Ars Ethica

C. Darwin Esqr Shrewsbury To be forwarded or opened, if absent

(…) I have been asked by Peacock who will read & forward this to you from London to recommend him a naturalist as companion to Capt Fitzroy employed by Government to survey the S. extremity of America— I have stated that I consider you to be the best qualified person I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation— I state this not on the supposition of yr. being a finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted in Natural History. Peacock has the appointment at his disposal & if he can not find a man willing to take the office, the opportunity will probably be lost (…)

The expedn. is to sail on 25 Sept:f3 (at earliest) so there is no time to be lost
(kilde)

Det er kanskje bare meg, men det er noe helt spesielt med å lese brevet der 22 år gamle Charles Darwin for første gang får høre om ekspedisjonen til Galapagos som senere skulle føre til oppdagelsen av evolusjonsteorien. Er det bare jeg som får kriblinger i magen av å lese dette? Det er tilfeldigheter i spill som får mektige konsekvenser (ja, jeg vet at Wallace også oppdaget teorien, men ta nå ikke gleden fra meg her…)

Her er et fantastisk brev fra januar 1844 - 13 år etter brevet over - hvor Darwin avslører at han driver på med et svært dristig/overmodig arbeid som ingen han kjenner ville kalle annet enn et svært tåpelig ett… (hele brevet)

“(…) I have been now ever since my return engaged in a very presumptuous work & which I know no one individual who wd not say a very foolish one.— I was so struck with distribution of Galapagos organisms &c &c & with the character of the American fossil mammifers, &c &c that I determined to collect blindly every sort of fact, which cd bear any way on what are species. — I have read heaps of agricultural & horticultural books, & have never ceased collecting facts — At last gleams of light have come, & I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable. Heaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a “tendency to progression” “adaptations from the slow willing of animals” … but the conclusions I am led to are not widely different from his — though the means of change are wholly so — I think I have found out (here’s presumption!) the simple way by which species become exquisitely adapted to various ends. You will now groan, & think to yourself ‘on what a man have I been wasting my time in writing to.’— I shd, five years ago, have thought so. (…)

Believe me my dear Sir | Very truly your’s | C. Darwin“

Første gang Darwin formulerer sin teori om naturlig utvalg er i et dagboknotat høsten 1838. Darwin var en svært detaljert fyr som skulle ha alle fakta på plass, og trolig ville han ikke ha offentliggjort artikkelen som lå til grunn for On the Origin of Species på det tidspunkt han gjorde, hadde ikke Wallace slått inn på akkurat den samme tanken som ham selv.

“I never saw a more striking coincidence. if Wallace had my M.S. [manuscript] sketch written out in 1842 he could not have made a better short abstract!Even his terms now stand as Heads of my Chapters.

Please return me the M.S. which he does not say he wishes me to publish; but I shall of course at once write & offer to send to any Journal. So all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed. Though my Book, if it will ever have any value, will not be deteriorated; as all the labour consists in the application of the theory.” (kilde)