WI: Darwin reads Mendel

[Mort the Reaper]

When the contents of Charles Darwin's library were examined after his death, one of its books was found to contain a copy of Gregor Mendel's ground-breaking manuscript on genetic inheritance. Those particular pages were still uncut, indicating Darwin never got around to reading it. Funnily enough, this paper clarified the one part of his theory (patterns/mechanisms of heredity) for which he'd not found decisive evidence.

What if Darwin had read it?

 

[Analytical Engine]

This article suggests that, even if Darwin did read Mendel's work - which was cited in works Darwin is known to have read, even if he hadn't read the article itself - he might either miss its significance or have just skimmed over it.

Darwin was noted (again see the article) to be rather dismissive of the use of mathematics in biology. So, it might not have changed very much.

 

[bpbruce]

I hadn't come across Darwin's 'like a scalpel in a carpenter's shop' dismissal of math in bio before. I'd just read the one where Darwin wishes he had some math talent, 'for men so endowed seem possessed of an extra sense'. So I'd have thought Darwin just might not have the math chops.

But Darwin had smart friends, and they talked. If Darwin had been shown what Mendel meant, he'd have repeated Mendel's experiments. And maybe failed to repeat them- I've read that Mendel's experiments were a little too on-the-nose to believe. But Darwin was good with experiments, and he had an amazing range of people corresponding with him, and if he'd had ten years or so his next edition of The Origin of Species would have been forty years ahead of our timeline. Resulting in- I don't know. Weizman's bacterium starts mass-producing acetone in 1870? Norman Borlaug's grandfather buries socialism in Britain under giant mounds of nosh in 1880?

 

[Byzantion]

When the contents of Charles Darwin's library were examined after his death, one of its books was found to contain a copy of Gregor Mendel's ground-breaking manuscript on genetic inheritance. Those particular pages were still uncut, indicating Darwin never got around to reading it. Funnily enough, this paper clarified the one part of his theory (patterns/mechanisms of heredity) for which he'd not found decisive evidence.

What if Darwin had read it?

Maybe it only takes one visionary person to connect the work of both. Maybe somebody who happens to have read both of them and connecting the dots. Somebody with knowledge in science.

 

[TomNolan]

It's cool that you mentioned the Charles Darwin's Library. I found a good site that contains a collection and reconstruction of books that have survived from that time.

Charles Darwin’s Library is a digital edition and virtual reconstruction of the surviving books owned by Charles Darwin. In 1908, Charles Darwin’s son Francis transferred what he called the ‘Darwin Library’ to the Botany School at Cambridge University under the care and control of the Professor of Botany, A. C. Seward.1 As Francis put it, ‘The library of Charles Darwin has now found a permanent home in his University…’ Of course the library of Charles Darwin is more than the collection of the works he owned at his death. As Francis already appreciated in 1908, ‘The chief interest of the Darwin books lies in the pencil notes scribbled on their pages, or written on scraps of paper and pinned to the last page.’2 Darwin did read both systematically and with great intensity. He read to gather evidence, to explore and define the research possibilities of his evolutionary ideas, and to gauge reactions to his own publications. In fact, reading was a major tool in Darwin’s scientific practice. Thus what our digital reconstruction of the Darwin Library delivers is the ability to retrace and reduplicate Darwin’s reading of a wealth of materials.

The portion of the Darwin Library now published at the Biodiversity Heritage Library constitutes Phase 1 of a collaborative project to digitise the Darwin Library works and to provide transcriptions of Darwin’s marginalia side by side with the pages he marked. Phase 1 presents images and marginalia for 330 books, represents 22% of the total 1480 Darwin Library book titles. But, more significantly, these 330 titles represent 44% of the 743 Darwin books that bear his annotations or marks. The latter comprise 28951 annotated and marked book pages and 1624 attached note slips. Plans for further phases to complete digital publication of the remainder of the Darwin Library are now under consideration.

If you are interested in learning more, I recommend reading the full version at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/collection/darwinlibrary#history

 

[Alemor]

It's cool that you mentioned the Charles Darwin's Library. I found a good site that contains a collection and reconstruction of books that have survived from that time.

Charles Darwin’s Library is a digital edition and virtual reconstruction of the surviving books owned by Charles Darwin. In 1908, Charles Darwin’s son Francis transferred what he called the ‘Darwin Library’ to the Botany School at Cambridge University under the care and control of the Professor of Botany, A. C. Seward.1 As Francis put it, ‘The library of Charles Darwin has now found a permanent home in his University…’ Of course the library of Charles Darwin is more than the collection of the works he owned at his death. As Francis already appreciated in 1908, ‘The chief interest of the Darwin books lies in the pencil notes scribbled on their pages, or written on scraps of paper and pinned to the last page.’2 Darwin did read both systematically and with great intensity. He read to gather evidence, to explore and define the research possibilities of his evolutionary ideas, and to gauge reactions to his own publications. In fact, reading was a major tool in Darwin’s scientific practice. Thus what our digital reconstruction of the Darwin Library delivers is the ability to retrace and reduplicate Darwin’s reading of a wealth of materials.

The portion of the Darwin Library now published at the Biodiversity Heritage Library constitutes Phase 1 of a collaborative project to digitise the Darwin Library works and to provide transcriptions of Darwin’s marginalia side by side with the pages he marked. Phase 1 presents images and marginalia for 330 books, represents 22% of the total 1480 Darwin Library book titles. But, more significantly, these 330 titles represent 44% of the 743 Darwin books that bear his annotations or marks. The latter comprise 28951 annotated and marked book pages and 1624 attached note slips. Plans for further phases to complete digital publication of the remainder of the Darwin Library are now under consideration. You can also read about Charles Darwin's works and life at https://samploon.com/free-essays/charles-darwin/ , where many good materials are collected. This resource can be useful for your study!

If you are interested in learning more, I recommend reading the full version at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/collection/darwinlibrary#history

Wow! It's the first time I hear that libraries can be reconstructed in such a way. Thank you very much for sharing this material and link to the full text. Interesting idea, I like it.

 

[H.Flashman(VC)]

People in this thread talk about maths. That is indeed a factor that should be looked at, because many statistical tools that were used to proof the link between genetics and evolution were brand spanking new. So you would need to speed up that development also.