
Birdwing butterflies spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia.
Born in a family of 9 children in a place where living was as cheap as possible Usk,
Gwent, S. Wales. Had a very limited education. Wallaces older brother gets into
surveying for the new railway. Employed to travel across the country and work out these
routes Wallace acquired surveying skills from him brother.
Has a nascent curiosity about the natural world conversation about monotropa, the
parastic plant provokes his interest in the natural world. As he goes around the country
side, seriously interested in plants.
Early Victorian move to embrace progress. In Leicester, meets Henry Walter Bates, an
amateur biologist. Like Darwin, fascinated by beetles.
Beetles
Almost infinite number of its specific forms, surface-markers that distinguish them from
each other, innumerable adaptations to diverse environments.
Why us? (Darwin and Wallace) Wallace attributes this to their mutual love for beetles.
Beetles are very diverse. Bates, at 19, has a scientific publication to his name.
Bates transforms Wallace. Wallace publishes The Zoologist. Beetles are massively
overrepresented in the natural world 350,000 species have been described, out of 1.7
million of all described species. 4000 species of beetle in the UK alone.
Darwins proudest moment as a young man captured by C. Darwin, Esq.
54
Darwin makes the point that we are all accustomed to variation within a species (colors
of roses), but what about variations in the gradient? Is it a new species?
The Power o The Vestiges
By Robert Chambers. Immensely influential.
A complete world view overturn men and women are merely beasts.
Chambers system is linear and does not make sense. However, the impact on Wallace and
Bates was the realization that their understanding was limited in the UK needed to go
somewhere where nature was abundant and diverse. Agree to send samples back to the
UK. Decide to go to the Amazon.
Spent most of his time up the Rio Negro, Wallace is the modern equivalent of the
backpacker, without assistance and subsistence. Would hire locals and hunters for help.
Fire on ship on the way back. Vows never to travel but ends up going to South East
Asia.
One of the great scientific odysseys 125.000 specimens, 1,000 new species, 14,000
miles in 8 years.
Lives with the locals. Became the world expert on orangutangs. Also sees a huge range of
habitats. Main goal was New Guinea, fantastic birds of Paradise. The mechanics of going
about making these collections forced him to confront geography and species
differentiation.
Wallaces first great insight half way through goes between two Islands off the
Sumatra-Java axis. Struck by the extent to which (primarily birds) are different. Bizarre
discontinuity between the two Islands. Bali and Lomback. Wallaces Line a
biogeographic discontinuity, a boundary between flora and fauna. Break between
Australiasian biological world and the Asian biological world. Two plates converge on
each other here, and this is the break between them. These two sections used to be very
far apart. Beginning to synthesize.
Beginning of his Eureka moment
Sarawak paper Sarawak Law 1855 Every species has come into existence
coincident both in space and time with a pre-existing closely allied species.
The mechanism is entrained to produce adaptation, and a fit into that environment. You
expect close relatives in the same space. The fossil record similar species in continuous
strata, close to each other in time. Wallace ingeniousness a dangerous, scientific
breakthrough. Nobody really notices, except for Charles Darwin, Lyell is concerned,
Wallace is frustrated initiates a correspondence with Darwin.
Lyell advices Darwin to write down his theory, did about half the work, but my plans
were overthrown.
Lecture: 5
Date: 2/12/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Darwins 200s Birthday!
Sarawak Law paper by Wallace caught the attention of Darwin.
Darwin was extremely engaged in putting down his theory of natural selection.
Darwin encouraged by Lyell to publish his findings, got through half, comes down with
malaria.
55
Malthus referred to by both Wallace and Darwin.
Wallace stars up a correspondence with Darwin, Lyell.
Darwin receives the letter, strangely waits a month, but writes to Lyell,
Darwin is shocked by the striking coincidence. Wallace wrote a brilliant abstract.
Lyell was at the height of the English scientific establishment, asked to publish Wallaces
paper, suggested that Darwin add footnotes. Paper read 1st July, 1858 at the Linnean
Society in London. Neither author was there.
Joint paper is in reading***
Wallaces journey through Southeast Asia ultimately bound for New Guinea.
Not recognized by Bell, the director of the society.
Wallace was excited about these events, but Darwin immediately began writing the origin
of species.
Origin of Species Published 24 November 1859. Wallace completely defers to Darwin as
the senior author, highly praised.
Storm of controversy great deal of discussion unleashed re: absence of human beings
from Origin, occasional allusions to the creator but virtual absence of gods place In our
world.
Public reacts, understanding that the powerful statement must involve humans
subverting the traditional Christian view of human origins.
Darwin had no need to actively push his work ahead. Lived in financial stability,
Darwins self estimation was that he was a gentleman of property and a man of
substance.
Wrote the Descent of Man didnt have much fossil record, but discusses moral,
cognitive and emotional elements of human beings, connecting us absolutely with the
animal realm.
Man is but a worm
While Darwin is a very wealthy man, Wallace comes back from Southeast Asia wealthy,
lost all of his money almost overnight. Main source of income is grading papers.
Darwin hears of his plight, petitions the government for an official government patron.
Lapsed bigtime in terms of his personal beliefs. Upon return from Indonesia, spiritualism
in fashion in England.
Wallace becomes a spiritualist, ends up disavowing natural selection as the driving force
of evolution for humans. Wallace knew savages, had a 20th c. perspective on human races
that savage people are just as good as he is.
Sophisticated argument against Darwin however wrong the brain is a naturally
selected organ, deployed in very different ways.
Becomes a socialist, lots of view shaped by living with the tribal people.
Doesnt build on the foundation like Darwin. Erodes his own legacy.
Titles his own book Darwinism.
Darwin on the other hand gained great fame, one of the first celebrities.
Cult of Darwin by the 1880s. Died, 1882.
Quite a lot of evidence that Darwin had an ambiguous relationship with the Church.
The legend of Darwins deathbed conversion? False.
How do we reevaluate our position in an entirely natural world?
56
Moved from the Churchyard at Downe to Westminster Abbey. An acceptance of the role
of science in 19th century popular life.
Lecture: 5
Date: 2/12/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
Last time- talking about Alfre Russel Wallace: Evolutions Other Man
Eureka:
o Interested
o The Sarawak Law (1855)
Every species has come into existence coincidently
Darwin writing for a long time about his theory about natural selection.
o Maybe species were not fixed
o Only the fittest survive natural selection
1855: he has half the theory: he has evolution
o then Feb 1858: he has a feverish fit: gets malaria
o Ternate (town):
I was suffering from a sharp attack of intermittent fever, and every day during the
cold and succeeding hot fits had to lie down for several hours, during which time I
had nothing to do but to think over any subjects then particularly interesting to
me. One day something brought to my recollectuion Malthuss Principles of
Population, which I had read about twelve years before. I thought of his clear
exposition of the positive checks to increase disease, accidents, war, and
famine, o Wallaces manuscript (drop in the ocean)- so he sends it to Darwin
because he is well connected. Wallace also sent a letter to Bates brother
o The letters traveled together- but Bates brother gets it a month earlier
Darwin says he got in on 18 June 1858: did he plagiarize for a
month?
Darwin was shocked, anxious, depressed- Wallace could not have
written a better short abstractso all my originality, will be
smashed (letter to Lyle)
o Joseph Hooker and Lyle help Wallaces paper and Darwins remarks in a
scientific journal in 1858- Linnean Society of London.
o Paper was read my Lyle and Hooker- it had very little response from the
audience- but it is the very first statement. Wallace didnt know about it
because the post was slow. (We are reading this- Wallaces is beautiful).
o Darwin was home with a sick child when the paper was being read.
o Wallace was upset because he was in New Guinea- (the goal of his
Southeast Asia trip)- and saw that Darwins name came first on the article.
One of the guys he has been working with, passes away
o Thomas Bell (President of the Linnean Society): DID not recognize the
importance of evolution when it was first announced
o Wallace after 8 years- has made it! He sent a letter to his mom.
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o Darwin had a different response. He immediately wrote Origins of
Species- he didnt want to let another moment pass (he was also upset
with the Linnean society response)
Worked so feverishly- got ill
Origins: Published 24 November 1859
Wallace LOVED Darwins Origin: Mr. Darwin has given the
world a new science, and his name should, in my opinion, stand
above that of every philosopher of ancient or modern times. The
force of admiration can go no futher!
o After the Origin: stepped back from talking about 1. God and 2. Human
ancestry
The public wanted to talk about it! If we accept any of these views
he says in the natural world- it must apply to humans!
Cartoon: Darwin shown as force of enlightenment- crash on
Catholic Church
How did Darwin react? The controversies?
He did not enjoy it! He didnt go out fighting for his
theory- but encouraged his friends and relatives to do so.
His career did not rest on this book.
o One of his most interesting works: The Descent of Man
Moral, cognitive, emotional elements of human beings- connects
us with the animal realm.
Published everything he left out of Origins in this
Post Origin Career
o Darwin consolidated- the worm thing- talks about how day by day
changes are indiscernible- but over time and you create something new!
Wealthy, conservative, successful investor
o Wallace:
Came back from South America a rich man- all of his species
made it back in tact
Stevens- agent in London
Wallace disavowed natural selection from human evolution
o Part of the reason: spiritualism and travel experiences
Travel: The more I see of uncivilized people, the better I think of
human nature on the whole, and the essential differences between
civilized and savage man seem to disappear.
o Darwin upset with Wallace
1862: after 8 years in indonesia:
o Wrote in 1863: expression of a conservation effort- if the
o Wrote bad times
o Eroding his own legacy by going too broad
o Pathologically modest, wrote My Life (biography)- instead of saying he
was right, he wrote that he had certain marked deficiencies in my mental
equipment
o Entitled his book on evolution Darwinism
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o Died a well known man, his stardom fell rapidly
Darwin stopped attending the church of England.
o He wrote different things about his belief to different people
o Still had a sense of the divine right, but no religious structure
o His writing also showed him to be a materialist
o Maybe like many people- he simply didnt know. He yearned for
evidence.
o Book: Legend of Darwins Death Bed Conversion
Many Americans wanted to believe this.
Darwins wife died several decades after him (buried at church with
much of Darwins fam)
Darwin had a tremendous network of friends- the news of his death
was very rapidly
o Big funeral takes place april 1882
Science was being portrayed as the cutting edge of intellectuality
in Britain
He was being honored by being buried in Westminster Abby
Lecture: 6
Date: 2/17/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Origin of Species and its relation to theology as an explanation for natural phenomena.
Gradual changes through 19th and 20th century shift in which theological answers give
way to scientific answers.
Jardin du Roi Paris. The French Enlightenment and Revolution. The Enlightenment
brings changes in thinking about human nature and politics.
Introduced the idea of change over time both for humans and society. Human history
understood to have extended further back into the past, as that of flora and fauna. Role of
God criticized. Secularization. Deists did not support religious church structure.
Jean Baptiste Lamarck career began before the Revolution. Interested in plants,
invertebrates, proposes spontaneous generation from decomposing molecules in the earth
some sort of cycle.
Bastille is stormed 14 July 1789. Insurrection of the proletariat Rights of Man declared,
administrative and institutional structures abolished, except for the Jardin de Plants
centerpiece of institutional framework of new republic of France. Seen as a useful
enterprise.
Lamarck penned a theory of transformation very metaphysical. Used the giraffe to
describe inheritance of acquired characteristics, thought organisms can will themselves to
develop a part needed to do something. Believed in a very direct adaptation of the
organism to the environment. Interior force pushing the organism into adaptive force.
Reclassifies the whole of the animal world, including humans, as an example of the
transformative process.
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Lamarcks Table of Connections of Animals 1809 shows the origins of various
animals, based on interrelatedness. Seen as an eccentric and difficult scheme views
hardly taken up in his own time.
The English Lamarck, Erasmus Darwin has many of the same kinds of ideas. Wrote
about evolutionary change in a completely different format publishes the Temple of
Nature believed that humans were the last step of a connected pathway. All from
shells A transformists scheme going from spontaneously generated little things right
up to human beings.
Lamarcks ideas embody the spirit of the origin of species, his ideas also influence
political change the idea of transmutation connected with dangerous political ideals,
atheism,
Napoleanic times Napolean builds empire, extensive warfare through Europe,
represents the force of rationality.
Cuvier worked primarily in comparative anatomy and with fossil organisms. Organisms
explicitly adapted to their environment, relation between them. Comparative anatomy
tooth can tell you the shape of the jaw and what an organism might eat reconstruct the
organism. From any bone, able to recreate an extinct fossil organism.
Works with fossils mastadon. Reconstructs them. Realizes that fossil elephants not
extant as a species (today). Lamarck says that the reason certain animals are alive is
because they have changed - no distinction. Cuvier makes a significant point about
extinction theological question if god made everything perfect, why extinct. Does
God make new ones to fill the gap? System of correlating the rocks with the animal and
plant remains in them. Stratographic table.
Ways of envisioning suggest that the earth has gone through stages each tenanted by
appropriate animals and plants. Cuvier suggests 8 stages coinciding with 8 days of the
bible. A succession of stages, directional from the beginning through progressively more
complicated stages to the present. Categorical break between the last fossil stage and the
present. Evidence of the great flood? Keeps theological metaphors going after this
point, humans are created.
French Revolution the last stage in the movement of society. Creates theories about the
history of the world meaningful to both him and his readers.
Lamarck: Do species change and so stay in existence as a new form?
Do Living beings progress?
Yes they do change and progress.
Cuvier: Do species become extinct? Does God create better ones over and over again
to fill the gap?
You bet!!!
Napoleans Campaign in Egypt 1798-9
Brought back Egyptian antiquities.
Bones of mummified Ibis center of controversy between Cuvier and Lamarck 3000
years old. Cuvier/Lamarck has it changed? No
Cuvier has not changed, part of the modern world, created after the flood.
Lamarck has not changed because Egypt for 3000 years has been just the same. No
(Check who said what) environmental pressure on the organism to change.
Reasons for Ibis being how it was the subject of incompatibility.
Buckland key figure in turning Cuviers scheme of successive stages.
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Notion that earth was very old, moved from a state in a series of changes, mapped
through fossils and rocks found. Became a significant part of scientific life in the 1820s.
Charles Lyell In Principles of Geology, tried to overthrow Cuviers system no
catastrophes and big breaks stages can be reinterpreted as a directional change. Doesnt
have to be an extinction en masse, can be replacement one by one.
The book that Darwin takes with him, going around world on the Beagle.
Natural selection and evolution conflicts with the Cuverian point of view.
Louis Agassiz argued against the Cuverian point of view. Creation of animals and
plants organisms created in their own place and time. Manifest progress in the
succession of being on earth. Connection not the consequence of a direct lineage.
Believes in absolute, independent creation of each form.
Transmutationary point of view. Vestiges of the natural history of creation. Anonymous
book.
Connection between Enlightenment, rational thought, persecution, DECAPITATION.
Evolutionary tract is very dangerous. SUBVERSIVE. SCANDALOUS (included human
beings in the process of change). MARKETING TRICK? Written by Robert Chambers.
A completely non natural selection evolutionary scheme doesnt have a mechanism like
Darwin has principle of development, like human gestation. Laws by creater, operate
by natural processes. Writes complete evolutionary account using the idea of
development a self moving system without God.
Sedgwick claims that Vesitges is not philosophical not structured to notions of the day,
which is science. Message to Darwin when he writes, makes his theory a properly
scientific theory. Annuls distinction between physical and modern.
Sedgewick wants God to create animals and humans this is where our moral sense is
seen to come from.
Herbert Spencer writes articles for journals before Darwins Origin of Species.
Belonged to a literary set, his idea was that the whole world could be reduced to one
principle things moving from a state of chaos to a state of order. Many different ways
of addressing the problem of origins geological, also a cultural way of thinking about
change. Not a simple story of conflict between science and religion. Big issues worked
out, many solutions put forward, consensus emerging.
The ideas of change, extinction and development.
Lecture: 6
Date: 2/17/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
Look back at the 50 years before Darwin. Darwin called the origins, the mystery
of mysteries.
How did it become a mystery for these individuals?
History teaches us that every culture makes its own problems- they change. There
must be a consensus amongst individuals of how to resolve it, approach it. Debate
about the proposals, answers. 3 focus points:
o Nature of how you make something a problem
o How you debate it
o How you resolve it
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Through 18th and 19th, origin of animals, humans, and plants- discussed in terms
of theology. Rational for why thinks looked the way they did. Their purpose.
They were answered in terms of theology.
Slide: Paris, Jardin du Roi. The Kings Garden
o Talk about French Enlightenment, Revolution, and 2 biologists from that
time
o 18th: the developed/intellectual world was swept through by great changes
in thinking about human nature, politics, and structure of life. The
enlightenment period that began in France, and spread around North
America, Europe, Russia. Introduced concepts:
Idea of change over time- both the humans, society, politics,
World becoming modern- great breakdown in political stability
Jean Baptiste Lamarck- lived through revolution. French revolutionary thinker
o Progress in the animal, plant and human world.
o Calls it transmutation or transferism political events of the time helped
him think of this
o Began as a botanist
o Continued as an individual interested in invertebrates
o Did the classification scheme for mollusks and invertebrates
o Junior professor in french museum
o Tie geography to climate of earth
Storming the Bastille, 14 July 1789 (climax)
The guillotine 1792- rebellious individuals had destroyed the monarchy.
Social and political reform- philosophers
American independence- france lost some money by supporting Americans
National assembly took over- declared rights of man (liberty, equality)
Administrative, institutional structures: abolished.
Months renamed
Lamarcks theory
o Proposed that there was a spontaneous generation and cycles of life
o Professor of insects and worms
o Used giraffe to describe inheritance of acquired characteristics and the
way that animals will themselves to do something, they will get it done
o Direct adaptation of the animal to its environment Mediated by will
powerd
o 2 forces of nature:
Internal force: santamonte inferior (pushes the organism into
adaptive forms)- will read about it
Another internal force push towards more complex formsadapting outwards with this other adaptive complexification
o Slide: Lamracks table of connections of animals 1809 (200th
anniversary)- perceived as a very eccentric and difficult scheme
Erasmus Darwin
o Wrote about evolutionary change in a completely different format
o Poet, physician, amateur philosopher- so his approach was different from
the professor
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o Charles grandpa
o Evolutionary views: poem Temple of Nature in 1803
o Everything came from small beginnings- could progressively through will
power- humans were the last step on that connected pathway.
Embraced the idea of enlightenment: reason to grapple with origins of humans
o Put them all into a system, scheme.
o There was a future, one way process to the enlightened world
o Once you have these suggestions: spontaneous projection, no divine (God
is not pushing this system forward)- makes the idea of species origins
very provocative.
o There were a # of Lamarckians- who develop this with political rejection
o The idea of transmutation had become connected with dangerous political
ideas.
Cuvier- became mr. big
o Called himself the Bonaparte of the natural history scientists
o Worked in comparative anatomy and fossil organisms
o Organisms were adaptive to their environment- there is a physiological
relationship between the environment and organisms
o Working at same time as Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin- but became more
famous
o Added idea of extinction (by studying fossil elephants)
o He studied Mastodon imagined they were relatives of elephant
o Opened up theological questions- if god made everything perfect why
would he kill them off?
o The past is separated from the modern world by the Flood- directional
o Fossil record was a record of stages- at each stage- we place the one
before- the animals and plants stage each got more sophisticated. There
was a categorical break in between the last fossil stage and the present.
Sees the glacial remains (evidence of the great flood). Happy to keep
theological metaphors going. Sees it as the big break.
summary
Lamarcks Questions
o Do species change and so stay in existence as a new form? Yes, they
change.
o Do living beings progress? Yes. Progression.
Cuviers question
o Do species become extinct? yes
o Does God create better ones over and over again? Yes. Stop and go.
Two ways of thinking about the natural world
Controversy in france
Successive stages of animals and plants (cuvier)
Napoleons Campaign in Egypt 1798-90
Bones of the mummified ibis- 3000 years
o Lamarck said it hasnt changed- Egypt has had the same environment for
the past 3000 years
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o Cuvier said it hadnt changed because it was part of modern world.
o Reason for how it did not change- incompatible from Cuvier and Lamarch
English geologist: William Buckland- professor of geology at Oxford, on a field
trip (slide)
o Worked with number of extraordinary fossils- slide: ichthyosaur from
Lyme Regis, UK
Still in existence
Historic fossils
Think of these as real animals- in a real time in the deep past
Took cuviers ideas quite literally. Think about what they were
alike when they were alive
Print/slide: life in ancient dorset (drawn to shown all the extinct animals going
about their business)
Dinosaurs of crystal palace
Notion that the earth was old- moved from a state of early inhabitants through to
present day
Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology (Darwin took this with him- becomes
Lyells most devoted disciple).
o Tried to overthrow Cuviers idea
o Said no catastrophes in the geological past- only changes such as we can
see taking place today
o There could be extinction and replacement one by way. There are NO
stages, no catastrophes.
o Darwin agreed with them more so than most.
Two points of view
o Cuvier: system of stages with extinctions
o Lyell: Independent, single handed suggestion that there were no stages
(Darwin)
Comparison of ideas. Lamarck leads to Vestiges book in Britain by Chambers
o Cuvier thought they were not connected
o Lamarck thought all were connected (through transformation)
Politically dangerous. Horror at the way the French rev had panned
out. Enlightened rational thought, persecutions, decapitations,
transformations of society. Therefore, book is anonymous.
SLIDE: Vestiges of the natural history of creation= anonymous
book in London
Evolutionary tract was dangerous
Subsersive of the political structure- suggesting through
transmutation that any body could improve enough to
become king, queen or PM. People could self improve,
which removes hierarchy of political society.
Scandalous- included human beings in this process of
change. We can change too if we put our minds to it.
Marketing trick- dangerous book and you dont know who
wrote it
o Gets people talking
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Written by Robert Chambers Mr. Vestiges- thought this would
make him a social outcast. Evolution was a bad idea at the time.
Pre-darwian evidence
o Chambers- evolutionary account uses idea of law, development, no god,
this is a self moving system of development- provocative pages: humans
have come from arangs- and we are progressing further
o Wallace goes to the far east to explore Chambers ideas.
Both could have been darwin
o Darwin reads chambers
o Adam Sedwick: hostile response.
Geologist, professor at Cambridge- teaches Darwin geology
Violent review
Says its not philosophical. It is not science. Darwin takes this as a
terrible message. So Darwin wrote to make it a properly scientific
theory (Origins).
No system,
Herbert Spencer: philosopher of progress
o Strong sense he was writing before Darwin
o Thinker, polymath, tremendously significant in American culture
o Idea of development, malthuses population changes
o Could have been Darwin
o Belonged to a literary set
o ONE SIMPLE PRINCIPLE to explain progressive advance in industrial
world (wrote about society with principle of development): Everything in
the world could be reduced to one principle: things move from a state of
chaos to a state of order. Can be seen through human life, fossil record,
chemistry, and development of the earth itself.
We have a bunch of people who were not working on the same thing, and bring
different thoughts. They were moving in the same direction. Too obvious to say
that evolution was in the air. Yes, origins were in the air: geological way (diverse
views), human society of change,
Not a simple conflict of life and religion- number of big issues being worked out
through 50, 60, 70 years. 1780s (end French enlightenment) through to darwins
time.
o 1790-1830: big issues being discussed- consensus emerging that earth had
a long history now thought to be over 100,000 years old. Humans had
not been present, we are relatively new. How did we emerge? Progressive
change from animals closely related to them?
Today: idea of change, extinction, development.
Darwin on Thursday- look at Origin and how he deals with these issues.
Lecture: 7
Date: 2/19/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Different ways of reading the text of Origin of Species
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How was it written and read in 1859?
Origin of Species published in an edition 1250 copies very low.
It is no doubt the chief work of my life sees it as pivotal in his career.
Overwhelming response publishes many more additions and corrections.
Major event in Darwins life and 19th century thought.
An abstract of a essay absence of descriptive nouns. Z
Published 24 November 1859.
Goes into the public library system, circulating libraries bought on the strength of
Darwins previous reputation as a travel writer perhaps would not have been circulated
like so if there was knowledge of what it contained.
The book is somber no pictures. Darwin is very persuasive tries to get you to look at
things in his way.
Whats in the Origin?
o An analogy between selection of domesticated organisms and selection in the wild
o Moves to talk about struggle and overpopulation.
o Statement of the theory (natural selection)
o Talks about the difficulties of the theory, drawing attention to these
difficulties.
o How could two varieties of species diverge and become mutually sterile
(definition of a species being that it cannot breed with another species)
o Talks about advantages: does it answer questions about geographical
distribution, geological history, embryology, etc.
o Natural explanations for special creation and design explains creationism whereby a
different mechanism thats by completely natural
o Powerful metaphor if the ancestral tree Darwin gives the metaphor a strong shape
we find it very difficult to think about the fossil record without these trees.
o Gradualism
Whats not in the origin?
o Humans
o God
o Origin of life on earth
o Origin of variation
Nothing about spontaneous generation or primevalism. Had a theory for the origin of
variations, but couldnt explain saw variations everywhere.
Believed in the process of repeated variation amounting to changes in species writes
about the process, but not the origin.
Differences between Darwins intentions and the intentions of the Vestiges book.
Published in 1844. Darwin thinks about the readership as having read Vestiges. Puts all
his credentials on the book to help it get out. By a reputable publisher. Vestiges creates
the ambiance in which Darwin published. By 1890, 40,000 copies of the Origin.
Huxley became Darwins most ardent supporter. Became a vigorous proponents of
Darwinism, saw Darwinism as part of the process of modernization. Humans not
morphologically distinct from apes a gradation.
Retrospective quotation felt extremely stupid not to have thought of the idea behind
origin, sees it as a logical, clear way of looking at the world.
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Adam Sedgwick professor of geology at Cambridge. Thinks Darwin is a student turned
sour. Argues for the metaphysical part of nature. Personal and intensely religious
response. Was Darwin deserting philosophy?
Darwin genuinely wished to step back from being an aggressive atheist. Didnt want to
offend, and wanted to give his theory as much strength and public appeal as he could.
Adds the word creator in later editions, pulls it out again.
Supporters:
Asa Gray
TH Huxley
Charles Lyell
Ernst Haeckel
Wallace was perhaps the only one who completely adopted evolution by natural
selection. Doesnt become a total Darwinist, but close.
Other supporters take Darwinism Asa Gray is the gateway for Darwinism in the US.
Brings it to Harvard.
Charles Lyell old geological friend of Darwin looks at it from a chronological
framework.
Opponents
Louis Agassiz
Richard Owen
Samuel Wilberforce
Agassiz believed in species being created by God. Owen was noted opponent of Huxleys
argued over presumed relationships of primates/apes/humans. Wilberforce Bishop of
Oxford.
Closing sentences of the Origin of Species.
Lecture: 7
Date: 2/19/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!
1250 copies of the Origin published
o Average for scientific books. Little compared to Victorian novel- politics
of Victorian England
o Darwin says this is the chief work of his life- the pivotal moment in his
life- he brought together all the theories hed been working on.
o Overwhelming response to the book. The book on orchids- to present
more evidence. Book on domestication of animals- provides evidence for
chapters 1-2 of Origins. Wrote Descent of Man. But Origins is the most
major event in his life- major event in 19th century thought generally.
o Never been out of print since 1859.
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o Read by variety of people, in the newspapers.
Published 24 November 1859
o Bookshops, libraries, presentation copies, reviews, gossip, letters
Different type of science book.
o Origin is in the first person. He supports you through the exciting aspects
of natural history. Its a very personalized text. The tone of voice is very
persuasive. He is trying to persuade you to look at things his way. No
footnotes. No bibliography.
o Long book: 490 pages. Why not just a short article?
Structure of his argument
o Ch 1-2: set variations in domestic world, then the wild. Factual check.
o Ch 3: struggle and population.
o Ch. 4: statement of the theory. Called natural selection.
o Ch.6: difficulties of this theory. Unusual. But then provides answers to this
theory.
Major difficulty: how do instincts work (whole chapter on this)
How could a species emerge? How do 2 work?
Whats in the Origin?
o An analogy between selection of domesticated organisms and selection in
the wild.
o Natural explanations for special creation and design.
o Powerful metaphor of the ancestral tree. (looking at fossil records)
o Gradualism.
What is not in this book?
o Humans
o God (personal account, deliberately not aggressive against the church)
o Origin of life on earth
o Origin of variation
Darwins mechanism:
o constant reproduction
o struggle for survival
o small advantages lead to differential survival
o repeated for many generations, a new species will be created.
Divergence of species
The other evolutions:
o Herbert Spencer, Robert Chambers (Mr. Vestiges, vestiges of the natural
history of creation), Alfred Russel Wallace Darwin does not address
them specifically. But they are the background of his argument.
o Vestiges published 50 years earlier.
o Darwin knows his readers have read vestiges.
o Darwin gave everything he had to the book- had a better published than
Vestiges.
o SLIDE: chart showing sold copies of Vestiges and Origins.
o Vestiges made people think about evolution.
Variety of responses
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o Thomas Henry Huxley: one of Darwins loudest, most active and
interesting supporters.
Younger than Darwin
Evidence: humans are not morphologically extinct. He is very
important.
Says Darwin dispels the darkness.
o Darwins Professor: Adam Sedgwick- professor of geology- Cambridge
University.
Did not like Darwins work.
o We will talk more about these two extremes next week (and Creationism
in the modern day). Sense of the other kinds of readers who fall in
between the 2 extremes: Others believe its a good theory, if you bring
God back in. Others thought it was a radical, materialistic thought.
Controversy: Book written by someone who didnt want to trespass or offend. He
wanted to give his theory much strength and public appeal. Did not want to be
atheistic like Vestiges. Thought natural world should be explained by natural
creator.
o Unknown things: first piece of life: softens this and adds the word creator
in all subsequent editions, until the end.
Next week
o Supporters: Asa Gray, TH Huxley, Charles Lyell (same generation as
Darwin), Ernst Haeckel
Wallace becomes caught up in a movement that is then named
Darwinism. His role in the movement is perplexing at times.
o Opponents: Louis Agassiz (species were thoughts in the mind of god),
Richard Own, Samuel Wilberforce
Lecture: 8
Date: 2/24/09
Name: Anna Raginskaya
Hotspot formation: see slide
Galapagos islands not touched by humanity there was no native aboriginal population
on the volcanic islands.
Due to this, flora and fauna were wonderfully intact. Marine iguanas evolved to take
advantage of offshore resources. Flightless Cormant lost the power of flight due to lack
of land predators.
What is it about the Islands that made them so special from an evolutionary point of
view?
The zoology of archipelagos are worth examining, they will undermine the stability of
species.
Colonization: serendipity, determinism. Islands come in all shapes and sizes. The
mountaintop is an island on its own for mountaintop species. Islands have different
histories, locations. Volcanic new Island, created free of life (Surtsey, off the coast of
Iceland).
Serendipitous: freak dispersal events floating on a raft outside the island
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Deterministic: According to dispersal abilities, birds, wind-dispersal plants, YES
amphibians, and freshwater fish no.
Disharmony: The notion of an incomplete ecosystem. Islands are missing important
pieces of the geological ecosystem. New Zealand used to be a world without terrestrial
mammals. Hawaii had no native ants.
Accommodation: niche expansion. Niche the place in the environment a species
occupies. New Zealand Gigantic avian mammal surrogates. Birds diversified to become
antelope. Graze, take advantage of the opportunities present and expand their niche.
Isolation: divergence. Parental population splits producing two daughter populations that
are geographically isolated from each other. Mutations accumulate separately in each
population. Through time, the extent of genetic difference grows. With isolation, end up
producing different types. If Isolation breaks down, the populations interbreed and gene
flow between the somewhat-diverged populations homogenizes them. ISOLATION IS
THE KEY TO SERIOUS EVOLUTIONARY DIFFERENTIATION.
The number of species of finches allows you to track the Galapagos history (including
number of islands)
Putting it together: isolation and accommodation result in adaptive radiation. An
explosive burst of new species each adapted to a particular environmental niche.
Disharmony + Geographic Isolation = adaptive radiation
A medium billed finch on the mainland all niches are already exploited by other
species, adaptive diversification is not possible. On a biologically virgin island, niches
are available, and adaptive diversification is a possibility.
Darwins Collections
How did Darwin engage with the Islands? Darwin arrives on the Galapagos landed at
various places to make his collections, brought back again to the ship. Darwin would
pack the organisms in crates, then transported to England. Spent most of his time on
James, Santiago. Most interested in how tortoises got to the Galapagos (cant swim).
Darwin thinks they floated.
The animals had no reason to think of humans as predators. Felt as if he had walked back,
metaphorically in the Garden of Eden. Humans an accepted part of nature.
Eureka? Finches and observations.
How might an individual be able to come up with a new idea in science? Darwin takes
the ideas generated in the Galapagos, works with them back in England.
A long period of thought that goes into the making of a new idea. Darwins moment on
the Galapagos has been taken as a Eureka moment. Darwin was very interested in the
tortoises. Darwin saw the tortoises and differences noted he differences in all the shells
on different islands.
Mockingbirds also diversified across the Islands. Darwin noticed the differences.
Finches Darwin collected as many as he could find, regarded them as relatively
uninteresting at first. Many different kinds. Darwin collected 31, he felt that they were 9
different kinds of bird. Darwin was confused. No recognition of their diversification or of
the way they fill different niches. Moment of discovery is a story of both process and
legend. In Darwins own time on the Island, the finches were not key to evolutionary
70
theory. On his way back to England, he began to review the triumphs and tribulations of
the voyage, and started thinking about the fixity of species. Notions of what a species
might be finches and tortoises become important. Reflects on contributions of animals
and plants in exploring the fixity and flexibility of species.
John Gould naturalist who ran the Zoological Society gardens active as the museum
taxonomist for the birds at the London zoo. Gould upset that Darwin did not put specific
locations on the tags. Gould tells him there are 13 separate species. Beaks suggests that
they have a particular environmental role in each Islands life.
25 out of 26 species new to science. Finch phylogeny all related to one aboriginal
ancestor. If they species are so closely related, how did they diversify? Others on his
voyage had also collected finches. Helped Gould recreate some of the localities.
Records this moment in the summer already thinking in evolutionary terms. Wrote
retrospectively beginning legend of Galapagos birds.
How did the finches become so much of an important part of our story about
Darwin?
David Lack observational naturalist. Generates the story that the finches are a classic
example of the evolutionary radiation. Reflect the idea of diversification and adaptive
radiation. David Lack saw it with all the apparatus of modern biology gives us the
terminology of Darwins finches, makes the idea of the beaks so very important. Drawing
that Gould did for Darwin, explicating different beak forms. Darwin grew to see these
differences as independent species.
Discovery is a process, not an individual event. Darwin needed other people to help him
come to that point. Not something he recognized,
Natural selection is the logical result of SEE THIS SLIDE
o Superfecundity
o Mutation the mutation that fuels it is random, undirected with respect to the
vector of evolutionary change. (If better to run faster, equal chance that mutation
will make you run slower)
o Small in effect most mutations are deleterious, only real hope with beneficial
mutations is that theyre small. There must be a lot of them on a population wide
basis.
Natural selection is the creative force of evolution, occurs at the level of the individual
(either the individual reproduces or not), explains macroevolution of the basis of
extrapolation of microevolution.
The Darwin Wallace revolution overturning essentialist (typological) views of nature.
Departures from the archetype seen as errors. Instead of seeing variation as mere
deviation for an ideal, seen as raw material of evolutionary change. Shift from ideal to the
population.
Natural selection as a variational theory of change, as opposed to a transformational one.
Transformational: an ensemble of individuals changes because the individuals within it
change.
Variational: differential maintenance of kinds a sorting. Very different from
Lamarckian view.
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For/of: Selection of red balls, selection for small size. See size it just so happens that all
small ones have a certain color. You can have different outcomes because of the
correlation of traits.
Selecting on adrenaline for foxes has effect of creating dog like traits.
Modern Studies: Natural selection in action.
Beak depth is heritable. 1977 drought. Population crashes in size. Massive crash in food
availability net increase in seed size of some plants. Shift in single generation of beak
size. Shift from Predraft to post draft.
Lecture: 8
Date: 2/24/09
Name: Nicolas Papamichael
Hotspot formation of an archipelago.
Case Study: Natural Selection and Darwins Finches in the Galapagos
One of few places in the world that had not been messed up by humanity.
Fray Tomas de Berlanga, en route from Panama to Lima, March 10 1535
Lizards that have evolved to swim and forage on the seeweed.
Galapagos Penguin, flightless cormorant (lost power to flight, no predators),
waved albatross, Espanola, Blue footed booby, red-footed booby, the indignity of
youth (young booby). Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos turtoise, Arboreal Prickly
Pear, see lions,
Why islands are so special:
o Look directly the process that we are interested in
o Islands as natural laboratories
o Colonization: serendipity, determinism. Mountain tops as islands because
of migration problems. There are many different islands. Surtsey,
restricted access. New real estate, colonization results.
Serendipitous: Freak dispersal events
Deterministic: according to dispersal abilities birds, winddispersed plants (YES), amphibians, freshwater fish (NO, cant
make it to oceanic islands)
o Disharmony: incomplete ecosystem
All sorts of things that are normal components of ecosystems do
not make it to oceanic islands. Miss pieces of the ecological jigsaw
puzzle.
New Zealand: no terrestrial mammals, only recently really
Hawaii: no ants, biggest players in temperal and tropical
ecosystems, general purpose beasties, but there is none in Hawaii
o Accomodation: niche expansion
Gigantic avian mammal surrogates. This birds have expanded their
niche.
o Isolation: divergence
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Populations splitting in two. If you have two populations that are
not able to exchange genes they will diverge.
See chart.
Key to serious evolutionary differentiation.
o Putting it together: adaptive radiation
Explosive burst of new species each adapted with a particular
niche
Disharmony + Geographic Isolation = Adaptive Radiation (see
slide).
New species
Darwins collections:
o How did he engage with the islands in his 5 weeks?
o Beagle
o Track of beagle voyage, he spent most time at chatham and james (I think)
o Studied habits, trails, asked people about them, and realized that they were
different from island to island (talking about ugly reptiles)
o Cared mostly about how they got there? To the different islands
o Tame hawks, another species. Notices the differences.
Eureka?
o Finches that he collected and the observations that he made at the time
o How can someone come with a new idea in silence?
o Long period of thought that goes into the making of a new idea
o Sudden or long process?
o Darwins experience was more like a eureka moment
o Tortoises, beagle took 50, formerly sailors would take many more
o Saw tortoises and differences and noted that there were differences in all
the shells in different islands, still the peny didnt drop
o Noticed for more species, differences between islands (Mockingbirds), yet
the peny didnt drop
o Finches: collected tons from different islands and regarded as relatively
uninteresting birds. Notices different coloration etc. Rapidly divided into
3-4 family groupings, he didnt think they were what we think they are
now. Collected 31 of these.
There reigns to me an inexplicable confusion
Yet to understand that they were from different islands and have
adapted to randomly different environments
Still regarded himself as an orthodox, even though he was more
used to thinking about things in a scientific way
Then started reviewing everything from his trip, unsettled notion
of what a species might even be fixity and flexibility of
species.
Gives his species to a number of classifiers, taxonomists. John
Gould. The man who did birds for him, naturalist from the London
zoo. He was also an artist. Distributed to wider knowledge through
Goulds illustrations.
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A museum tray of finches. Surprised at the way Gould had
classified the finches. 13 separate species from the 31 finches he
had collected. He could not recreate the geographical record that
he had in mind. Finch Phylogeny.
How have they diversified? So closely related?
Is there an ancestors that diverged? Split?
Syms Covington and Capt. Robert FitzRoy had collected some
finches themselves.
See quote on slide with four bird heads.
Finches do not turn out in the origin of species. They are not a
huge example of evolutionary diversification. Not his example of
evolution even though important in his thought.
How did they become such an important part of our story?
How do the finches enter the canon?
o David Lack, Darwins Finches. 1947.
o Classic example of evolutionary radiation. They reflect the idea of
diversification and adaptive radiation.
o Discovery is a process, not an individual event. Darwin needed other
people to help him come to that point.
What is natural selection?
o Axioms
Superfecundity: competition on resources
Variation: variance on success of competition
Heritability: enriching later generations
o Mutation:
Undirected with respect to the vector of change
Small in effect
Plentiful
o Role of Natural Selection:
Creative force of evolution
Occurs at level of individual
Explains macroevolution on the basis of extrapolation from
microevolution
o The Revolution
Darwin-Wallace revolution
Natural selection is a variational theory of change as opposed to to
transformational one
Variational: differential maintenance of kinds
o For/Of:
Selection of red balls
Selection for small size
Natural selection operating on something but having a different
effect of the correlation with something else
Selecting on adrenaline, effect on all these characteristics such as
tails, ears of dogs, etc.
Modern studies of natural selection:
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Peter and Rosemary Grant
Amazing studies of natural selection in action
Beak depth is heritable, see correlation
After 1977 drought finches population decreases incredibly
Abundance of seeds goes down too
Certain plants did better than others under these conditions
Seeds bigger
Post drought population, greater beaks
Nice instance of how Darwins finches reveal so much about natural
selection
Lecture: 9
Date: 2/26/09
Name: Michelle Parilo
Descent with modification (Evidence) starting with something from before and get
something new. Professor Andrew:
Shared hardware: homology
o Ie: derived from a common ancestor
o Take original limb, solve a functional problem (how to fly)
Line of tedropod
Or analogies (like a butterflys way of flying)
o Evolution implies a simple beginning.
o Evidence for descent with modification: an increase in complexity
Chart: life form and millions of years since first known appearance
o Direct way of looking at the past
Fossils and Phylogeny (family tree- branching process)
Focus vertebrates: we see a time series of forms
Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals
o
Complexitys directionality
Historical congruence
o
Intermediate forms
o Great ape-human intermediate (lucy)
Vestiges
o Animal that cant fly but it has a wing
o traits
Atavism
o Traits which are not normally expressed in the organism, but under freak
conditions (mutation)- something which is dormant gets switched on.
o Vestigial organs that get switched on (ex: whale)
Lousy (implied by descent with modifaction)
o Thumb example
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o Lost teeth- doesnt matter because bird didnt need. But then merganser
became tooth ducks (need traction to catch fish) not a good set of teeth,
but best solution given what it started with.
Design
o Embryology everything starts off looking remarkably the same
o You tend to see closely related organisms in the same geographic area
o Example: kangaroo: moved up to new guinea not good at the trees
Controversy! Professor Janet Browne:
1859-61: people didnt have a handle on this kind of information- what was
known was understood in a different sort of frame work.
Lets go back: without the equipment, theory, understanding.
Bishop (majority of religious opposition to evolutionary theory) vs Thomas Harry
Huxley (darwins bulldog)
o 2 extremes controversy are polarized issues. Turning it into either/or
issue. We tend not to hear about the spectrum of opinions because its not
sexy. Darwin is a classic example of this.
Two themes from evolution: Decent with modification and a proposed mechanism
to explain descent (natural selection)
o Some thought decent: notion that things were connected overtime. Primary
part of what people were proposing.
2 debates (US and UK)
Can natural selection do what Darwin claims? Reactions to Origins- then he
responded after.
o Where are the transitional forms?
No intermediate- 2 separate species. Problematic and controversial
to think of the fossils to have intermediaries. Dont have the
evolutionary structure to describe them.
o How does sterility emerge between species?
If youve got a whole bunch of busy organisms producing new
things. How do they make that transition? Darwin said they have
to be isolated populations.
o Dont innovations blend out?
o Is the earth old enough?
He estimated the number of years- it was so big he was
embarrassed to put it in his work.
20th century with radioactive data that physicists could allow the
earth to be very much older and so Darwinian slow evolution could
happen.
o What about design?
Can natural selection produce what many people in the Victorian
period thought to be perfect design? Need careful, creative
designer.
Britain controversy:
o Cartoons in news papers
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o Issue: Human ancestry!?? And specifically: are humans related to apes and
what kind of issues is that to produce? Are humans just elevated animals?
o Public, personal, apes
o Issues: nationalistic. What about us?
o Public lectures at the British Association for the Advancement of Science
Bringing science to the public
Samuel Wilberforce: Bishop of Oxford Soapy Sam and Thomas Henry Huxley
The Devils Chaplain
o Thomas took Darwinism on board- he had one or two technical detail
questions.
Darwin proposed naturalistic way of looking at the world (secular),
the kind of science Darwin was putting forward would last into the
future. Huxley may have been trying to professionalize science,
o Meet in the natural history museum at Oxford Uni.
o Debate: took all morning, number of papers that were read (all related to
Darwinism). Post-hoc recollections, but no reporters wrote down what was
said.
o Bishop: Common ancestor: goes against god. Natural selection denies
existence of the creator.
Professor Owen- against Darwin (?)
Paul du Chaillus lectures and book on gorillas 1861
o Embarrassing if humans were descendents of gorillas or chimps
Huxleys polemical picture Mans Place in Nature, 1863
Fitzroy: darwins captain (?) but he says believe in god
Darwin was home writing letters, but not actually there. So he was around, but
only remotely.
Watched a video on a debate with the above characters.
USA Controversy
Asa Gray, Harvard Professor of Botany
o Harvards botanic garden, off Linnean Street
o His kingdom was in the quad
o Supported Darwin intensively
o Grays Elements of Botany
o Uses evolution to explain plant morphology
o Little ambivalent about how we change?
o Uses evolution- but has god-given variation
Louis Agassiz founded museum of comparative zoology (on oxford street)
o MCZ: had tremendous understanding of natural history: believed plants
and animals had been created by god in the place that they were meant to
live.
o South America and Australia Room.
o A.R. Wallace came in 1880s
Objects dont speak for themselves, need a theory.
Agassiz: human races (like animals and plants) were created where
God intented them to live.
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Debated in Harvard halls and Boston Society of Natural History public debate
like the one in England.
o Also: Bostonians, including new MIT president
o Agassiz: think of blacks as different species- justified plantation system
o Gray: felt all humans came from same route. Not a problem that they had
come from apes, but that the real reason we needed to think of humans as
one group was because he was an abolitionist.
What happened next in the states?
o After Agassiz death- most naturalists accepted evolution
o Henry Ward Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowes bro- uncle toms cabin:
abolitionists): preacher, social reformer, evolutionist
Radical NY preacher of the Congregationalist persuasion
o Charles Hodge: Princeton Theological Seminar
Book: What is Darwinism? (It is atheism)
Anti-evolutionary
Darwin was at home, operating through letters, writing to Agassiz, helping Gray,
participated in both controversies (by remote control)
Apes or angels?
o Scientific and religious views were combined
o A spectrum of responses (not just polarized)
Differ according to the culture and faith backgrounds of nations in
which they take place
o Different responses according to national context, faith, educational
background
o Polarized debates in public
Thosethatattracttheattentionthatengageusasfellow
humans.Arepolarized.
Lecture: 9
Date: 2/26/09
Name: Nicolas Papamichael
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Vestiges:
whales with small pelvises
atavism: traits not normally express in organism but in freak conditions
(mutation, environmental problem in development), something that is
switched off gets expressed. Whale with limbs.
Starting with what came from and building something new
Lousy Design, brick cottage, second rate bridge from this already existing
bricks.
In evolution you are stack with what you are starting with
Hesperonis Darter Merganser. Teath, no teath, teath. Last solution is
best solution given what you started with.
Embryology: everything starts off looking remarkably the same, because we
have inherited this biological evolutionary plan
Biogeography: Closely affiliated organisms in the same area. Geniological
process that is spinning off new species.
Controversy: at that point people could not handle that kind of information. Response to
Darwinism, without the evidence and theory that we have now.
Two controversialists:
o The Bishop, controversialist
o Hocksly, defending science
A process that does not debate but polarizes the topic
A controversy is a spectrum but books and newspapers will only give you the
extremes.
Tremendous controversy between church and science
Controversies engage us in a particular way, our value systems, not so routed
to the religious values, but back then what is controversial is mostly based on
national, educational and religious understandings
Responses to Darwins book were various and responded to both or either to
the ideas of descent (not as new but very controversial, that species have a
connection) and others responded to the mechanism, natural selection. Others
responded to both.
Possibility for wide variety of views.
Basic Ideas
o Can natural selection do what Darwin claims?
o where are the transitional forms? In Darwins day it was problematic
to see the fossils as transitional form, even though some fossils seemed
as intermediate, they were contested, not established. Often supposed
niarderthal was skull of some idiot, that expanded skull in a particular
way. These intermediate forms in the fossil record were hotly
contested because they did not have the evolutionary structure at that
time that we have now.
o how does sterility emerge between species? Isolated populations, but
difficult in that day to be convinced, no equipment, not much evidence
and also did not want to believe in evolution.
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o Don't innovations blend out? Why do advantages not blend back to the
population? Darwin found this very problematic to respond to.
o Is the Earth old enough? The gradual process that he was suggesting
required the earth to be immensely old. Darwin estimated the number
of years, it was so big that he was embarrassed to include it in his
book. Only he and his colleages were comfortable with such a number.
Lord Kelvin, anti-evolution physicist, dedused how old the earth was
and claimed that it was not old enough for these evolutionary
processes to occur. Darwin, not being a physicist, could not rebuttle.
Later with radioactivity the true age was found.
o What about design? Can natural selection produce this perfect design?
Exquisite adaptations of nature with species? Darwin tries to answer
this, but hard. Is life design? Are adaptations designed?
UK controversy:
o Public magazines, journals, cartoons, conferences etc.
o Personal rude, dirty, vicious, sometimes amusing
o Apes human ancestry, and specifically Are humans related to
apes?, what are the issues that will arise from that point of view?
Where do our values come from? How would the world work with
such a view? What about us?
o British Association for the Advancement of Science: audience that
includes women, students, parents, business people, oxford professors
etc.
o Particular debate in UK:
Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, Soapy Sam, a very
rethorically adept person, could get out of any kind of verbal
argument, vs
Thomas Henry Huxley, The Devils Chaplain:
thought that Darwins idea was a move towards a great
scientific future for England, professionalize science,
not really a profession at the time
They meet in the Natural History Museum at Oxford, debate
took all morning, actual words exchanged not recorded, some
post-hoc recollections as to what was said, but nothing exact
The Bishop bashed Darwinism using apes as the focus of his
remarks. Are you descended from the apes?
Crystallized moment that there should be a set piece were two
opposing forces should collapse.
Richard Owen (in audience at the debate) as an opponent of
Huxley, debating human ancestry and gorillas. Gorillas had
hands that were really feet, no hippocampus, etc. But Huxley
insists the opposite, that there are many anatomical features
that link the apes, chimp, gorilla and man. Close connection,
gorilla and human, both have hippocampus. Highly debated
whether the hippocampus existed, was more special for
humans etc. Huxley argued that gorilla had hands, not feet.
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Rober Fitzroy? believe in this, believe in god? (NOT SURE
ABOUT THIS LINE)
Darwin did not take part in any of these debates.
See movie?
o Particular debate in USA:
Public debate in institutions and societies
Personal attacks, debates
Mostly a racial issue, not connection between ape/man
Asa Gray, Harvard Professor of Botany, had a physical
domain reached up garden street
Rejected natural selection even though he thought it
was a valid theory because he was anxious about
variations. Modified Darwins theory and incorporate
god again.
Used evolution to explain plant morphology, but with a
god given variation
Louis Agassiz: created own intellectual kingdom at other side
of Harvard yard, oxford str.
very fine zoologist, tremendous understanding of
natural history
Every species is a thought in the mind of God
the design, exquisite adaptations, suggested for Agassiz
that there was a creator behind all the species. Antievolutionary frame of mind.
Thought that animals and plants were created by god in
the place where they were supposed to be
South America, Australia etc.
Wallace visited and was very impressed.
Biogeographical arrangement had to do something with
the evolutionary theory. He actually found Agassizs
museum and arrangements quite revealing for evolution
(supportive).
Slavery: the two came into intellectual blows about slavery
(FIND MORE ON THIS)
Public debate in the Boston Society of Natural History:
similar to one in UK, where the two went off against
each other.
in audience the president of MIT, who was an
evolutionist
Agassiz argued that black races were so different from
white races that justified the plantation blah blah
Ray thought of humans as one group, one species
The debate became whether humans are one species or
one species.
Stanford student Star Jordan rejected Agassiz
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After Agassizs death many naturalists adopted evolution, but
there were others that kept fighting it
Henry Ward Beecher, radical preacher, social reformer,
evolutionist: god create evolutionary process?
Charles Hodge, Princeton Theological Seminary, supported
slavery, anti-evolution
Darwin participated in controversies but remotely
Apes or Angels?
o review views from slide
spectrum of responses, not only polarized and differ in cultural contexts, but in public
the debates that tract attention are the polarized ones
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