04/22/2024

Medical historian Markel (The Secret of Life) presents a gripping account of the period between 1858 and 1860 when Darwin wrote and published On the Origin of Species. On June 18, 1858, Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace in which the “obscure journeyman naturalist” naively outlined for his competitor a theory of evolution that was “a near-perfect summary” of the same ideas “that Darwin had pondered for more than two decades,” lighting a fire under Darwin to publish his conclusions soon or risk getting scooped. Recounting the difficulties Darwin faced during this period, Markel notes that grief over the death of his infant son from scarlet fever in June 1858 cast a pall over the writing process and exacerbated the “flatulence and stomach pain” that dogged Darwin for much of his adult life. The most revelatory material examines Origin’s heated reception, including a tense climactic account of an 1860 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science during which zoologist Thomas Huxley’s fierce defense of Darwin against the skeptical Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, proved pivotal in shifting “moral authority from the church to the intellectual power of science.” The result is a detailed and dramatic close-up of a consequential period in scientific history. Photos. (June)

"An illuminating approach to the Darwin disputes."

★ 2024-03-20
A deeply satisfying new account of two crucial years in Darwin’s life.

Science historian Markel, author of The Secret of Life, The Kelloggs, and An Anatomy of Addiction, illuminates a short period beginning in 1858, when the 48-year-old naturalist suddenly realized that he needed to get his act together. An obscure researcher, Alfred Russel Wallace, had mailed Darwin a paper proposing that species evolved, thrived, or vanished according to their success in obtaining limited resources such as food. (For more on Wallace, turn to James T. Costa’s Radical by Nature.) This “struggle for existence,” wildly controversial because divine creation was not involved, had preoccupied Darwin for 20 years. Too squeamish to follow tradition—i.e., dump Wallace’s article and quickly publish his own—Darwin took the advice of friends and submitted Wallace’s paper, along with one of his own, to a local scientific society. They produced little controversy, but Darwin immediately set to work writing On the Origin of Species, “a book that would change the world.” In the final 200 pages of Markel’s book, the author delivers an entertaining account of Origin’s initial reception upon publication in 1859. Friends wrote enthusiastic reviews, while opponents wrote nasty ones; all of the criticism appeared anonymously, but the critics’ identities were usually not a secret. Darwin either agonized or rejoiced, and his recurrent digestive upsets became crippling. Historians tend to dismiss them as hypochondria, but Markel, a physician, concludes that Darwin “most likely suffered from systemic lactose intolerance.” The author concludes with the epic June 1860 Oxford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Many historians have argued that pugnacious Darwin defender Thomas Huxley crushed anti-Darwinist Samuel Wilberforce. Examining contemporary accounts, Markel intriguingly wonders if this may be a case of history-by-the-winners because both pro- and anti-Darwinists claimed victory.

Darwin’s two iconic years rendered masterfully by a highly knowledgeable chronicler.