2 Michael Ruse
England [Darwin, 1845]. By the mid-1840s, “Darwin of theBeagle” was one of
the better-known figures in the country. The warmth and sheer love of travel and
of nature infected his fellow citizens, and by mid-century he was well on the way
to being one of the people of whom the English were genuinely affectionate and
proud. This incidentally continues to this day. Darwin’s portrait is on the back of
the ten pound note.
For reasons that are still not completely understood, shortly after theBeagle
voyage Darwin fell sick with an illness that plagued him for the rest of his life.
Headaches, insomnia, boils, bad breath, bowel upsets, and more. Some think it
was psychological — being the author of a theory that was to be so controversial
or perhaps fearing his father’s disapproval (despite the fact that Darwin always
claimed to love and admire his father) — and others think it was physical —
perhaps Chagas Disease, picked up from an insect bite when he was traveling
across the Andes. Whatever the cause, Darwin became an invalid and near recluse,
retiring with his new wife to the village of Downe, where they proceeded to have
a typically large Victorian family. Ten children were born, and seven lived to
maturity. The most famous was George Darwin, who became a leading authority
on the tides. The most loved was Annie, who died at the age of ten, leaving Darwin
and his wife with a hole never to be filled.
Although isolated, Darwin carried on a tremendous correspondence, and (clearly
using his illness to his own advantage) worked non-stop at projects that interested
him. He was also good at networking, and encouraged young men whose interests
he shared and (more importantly) whom he saw as those who would push his
ideas. Notably in this group were the botanist Joseph Hooker and the morphologist
Thomas Henry Huxley (the grandfather of Aldous Huxley, the novelist). Building
on his fame as a travel guide, Charles Darwin increasingly became known both to
professional scientists and to laypeople as one of the truly great men of his time.
It was therefore absolutely no surprise whatsoever that when he died, by the
overwhelming demand of the country, Charles Darwin was buried in the English
Valhalla, Westminster Abbey. There he lies to this day, right next to Sir Isaac
Newton.
DARWIN THE GEOLOGISTLet us start now to look at Charles Darwin as a scientist. His ownAutobiography
is somewhat misleading on this issue. There he presents himself as a rather slow
fellow, who succeeded in spite of his deficiencies. But we must not let that upper-
middle-class modesty — a group where “swanking” is the worst of all possible sins
— mislead us. It is clear that Darwin was no very great shakes as a scholar when
he was at school. It is clear also that Darwin (unlike his son George) was never
very good at mathematics. However, this said, negatively we should know that
English education in those days was an uninterrupted diet of Latin and Greek,
with Euclid for the truly gifted, and Darwin was not of this nature. Positively
we know that even as a teenager, Charles Darwin and his older brother Erasmus