Before The Origin of Species

[BillT]

Here is a link to an article in a free online magazine (The Nautilus).
http://nautil.us/issue/10/mergers--acquisitions/the-seeds-that-sowed-a-revolution

The article is description of the thinking going on when Charles Darwin went to the Galapagos to collect samples (before he wrote The Origin of Species).
This is all about plants and seeds but shows the biological reasoning going on at this time.

[Mugwump]

......a very good find, Bill............thanks

[BallAquatics]

Yes, very nice indeed.  In many ways Hooker is the more interesting character than Darwin.  I found it strange that the article failed to mention that Hooker & Darwin were best friends, much more than just scientific acquaintances.  Hooker went on to become the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for 20 years and then served as president of the Royal Botanical Society from 1873-1878.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dalton_Hooker

http://www.kew.org/

http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/collections/joseph-hooker

Dennis

[BillT]

Yes, very nice indeed.  In many ways Hooker is the more interesting character than Darwin.  I found it strange that the article failed to mention that Hooker & Darwin were best friends, much more than just scientific acquaintances.  Hooker went on to become the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for 20 years and then served as president of the Royal Botanical Society from 1873-1878.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dalton_Hooker

http://www.kew.org/

http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/collections/joseph-hooker

Nice. I did not know much about Hooker before. Pretty interesting guy.

Wallace was somewhat similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace][url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace[/url]

His short explanation of natural selection (he probably called it something else) was what spurred Darwin to publish.
At this time, he was like an itinerant biological collector trying to make money by selling specimens to museums, but also came up with natural selection.