September 19, 2008

As Darwin watches the preparation of the H.M.S. Beagle, he gets (understandably) excited.

It also turns out that Captain FitzRoy was popular with the ladies. Darwin fears that he will get seasick on the voyage; it happens to everyone. Little did he know how bad it would be, and that raisins were all he could eat for weeks.

In the second paragraph, Darwin writes of his admiration for “a Mr. Harris.” William Snow Harris was known as “Thunder and Lightning Harris” for his work making electrical conductors for ship masts. These conductors ran down the mast and discharged lightning through the hull of the ship. He was eventually knighted in 1847 for this, but the Russians adopted it way before the Brits. in 1845, he got some special gifts from the Tsar for his work.

Thunder and Lightning Harris, huh? What an appropriate name to feature on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

12 November, 1831

My dear Caroline,

The tutor’s bill is just as I expected—and I will contrive some plan through Henslow.—Most unfortunately Henslow has just lost his brother, so I do not like at present to trouble him.—

Everything here is most prosperous; the Beagle now looks something like a ship— They have just painted her and in a weeks time the men will live on board.— No Vessel has ever been fitted at all on so expensive a scale from Plymouth— I get into a fine naval fervour whenever I look at her. I suppose she is as good a ship as art can make her—and if I believe all I hear the Captain is as perfect as nature can make him— It is ridiculous to see how popular he is, ladies can hardly splutter out big enough words to express their big feelings—

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August 29, 2008

Daddy! I wanna go on the boat!

The fateful decision is made September 1: Charles Darwin will indeed sail on the Beagle.

Here’s some back-and-forth between Charles, his father, and Francis Beaufort, British Royal Navy Captain and hydrographer. Beaufort approved Darwin for the voyage, and his Wikipedia entry alone is testament to how interesting a figure he is.

Darwin writes his dad Robert Waring Darwin, begging (this is not the first time he’s pressed the issue) to be allowed to go. He’s right out of Cambridge, by the way.

He’s got his uncle’s responses to Dad’s concerns enclosed in the letter. This uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, would later be his father-in-law.

To Robert Waring Darwin, 31 August [1831]

[Maer]
August 31

My dear Father
I am afraid I am going to make you again very uncomfortable.— But upon consideration, I think you will excuse me once again stating my opinions on the offer of the Voyage.— My excuse & reason is, is the different way all the Wedgwoods view the subject from what you & my sisters do.—

I have given Uncle Jos, what I fervently trust is an accurate & full list of your objections, & he is kind enough to give his opinion on all.— The list & his answers will be enclosed.—But may I beg of you one favor. it will be doing me the greatest kindness, if you will send me a decided answer, yes or no.— If the latter, I should be most ungrateful if I did not implicitly yield to your better judgement & to the kindest indulgence which you have shown me all through my life.— …

After the jump: the reasons that Daddy Darwin was reluctant to allow Charles to go.

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This letter comes from Evolution

Charles on the American Civil War

Darwin writes the great American botanist Asa Gray during a turbulent point in American history.

Darwin’s feelings on slavery were very pronounced; ever since his Beagle voyage saw witness to a great deal of slave brutality.

The Maryland slaves that he refers to were not freed, since the state had not seceded from the Union.

Check it out, after the jump!

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Questions, questions.

And lots of dead animals sent by post.

Darwin was very inquisitive. He had to be. But this letter has a wonderful quality to it. He’s about to go collecting pigs’ jaws to count teeth. After all, that crafty Bechstein just can’t be trusted.

Do birds wash their feet? Send out the servants!

Plus, his buddies are mailing cat carcasses around. Wouldn’t quite fly with the postal service today!

All that aside, Darwin is working on plant vectors; seeing if owl pellets (remember the mouse skeletons?) contain seeds, and whether they get coughed up mid-flight.

The letter continues after the jump.

To: T. C. Eyton 31 August, 1856

Down Bromley Kent

Aug 31st

Dear Eyton

I thank you heartily for your note & for your promise of more information on Pigs, about which I am very curious.— By the way Bechstein asserts that the number of incisors varies greatly in domestic pigs: I am myself going to collect Pigs jaws (no other part) to see whether he is to be trusted. Have you ever noticed this? I sh^d like to confirm Bechstein on your authority.

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Happy Independence Day! To celebrate, below is a letter written by Darwin on July 4, 1858 to an American: botanist Asa Gray. Gray pretty much started the botany program at Harvard, and was an immense help with developing Darwin’s carefully wrought theory.

Darwin observed peculiarities in Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) flowers that he links to the cross-pollinating effect of bees. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but there’s more. The final paragraph deals with the unexpected arrival of Wallace, and his presentation days ago (along with Wallace’s paper) to the Linnean Society. When Darwin wrote this letter, the theory of natural selection was coming together.

<< See Monday’s WIRED article about this presentation >>

Down Bromley Kent

July 4^th.— 1858

My dear Gray

I have not answered your note of May 21 for I have had death & illness & misery amongst my children.^f1 And we are all going immediately from home for some weeks.^f2

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