by Paul Johnson
criticism of, 103
description, 99–100
limitations, 100–101, 103–8
publication, 99
success, 102
Dickens, Charles, 10, 73
Dictionary of National Biography, 146
Disraeli, Benjamin, 72, 96–97, 114
double helix, 146
Down House, home near London, 57–61, 97, 114, 115–16
Duncan, Isabelle, 90
dysgenics, 131, 132–33, 135
Edinburgh Review, 92
Edinburgh University, 20, 22–24
Edmonstone, John, 24
Einstein, Albert, 146
Eliot, George, 73, 89–90, 133, 142
Ellis, Havelock, 133
Engels, Friedrich, 90, 135
Essay on Liberty (Mill), 89
Essay on Population. See Malthus, Thomas
eugenics
Darwin’s view, 129–30
defined, 128
and dysgenics, 131, 132–33, 135
in Germany, 133, 135
limited success, 131
and marriage, 129, 131
role of Francis Galton, 6, 128–29
evolution. See also natural selection
background, 41–42
Darwin’s study of why and how it occurs, 43–44
early exponents, 4, 41–42
English constitution as model instance, 42
genetics as how it works,119, 146
impact of HMS Beagle travels on Darwin, 42–43
natural selection as why it works, 76, 146
process of natural selection, 43–44
“survival of the fittest,” 76, 98, 126, 134, 136
as theater of violence, 30, 134
Expression of the Emotions (Charles Darwin), 102, 108–10, 130
Falconer, Hugh, 143–44
Farrar, Canon Frederic William, 140
Fisher, Ronald, 146
FitzRoy, Robert, 25–26, 27, 30, 69, 94
Fleming, Sir Alexander, 114
Flustra (sea mat), 23, 24
Focke, Wilhelm Olbers, 120
Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits (Charles Darwin), 115, 116
Foster, Michael, 130
Freud, Sigmund, 146
Froude, James Anthony, 127
Fuegans. See Tierra del Fuego
Galápagos Islands, 33–34
Galileo
as cerebral genius, 6
on importance of mathematics, 21–22
Galton, Francis, 6, 103, 106, 128–29, 131
Galton, Tertius, 6
Galton, Violetta Darwin (half-sister), 6
game shooting, 18
Gaskell, Elizabeth, 142
gene, use of word, 3
Genesis, 31, 41, 71, 75, 83
genetics
Darwin’s lack of knowledge, 3, 22, 119–20, 125
as how of evolution, 119, 146
Mendel credited, 122, 146, 150
Mendel’s papers on, 21, 119, 120
relationship to natural selection, 146, 147
genius, cerebral compared with intuitive-cerebral, 6–7
Geographical Society, 11
Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands Visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle (Charles Darwin), 40
Geological Society, 39, 40, 115
geology
and chronology of creation, 31
concept of immensity of time, 30–31
C. Darwin’s interest in, 24
E. Darwin’s interest in, 4–5
George III, king of England, 3
Gladstone, W. E., 17, 97
Goebbels, Joseph, 135
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 42
Gordon Riots, 56
Grant, Robert Edmund, 23, 24
Gray, Asa, 79, 91–92
Greg, W.R., 103
Gregory, William, 23–24
Haldane, J.B.S., 146, 151
Hallam, Arthur, 73
Hardy, Thomas, 142
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 42
Henslow, John Stevens, 24–26, 39, 98
Hereditary Genius (Galton), 106, 128–29
heredity, 117, 118, 127. See also inheritance, genetic; Mendel, Gregor
Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, 144
Himmler, Heinrich, 135
Hitler, Adolf, 134–35
HMS Beagle voyage
Darwin appointed naturalist, 25–26
Darwin’s haul of specimens, 26, 27, 34, 39
Darwin’s publications from voyage, 27–28, 40
impact on Darwin, 27–28, 34, 42–43
summary of Darwin’s journey, 26–27
Hobbes, Thomas, 30, 145
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 132
Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton, 69, 78, 125, 140, 144, 145
Hooker, William, 98
Hope, Thomas, 23
Humboldt, Alexander, 143
Hunt, F.J.A., 93
Hunt, Robert, 73
Huxley, Aldous, 132
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 52, 78, 91, 94, 96, 122, 140, 143, 144
Ibsen, Henrik, 142
ice cure, 59
Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, 132
inheritance, genetic, 3, 10, 17, 105, 121–22, 131, 150. See also heredity
In Memoriam (Tennyson), 72–74
Insectivorous Plants (Charles Darwin), 115
intelligence, male compared with female, 106
intuition, relationship to genius, 6–7
Jameson, Robert, 23
Jasperware, 9
Jenkin, Fleeming, 121
Jenny (orangutan), 96
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 3
Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle round the World, under the Command of Captain Fitz Roy RN (CharlesDarwin), 27
Kant, Immanuel, 42
Keeling (Cocos) Islands, 31–32
Keynes, J. M., 6, 80
Kidd, Benjamin, 127
Kingsley, Charles, 92, 98, 127
Lamarck, Jean Baptiste de Monet, Chevalier de, 4, 24, 41, 105, 150
learned societies, 6, 8, 11, 22, 23, 39–40, 70, 78–79, 117–18, 119
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 62
Lenin, Vladimir, 135
Lewes, George, 89, 90, 142
Lincoln, Abraham, 17
Linnean Society, 78–79
London University, 39
Lothair (Disraeli), 72
Loudon, John Claudius, 76
Lowell, James Russell, 140
Lubbock, John, 140
Lunar Society, 8
Lyell, Sir Charles
Darwin’s view, 144
early emphasis on term “evolution,” 42
encourages Darwin’s book on man’s descent, 99
encourages Darwin to publish Origin of Species, 78–79, 91
friendship with Darwin, 39, 76
as geological researcher, 4, 30–31
publishes Principles of Geology, 30–31, 42, 73
and Queen Victoria, 95–96
urges Darwin to publish Origin of Species, 76, 77
Madison, James, 17
Malthus, Thomas, 41, 43, 44–48, 49, 78
Maoris, New Zealand, 29–30
Mao Tse-tung, 135, 136
Martineau, Harriet, 40, 56, 98
Marx, Karl, 90, 135, 146
Matthew, Patrick, 76–77
Mein Kampf (Hitler), 134
Mendel, Gregor
awareness of Darwin, 117
background, 117–19, 122
comparison with Darwin, 121
credited with founding science of genetics, 122, 146, 150
discovers how natural selection works, 119, 146
key papers on genetics, 21, 119, 120
principle of independent assortment, 119
principle of segregation, 118
Mendelism, 131, 146, 150
Middlemarch (Eliot), 142
Mill, John Stuart, 89
Milton, John, 142
Mudie’s (library), 93, 95
Muller, Hermann Joseph, 146
Murchison, Roderick, 144
Murray, John, 40, 80, 98
Natural Science Society of Brünn, 117–18, 119
natural selection. See alsoevolution
background, 43–44
Blyth’s views, 77
Darwin’s development of theory, 44, 48–49
Darwin’s papers made public at Linnean Society meeting, 79
genetics as how it works, 119, 146
Matthew’s views, 76–77
Mendel’s contribution, 119, 146
paradox in, 147–48
as part of modern genetics, 146, 147
relationship to genetics, 146, 147
as “survival of the fittest,” 76, 98, 126, 134, 136
theory made public by Linnean Society, 79
treatment in Origin of Species, 81, 83, 86
universality of, 147–48
Wallace’s views, 78
as why of evolution, 76, 146
New Testament, 51–52, 53, 93
Newton, Sir Isaac, 6
New Zealand, Maoris of, 29–30
ocean coral reefs, 31–32, 43
Old Testament, 31
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or,The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Charles Darwin). See Origin of Species (Charles Darwin)
orangutans, 96
orchids, 68–69, 70, 113–14
Origin of Species (Charles Darwin)
aftermath of publication, 80, 82–83, 89–99, 125–31
comparison with The Descent of Man, 21, 99–100
concept of “struggle” in, 84–86, 134, 135–36
contents, 81
Darwin’s notebooks as source of material for, 41
Darwin’s work toward publishing, 58, 67–79
description, 80–86
editions, 76, 77, 80, 81, 93, 95, 97, 131
intellectual and emotional impact on world, 131–36
man’s descent issue in, 81, 82–83, 90, 96–97
Paley’s influence, 23
publication, 79–80, 89
reviews, 91–94
success, 80, 82–83, 89–99
treatment of God and revelation, 82–83
treatment of natural selection, 81, 83, 86
Owen, Richard, 92–93, 143
Paley, William, 22–23, 32
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount, 10
Paxton, Sir James, 96
Pearson, Karl, 129
Phytologia; or, The Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening (Erasmus Darwin), 4
pigeons, 71
Plan for the Conduct of Female Education in Boarding Schools (Erasmus Darwin), 5
plant fertilization, 70, 113–17
Plinean Society, 23
Pol Pot, 136
polymathy
Chambers as polymath, 71
C. Darwin as polymath, 21, 99, 113
E. Darwin as polymath, 5
Galton as polymath, 6
Gregory as polymath, 23
Henslow as polymath, 24
Spencer as polymath, 73, 75, 126
Stephen as polymath, 146
Power of Movement in Plants, The (Charles Darwin), 115
Priestley, Joseph, 12–13, 22, 56, 68, 121
primroses, 114
principle of independent assortment (Mendel), 119
principle of segregation (Mendel), 118
Principles of Biology(Spencer), 76
Punch (magazine), 140
race and racism, 105, 106–7, 127–29, 133. See also slavery
religion. See also Bible
biblical account of creation, 31, 41–42, 43, 71, 75, 82, 83
Church of England, 8, 13, 31, 93
Darwin’s gradual loss of faith, 51–52, 53, 141
and reception of Origin of Species, 93–94
Rhodes, Cecil, 105, 127
Rosebery, Lord, 127
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 4
Rowlandson, Thomas, 11
Royal Society, 6, 11, 22, 39, 70, 140
Ruskin, John, 73, 141
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 136
Scott, Sir Walter, 19, 22
Sedgwick, Adam, 24, 39, 97–98
Seeley, John Robert, 127
Self-Help (Smiles), 89, 131
Shakespeare, William, 19, 142
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 142
slavery, 51, 59, 89, 95, 107. See also race and racism
Smiles, Samuel, 89, 131
social Darwinism, 122, 125, 129, 131–36
Spencer, Herbert, 73, 75–76, 126, 143, 146
Spottiswoode, William, 140
Stalin, Joseph, 135, 136
Stephen, Leslie, 146
sterilization, 132, 133, 135
Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (CharlesDarwin), 40
Supreme Court, U.S., 132
“survival of the fittest,” origin of phrase, 76
System of Invertebrate Animals (Lamarck), 24
System of Synthetic Philosophy (Spencer), 126
Tancred (Disraeli), 72
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 17, 72, 73–75, 144
theodicy, 62
Tierra del Fuego, 28–29, 30, 107, 108, 134
Times (newspaper), 91
Trotsky, Leon, 135
Turner, J.M.W., 141
Unitarians, 8
U.S. Supreme Court, 132
vaccination, 104, 128, 129, 149
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Chambers), 71–72, 73, 75, 77
Victoria, Queen of England, 74–75, 95–96
View of the Evidence of Christianity (Paley), 22–23
von Humboldt, Alexander, 27
von Nägeli, Karl Wilhelm, 120
von Treitschke, Heinrich, 127–28
Voyage of the Beagle, The (Charles Darwin), 28
Wagner, Eva, 133
Wagner, Richard, 142
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 10, 22, 48–49, 77–78, 79, 99, 140
Walpole, Horace, 4
water cure, 59, 62
Waterton, Charles “Squire,” 24
Watson, James, 146
Watt, James, 4
Webb, Beatrice and Sydney, 133
Wedgwood, Josiah, 8–9, 39
Wedgwood, Josiah II, 18, 50
Wells, H. G., 133
Wernerian Natural History Society, 23
Westminster Abbey, 140
What Mad Pursuit (Crick), 22
White, Gilbert, 18
Wilberforce, Samuel, 94–95, 97
Wives and Daughters (Gaskell), 142
Wollaston, Thomas Vernon, 78
Wordsworth, William, 72, 142
worms, 115–17
Young, G. M., 74
Zoological Society,
39, 40
Zoology of HMS Beagle (Charles Darwin), 40
Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life (Erasmus Darwin), 4
ALSO BY PAUL JOHNSON
Socrates
Jesus
Churchill
Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties
A History of the Jews
The Birth of the Modern World: World Society 1815–1830
Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky
A History of the American People
Art: A New History
George Washington: The Founding Father
Creators: From Chaucer and Dürer to Picasso and Disney
Napoleon: A Penguin Life
Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle