Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson

by Rachel Carson

27. Speech given to the Women’s National Press Club, December 5, 1962, Washington, D.C. Rachel Carson Papers.

  28. A New Chapter to Silent Spring. Speech given to the Garden Club of America, January 8, 1963, New York, New York. Published in the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America (May 1963). Rachel Carson Papers.

  29. Letter to Dr. George Crile, Jr., February 17, 1963. Rachel Carson Papers.

  30. The Pollution of Our Environment. Speech given to the Kaiser-Permanente Symposium, “Man Against Himself,” October 18, 1963, San Francisco, California. Rachel Carson Papers.

  31. Letter to Dorothy Freeman, September 10, 1963, from Always Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, edited by Martha Freeman (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995).

  Acknowledgments

  In the course of writing Rachel Carson’s life I discovered the varied tapestry of her formal and informal writing that for one reason or another was lost to the archives or which had once been published but was now long forgotten and out of print. From the freshness of her early nature writing to the richness of her speeches as a mature literary figure, the body of this writing impressed me and made me think that others might find in these, as in her other published writing, much to treasure.

  Happily Deanne Urmy, Executive Editor of Beacon Press, shared my enthusiasm for this unknown collection and lent her own deep interest in the subject so that this anthology could become reality. She has enriched the always difficult process of selection by her perceptive editorial eye and her literary discernment for which I am deeply grateful. Working with her has been a gift.

  My literary agent and the trustee of Carson’s literary estate, Frances Collin responded to this project with appreciation and insight, and willingly lent her invaluable archives. To Marsha S. Kear, administrative assistant to Collin, I owe a debt of several years’ standing for finding obscure letters and accurate data whenever I came up empty handed.

  Shirley A. Briggs always deepens my understanding of Rachel Carson’s life and literary process by document, memory, and opinion. She graciously and enthusiastically responded to my desire to republish Howard Frech’s wonderful charcoal and pencil drawings that originally graced the pages of Carson’s first book, Under the Sea-Wind. Frech was a colleague of Carson’s at the Baltimore Sun and a splendid artist whose work was widely appreciated in Baltimore art circles. Carson commissioned Frech to draw specific marine life and paid him out of her own pocket for approximately nine drawings, several of which are used here for the first time.

  As in my earlier work on Carson, Paul Brooks has once again graciously and with unfailing literary taste led the way. Several of Carson’s unpublished excerpts first appeared in whole or in part in his splendid literary biography The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work. I have chosen to republish them here because of the quality of Carson’s writing they exhibit, and the insight they give on her development as a natural scientist.

  Almost all of the writing I have selected first came to my notice during the years I spent working on the Papers of Rachel Carson at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. I continue to owe the curators and archivists there a debt of gratitude for their knowledgeable assistance.

  Several selections required scientific annotation in order to bring currency to Carson’s original research. I am indebted to the following scientists who helped me verify material and introduced me to the latest thinking on scientific issues that remain controversial: David G. Smith, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, and Christopher Milensky, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Richard H. Backus and William Watkins, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and especially George M. Woodwell, Woods Hole Research Center, who patiently responded to my inquiries and always knew where to send me; Tom Cochran, National Resources Defense Council; Cliff Curtis, World Wildlife Federation; and Matthew Perry, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, who continually expands my understanding of wildlife management.

  I was able to work on this project with the assistance and collegiality of Pamela Henson, Office of Smithsonian Institution Archives, and in the good company of the staff of the Joseph Henry Papers, Office of Smithsonian Institution Archives, to whom I continue to owe many happy debts.

  My two Ruths, Ruth Brinkmann Jerome and Ruth Jury Scott, have graced my life in different ways but with infinite richness. Ruth Scott was one of Carson’s compatriots but she is also a mentor and guide without whose support my world and Rachel Carson’s would never have coincided so seamlessly or so happily. Ruth Brinkmann Jerome, my dear friend of forty years, began nurturing me as a young undergraduate. She remains my guide to how to live one’s life with grace, humor, courage, and faithfulness.

  My husband, John W. Nickum, Jr., to whom this book is dedicated, knows the richness of the support he has given to me day by day and year by year so that I could have the freedom to create and the discipline to persevere. I hope he knows some measure of my love and gratitude as well.

  Index

  Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.

  Abyss, abyssal plains, 104–5

  Acadia National Park, 115

  Agricultural agencies, authoritarian control of, 217

  Agriculture, U.S. Department of, 205, 213

  Air Pollution Conference, 232

  Alaska, 67

  Albatrosses, 68–69, 72

  Albatross III (research vessel), 151–54

  Albemarle Sound, 42

  Aldrin, 204

  Alewife, 16

  Algæ, 10, 144, 145

  Algonquin tribes, 42

  Allee, W.C., 144

  Alligators, 157, 158, 159

  Amazon River, 66

  American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 64; Symposium, “The Sea Frontier,” 133

  American Medical Association (AMA), 208, 221

  American Museum of Natural History, 64

  Anchovy, 7

  Anemone Cave, 115

  Angler fish, 154

  Animal(s): experimentation, opposition to, 192; inhumane treatment of, 192, 193; livestock, inhumane methods of raising, 192, 194–96

  Animal Machines (Harrison), Carson’s preface to, 192, 194–96

  Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), 189, 192–93

  Antelope, 16; pronghorn, 17

  Ants, fire, 159, 205

  Archeozoic Era, 84

  Arctic Ocean, 103

  Aristotle, 20

  Ascophyllum, 145

  Associated Press, 98, 205

  Asters, wild, 122

  Atlantic Monthly, the, 1, 3, 54–55, 150

  Atlantic Naturalist, The, 209–10

  Atlantic Ridge, 106

  “Atlantic water,” flooding of south coast of England with, 143

  Atomic Age, 102, 107, 228, 242; Carson’s references to anxieties of living in, 83, 89

  Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 107, 240

  Atomic waste: dumping of, at sea, 101, 106–9, 228, 232, 235–37; tragic consequences of dumping of, 237–43

  Audubon, John James, 16

  Audubon Societies, state, 95, 220–21

  Audubon Society of the District of Columbia, 30, 63

  Audubon Society Screen Tour, 96

  Avocet, 47

  Baltimore Sun, 1, 14, 15, 24

  Banding, of chimney swifts, 28–29

  Barnacles, 6, 120, 174

  Bayberry, 40

  Bear, grizzly, 17 and 17n

  Bear River Refuge (U.S. National Wildlife Refuge), 41

  Beauty, natural, 160, 163, 173; destruction of, 161–62; enjoyment of, 165

  Beechnuts, 16

  Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, 118

  Beetle: Japanese, 216; white fringed, 216

  Bennington Banner, 202

  Berrill, John [N.J.], 137, 138

  Big Bear Lake, 235

  Bigelow, Henry Bryant, 133, 137–38

  Bikini bomb test, 109

  Biological Station at
St. Andrews, 137

  Biological Survey, 99

  Biology: instruction, need for reform of, 192; understanding, 193–94

  Bird clubs, 46

  Bird’s nest soup, 26

  Bison, 16

  Bittern, 121; American, 47; least, 47

  Bluefish, 7

  Bobwhite, 13

  Bok, Curtis, 172; Carson’s letter to, 173

  Bok, Nellie Lee, Carson’s letter to, 173

  Boothbay Regional Land Trust, 173

  Brant, 15–16

  Brazilwood, 70

  Briggs, Shirley, 30, 33, 64, 155–56

  Brown, John Mason, 90

  Bugula, 120

  Bureau of Fisheries, U.S., 3, 14, 33, 149

  Bureau of Land Management, 99

  Burroughs, John, 94. See also John Burroughs Memorial Association, John Burroughs Memorial Medal

  Buzzards Bay, 54, 120

  Calanus, 145

  Calcium, 10

  California, University of, Citrus Experimental Station of, 208

  Callianassa, 127–28

  Cancer, 226; breast, 187, 223–24; liver, 219

  Canvasbacks, 16, 17 and 17n

  Cape Cod, 118–20, 138, 148

  Cardinals, 71

  Caribou, 237, 238

  Carson, Rachel, works of The Edge of the Sea, 111, 125, 147

  “Help Your Child to Wonder,” 246

  “Our Ever-Changing Shore,” 113–24

  The Sea Around Us, 33, 34, 53, 63, 83, 151, 163; dedication of, to Henry Bryant Bigelow, 133; John Burroughs Medal for, 93; money from, 173; National Book Award for, 90; preface to second edition of, 101–9; success of, 34, 51, 76

  Silent Spring, 101, 187, 189, 212, 216, 227; fable opening, 197–200; inaccurate statements in reviews of, 206, 207, 215; insect control set forth in, 214; reactions to, 201, 202, 203; serializing of, in the New Yorker, 201, 202

  “Undersea,” 1, 3–11, 150

  Under the Sea-Wind, 3, 15, 33, 51, 150–51; background of, 54–55; Book I (Edge of the Sea), 56–58; Book II (The Gull’s Way), 58–60; Book III (River and Sea), 60–62; general plan and viewpoint of, 55–56; memo to Mrs. Eales on, 53–62

  Cats, 69

  Cattle, 69, 71, 74, 205–6

  Caulk, Ralph, 223n, 225–26

  Caves, in sea cliffs, 115

  CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), 71

  Cesium137, 237, 238

  Chace, Fenner, 137

  Chemagro Corporation, 208

  Chemical industry, funding of research universities by, 201, 207–8, 221–22

  Chesapeake Bay, 19, 20, 22, 23

  Chickadees, 47

  Chincoteague Refuge (U.S. National Wildlife Refuge), 41

  Clams, 5, 6, 59, 137

  Clark University, 27

  Clava, 138

  Clawson, Marion, 99

  Clear Lake, 235

  Cleveland Clinic, The, 223 and 223n

  Clouds: Carson’s TV script on, 175–85; cirrus, 184–85; cumulus, 182–84; lenticular, 178–79; stratus, 181–82

  Coastline: Carson’s observations and description of, 113–23; Carson’s plea for preservation of, 123–24

  Cods, 8, 59, 154

  Comb jellies, 7, 121

  Committee for Nuclear Information, 240

  Committee on Atomic Energy, 239

  Commoner, Barry, 232

  Composite family, 67

  Congo River, 66

  Conservation in Action booklets, 1, 41, 42

  Continental shelf, 4, 8, 60

  Cook, Captain James, 71

  Copepod, 145

  Coral reefs, 10, 134

  Coral rock, 156

  Corals, 10, 80

  Cormorants, 34–35, 38; flightless, 68

  Coronet magazine, 25

  Council on Environmental Quality, U.S., 109n

  Court of Appeals, U.S., 217

  Cows, 216, 233, 239, 240

  Crabs, 5, 9, 56, 59, 153; blue, 136; fiddler, 57; ghost, 6, 57, 126; green, 136–37; hard, 23; horseshoe, 116–17

  Crayfish, 20

  Crepidula, 145

  Crile, George “Barney,” Jr., 223n; Carson’s letter to, 223–26; More Than Booty (with J. Crile), 224

  Crile, Jane, 223, 224, 226; More Than Booty (with G. Crile), 224

  Cuckoo, 13

  cummings, e. e., 12

  Cunners, 7

  Cuttlefish, 9

  Cypress(es), 42–43, 157; Monterey, 116

  Cystoidean tube, 128

  Daisy (brig), 68

  Darwin, Charles, 67–68, 69, 244–45; The Origin of Species, 245

  Day, Albert M., dismissal of, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 98–100

  DDD, 235

  DDT, 204, 205, 213–14, 217, 233–34

  Debussy, Claude, 84; La Mer, 83, 84–88

  Deer, 74, 121

  Development: private or commercial, 124; sordid transformation of, 123

  Diamond Black-Leaf Co., 208

  Diapatra tubes, 128

  Diatoms, 6, 10, 130, 139, 144, 145

  Dickinson, Emily, 148

  Dieldrin, 204, 216

  Dinoflagellates, 121, 139, 143

  Dodo, 68

  Dogfish, 7

  Dogs, 69

  Drainage operations, 18

  Drift, 234

  Driftwood, 174

  Duck(s), 18, 171; black, 45; marsh or dabbling, 45; at Mattamuskeet Refuge, 45–47, 48; pintail, 45; redhead, 17 and 17n

  Dumping, 109n. See also Atomic waste

  Dunes, 115, 118–20, 121, 122, 130–32

  Dust bowl, 19

  Eagle(s), 183; bald, 204

  Earth: exploring interior of, 104; temperature of, 135

  Earthworms, 190–91

  Ebony, 70

  Echo sounding instruments, 81

  Ecology, 135, 231; and conservation, 167; defined, 166

  Ecosystem, 231, 244

  Ectocrines, 142, 143, 144, 145

  Eels, 7, 56; American, 22, 61; effect of sea water on behavior of, 15; European, 22–23, 61; seeking Sargasso Sea, 19–23, 60–62

  Egret: American, 47; snowy, 127

  Elk, 16, 17; pronghorn, I7n

  Elvers, 23. See also Eels

  English Channel, 139

  Enteromorpha, 145

  Equator, 180

  Eskimos, Alaskan, levels of radioactivity in, 237, 238

  Everett, Constance, 29

  Everett, E. A., 29

  Everglades, 154–59

  Everglades National Park, 155

  Evolution, theories of, 244–45

  Fable, opening Silent Spring, 197–200

  Faulkner, William, 12

  Fawns, 121

  Federal Aviation Agency, Civil Aero-medical Unit of, 206

  FIFRA, 205

  Finneran, Fred, 158–59

  Fir, 174

  Fireflies, 169–70

  Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), U.S., 136, 137, 147, 151, 155, 158; and banded chimney swifts, 29; Carson’s employment with, 24, 30; Carson’s resignation from, 51, 111; and Conservation in Action, 1, 41; Albert Day’s dismissal from, 98–100; on decline of bald eagle, 204; and Mattamuskeet Refuge, 49

  Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 12

  Flounders, 8

  Fly, screwworm, 213

  Flycatchers, 69

  Fog, 181–82

  Food and Drug Administration, U.S., 204, 219–20, 234

  Foraminifera, 10

  Ford Foundation, TV Radio Workshop of, 175

  Fosberg, F. Raymond, 63, 74

  Fowl, 21

  Foxes, 58, 126

  Framingham Reservoir, 205

  Frances Hutchinson Medal, 212. See also Garden Club of America

  Freeman, Dorothy, 172; Carson’s letters to, 168–71, 172–73, 246–47

  Freeman, Stanley, Carson’s letters to, 168–71

  Fucus, 145

  Galapagos Islands, 67–68, 69

  Galathea (research vessel), 106

  Ganges River, 66

  Gard
en Club of America, 220–21, 223; Carson’s address to, 211–22

  Gardenia, 75

  Garnet, 122

  Geese, 15–16, 42; blue, 47; Canada, 44, 46–47; Hutchins, 47; at Mattamuskeet Refuge, 42, 44–45, 46–47, 48, 49; white-fronted, 47

  Genetic damage, 243–44

  Georges Bank, 151, 152, 153–54

  George Washington University, 63

  Glades buggies, 155, 156, 158

  Glassworms, 7

  Glasswort, 121

  Globe Times, 202

  Gnats, 235

  Goat(s), 69, 70, 71, 74; mountain, 17 and I7n

  Goldenrod, 122

  Good Reading, 164

  Goosefish, 154

  Goteborg Laboratory (Sweden), 145

  Grass(es): beach, 119; dune, 131; marsh, 42, 121; prairie, 19

  Great Lakes, 16

  Grebe(s), 47; western, 235

  Griffiths Head, 247

  Grouse, 16

  Guam, 73

  Gulf Stream, 22, 106, 152

  Gulls, 35–38, 120, 131, 247

  Gums, 42, 48

  Gumwood, 70

  Gypsy moth, 217

  Haddock, 8

  Halibut, 8

  Halle, Kay, 223n, 224, 226

  Halley, Edmund, 70

  Halos, around sun or moon, 184

  Hammocks, 157

  Hanford Laboratories, 238

  Hardwoods, 174

  Harrison, Ruth, Animal Machines, 192, 194–96

  Harvard University, 133, 137

  Hawaiian Islands, 67, 70–72, 74–75

  Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 30

  Hawk(s), 30–32, 69, 183; duck, 27

  Heezen, Bruce, 105

  Hemlock, 174

  Hen, heath, 17

  Heptachlor, 205

  Heron(s), 47, 121; great blue, 35, 47; green, 47, 120; little blue, 47; night, 120

  Herring, 7, 21, 143, 144, 145; migration of, 36–37; river, 16; round, 137–38; sea, 137

  Hexachlorobenzene, 219

  Hogs, 69–70

  Holiday magazine, 111, 113

  Honouliuli Forest Reserve, 71

  “Hot spots,” 239

  Howe, Kay, 41

  Howe, Quincy, 55, 150

  Howlett, Duncan, 246

  Hudson, William Henry, 94, 166

  Hueper, W. C., 219

  Humane Biology Projects, Carson’s introduction to, 192

  Hummingbird, 13

  Hurricane, 182

  Hydroids, 138

  Ianthina, 7

  Illinois Natural History Survey, 208

  Industry, liaison between science and, 207–9, 210, 221

  Insect control, 212–14

  Insecticides. See Pesticides

  Intensivism, 194–96