Niles Eldredge - The Darwin Blogs

The Darwin Blogs – March 21, 2006.

The Darwin Exhibition #3. Darwin’s Early Days.

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809—the very same day that Abraham Lincoln was born. There are actually a few interesting parallels of these two famous historical figures that transcend the coincidence of their shared date of birth. In this still-young 21st century, towering figures of the nineteenth century are beginning to fade from our collective consciousness. Sigmund Freud, for example, is still hotly debated—but mostly by psychiatrists and psychologists. The public at large seems to have turned to Prozac and similar nostrums for its mental and emotional difficulties. So, too, with Karl Marx: with the fall of communism nearly everywhere (save China and Cuba, of course), the world’s preoccupation with Marx is definitely on the wane.

But not so Darwin or Abraham Lincoln. The legacies of both men—different as they are—remain incompletely fulfilled. Lincoln symbolizes the fight for equality and social justice. Darwin symbolizes the secularization of who we humans are and how we came to be on this earth. They are heroes to some, villains to others (Darwin perhaps more so than Lincoln when it comes to being seen as a bad guy). Testimony to their lasting influence and historical importance, the bearded faces of both these men grace low denomination bills of their native country’s money: Lincoln, of course, on our five dollar bill—while a few years back Darwin replaced Charles Dickens (another fading 19th century great) on the British 10 pound note.

And both men were strongly opposed to slavery—Lincoln of course famously so. But so was Charles Darwin, who had a famous argument with Captain FitzRoy about slavery when the Beagle reached Brazil in 1832. Darwin, it turns out (unlike Lincoln) acquired his anti-slavery sentiments early in life—from his mother’s side of the family.

Charles’ mother was Susannah Wedgwood—a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the famous Wedgwood pottery works. The Wedgwoods were “nonconformists”: they were members of the Unitarian faith, rather than the more conventional, state-sanctioned Church of England. Josiah Wedgwood’s factory was an early model for the fair treatment of its workers (a model notoriously not followed by many other enterprises as the Industrial Revolution wore on). And he was a social liberal: his pottery works produced a cameo depicting an African man, with the words “Am I not too a man and a brother?” Darwin came to his anti-slavery feelings as a boy growing up in the company of Wedgwoods.

Josiah Wedgwood’s successful pottery works made him a wealthy man—one of the first in England to reap the rewards of the Industrial Revolution. His experiments in the chemistry of pottery-making led to many technical advances: for example, we think of Wedgwood pottery as invariably blue and white. But his famous jasperware copy of the Portland vase (one of 8 remaining is on display in the Darwin Exhibition) represented a further refinement in the art and science of pottery making.

Wedgwood took a keen interest in science, and was a member of the Lunar Society. So was Darwin’s other grandfather—Erasmus Darwin, who was a successful physician and author. The two men were friends, and went to meetings—held once a month at full moon (it was inevitable that the members called themselves “Lunaticks”!). Notable scientists of the day were also members—and lecturers (even the great Linnaeus—see previous blog) came over from continental Europe to deliver lectures to the learned group.

So Charles grew up in a family setting that emphasized learning (particularly science)—as well as liberal political views. (As we shall see in the following blog, there was even more to it than that: grandfather Erasmus Darwin actually wrote about evolution!). So it would seem that Charles had a head start over everyone—growing up in a science-oriented extended family—and growing up, as well, in decidedly comfortable surroundings.

But the young lad took years to show any promise at all. His mother, always in poor health, died when Charles was only eight years old (another parallel with Lincoln, it turns out). He was a poor student—not at all drawn to the classical education he was forced to confront. Raised essentially by his three older sisters, Darwin did show some interest in the chemical experiments of his older brother Erasmus—who was nicknamed “Ras.” (Charles for a time was called “Gas”—a reference to his dabbling in chemistry, and of course a parallel nickname to his older brother’s).

More than anything else, though, he vastly preferred the great outdoors—collecting rocks and pebbles, shooting birds and—above all else—collecting beetles. In the exhibition, we have some of the beetles Darwin collected—a hobby that became folded into his professional life (we have supplemented the beetles in one case with many collected by British schoolchildren last summer). We also have letters written to his cousin William Fox on the joys of beetle collecting—and the famous cartoon of Darwin sitting astride a gigantic beetle, with the caption “Go It Charlie”—done by his friend Albert Way.

No one could see it then, but the young Charles was busily preparing himself for the life of a naturalist: a lover of nature, a keen observer from his earliest days, who was to go on, receive some formal training (as we’ll see in the next two blogs)—and then essentially become his own teacher as he himself rewrote the rules of the scientific observation, experimentation and analysis of the natural world around him.

Niles Eldredge

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