Nature's Fancy: Charles Darwin and the Breeding of Pigeons Author(s): James A. Secord Reviewed work(s): Source: Isis, Vol. 72, No. 2 (Jun., 1981), pp. 162-186 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/230968 . Accessed: 29/10/2012 17:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. http://www.jstor.org Nature's Fancy: Charles Darwin and the Breeding of Pigeons By James A. Secord* We each see with a different pair of eyes, and each has peculiarfancies to beguile. -B. P. BRENT, in the Cottage Gardener, 1856 IN ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES CharlesDarwin drew upon his knowledge of the whole range of natural history, turning all the relevant lines of evidence so that they pointed to evolution by natural selection. But Darwin's reach extended even further, into fields usually considered to be outside the realm of natural science. Malthus and political economy spring to mind, and an extensive literature is devoted to his interest in such subjects.