Nineteenth Century Thought (8 page)

Charles
Darwin was born in 1809 in England and received his education at Cambridge. He
is known as a naturalist, a scholar who refers for explanation of the phenomena
of life and the variations/ differences present in them to nature. To Darwin,
life had in it an unambiguous natural tendency to evolve from an ordinary to a
higher state. This, he stated, was perceptible in form and species of life on
earth. The chain Darwin was able to establish through different species in the
animal and vegetable kingdoms earned him the right to question the concept of
creation. For him, an atheist, there was no such thing as creation since
'creation' assumed the existence of a 'creator,' a being superior in capability
to all.

An
untiring researcher devoted solely to the objective study of all that he saw in
nature, Darwin used the accepted scientific method of correspondences, or what
he termed '
homologie
.' His efforts set in during the
better part of the nineteenth century a whole new era of unbiased investigation
of happenings and developments in the world. This spirit of open-ended enquiry
active behind his studies is more important for us than 'Darwinism,' the
belief-system built around his conclusions and findings. Darwin's approach to
things is what should matter to us, it is this that links up his endeavours
with those of his contemporaries in other equally vital areas of human life.

The
strongest attack on religion in the nineteenth century came from Charles
Darwin. He systematically eroded the basis of 'faith' in a supreme power by
arguing that life does not move away from but in fact evolves towards a higher
being (the man) who has acquired the power of intellect to penetrate
 
"into the movements
 
and constitution of the solar system."
His critique of the hitherto existing belief-systems won him wide acclaim as a
scholar-scientist of unrivalled merit. His theories and studies helped a great
deal in the development of scientific
biology. Some important
works of Darwin are
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
(1859),
The
Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
(1868) and
The
Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
(1871). He died in 1882.

(
from
The Origin of Species)

A
brief summary will here be sufficient to recall to the reader's mind some more
salient points in this work. Many of the views which have been advanced are
highly speculative, and some no doubt will prove erroneous; but I have in every
case given the reasons which have led me to one view rather than to another. It
seemed worthwhile to try how far the principle of evolution would throw light
on some of the more complex problems in the natural history of man. False facts
are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often long endure;
but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, as everyone
takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done,
one path towards error is dosed and the road to truth
¹
is often at
the same time opened.

The
main conclusion arrived at in this work, and now held by many naturalists who
are well competent to form a sound judgment, is that man is descended from some
less highly organized form.
²
The grounds upon which this conclusion
rests will never be shaken, for the dose similarity between man and the lower
animals in embryonic development, as well as in innumerable points of structure
and constitution, both of high and of the most trifling importance-the
rudiments which he retains, and the abnormal reversions to which he is
occasionally liable-are facts which cannot he disputed. They have long been
known, but until recently they told us nothing with respect to the origin of
man. Now when viewed by the light of our knowledge
³
of the whole
organic world, their meaning is unmistakable.
 

ANNOTATIONS

1.
      
The
road to truth:
Here, truth is projected as the opposite of error, a
change in the age-old perception of truth as Absolute.

2.
      
Some
less highly organized form:
A truly weird description of a
being from whom man is supposed to have descended. Here, God or transcendence
are intended. This is not just an example of wit but a whole approach
(tentative and open-ended) to the phenomenon of life on the earth.

3.
      
Viewed
by the light of our knowledge:
 
These
are highly significantly words, the association of light with knowledge being
particularly so. In the eighteenth century Europe, reason was identified with
enlightenment.

The
great principle
 
of evolution stands up
dear and firm, when these groups of facts are considered in
 
connection
 
with
 
others
 
such
 
as
 
the
 
mutual
 
affinities
 
of
 
the members
 
of the
 
same
 
group,
 
their
 
geographical
 
distribution
 
in past
 
and
 
present
 
times,
 
and
 
their
 
geological
 
succession.
⁴
It is incredible that all these facts should
speak falsely. He who is not content
 
to
 
look,
 
like
 
a
savage, at the phenomena
 
of
 
nature
 
as disconnected cannot any longer believe that man is the work of a
separate act of creation.
⁵
He will be forced to admit that the
close resemblance of the embryo of man to that, for instance, of a dog the
construction of his skull, limbs, and whole frame, independently of the uses to
which the parts may be put, on the same plan with that of other mammals -the
occasional reappearance of various structures, for instance of several distinct
muscles, which man does not normally possess, but which are common to the Quadrumana
⁶
-- and a crowd of analogous facts
⁷
-all point in the plainest
manner to the Conclusion that man is the
codescendant
with other mammal s of a common progenitor.
⁸
* * *

By
considering the embryological structure of man-the homologies
⁹
which he presents with the lower animals, the rudiments which he retains, and
the reversions to which he is liable-we can partly
 
recall in
 
imagination
 
the former
 
condition of our early progenitors; and can
approximately place them in their proper position in the zoological series
¹⁰
.

ANNOTATIONS

4.
  
Mark
such conceptual words in this sentence as 'affinity,'
 
'distribution' and 'succession.' These point
towards a methodology.

5.
  
A
separate act of creation:
An effective blow to religious
thought according to which life is an act of creation rather than a part of the
evolutionary process.

6.
     
Quadrumana
:
Animal
with four hands.

7.
     
Analogous
facts:
Comparable, similar points of observation or
characteristics. Modern critical theory sometimes uses the concept of
'analogous.'

8.
     
Progenitor:
Ancestor. The word is descriptive without any general
or mythical suggestions.

9.
     
Homologies:
Correspondences. Ref. n. 4 and 7.

10.
  
In
their proper position in the zoological series:
The
statement connects with the scientific methods of the nineteenth century.
'Proper' means open to change since science has the options open on facts and
observations where a good deal of shuffling and reordering is done as a matter
of course.

We
thus learn that man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with .a tail
and pointed ears, probably
arboreal
¹¹
in its habits, and an
inhabitant of the Old World. This creature, if its whole structure had been
examined by a naturalist, would have been classed amongst the
Quadrumana
, as surely as would the common and still more
ancient progenitor of the Old and New World monkeys. The
Quadrumana
and all the higher mammals are probably derived from an ancient
marsupial
¹²
animal,
and this through
a long line of diversified forms
¹³
,
either
from
some reptile-like or some amphibian-like creature, and this again
from
 
some fish-like animal.
¹⁴
In the dim obscurity of the past we can see that the early progenitor of
all
 
the
 
Vertebrata
¹⁵
must have been
an aquatic animal
¹⁶
,
provided with
branchae
, with the two sexes united
in the same individual, and with the most important organs of the body (such as
the brain and heart) imperfectly developed. This animal seems to have been more
like the larvae of our existing
marine ascidians
¹⁷
than any
other known form.* * *

Sexual
selection
¹⁸
has been treated
at great length in these volumes; for, as I have attempted to show, it has
played an important part in the history of the organic world. * * *

The
belief in the power of sexual selection rests chiefly on the following
considerations. The
characters
¹⁹
which we have the best reason
for supposing to have been thus acquired are confined to one sex; and this
alone renders it probable that they are in some way connected with the act of
reproduction.

ANNOTATIONS

11.
     
Arboreal:
Living
in or connected with trees.

12.
     
Marsupial:
Incompletely
developed and suckled in a pouch. Comes from biological history.

13.
     
A long line of diversified forms:
Darwin's
open-ended guesswork based on studies of life's evolutionary process.

14.
     
Some reptile-like or some
amphibian-like creature and this again from some fish-like animal:
The
style and tone characteristic of a scientist groping for clues and answers.

15.
     
Vertebra:
Back-bone.

16.
     
An aquatic animal, provided with
branchae
:
A creature living in water and
having gills.

17.
     
Marine ascidians:
A
sea-animal of hard rubbery skin.

18.
     
Sexual selection:
This
is a theoretical category as well as a pioneering idea of great significance.

19.
     
Characers
:
Features,
attributes and characteristics.

. These characters in innumerable instances are fully
developed only at maturity; and often during only a part of the year, which is
always the breedi.ng season. The males (passing over a few exceptional cases)
are the most active in courtship; they are the best armed, and are rendered the
most attractive in various ways. It is to be especially observed that the males
display their attractions with elaborate care in the presence of the females;
and that they rarely or never display them excepting during the season of love.
It is incredible that all this display should be purposeless. Lastly we have
distinct evidence with some quadrupeds and birds that the individuals of the
one sex are capable of feeling a strong antipathy or preference
²⁰
for certain individuals of the opposite sex.

Bearing
these facts in mind, and not forgetting the marked results of man's unconscious
selection, it seems to me almost certain that if the individuals of one sex
were during a long series of generations to prefer pairing with certain
individuals of the other sex, characterized in some peculiar manner, the
offspring would slowly but surely become modified in this same manner. I have
not attempted to conceal that, excepting when the males are more numerous than
the females, or when polygamy prevails, it is doubtful how the more attractive
males succeed in leaving a larger number of offspring to inherit their
superiority in ornaments or other charms than the less attractive males; but I have
shown that this would probably follow from the females-especially the more
vigorous females which would be the first to breed, preferring not only the
more attractive but at the same time the more vigorous and victorious
 
males.

Although
we have some positive evidence that birds appreciate bright and beautiful
objects, as with the bowerbirds of Australia, and although they certainly
appreciate the power of song, yet I fully admit that it is an astonishing fact
that the females of many birds and some mammals should be endowed with
sufficient taste for what has apparently been effected through sexual
selection; and this is even more astonishing in the case of reptiles, fish, and
insects.

ANNOTATIONS

20.
     
Strong antipathy or preference:
These
indicate clear visible behaviour in animals and are seen to go a long way to
determine various species in the biological sphere. Both antipathy and
preference get linked up with 'unconscious selection' in the next para.
Unconscious means natural.

But
we really know very little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be
supposed that male birds of paradise or peacocks, for instance, should take so
much pains in erecting, spreading, and vibrating their beautiful plumes before
the females for no purpose. We should remember the fact given on excellent
authority in a former chapter, namely that several peahens, when debarred from
an admired male, remained widows during a whole season rather than pair with
another bird.

Nevertheless
I know of no fact in natural history more wonderful than that the female
argus
pheasant
should be able to appreciate
the exquisite shading of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the elegant patterns
on the wing feathers of the male. He who thinks that the male was created as he
now exists must admit that the great plumes, which prevent the wings from being
used for flight, and which, as well as the primary feathers, are displayed in a
manner quite peculiar to this one species during the act of courtship, and at
no other time, were given to him as an ornament. If so, he must likewise admit
that the female was created and endowed with the capacity of appreciating such
ornaments. I differ only in the conviction that the male
argus
pheasant acquired his beauty gradually, through the females having preferred during
many generations the more highly ornamented males
²¹
; the aesthetic capacity
of the females having been advanced through exercise or habit in the same
manner as our own taste is gradually improved. In the male, through the fortunate
chance of a few feathers not having been modified, we can distinctly see how
simple spots with a little fulvous
²²
shading on one side might have
been developed by small and graduated steps into the wonderful ball-and-socket ornaments;
and it is probable that they were actually thus developed . * * *