Evolutionary Anthropology 19:41–45 (2010)

Crotchets & Quiddities

‘‘Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw’’, So What?

Tennyson wrote his famous line with in mind, but he was basically wrong

KENNETH M. WEISS

A young Alfred Tennyson (Fig. 1A) widely used to describe the ruthless 1833, was early in arrived at Cambridge University in way that Nature daily dispenses with his voyage on the HMS Beagle. 1827. He became fast friends with individuals and, over eons, with spe- Though they were born in the same another student, Arthur H. Hallam cies as well. Could it be, asked Ten- year, and were contemporaries at (Fig. 1B). Both were aspiring poets and nyson, that even Man, Cambridge, they may never have Arthur helped Alfred with his budding met, because Darwin spent most of Who trusted God was love indeed efforts, coming strongly to his defense his time hunting. Although the poem And love Creation’s final law— when his first books were attacked by was finished in 1850, well before Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw reviewers. Their families became close Darwin’s Origin of (1859), With ravine, shriek’d against and, in 1832, Arthur became engaged Tennyson was brooding on the cru- his creed— to Tennyson’s sister Emilia. But the fol- elty of Nature because the realization lowing year and without warning, Hal- Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills, of gradual change in the earth and lam, still in his early 20s, suffered a Who battled for the True, the Just, in life was ‘‘in the air’’ in intellectual brain hemorrhage and died. Be blown about the desert dust circles in Britain. Tennyson was devastated. He Or seal’d within the iron hills?1 Tennyson read many of the same vented his shattered emotions in works as Darwin did, and eventually verse, which he continued to augment Evolution was on Tennyson’s mind read Darwin’s work itself. Both were until the result was finally published as he worked on In Memoriam. influenced by Charles Lyell’s Princi- 17 years later as his long masterpiece, When he began writing the poem in ples of Geology,2 which appeared in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850).1 The public actually read poetry in those days, and Tennyson became so popular that he succeeded the great William Wordsworth as Britain’s poet laureate in the year In Memo- riam was published. Proclaimed to have an incredible ‘‘ear’’ and to be one of Britain’s greatest poets ever, he is known for several major works, but perhaps none so much as his ode to his lost friend. That’s where he wrote, ‘‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.’’ Another line from In Memoriam that’s still in circulation is Tenny- son’s characterization of ‘‘Nature, red in tooth and claw.’’ This is still

Ken Weiss is Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology and Genetics at Penn State University. E-mail: kenweiss@ psu.edu

V C 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Figure 1. Poetic partners. A. Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), by G. F. Watts. B. Arthur H. DOI 10.1002/evan.20255 Published online in Wiley InterScience Hallam (1811–1833), artist unknown. Source: public domain: Wikimedia. [Color figure can (www.interscience.wiley.com). be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.] 42 Weiss Crotchets & Quiddities

Chambers was profoundly influ- privately drafted a tentative chapter enced by Lyell and the evidence of called ‘‘’’,9 in which slow geological change, as well as by he first explicitly outlined his evolu- Jean Lamarck’s theory that biological tionary ideas—so explicitly, indeed, species changed gradually, inheriting that an extract of the chapter was adaptive traits that their parents had introduced to the Linnaean Society in acquired during life.6 Chambers 1858 to prove Darwin’s priority over argued that the universe had initially Wallace in developing a modern theory been created by God, a cosmos Ten- of how biological variation evolved. nyson characterized as ‘‘a fluid haze of light’’ (from The Princess1). In making his creation, God imposed HAECKEL (P)REDUX? natural laws on the universe, which By the early nineteenth century, thereafter motored along—evolved— vertebrate embryologists had found on its own without further divine that ‘‘Each animal has been found to intervention. This world view is called pass, in the course of his germinal Figure 2. Robert Chambers (1802–1871). deism and was, of course, a direct history, through a series of changes Source: public domain. threat to the established church view resembling the permanent forms of inwhichGodwasverymuchwithus. the various orders of animals inferior several volumes around the time of In Chambers’ view, evolutionary proc- to it in the scale.’’ For example, a four- Hallam’s death. Lyell described the esses ineluctably led to improvement, stage progression had been suggested, geological processes by which the wending their way toward a final state that went from fish, to reptiles, to birds, earth’s features very slowly ground with a ‘‘nobler type of humanity, to mammals and, of course, humans. along in a relentless, purely material which shall complete the zoological This quote will probably seem fa- way, which Tennyson, in In Memo- circle on this planet, and realize some miliar to you. The idea was the basis riam, described as the ‘‘streams that of the dreams of the purest spirits of of the German evolutionist Ernst swift or slow/Draw down aeonian 3 the present race.’’ Haeckel’s ‘‘biogenetic law’’ that ‘‘on- [aeons-old] hills, and sow/The dust Although Chambers’ book was a of continents to be’’. Then, in 1844, togeny recapitulates phylogeny.’’ First public sensation, it was heavily stated in Haeckel’s book General Mor- about halfway between Hallam’s criticized, partly for what Darwin phology in 1866,10 this was an oft- death and the completion of In characterized in the preface to the Memoriam, a new book appeared repeated central pillar in his staunch Origin of Species as ‘‘little accurate defense of Darwinism. Haeckel’s catch- that was so startling that its author knowledge and a great want of scien- phrase is still heard today. refused to identify himself. 7 tific caution.’’ But even Darwin went But the quote is not from Haeckel! on to acknowledge that Chambers It’s from Chambers, in 1844. His was A BOOK ‘‘COMPOSED had done ‘‘excellent service in this probably the most widely read state- country in calling attention to the IN SOLITUDE’’ ment of these findings, which were subject, in removing prejudice, and well-known at the time, until Haeckel Robert Chambers (1802–1871, Fig. in thus preparing the ground for the took the stage. But even earlier,11 in 7 2) was a Scottish journalist and pub- reception of analogous views.’’ 1832, in The Palace of Art, Tennyson lisher. Though not a professional sci- Chambers both followed Lamarck had built the same embryological entist, he was curious, widely read, and anticipated Darwin by saying facts into a remarkable evolutionary and well aware of the ideas of organic that a species rose to higher form or statement about the human brain1: as well as geologic change that were became degraded ‘‘by the influence building in England at the time. of the physical conditions in which it ‘‘From shape to shape at first within 3 Chambers assembled his thoughts lives.’’ This is the familiar theory of the womb into a book, The Vestiges of the Natural use and disuse that both Lamarck The brain is modell’d,’’ she began, 3 History of Creation. (For discussion and Darwin espoused, which, if ‘‘And thro’ all phases of all thought 4 5 of his views see Eisely , and Gould as properly phrased in modern terms, I come well as Wikipedia: Vestiges of the we have no problem with today: Into the perfect man.’’ Natural History of Creation.) In its ‘‘use’’ means preserved by selection conclusion, Chambers described his and ‘‘disuse’’ means that a trait not All nature widens upward. Evermor book as ‘‘composed in solitude...for maintained by selection will gradu- The simpler essence lower lies: the sole purpose ... of improving the ally mutate away. In anthropology, More complex is more perfect, knowledge of mankind, and through Loring Brace later referred to this as owning more that medium their happiness.’’3 But the ‘‘probable mutation effect.’’8 Discourse, more widely wise. despite these good intentions, he pub- The year Vestiges was published, lished anonymously because he knew 1844, was remarkable not just because Here, Tennyson sees in compara- that his ideas would stir a cultural Chambers’ book made a public splash, tive embryology a natural view of the hornet’s nest. Indeed, they certainly did! but also because that year Darwin progression of the complex human Crotchets & Quiddities Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw, So What 43

of course Karl Marx and their fol- of death and destruction, of tooth and lowers, were rumbling, often in dia- claw, on which these views were metrically opposed ways, about how based, may be a fact but, in fact, does social evolution must also follow sci- not imply what was claimed of it. entific laws. Even the biologists, Dar- win and Wallace and their followers, notably including Darwin’s advocate A DESCRIPTION OF NATURE, BUT Thomas Huxley, concluded that WHAT DOES IT MEAN? because of our brain power humans could now, finally, overcome biologi- Every creature dies, and most of us cal selection and engineer society to will die in grim ways we would not our liking. choose. In the animal and plant world, Among Victorian fiction writers, it usually means being torn apart while Tennyson probably kept most still alive. Even those who escape big Figure 3. ‘‘The Ape despite his razor keen, abreast of scientific thinking. This predators are often taken down by mi- Was the apiest Ape that ever was seen!’’ was regularly reflected in his work. crobial ones who eat us alive from the From Princess Ida. Drawing by W.S. Gilbert In fact, Huxley praised him as the inside out, needing neither teeth nor (signed as ‘‘Bab’’). only nonscientist of the century who claws to do it. Nature is certainly as really understood the penetrating im- Tennyson described it. brain from simpler ancestors, so that portance of the issues. Huxley even The nastiness in Nature, and its we are now able to control our own praised In Memoriam for its insight equivalent in the grinding social mis- destiny and overcome nasty Nature. into the methods of science.13 How- ery that Darwin and Wallace knew The biogenetic laws is taken to its ever, Tennyson’s interest was in the of both at home in the UK and in extreme. implications of biological evolution other countries, were the centerpiece Of course we have long known that for social advancement. His humor- of Thomas Malthus’ idea of the cru- mammal embryos do not go through ous 1847 poem The Princess con- elty visited on people by overpopula- the adult stages of earlier vertebrate cerns ‘‘A talk of college and of ladies’ tion, which finally pushed both species (and certainly not birds!). rights,’’ in which a group of Victo- Darwin and Wallace to their theories Nonetheless, it’s easy to see how the rian-vintage feminists establish a of natural selection. In Tennyson’s apparent evolutionary advance of the women-only college, where women words, Nature was ‘‘so careless of the human brain immediately led to an are allowed to be educated and single life...that of fifty seeds/She extension of evolutionary thoughts achieve equality, to read and actually often brings but one to bear’’. (from beyond the confines of geology and think, even of mathematics and In Memoriam1). In his 1844 chapter, , to anthropology and human science! Darwin said that Nature is ‘‘the doc- affairs more broadly. The Princess was humorously trine of Malthus applied in most veiled advocacy of equality for cases with tenfold force.’’9 ‘‘Can it be women. It exemplifies the threat that doubted from the struggle each indi- ‘‘THE APIEST APE THAT EVER evolutionary theory, in the hands of vidual has to obtain subsistence,’’ he social progressives, posed to the pre- asked, ‘‘that any minute variation WAS SEEN!’’12 vailing stuffy order of British society. in structure, habits or instincts, Tennyson’s description of nature It became the basis of Gilbert and adapting that individual better to the as red in tooth and claw reflected a Sullivan’s 1884 comedic operetta, new conditions, would tell upon its bleak, increasing awareness that the Princess Ida.12 At one point in the vigor and health?’’9:49 Fifteen years cruelty of the industrial revolution play, a Maid was wooed by an Ape later, he continued this theme, end- and the expanding Empire showed who, ‘‘with a view to rise in the ing the Origin of Species by listing the world not to be the warm crea- social scale,’’ tried to disguise himself several ‘‘laws acting all around us’’, tion of a loving God, but instead to by shaving, docking his tail, and including the inherent ‘‘Ratio of be impersonal, material, and strictly dressing in a suit (Fig. 3). But she Increase so high as to lead to a physical. Like it or not, Nature was a saw through this at once, because Struggle for Life, and as a conse- hammer of destruction. But was that Man ‘‘sprung from an Ape, is an ape quence to Natural Selection.’’7:425 all? Was Hallam’s death totally with- at heart’’ and ‘‘A Darwinian Man, But that is false reasoning, and it’s out purpose or even meaning? Or though well-behaved/At best is only a persisted rather uncritically up to could there be more? monkey shaved.’’ Even in the theater, our own time. The remorseless cru- That ‘‘more’’ might be found in the satire showed evolution’s general elty of Nature certainly provides an human mind. Following on the eight- currency at the time. opportunity for, but doesn’t imply, eenth-century Enlightenment period But the works I’ve discussed do not natural selection. Rather than having of utopian hopes that knowledge and just constitute a set of nineteenth- a talon for fine-tuning, much if not science would improve society, not century anecdotes. They reflect a seri- most of nature’s mayhem is indis- only Chambers, but also materialists ous conceptual problem, and one that criminate. If life is tragic, it’s largely like sociologist Herbert Spencer and is still around. The remorseless march a universal tragedy. 44 Weiss Crotchets & Quiddities

Indeed, when environments able and willing to mate and produce others saw, in Nature’s brutality, evi- become too harsh, there may simply fertile offspring. dence of a driving purpose. be no way out for anybody, a level of In Chapter IV of the Origin of stress that overwhelms any ‘‘minute Species, Darwin used the only figure variation’’. Not every species can in the book to describe his idea that ‘‘NOT A WORM IS CLOVEN IN respond to changes in conditions. It the descendants of a common ances- VAIN’’ (FROM IN MEMORIAM ) may be that none of its individual tor would gradually diverge, specializ- members bear genetic variation that ing to varying environments as they The death of Arthur Hallam can withstand an environmental did so. In the most hand-waving of seemed an obvious consequence of a onslaught. In fact, many, if not most hand-waving terms, he simply asserts coldly mechanical universe, but Ten- species, go extinct. Not only that, but that after some few thousand genera- nyson, like Chambers, found solace evolutionary ecologists have found tions, this divergence would lead to in a deist perspective. He yearned to evidence that lack of appropriate the formation of different ‘‘varieties,’’ see Hallam again, and his poem con- genetic variation may help explain as they were called. Then, after many cluded with a Chambers-like resolu- the curious long-term stasis of many more thousands of generations, this tion in which that reunion would species, sometimes even in the face divergence would lead to different eventually happen, in the presence of of environmental change.14–16 species. Darwin did not support this or in unity with God. In ‘‘In Memo- Conversely, it takes only the most by any kind of evidence about species riam,’’ he saw the cruelty of Nature superficial of observations to see that per se, much less anything quantita- and of human society as a kind of as a rule most organisms have plenty tive or related, say, to ideas of genetic pilgrim’s progress plodding steadily, of chance to reproduce. Rarely is incompatibility (though that is per- if brutally, towards an ultimate, com- each individual wobbling on the haps implicit in later chapters where forting end ‘‘No longer half-akin to thin edge of survival, ready to perish he considers the problem of hybrid vi- brute,’’ in company of ‘‘one God, one if it can’t secure every available ability). The degree to which selection law, one element.’’ And specifically of calorie. Such a state of affairs bet- is the direct means by which repro- Hallam, Tennyson wrote: ter describes times of famine, not ductive isolation has arisen is still a normality. The danger of too heavy lively topic,17,18 but even when selec- Whereof the man, that with me trod abludgeonwasonereasonDarwin tion is involved it doesn’t imply that This planet, was a noble type repeatedly stressed the slowness the losers die more brutally or yearn Appearing ere the times were ripe, and gradual nature of natural selec- to mate more often than do the win- That friend of mine who lives in tion. Ironically, it could be that ners. God. times of plenty provide more plenti- I am not denigrating the inspired ful times for variation to compete deftness with which Darwin amassed In his grief, Tennyson found hope for success. a stunning diversity of evidence to sup- in the idea of embryological recapitu- In being captivated by the blunt port his idea that species arise through lation. If Nature is a hammer, it is a harshness of Nature, we have rather a history of natural processes. Every- progressive force that destroys to consistently made a similar mistake, thing we know supports his intuition, improve: the brains of earlier, more along with Darwin, in regard to his which we continue to reinforce with primitive species, evolved toward the ultimate purpose, which was to show the same kinds of evidence that Dar- more noble structure that we bear. that natural selection is the means by win used. However, from his time to Eventually, a perfected mind would which new species evolved. That, too, the present, we have misperceived the be united with the God who had is false reasoning. Natural selection unquestionable coldness of mortality started it all. To Tennyson, Hallam does not, by itself, lead to speciation. and fertility differences as being neces- was an early representative of that One finch can have a genotype for a sarily systematic and force-like, using nobler creature through which bigger beak that allows it to eat larger that perception to view selection as Nature would eventually be defanged. seeds than another finch can, but that more refined and discriminating than In fact, Tennyson and almost does not mean they can’t mate. There it usually seems to be and then equat- everyone of his time shared a notion is great diversity in the traits of ing the resulting divergence with mat- of progress that they saw in both human beings around the world, and ing incompatibility, the usual defini- the biological and social evidence.19 much of it seems to be adaptive to tion of species. Darwin is often said to have been an local environmental and cultural cir- Darwin’s theory of speciation was exception because he stressed diver- cumstances. Classical examples are based on long-term extrapolation of gence where the only sense of pro- resistance to malaria, light skin pig- the undeniable cruelty of population gress was adaptive improvement of mentation that allows vitamin D to be pressure and the well-established organisms to their current local cir- produced in people adapted to north- effectiveness of short-term agricultural cumstances. But he can only partly ern climates, or the adaptive ability of selection. But Nature’s cruelty and the be exonerated, as a glance at his adults to digest milk. Yet, despite this formation of species are separate treatment of human race and culture considerable adaptive variation, pop- issues. Meanwhile, Darwin’s extrapola- in Descent of Man (1871) easily ulations at the ends of the earth, Cape tion was nothing compared to the leap shows. There, Darwin goes to some Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, are of faith by which Tennyson and many length to speculate about how local Crotchets & Quiddities Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw, So What 45 selection led to steady cultural as ology. As he wrote to his contempo- worth, and John Fleagle for critically well as biological advance among the rary August Weisman, ‘‘No doubt reading this manuscript. This col- human populations, as savages led to there remains an immense deal of umn is written with financial assis- civilizations.20 work to do’’ on the problem of specia- tance from funds provided to Penn In nineteenth century Britain, it tion due to natural selection (Darwin State Evan Pugh professors. did not require a religious perspec- letters, 2/29/1872 from http://www. tive to see Nature as inherently pro- darwinproject.ac.uk/). Ever modest, REFERENCES gressive. It was too bad that the poor he went on to say, ‘‘I have only opened have to suffer today, but it is a path for others to enter, and in the 1 Hill RW, editor. 1971. Tennyson’s poetry. New Nature’s way to make society better York: W.W. Norton. course of time to make a broad and 2 Lyell C. 1830. The principles of geology: being tomorrow. Social progress was, after clear high-road’’ to understanding. an attempt to explain the former changes of the all, why European societies were That has certainly happened in the earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in dominant in the world: not because operation. London: John Murray. years since we embarked on the path 3 they were nice, but because they had Chambers R. 1844. Vestiges of the natural his- Darwin helped to open for us. But tory of creation. London: John Churchill. evolved to be better. At the same the problem of understanding how 4 Eiseley LC. 1958. Darwin’s century: evolution time, social egalitarians such as the species arise at the gene level has not and the men who discovered it. Garden City, socialists saw in the conflicts of evo- NY: Doubleday. been solved, unless the answer is ‘‘by 5 lution the ability, or even the destiny, Gould SJ. 2002. The structure of evolutionary all sorts of genomic differences, theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. of society to become more rather sometimes large, sometimes small.’’ 6 Lamarck JBP. 1809. Philosophie zoologique, than less humane—a materialistic It also is not clear how natural selec- ou, exposition des conside´rations relative a` l’his- substitute for deism. toire naturelle des animaux. Paris: Chez Dentu et tion, which the evidence suggests is, L’Auteur. These notions rested entirely on as Darwin thought, usually very slow 7 Darwin C. 1859. The origin of species. London: extrapolations, and strange ones at and based mainly on slight fitness John Murray. that. Tennyson and the social scien- differences, actually works to spread 8 Brace CL. 1964. The probable mutation effect. tists somehow used their observation Am Nat 98:453–455. its effects from the very local to the 9 that Nature was, and presumably Darwin C. 1844. Natural selection. London: species-wide, or to create new spe- Henry Colburn. always had been, inherently bloody, to cies. With the understanding we now 10 Haeckel E. 1866. Generalle morphologie der extrapolate a benign and final end. But have, thanks to Darwin’s initial inspi- organismen. Berlin: Georg Reimer. 11 just as Nature, red in tooth and claw in ration, we can see that his ideas, Killam J. 1958. Tennyson and The Princess: and of itself implies neither selective reflections of an age. London: Athlone Press. whetted by Nature’s cruelty, were 12 Gilbert WS, Sullivan AS. 1976. The complete nor speciation, it is only by very powerful, but oversimplified plays of gilbert and sullivan. New York: W.W. the stretch of a poet’s imagination that both natural selection and specia- Norton. 13 it implies any kind of end-stage, much tion. That leaves us much interesting Hill RW. 1971. A familiar lesson from the Vic- less deist progress toward such an end. torians. In: Hill RW, editor. Tennyson’s poetry. work to do. But Tennyson and the New York: W.W. Norton. Only if we naively look backward in social thinkers strayed much farther 14 Blows MW, Hoffmann AA. 2005. A reassess- time and compare how terrific we fancy from the truth when they inferred ment of genetic limits to evolutionary change. Ecology 86:1371–1384. that we are today relative to our primor- that Nature’s red fangs pointed to a 15 Bradshaw AD. 1991. The Croonian lecture, dial ancestral slime can we attain the rosy end. Their extrapolation doesn’t 1991: genostasis and the limits to evolution. illusion that we, like Arthur Hallam, are seem to open a road to anywhere. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 333:289– near the omega of history. Yet even As far back as 1839, even Darwin 305. 16 Futuyma D. 1987. On the role of species in today it is not uncommon to hear lead- had cautiously noted, at the end of his anagenesis. Am Nat 130:465–574. ing thinkers declare that, except for the Voyage of the Beagle, that there is ‘‘a 17 Coyne J, Orr H. 2004. Speciation. Sunder- artifact of genetic engineering, human constant tendency to fill up the wide land, MA: Sinauer Associates. gaps of knowledge, by inaccurate and 18 Futuyma D. 2005. Progress on the origin of biological evolution is over. species. PLoS Biol 3:197–199. superficial hypotheses.’’21:532–533 That’s All the nineteenth-century evolu- 19 Ruse M. 1996. Monad to man: the concept tionary theorizers were staring a lesson that scientists, though per- of progress in evolutionary biolog. Cambridge: Nature’s same harsh realities in the haps not poets, need to learn. Harvard University Press. 20 Darwin C. 1871. The descent of man and selec- face. To Tennyson, bloody fangs and NOTES tion in relation to sex. London: John Murray. talons were like the stations of the 21 Darwin C. 1839. Journal of researches into cross: The apparent meaninglessness I welcome comments on this col- the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle (a.k.a. of earthly life is a journey to eventual umn: [email protected]. Relevant ‘‘Voyage of the Beagle’’). London: Henry Col- rapturous reunion with God. To Dar- topics are also discussed on our burn. win, the truth was strictly mundane, a blog at EcoDevoEvo.blogspot.com. I subject for empirical science, not the- thank Anne Buchanan, Holly Duns- VC 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.