The Quotable Darwin
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Darwin to Charles Lyell,
14 November [1860], DCP 2565
By Jove I sometimes think Drosera is a disguised animal!
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
4 December [1860], DCP 3008
I write now, because the new Hothouse is ready & I long to stock it, just like a school-boy.—Could you tell me pretty soon what plants you can give me; & then I shall know what to order. And do advise me how I had better get such plants as you can spare. Would it do to send my tax-cart early in morning, on a day that was not frosty, lining the cart with mats; & arriving here before night.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
15 February [1863], DCP 3986
The only approach to work which I can do is to look at tendrils & climbers, this does not distress my weakened Brain.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
[27 January 1864], DCP 4398
I am glad to hear the Abutilon is a new species, & I am honoured by its name [Abutilon darwinii]. I do not know its habitat, but strongly suspect that it must be St. Catharina [Brazil]. The plant flourished & flowered profusely in my cool hot-house.—It seems to like heat. It offers an instance, of which I have known others, of being during the early part of the flowering season quite sterile with pollen from the same plant, though fertile with the pollen of any other plant, though later in the season it becomes capable of self-fertilisation.
Darwin to J. D. Hooker,
23 July [1871], DCP 7878
I do not think anything in my scientific life has given me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the structure of these plants [Primula]…. After some additional experiment, it became evident that the two forms, though both were perfect hermaphrodites, bore almost the same relation to one another as do the two sexes of an ordinary animal.
Autobiography, 126–27
PART 4
Mankind
Caricature, The Hornet, 22 March 1871. Reproduced with permission from Special Collections, University College London.
Human Origins
As soon as I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing. Although in the Origin of Species, the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by the work in question “light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history.”
Autobiography, 130
You ask whether I shall discuss “man”;—I think I shall avoid whole subject, as so surrounded with prejudices, though I fully admit that it is the highest & most interesting problem for the naturalist.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
22 December 1857, DCP 2192
I am sorry to say that I have no “consolatory view” on the dignity of man; I am content that man will probably advance & care not much whether we are looked at as mere savages in a remotely distant future.
Darwin to Charles Lyell,
4 May [1860], DCP 2782
I was partly led to do this by having been taunted that I concealed my views, but chiefly from the interest which I had long taken in the subject.
Darwin to Alphonse de Candolle,
6 July 1868, DCP 6269
The mental requirements of the lowest savages, such as the Australians or the Andaman islanders, are very little above those of many animals…. How then was an organ [the brain] developed far beyond the needs of its possessor? Natural Selection could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that of an ape, whereas he actually possesses one but very little inferior to that of the average members of our learned societies.
Wallace 1869, 391–92
I hope you have not murdered too completely your own & my child.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
27 March [1869], DCP 6684
I differ grievously from you, & I am very sorry for it. I can see no necessity for calling in an additional & proximate cause in regard to Man. But the subject is too long for a letter. I have been particularly glad to read yr discussion because I am now writing & thinking much about man.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
14 April 1869, DCP 6706
During many years I collected notes on the origin or descent of man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views…. Now the case wears a wholly different aspect…. The greater number [of naturalists] accept the agency of natural selection; though some urge, whether with justice the future must decide, that I have greatly overrated its importance. Of the older and honoured chiefs in natural science, many unfortunately are still opposed to evolution in every form.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 2
It might be intelligible that a man’s tail should waste away when he had no longer occasion to wag it, though I should have thought that savages would still have found it useful in tropical climates to brush away insects…. The arguments in the sheets [of Descent of Man] you have sent me appear to me to be little better than drivel.
Whitwell Elwin to John Murray,
21 September 1870, John Murray Archives, National Library of Scotland
Man bears in his bodily structure clear traces of his descent from some lower form.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 34
The early progenitors of man were no doubt once covered with hair, both sexes having beards; their ears were pointed and capable of movement; and their bodies were provided with a tail, having the proper muscles. Their limbs and bodies were also acted on by many muscles which now only occasionally reappear, but are normally present in the Quadrumana…. The foot, judging from the condition of the great toe in the fœtus, was then prehensile; and our progenitors, no doubt, were arboreal in their habits, frequenting some warm, forest-clad land. The males were provided with great canine teeth, which served them as formidable weapons.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 206–7
In a series of forms graduating insensibly from some ape-like creature to man as he now exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point when the term “man” ought to be used.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 235
As monkeys certainly understand much that is said to them by man, and as in a state of nature they utter signal-cries of danger to their fellows, it does not appear altogether incredible, that some unusually wise ape-like animal should have thought of imitating the growl of a beast of prey, so as to indicate to his fellow monkeys the nature of the expected danger. And this would have been a first step in the formation of a language.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 57
The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians. The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind—such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch; they had no government, and were merciless to every one not of their own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more humble creature flows in his veins.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 404
I have given the evidence to the best of my ability; and we must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intel
lect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 405
Mr. Darwin’s conclusions may be correct, but we feel we have now indeed a right to demand that they shall be proved before we assent to them; and that since what Mr. Darwin before declared “must be,” he now admits not only to be unnecessary but untrue, we may justly regard with extreme distrust the numerous statements and calculations which, in the “Descent of Man,” are avowedly recommended by a mere “may be.”
George St. J. Mivart, 1871, 52
Altogether the book [Descent of Man], I think, as yet has been very successful, & I have been hardly at all abused. Several reviewers speak of the lucid vigorous style etc.—Now I know how much I owe to you in this respect, which includes arrangement, not to mention still more important aids in the reasoning. Therefore I wish to give you some little memorial costing about 25 or 50£, to keep in memory of the book, over which you took such immense trouble. I have consulted Mamma, but we cannot think what you would like, & she with her accustomed wisdom advised me to lay the case before you & let you decide how you like…. By the way, I have had hardly any letters about “the Descent” worth keeping for you, except one from a Welshman abusing me as an old ape with a hairy face & thick skull. We shall be heartily glad to see you home again. Goodbye my very dear coadjutor & fellow-labourer, Your affecate. father. Ch. Darwin.
Darwin to Henrietta Darwin,
20 March 1871, DCP 7605
Race
When two races of men meet they act precisely like two species of animals,—they fight, eat each other, bring diseases to each other &c., but then comes the more deadly struggle, namely which have the best fitted organizations, or instincts (ie intellect in man) to gain the day…. Man acts on & is acted on by the organic and inorganic agents of this earth like every other animal.
Notebook E, 63, 65
I suspect that a sort of sexual selection has been the most powerful means of changing the races of man. I can shew that the difft races have a widely difft standard of beauty. Among savages the most powerful men will have the pick of the women & they will generally leave the most descendants.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
28 [May 1864], DCP 4510
Probably you are right on all the points you touch on except as I think about sexual selection which I will not give up…. It is an awful stretcher to believe that a Peacock’s tail was thus formed, but believing it, I believe in the same principle somewhat modified applied to man.
Darwin to A. R. Wallace,
15 June [1864], DCP 4535
Man tends to multiply at so rapid a rate that his offspring are necessarily exposed to a struggle for existence, and consequently to natural selection. He has given rise to many races, some of which are so different that they have often been ranked by naturalists as distinct species.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 185
Although the existing races of man differ in many respects, as in colour, hair, shape of skull, proportions of the body, &c., yet if their whole organisation be taken into consideration they are found to resemble each other closely in a multitude of points.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 231–32
The belief that there exists in man some close relation between the size of the brain and the development of the intellectual faculties is supported by the comparison of the skulls of savage and civilised races, of ancient and modern people.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 145
I do not intend to assert that sexual selection will account for all the differences between the races.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 249
The strongest and most vigorous men,—those who could best defend and hunt for their families, and during later times the chiefs or head-men,—those who were provided with the best weapons and who possessed the most property, such as a larger number of dogs or other animals, would have succeeded in rearing a greater average number of offspring, than would the weaker, poorer and lower members of the same tribes. There can, also, be no doubt that such men would generally have been able to select the more attractive women.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 368–69
It would be an inexplicable circumstance, if the selection of the more attractive women by the more powerful men of each tribe, who would rear on an average a greater number of children, did not after the lapse of many generations modify to a certain extent the character of the tribe.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 369
Sexual Selection
In the same manner as man can improve the breed of his game-cocks by the selection of those birds which are victorious in the cockpit, so it appears that the strongest and most vigorous males, or those provided with the best weapons, have prevailed under nature, and have led to the improvement of the natural breed or species.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 258
When the sexes differ in colour or in other ornaments, the males with rare exceptions are the most highly decorated, either permanently or temporarily during the breeding-season. They sedulously display their various ornaments, exert their voices, and perform strange antics in the presence of the females. Even well-armed males, who, it might have been thought, would have altogether depended for success on the law of battle, are in most cases highly ornamented; and their ornaments have been acquired at the expense of some loss of power. In other cases ornaments have been ac quired, at the cost of increased risk from birds and beasts of prey.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 123
All animals present individual differences, and as man can modify his domesticated birds by selecting the individuals which appear to him the most beautiful, so the habitual or even occasional preference by the female of the more attractive males would almost certainly lead to their modification; and such modifications might in the course of time be augmented to almost any extent, compatible with the existence of the species.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 124
The peacock with his long train appears more like a dandy than a warrior, but he sometimes engages in fierce contests.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 46
Many will declare that it is utterly incredible that a female bird should be able to appreciate fine shading and exquisite patterns. It is undoubtedly a marvellous fact that she should possess this almost human degree of taste, though perhaps she admires the general effect rather than each separate detail. He who thinks that he can safely gauge the discrimination and taste of the lower animals, may deny that the female Argus pheasant can appreciate such refined beauty; but he will then be compelled to admit that the extraordinary attitudes assumed by the male during the act of courtship, by which the wonderful beauty of his plumage is fully displayed, are purposeless; and this is a conclusion which I for one will never admit.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 93
As negroes, as well as savages in many parts of the world, paint their faces with red, blue, white, or black bars,—so the male mandrill of Africa appears to have acquired his deeply-furrowed and gaudily-coloured face from having been thus rendered attractive to the female. No doubt it is to us a most grotesque notion that the posterior end of the body should have been coloured for the sake of ornament even more brilliantly than the face; but this is really not more strange than that the tails of many birds should have been especially decorated.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 296
Man is more powerful in body and mind than woman, and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more abject state of bondage than does the male of any other animal; therefore it is not surprising that he should have gained the power of selection.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 371
As far as sexual selection is concerned, all that is required is that choice should be exerted before the parents unite, and it signifies little whether the unions last for life or only for a season.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 360
If an inhabitant of another planet
were to behold a number of young rustics at a fair, courting and quarrelling over a pretty girl, like birds at one of their places of assemblage, he would be able to infer that she had the power of choice only by observing the eagerness of the wooers to please her, and to display their finery.
Descent 1871, vol. 2, 122
My conviction of the power of sexual selection remains unshaken; but it is probable, or almost certain, that several of my conclusions will hereafter be found erroneous; this can hardly fail to be the case in the first treatment of a subject. When naturalists have become familiar with the idea of sexual selection, it will, as I believe, be much more largely accepted; and it has already been fully and favourably received by several capable judges.
Descent 1874, vol. 1, vi
Morality
It has interested me much to see how differently two men may look at the same points, though I fully feel how presumptuous it sounds to put myself even for a moment in the same bracket with Kant;—the one man a great philosopher looking exclusively into his own mind, the other a degraded wretch looking from the outside thro’ apes & savages at the moral sense of mankind.
Darwin to Frances Power Cobbe,
23 March [1870], DCP 7149
Of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 70
If, for instance, to take an extreme case, men were reared under precisely the same conditions as hive-bees, there can hardly be a doubt that our unmarried females would, like the worker-bees, think it a sacred duty to kill their brothers, and mothers would strive to kill their fertile daughters; and no one would think of interfering.
Descent 1871, vol. 1, 73
A moral being is one who is capable of comparing his past and future actions or motives, and of approving or disapproving of them. We have no reason to suppose that any of the lower animals have this capacity; therefore when a monkey faces danger to rescue its comrade, or takes charge of an orphan-monkey, we do not call its conduct moral. But in the case of man, who alone can with certainty be ranked as a moral being, actions of a certain class are called moral, whether performed deliberately after a struggle with opposing motives, or from the effects of slowly-gained habit, or impulsively through instinct.