Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Darwinian Revolution Revisited

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The “Darwinian revolution” remains an acceptable phrase to describe the change in thought brought about by the theory of evolution, provided that the revolution is seen as occurring over an extended period of time. The decades from the 1790s through the 1850s are at the focus of this article. Emphasis is placed on the issue of species extinction and on generational shifts in opinion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Louis Aggasiz (1842) ArticleTitle“On the Succession and Development of Organized Beings at the Surface of the Terrestrial Globe.” Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal 33 388–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Toby A. Appel (1987) The Cuvier–Geoffroy Debate: French Biology in the Decades before Darwin Princeton University Press Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Peter Bowler (1988) The Non-Darwinian Revolution: Reinterpreting a Historical Myth Johns Hopkins University Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Janet Browne (1983) The Secular Art: Studies in the History of Biogeography Yale University Press New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Janet Browne (1995) Charles Darwin: Voyaging Alfred A. Knopf New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Janet Browne (2002) Charles Darwin: The Power of Place Alfred A. Knopf New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkhardt, Frederick et al. (ed.). 1985-. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. 13+ vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Abbreviation: Correspondence

  • Richard W. Burkhardt SuffixJr. (1972) ArticleTitle“The Inspiration of Lamarck’s Belief in Evolution.” Journal of the History of Biology 5 413–438 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00346666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhardt, Richard W., Jr. 1995. The Spirit of System: Lamarck and Evolutionary Biology, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

  • I. Bernard Cohen (1985) Revolution in Science Harvard University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • William Coleman (1964) George Cuvier, Zoologist: A Study in the History of Evolution-Theory Harvard University Press Cambridge Occurrence Handle10.4159/harvard.9780674283701

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yvette. Conry (1974) L’Introduction du Darwinisme en France au XIXe siècle Vrin Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Pietro Corsi (1988a) Science and Religion: Baden Powell and the Anglican Debate, – 1800–1860 Cambridge University Press Cambridge Occurrence Handle10.1017/CBO9780511598494

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pietro Corsi (1988b) The Age of Lamarck: Evolutionary Theories in France, 1790–1830 University of California Press Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles Darwin (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life John Murray London

    Google Scholar 

  • De Beer, Gavin. 1960. “Darwin’s Notebooks on Transmutation of Species.” Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Historical Series 2 (2–5).

  • De Beer, Gavin, Rowlands M.J. and Skramovsky, B.M. 1967. “Darwin’s Notebooks on Transmutation of Species: Pages Excised by Darwin.” Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Historical Series 3 (5).

  • Frank N. Egerton (2003) Hewett Cottrell Watson: Victorian Plant Ecologist and Evolutionist Ashgate England, Aldershot

    Google Scholar 

  • Loren Eiseley (1958) Evolution and the Men Who Discovered It Doubleday & Co Garden City, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul Lawrence Farber (2000) Finding Order in Nature: The Naturalist Tradition from Linnaeus to E. O. Wilson Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore, MD

    Google Scholar 

  • Frängsmyr, Tore (ed.). 1994. Linneaus: The Man and His Work, 2nd ed. Canton, MA: Science History Publications

  • Michael T. Ghiselin (1969) The Triumph of the Darwinian Method University of California Press Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles Coulston Gillispie (1989) ArticleTitle“Scientific Aspects of the French Egyptian Expedition, 1798–1801.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 133 447–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Glick, Thomas F. (ed.). 1974. The Comparative Reception of Darwinism, 2nd ed. 1988. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

  • Stephen J. Gould (1979) ArticleTitle“Agassiz’s Marginalia in Lyell’s Principles, or the Perils of Uniformity and the Ambiguity of Heroes.” Studies in History of Biology 3 119–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Judith V. Grabiner D. Miller Peter (1974) ArticleTitle“Effects of the Scopes Trial.” Science 187 IssueID6 September 832–837 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.185.4154.832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, John C. 1959. The Death of Adam: Evolution and Its Impact on Western Thought, 2nd ed. 1996. Ames: Iowa State University Press

  • John C. Greene (1971) “The Kuhnian Paradigm and the Darwinian Revolution in Natural History.” H.D. Roller Duane (Eds) Perspectives in the History of Science and Technology University of Oklahoma Press Norman

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard E. Gruber H. Barrett Paul (1974) Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity together with Darwin’s Early and Unpublished Notebooks E. P. Dutton New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Joy Harvey (1997) “Almost a Man of Genius”: Clémence Royer: Feminism, and Nineteenth-Century Science Rutgers University Press New Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, Sandra. 1968. “The Logic of Darwin’s Discovery.” Brandeis University, Ph.D. Dissertation.

  • Herbert, Sandra. 1974, 1977. “The Place of Man in the Development of Darwin’s Theory of Transmutation, Parts I and II.” Journal of the History of Biology 7: 217–258, 10: 155–227

  • Sandra Herbert (1980) The Red Notebook of Charles Darwin. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Historical Series. 7 Cornell University Press Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandra Herbert (2005) Charles Darwin, Geologist Cornell University Press Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonathan Hodge (1983) ArticleTitle“Darwin and the Laws of the Animate Part of the Terrestrial System (1835–1837): On the Lyellian Origins of His Zoonomical Explanatory Program.” Studies in History of Biology 6 1–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstadter, Richard. 1955. Social Darwinism in American Thought, Rev. ed. Boston: Beacon Press

  • David L. Hull (1973) Darwin and His Critics: The Reception of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by the Scientific Community Harvard University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard Darwin Keynes (2000) Darwin’s Zoology Notes and Specimen Lists from H.M.S. Beagle Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Desmond King-Hele (1999) Erasmus Darwin: A Life of Unequalled Achievement Giles de la Mare Publishers London

    Google Scholar 

  • David Kohn (1980) ArticleTitle“Theories to Work By: Rejected Theories, Reproduction, and Darwin’s Path to Natural Selection.” Studies in History of Biology 4 67–170

    Google Scholar 

  • David Kohn (Eds) (1985) The Darwinian Heritage. With Bibliographic Assistance from Malcolm J Kottler Princeton University Press Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hervé. Le Guyader (2004) Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire: A Visionary Naturalist. Trans. Marjorie Grene University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Camille Limoges (1970) La sélection naturelle Presses universitaires de France Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • José M. LópezPiñero (1988) ArticleTitle“Juan Bautista Bru (1740–1799) and the Description of the Genus Megatherium.” Journal of the History of Biology 21 147–163 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00125797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles Lyell (1832) Principles of Geology, Being An Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth’s Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation. Volume 2 John Murray London

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas Robert Malthus (1959) Population: The First Essay [1798] University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Edward Manier (1978) The Young Darwin and His Cultural Circle Reidel Dordrecht Occurrence Handle10.1007/978-94-009-9797-4

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Frank E. Manuel (Eds) (1965) The Enlightenment Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst Mayr (1982) The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance Harvard University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ospovat, Dov. 1981. The Development of Darwin’s Theory: Natural History, Natural Theology and Natural Selection, 1838–1859. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (reissue 1995).

  • Dorinda Outram (1984) Georges Cuvier: Vocation, Science, and Authority in Post-Revolutionary France Manchester University Press Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Philip H. Rehbock (1983) The Philosophical Anatomists University of Wisconsin Press Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Robert J. Richards (1987) Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Robert J. Richards (2002) The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe University of Chicago Press Chicago Occurrence Handle10.7208/chicago/9780226712185.001.0001

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marsha L. Richmond (2001) ArticleTitle“Women in the Early History of Genetics: William Bateson and the Newnham College Mendelians, 1900–1910.” Isis 91 55–90 Occurrence Handle10.1086/385040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin J.S. Rudwick (1972) The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology Macdonald London

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin J.S. Rudwick (1997) Georges Cuvier, Fossil Bones, and Geological Catastrophes: New Translations and Interpretations of the Primary Texts University of 1997 Chicago Occurrence Handle10.7208/chicago/9780226731087.001.0001

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, Michael. 1979. The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. 2nd ed. 1999. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

  • Michael Ruse (1996) Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillip R. Sloan (Eds) (1992) The Hunterian Lectures in Comparative Anatomy by Richard Owen University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • E.C. Spary (2000) Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from the Old Regime to Revolution University of Chicago Press Chicago Occurrence Handle10.7208/chicago/9780226768700.001.0001

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Robert C. Stauffer (1975) Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection: Being the Second Part of His Big Species Book Written from 1856 to 1858 Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank Sulloway (1982) ArticleTitle“Darwin’s Conversion: The Beagle Voyage and Its Aftermath.” Journal of the History of Biology 15 327–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephen Toulmin Goodfield June (1965) The Discovery of Time Harper & Row New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenny Uglow (2002) The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Alfred Russel Wallace (1889) Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with Some of Its Applications Macmillan London

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuel Wilberforce (1860) ArticleTitle“On the Origin of Species . . . by Charles Darwin.” Quarterly Review 108 225–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Virginia Woolf (1967) Collected Essays, 4 vols Harcourt, Brace, and World New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Robert M. Young (1969) ArticleTitle“Malthus and the Evolutionists: The Common Context of Biological and Social Theory.” Past and Present 43 109–145 Occurrence Handle10.1093/past/43.1.109

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in the Human Context of Science and Technology, Department of History, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    Sandra Herbert

Authors
  1. Sandra Herbert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Herbert, S. The Darwinian Revolution Revisited. J Hist Biol 38, 51–66 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-004-6509-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-004-6509-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation