Darwin Reads Mendel's Papers

[Puget Sound]

What if Darwin had read the papers that Mendel sent to him on his theory of heredity? Would the theory of evolution be accepted much sooner with Mendel's ideas included in Darwin's work, therefore providing a way for natural selection to work?

[Half There]

The obstacle that Darwin's work faced was not merely in the fact that he proposed a potential mechanism with an abstract theory that could be regarded as a model of biology, but that he asserted that evolution was the way that all life on earth came about, patently contradicting the prevailing religious ideas at the time.

Heredity would not have solved this problem.

[Puget Sound]

Originally Posted by Half There

The obstacle that Darwin's work faced was not merely in the fact that he proposed a potential mechanism with an abstract theory that could be regarded as a model of biology, but that he asserted that evolution was the way that all life on earth came about, patently contradicting the prevailing religious ideas at the time.

Heredity would not have solved this problem.

I'm talking about among scientists, not the general public.

[Keenir]

Originally Posted by Puget Sound

What if Darwin had read the papers that Mendel sent to him on his theory of heredity? Would the theory of evolution be accepted much sooner with Mendel's ideas included in Darwin's work, therefore providing a way for natural selection to work?

its been a while, but didn't Darwin believe that the reproductive genetic material was drawn from throughout the body of the parents?

...so if you lost your hand in a car accident, none of your post-accident children would have that hand. (nowadays, we call that Lamarkism)


on the other hand, Mendel's work would definately iron out a bit of vagueness as to the how selection is passed along part of the Theory.

[Keenir]

It kinda helps that, in OTL, Darwin was fairly obsessive about reading all the letters he got.

...so I can see him reading Mendel's note and replying to it.

[Fiji]

In OTL, Darwin's notions were accepted far more readily then Wallace's.
Wallace felt that individuals inherited traits from the group they belonged to, rather then from their parents.
Even without actual proof, Darwin's mechanism for natural selection seemed more sensible. Including Mendel's work will only strengthen Darwin's position even more. All in all, the effect would not be very spectacular.