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Charles Darwin and Alexander Von Humboldt: an Exchange of Looks Between Two Famous Naturalists

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Universitätsverlag Potsdam Artikel erschienen in: Ottmar Ette, Eberhard Knobloch (Hrsg.) HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz, XI (2010) 21 2010 – 100 p. ISSN (print) 2568-3543 ISSN (online) 1617-5239 URN urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-49217 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien International Review for Humboldt Studies Revista internacional de estudios humboldtianos Revue internationale d’études humboldtiennes HiN XI 21 2010 Universität Potsdam Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Empfohlene Zitation: Miguel Ángel Puig-Samper; Sandra Rebok: Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt, In: Ette, Ott- mar; Knobloch, Eberhard (Hrsg.). HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz, XI (2010) 21, Potsdam, Uni- versitätsverlag Potsdam, 2010 , S. 55–64. DOI https://doi.org/10.18443/145 Soweit nicht anders gekennzeichnet ist dieses Werk unter einem Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag lizen- ziert: Namensnennung 4.0. Dies gilt nicht für zitierte Inhalte anderer Autoren: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.de 56 Miguel-Ángel Puig-Samper, Sandra Rebok Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt: An exchange of looks between two famous naturalists Zusammenfassung Resumen Die besondere Beziehung zwischen Humboldt und Dar- La especial relación entre Alexander von Humboldt y win, zwei der bedeutendsten Persönlichkeiten in der Charles Darwin, dos de las personalidades más destaca- Welt der Naturwissenschaften und der Biologie des 19. das en el mundo de la Historia natural y la Biología del Jahrhunderts, wird detailliert auf den verschiedenen siglo XIX, es analizada detalladamente en los distintos Ebenen ihres Kontaktes analysiert, sowohl was das real niveles de contacto entre ambos, tanto en lo que se re- stattgefundene persönliche Treffen betrifft, als auch fiere al encuentro real, en persona o a través de su co- hinsichtlich ihrer Korrespondenz und der Koinzidenz rrespondencia o al encuentro de ideas. Este cruce de von Ideen. Dieser wechselseitige Blick zeigt uns wie miradas nos pone además en el camino de vislumbrar sich die beiden Gelehrten gegenseitig wahrnahmen, cómo se perciben los sabios entre ellos, si realmente in- ob sie wirklich versuchten, mit dem Paradigma ihrer be- tentan romper con el paradigma establecido por su im- deutenden Vorgänger zu brechen, oder ob sie lediglich portante predecesor o simplemente mejoran progre- schrittweise das bereits erlangte Wissen erweiterten, sivamente el conocimiento ya elaborado hasta llegar bis es durch die Erstellung einer genialen Idee zu einem a provocar la ruptura del conocimiento anterior con la Bruch des bisherigen Wissens kommt. elaboración de una teoría genial. Bekannt ist die wiederholte Referenz von Darwin auf Es conocida la continua alusión de Darwin a la obra de die Werke Humboldts, insbesondere auf die Tagebü- Humboldt, especialmente al Diario del naturalista ale- cher des deutschen Naturwissenschaftler und seine mán y su forma de describir la naturaleza americana en Art der Beschreibung der amerikanischen Natur in ih- todo su esplendor, pero no tanto otras citas en su Auto- rer ganzen Reichhaltigkeit. Weniger bekannt hingegen biografía y menos aún el uso científico de su obra o las sind andere Verweise in seiner Autobiografie, sowie die citas en su correspondencia, que presentamos en este wissenschaftliche Verwendung des Humboldtschen artículo. Asimismo estudiamos el uso de la obra cientí- Werkes oder die Zitate in seiner Korrespondenz, die in fica temprana de Darwin por Humboldt en algunas de diesem Beitrag aufgezeigt werden. Darüber hinaus wird sus publicaciones, especialmente el Cosmos. die Verwendung der frühen Schriften von Darwin durch Humboldt in einigen seiner Publikationen, vor allem im Kosmos, erwähnt. Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt (M.-Á. Puig-Samper/S. Rebok) e have always thought, in Newton’s phrase, win makes in his autobiography to the influence Hum- that an emerging scientist stands on the shoul- boldt’s works had on him in his formative years: Wders of a previous giant of science in order to be able to see further into the discovery of new laws, or During my last year at Cambridge I read with care simply to increase his knowledge. Today we can look at and profound interest Humboldt’s Personal Narra- a case in point, and observe the phenomenon where tive. This work and Sir J. Herschel’s Introduction to one giant climbs on the shoulders of another, still living, the Study of Natural Philosophy stirred up in me a to go further in the fields of science. This comparison burning zeal to add even the most humble contri- of mutual observations is perhaps particularly topical bution to the noble structure of natural science. No at this moment, when we are commemorating not only one or a dozen other books influenced me nearly the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth but also the death of so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt Humboldt 150 years ago in 1859; this was also the year long passages about Teneriffe, and read them in which Darwin’s famous work On the origin of species aloud on one of the above-mentioned excursions, was published, his most avidly discussed work, which to (I think) Henslow, Ramsay and Dawes; for on a catapulted him to his position as one of the best-known previous occasion I had talked about the glories naturalists1. of Teneriffe, and some of the party declared they would endeavour to go there; but I think that they This exchange of looks, furthermore, helps us to were only half in earnest. I was, however, quite in catch a glimpse of how these two scholars perceived earnest, and got an introduction to a merchant in each other: whether they were really trying to break London to enquire about ships; but the scheme with the paradigm established by their illustrious pre- was of course knocked on the head by the voyage decessor, as Thomas Kuhn affirmed many years ago, or of the Beagle.2 whether they were simply improving their already ac- quired knowledge, until they finally caused a break with We should bear in mind that at the time when Darwin previous knowledge in order to produce a brilliant new undertook his expedition, there already existed a great theory. fund of knowledge gathered by travellers and expedi- tions to different regions of the world, undertaken from In the following pages we shall give a detailed anal- the 18th century onwards by Englishmen, Frenchmen, ysis of the different levels of contact between the two Spaniards, Germans and Russians. In addition, trav- individuals, both in their actual contact, personally or el literature was largely accepted not only by natural- through their correspondence, as well as in their meet- ists, who were inspired by reading the descriptions of ing of ideas. One of the testimonies which is of greatest these expeditions, but also by the general public. Some interest in this context is the well known reference Dar- decades before, Alexander von Humboldt had lived in the age of the great explorations, such as those un- dertaken by Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1766-69), James Bruce (1768-73), Carsten Niebuhr (1761-67), and 1 Regarding the relationship between Darwin and Humboldt see BARRET, Alejandro Malaspina (1789-94), or the many voyages of Paul H. and COR C OS , Alain F., “A Letter from Alexander Humboldt to Charles James Cook. The accounts of these adventures fascinat- Darwin”. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 27: 2, 1972 ed Humboldt from his earliest years, and aroused in him (Apr.), p. 159-172; CHIRINO, Luis and YUDILEVI C H , David, “Humboldt y Darwin”. a romantic approach to these tropical regions, idealized Ciencia al Día Internacional, November 1999, 4, vol. 2 (http://www.cien- in the works of Rousseau and Buffon. With the same en- cia.cl/CienciaAlDia /volumen2/numero4/articulos/articulo8.html); EGER - thusiasm he read the original works of Haller, MacPher- TON , Frank N., “Humboldt, Darwin, and Population“. Journal of the Histo- son and Goethe, who recreated Nature, voyages or the ry of Biology, 2, vol. 3, 1970, p. 325-360. PUIG -SAM P ER , Miguel Ángel, GAR C ÍA return of the human being to his original state, suppos- GONZÁLEZ , Armando and RE B OK , Sandra, “Un cruce de miradas entre Darwin y edly far away from civilization. Humboldt also acquired Humboldt”. Publication of the IV Coloquio Internacional sobre Darwinismo, knowledge of the exotic world through Bernardin de celebrated in Mexico D.F., February 2009 (in press). THÉODORIDÈS , Jean, “Hum- Saint-Pierre, whose work Paul et Virginie (1787) he had boldt et Darwin“. In: Actes du Xie Congrès international d’histoire des sci- read on several occasions; and on the other hand the ences. Warsaw, Torun, Kielce, Kraków, August 1965, 5. Wroclaw, p. 87- work of his childhood tutor, Joachim Heinrich Campe, 92; WERNER , Petra, “Zum Verhältnis Darwins zu Humboldt und Ehrenberg”. author of Robinson, der Jüngere (1779) and Die Entdeck- Humboldt im Netz (http://www.unipotsdam.de/u/romanistik/humboldt/ ung Amerikas (1781-82), had a notable influence on him. hin/pdf/hin18 /hin18_komplett.pdf), Berlín/Potsdam, X, 18 (2009), p. 68- 95; WUKETITS , Franz M., “Alexander von Humboldt und Charles Darwin. Retro- spektiven einer Annäherung“. Universitas. Orientierung in der Wissenswelt, 64 (2009), n. 1 (751), p. 46-56. About the same subject a presentation can 2 Barlow, Nora (ed.), The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882. be found in internet, developped by the Facultad de Ciencas of the Univer- With the original omissions restored. Edited and with appendix and notes by sity of Granada: http://www.slideshare.net/sequeiros/darwin-humboldt- his grand-daughter Nora Barlow. London: Collins 1958, p. 107. y-la-geologia-1093792. HiN XI, 21 (2010) ISSN: 1617-5239 56 Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt (M.-Á. Puig-Samper/S. Rebok) Although the reading of these titles did not provide mens de géologie et de climatologie asiatiques as well as him with any specific knowledge about the regions they the Cosmos.
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