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38 NOV | DEC 2009 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE A century-and-a-half after the November 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species, a Penn microbiologist looks back at how Darwin’s ideas were received by some of the University’s leading thinkers. BY HOWARD GOLDFINE

June 18, 1858, Charles Darwin received a manu- him. Darwin wrote to Charles Lyell, “If Wallace had my ON script from Alfred Russel Wallace, which outlined [manuscript] sketch written out in 1842, he could not have a theory of evolution based on natural selection. Wallace’s written out a better short abstract!” letter came from an island in the Malay Archipelago, where Fortunately, Darwin had previously outlined his theory to he was collecting field specimens and studying the distribu- his friends, the distinguished geologist Lyell and the bota- tion of species. Wallace, like Darwin, invoked the Malthusian nist Joseph D. Hooker, and in a brief, unpublished draft to concept that a struggle for existence within rapidly expand- Asa Gray, a botanist at Harvard. Lyell and Hooker immedi- ing populations would be the driving force for selection of ately arranged for Wallace’s paper and a brief summary of natural variants within a species. Darwin’s immediate reac- Darwin’s theory to be read simultaneously at the Linnaean tion was one of dismay. He had been working on his “big Society in London on July 1, 1858. These were received with book on species” since his five-year voyage on the Beagle little comment. The president of the society later noted that (1831-36) and a relatively unknown naturalist had forestalled nothing of great interest had happened that year.

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID HOLLENBACH THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE NOV | DEC 2009 39 On November 24, 1859, under great anthrax in the guts of termites. Leidy’s Leidy was not a theorist, but his pressure, Darwin published the fuller reputation was secured at an early age; immediate grasp of Darwin’s theory version of his theory, On the Origin of by 1848 he was being received by emi- shows him to be a man who understood Species, which he described as an nent men of science on trips to Europe. and could appreciate Darwin’s ideas. abstract of his big book, proposing to Leidy’s growing renown was not based This was in large part because his provide more complete evidence later. on his microscopic observations alone. observations of microscopic organ- The book was addressed to the literate, Numerous fossils excavated by enthusi- isms, insects, mollusks, and the large general public, which in the mid-19th asts and professionals were sent to the ancient fauna bore evidence that century consisted of a small propor- ANSP and entrusted to him. It was Leidy entirely supported them. In his address tion of Britons. The first printing of who showed that the modern horse had to the medical school Class of 1886, 1,250 sold out on the first day of sale, antecedents on this continent, but these Leidy noted that “The genesis or origi- and subsequent printings were eagerly had become extinct and were replaced nal production of life is directly attrib- received. Although there was consider- much later by horses brought over by uted to God, but the manner of its cre- able controversy, the earliest criticisms early European explorers. He found that, ation has always been and still remains were mainly published in learned and although many of the fossils he exam- a mystery … According to the doctrine religious journals. It was a book that ined resembled previously discovered of the evolution of life, living beings was more discussed than read. The first species of the Old World, they were sig- have derived from one another, the American edition was published the fol- nificantly different and had to be care- most complex and highest forms of lowing year by Appleton of New York. fully described, classified, and named. plants and animals being the slowly Philadelphia, one of the centers of learn- Two of the era’s major fossil hunters, modified descendants of less complex ing, was one of the first cities on the Edward Drinker Cope and Ferdinand plants and animals … and so on until continent to engage in the controversy. Vandeveer Hayden (on whom more below), we go back to the earliest and simplest The University of Pennsylvania, the were based in Philadelphia. Leidy was the plants and animals.” Leidy believed Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP), man they trusted to do the difficult work that the formation of the infinite num- and the American Philosophical Society of analysis of their new finds. In view of ber of kinds of living things can be were well-established institutions in Leidy’s wide-ranging studies, his biogra- explained by the “incessant individual the then expanding city. The reception pher Leonard Warren, professor emeritus variation … their adaptation ‘to envi- of Darwin’s ideas was decidedly mixed. of cell and developmental biology at Penn roning conditions’ and transmission of and Institute Professor Emeritus at acquired individual peculiarities.” Wistar, subtitled his 1998 book on Leidy, Whether he meant acquired in the JOSEPH LEIDY (1823-91) “The last man who knew everything.” sense of Lamarckian adaptation or An early convert. By 1860 Leidy was professor of anat- through variation in the hereditary omy in the School of Medicine. His makeup is not clear from this state- ne of the earliest American readers belief in the evolution of higher organ- ment, but many naturalists at the time of Darwin’s theory was Joseph Leidy, isms from the simplest unicellular leaned towards the view that changes Oson of a Philadelphia hatter, who organisms predated his first contact in living organisms resulted from adap- had received his medical training at with Darwin’s theory, but Origin of tation to the environment and some- Penn (1840–44), but later left the prac- Species transformed his understand- how these newly acquired characteris- tice of medicine for a life of teaching ing. His letter to Darwin after reading tics were passed on to their progeny. and research. His researches ranged the book has been lost, but Warren For a time at the end of the 19th centu- over much of 19th-century biology, a reports that he is said to have thanked ry neo-Lamarckism had become the large part of it based on observations Darwin for “putting night into day … I dominant theory of evolution. made with his beloved microscope—a felt as though I had groped about in In the same lecture, Leidy said that present from his stepmother. He is darkness, and that all of a sudden, a Darwin’s theory met many objections acknowledged as America’s first para- meteor flashed upon the skies.” Darwin at first, just as Newton did when he sitologist, having discovered the larvae responded, “Your note has pleased me “announced the law of gravitation, peo- of Trichina spiralis in ham. He later more than you could readily believe: ple objected to it, for they regarded it as a observed that “trichinosis, caused by for I have during a long time, heard all denial of God’s control of the movements trichina, [is] introduced into our body good judges speak of your paleonto- of the universe; and when Franklin sug- in pork, a meat which was declared to logical labors in terms of the highest gested the use of the lightning-rod, it was be unfit for food, thousands of years respect. Most Paleontologists (with denounced as an impious attempt to ago, by the great law-giver Moses.” some few good exceptions) entirely deprive the Deity of his thunderbolts.” As a result of his studies, preventive despise my work; consequently appro- Leidy was highly honored during his medicine, which he extolled to the bation from you has gratified me life with election to over 50 national University’s 1886 graduating class, dic- much.” Leidy proposed Darwin for and international scientific societies tated the thorough cooking of pork and membership in the ANSP, and he was and prestigious lectureships, but his most foods. Leidy also observed bacte- elected in 1860—an honor that Darwin reputation did not last far into the follow- ria related to the organisms that cause gratefully acknowledged. ing century. His modesty and unwilling-

40 NOV | DEC 2009 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE driving force in evolution. Instead, he [Leidy] is said to have thanked Darwin for became one of the leading exponents of “putting night into day … Neo-Lamarckism, the inheritance of acquired characteristics. In his view, I felt as though I had groped natural selection would serve to fix those characteristics that made the about in darkness, and that organism more fit within its environ- all of a sudden, a meteor ment. He wrote that the need for chang- es in an organism would lead to an flashed upon the skies.” acceleration or retardation of growth during embryonic development of the ness to theorize have relegated him to Wyoming, made when the Union Pacific organ affected. The same idea was pro- the second rank of naturalists even tracks were being laid. This cut revealed posed by Alpheus Hyatt of Boston, with though he was one of the greatest thick beds of fossil fish, and Cope quick- whom Darwin corresponded extensive- American scientists of his day. Recently, ly became a leading specialist. Cope and ly. Darwin found their writings to be debate over Leidy’s historical signifi- Othniel Charles Marsh, a paleontologist unintelligible, and eventually gave up cance has begun to revise our estima- at the Peabody Museum of Natural trying. In expounding his views, Cope tion of his importance for 19th-century History at Yale, were friendly at first, invented new terms such as bathmism American science. but rivalry in fossil hunting in the West (growth-force), kinetogenesis (direct led to intense mutual dislike and dis- effect of use and disuse and environ- trust which was widely reported and mental influences), and others, which EDWARD DRINKER COPE (1840-97) soon dubbed the “Bone Wars.” Since tended to confuse his readers. A prominent neo-Lamarckian. both Marsh and Cope were colorful char- Although he had inherited a signifi- acters who did not hesitate to criticize cant fortune, Cope’s expeditions even- very different character was the each other openly, their antagonism was tually exhausted his funds and he was opinionated, effervescent Edward prime fodder for an avid press. forced to sell fossils from his collection ADrinker Cope. The Copes belonged Cope purchased the American Natu- and rent out his primary residence on to a prominent Philadelphia family ralist in 1877, giving him complete Pine Street. His over-exertions and that had made its fortune in shipping. freedom, unfettered by peer review, to self-medication resulted in rapidly Edward was a precocious child; read- publish his voluminous output of sci- declining health and death at a rela- ing, writing, and expressing himself in entific publications. In the context of tively early age, but his memory is long sentences by the age of six. At gentlemanly Philadelphia society, retained in Philadelphia through com- first he was homeschooled, but later Cope’s arrogant demeanor made him memorative markers and more widely attended a Quaker day school from age very unpopular—especially at the ANSP, in species named after him. Urns con- nine. Most of his formal education was a hotbed of gossip where members crit- taining his and Leidy’s ashes rest near at the old Friend’s Select School (now icized him openly. This backbiting each other at the Wistar Institute. Westtown School) in Chester County. seemed to serve as a source of amuse- After leaving school at 16 he worked on ment to him. Despite his unpopularity, farms during summers and continued his Cope became professor of geology and FERDINAND VANDEVEER studies in biology at home in addition to mineralogy (1889) and of zoology and HAYDEN (1829-87) studying French and German so that he comparative anatomy (1896) at Penn. Renowned geologist. could read the scientific literature. He He, too, was an early reader of Darwin studied briefly at Penn in his twenties, and an early adherent. A cutting from The n addition to the Leidy Laboratories, attending Leidy’s course on comparative Evening Post preserved in Darwin’s scrap- Penn’s other campus building named anatomy. Based on his early work at the book contains a report on the American Ifor a 19th-century scientist is Hayden ANSP and at the Smithsonian Institution Association for the Advancement of Hall, home of the Department of Earth in Washington, he was appointed profes- Science meeting of 1870. It notes that and Environmental Science. Ferdinand sor of zoology at Haverford College in “First and foremost we miss Agassiz Vandeveer Hayden served as professor 1864. With his annual salary of $1,000 he with his piquant and sometime petulant of geology at Penn from 1865 to 1872, was able to marry Annie Pim, but he obstinacy … Last year at Salem, Cope of but the great part of his career was resigned his professorship in 1867 and Philadelphia, reverentially but thor- spent as a government geologist sur- moved to Haddonfield, New Jersey, in oughly floored him in debate.” Louis veying the territories of Nebraska, order to be close to the recently discovered Agassiz, professor of zoology and geol- Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, and fossil beds there. ogy at Harvard, was the foremost oppo- later with the newly formed U.S. Greater fame came to him as a result nent of Darwin’s theory in America. Geological Survey. His first journey up of the fossils he collected in the newly As for Cope, although he was con- the Missouri River by steamboat was opened territories in the 1870s. In 1873 vinced that living things had evolved, he in 1853. On his second expedition the he explored the “Fish Cut” at Green River, did not accept natural selection as the following year Native Americans he

THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE NOV | DEC 2009 41 Montana with A. C. Peale, but ill health forced him back after a month. His last “This theory of Mr. Darwin expedition with Peale resulted in the openly dispenses with law itself discovery of coal beds between the Gallatin and Madison rivers. He lob- … [it] throws itself without bied for and was successful in the des- reserve upon the illimitable ignation of the Yellowstone region as a national park, the first. ocean of accident.” On his death in 1887 his colleague J. P. Lesley wrote “his name was more famil- met named him “the-man-who-picks- Union army in 1862, eventually becom- iar in the geological world in Europe up-stones-running,” because when they ing chief medical officer of the Army of than any other American geologist.” Cope chased him down they found only his the Shenandoah. In 1865 he was appoint- said, “He is the founder of our knowledge pick, hammer, and fossil bones and ed professor of geology at Penn, a posi- of geographical geology of North America shells—nothing of value in their eyes. tion he held until 1872, when his ever- from the easternmost border of the But these fossils and the surveys he increasing survey duties in the West plains to the Wasatch Mountains.” His carried out were the things of lasting came into conflict with those at Penn. worldwide fame resulted in his election value for which he is remembered. (Examination of minutes revealed that to 91 honorary societies. Hayden was born in Westfield, Mas- he rarely attended faculty meetings.) sachusetts. He attended Oberlin Col- Hayden published extensively, includ- lege, where he concentrated on literary ing official reports on the surveys he SAMUEL STEHMAN studies but maintained a strong inter- had led. These publications covered HALDEMAN (1812-80) est in the natural sciences. His geology fields as diverse as geology, geography, Whose observations on variation instructor George Allen taught that all mineralogy, agriculture, ethnology, were noted by Darwin creation was fixed and stable, clearly archaeology, and both living and fossil illustrating the Creator’s work. He went fauna and flora. rom the banks of the Susquehanna on to study medicine at Albany Medical Hayden has been variously character- River came evidence of variation College, where he met James Hall, a ized as a loner and a maverick, impul- Fwithin species among fresh water well-known geologist. Before complet- sive and quarrelsome. In this respect mollusks. S. S. Haldeman, another wide- ing his medical studies he wrote to he differed from Leidy who shunned ranging scholar, was appointed profes- Spencer F. Baird, the influential assis- controversy. Hayden understood that sor of the natural sciences at Penn in tant secretary of the Smithsonian his fossil and geological findings sup- 1852. After taking the same chair at the Institution: “I am extremely anxious to ported Darwin’s theories, but usually University of Delaware he returned to spend a few years in the study of natu- avoided discussion of the theoretical Penn as the first professor of compara- ral history. I feel as though I could implications of his work. Comparing tive philology in 1869 and held that endure cheerfully any amount of toil, fossil leaves of the Cretaceous Period position until his death. He had attend- hardship and self-denial provided I with living flora he wrote, “The infer- ed Dickinson College in Carlisle, could gratify my strong desire to labor ence is, therefore, that this flora illus- Pennsylvania, where he came under the in the field as a naturalist.” trates the great law of progress: com- influence of the geologist Henry D. This professed interest and Hayden’s mencing with great simplicity of form Rogers, but did not complete his under- collecting skills convinced Baird that he and advancing, step by step to greater graduate studies. Like Cope he studied “was made of the right material for ulti- complexity and beauty.” His biogra- at Penn and attended discussions at the mate success.” Thus on his trip to pher Mike Foster observes that unlike ANSP and the American Philosophical explore the upper Missouri River, Baird many naturalists at the time, Hayden Society. He moved back and forth supplied collecting materials and a long never came out against Darwin, indi- between Philadelphia and his family list of specimens he desired for the cating tacit acceptance. estate, sawmill, and iron foundry on the growing Smithsonian collections. But The later stages of his career led to Susquehanna River, about 20 miles Hayden did not stop at living species; he disappointment. He garnered strong below Harrisburg. also collected fossils that were sent to support in Congress to be appointed A keen observer of his natural surround- the Academy of Natural Sciences in St. head of the newly formed U.S. ings, the young Haldeman became a col- Louis and the ANSP in Philadelphia. Geological Survey, but in 1879 the post lector of fresh water shells and learned Leidy was the main recipient of his fos- went to his rival Clarence Rivers King. taxidermy on the small animals he trapped sils in Philadelphia, but soon Hayden As a sop, Hayden was appointed U.S. and shot. These collections and studies found himself caught between the com- Geologist, but he received no assign- eventually led to his Monograph of the peting demands of Cope and Marsh for ment from King. His health declining, Fresh-water Univalve Mollusca of the new specimens. he moved back to Philadelphia with his United States (1842). Haldeman also The Civil War interrupted Hayden’s wife, Emma, and did not return to the published on long-horned beetles, edit- work in the field. He enlisted in the field until 1883 when he explored ed several volumes on insects, and was

42 NOV | DEC 2009 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE one of the founders of the Entomological ited with elevating the tone of the institu- form, appearing at the end … what open Society of Pennsylvania, the first of its tion and reestablishing college discipline. mind can help imbibing, if not the kind in America. However his reign was cut short. In addi- Darwinian doctrine, at least the spirit Haldeman had an acute sense of hear- tion to his duties as provost, Goodwin held of the Theory of Development.” (In the ing; this and his failing eyesight led a chair at the Philadelphia Divinity School, 19th century Darwin and others wrote him to turn to the study of both human an Episcopal institution not connected to of development, which was replaced by and animal sounds. He studied the lan- the University. He was eventually forced to the word evolution.) guages of Native Americans and began resign as provost in order to continue his But by 1880, Lesley, who was a deeply to publish in ethnology by the end of work there. religious Unitarian, had emphatically the 1840s. He travelled to Europe six Goodwin wrote, “The Lamarckian or turned against it. In a letter written times in order to study the languages developmental theory … professed to from Antwerp on July 8, he discusses of the countries he visited, and also retain, while in fact it dispensed with, the theory as elaborated by Ernst those of the polyglot communities of the idea of God as a Creator. But this Haeckel, the eminent German natural- the major cities. He wrote on reforming theory of Mr. Darwin openly dispenses ist who endorsed and popularized English spelling based on phonetics with law itself … [it] throws itself with- Darwin’s work in Germany. “I join Dr. and championed the removal of silent out reserve upon the illimitable ocean Elam and John Le Conte, and a thou- letters in words like labour and colour. of accident.” Of the principle of natural sand other men of science in their He was one of the founders of the selection, he thought it was only anoth- secret soul will join him with me, in American Philological Association and er name; it suggested no real cause. asking: Is this Science? Has Huxley served as president, 1876-77. It is not surprising to hear this senti- gone mad, to indorse such rubbish, shot In the introduction to Origin of Species, ment from a theologian in 1860. Yet, by upon the stage of human intelligence by Darwin notes that, “In 1843-44 Professor the latter part of the 19th century most the wild dreamer of Germany …” Haldeman … has ably given the argu- theologians had reconciled themselves Elam’s article had attacked Haeckel ments for and against the hypothesis of to biological evolution, but many for his materialism and especially for the development and modification of believed it was divinely guided, argu- inventing new taxa to fill in breaks in species: he seems to lean towards the ments that continue to this day. the fossil record. The next day Lesley side of change.” Lyell and Hooker, who J. Peter Lesley was professor of geol- wrote, “I have finished Elam’s article:— were reading Darwin’s text before publi- ogy and mining at Penn (1859-1883) he goes too far,—he gets angry and cation, reminded him of Haldeman’s and the first dean of the Towne School excited. The juste milieu is always paper in the Boston Journal of Natural of Science. Although he had trained for above our human capacities. But I am History. In letters dated June 21 and the ministry and had practiced for a thankful for so earnest a protest July 2, 1859 Darwin wrote them that he time in the Boston area, his concurrent against the prevalent epidemic scien- had read and abstracted Haldeman’s work on the geological survey of tific superstition of the day.” paper, and remembered thinking it Pennsylvania’s coal regions resulted in The problems that beset Lesley, a “very clever,” but not of much use to an eminent scientific career. In 1859 thoughtful man, and others continue him. “[I]t did not seem to me to give any he was appointed secretary and librar- into the 21st century. Creationism has idea, like natural selection … The spec- ian of the American Philosophical given way to Intelligent Design; text- ulations approach mine & Wallace’s, Society, and in 1874 he was appointed book writers are exhorted by school but did not on any point seem to me director of the Second Geological boards and legislatures to “teach the identical.” Indeed, Haldeman touched Survey of Pennsylvania, in which he controversy.” Indeed there are issues on adaptation to new environments led 80 assistants who prepared numer- that science has yet to resolve and much, leading to new species, but did not ous reports of importance to the growing thankfully, remains to be discovered. develop the concept of natural selec- coal and oil industries. Lesley traveled to But Darwin’s theory is the cornerstone tion. Most of his article concerns argu- Europe numerous times and met many of modern biology. The evidence for ments for or against the Lamarckian of the eminent men of science, including evolution is overwhelming; the missing hypothesis, but he refused to come Darwin and Lyell. links have been and continue to be down on one side or the other. His book, Man’s Origin and Destiny found; hundreds of genomes of all forms (1868), and his letters, edited by his of life have been sequenced, revealing daughter Mary Lesley Ames, reveal a their common origins; and the Earth is DANIEL R. GOODWIN (1811-90) lively mind thoughtfully considering old—very, very old—as Darwin predicted, and J. PETER LESLEY (1819-1903) Darwin’s theory. At first he was inclined even in the face of his scientific critics. The doubters. towards it. He wrote that he saw “the Darwin did not understand heredity, but oldest fossil in the world; and lo, it is a we now know how it works. The genes he Rev. Dr. Daniel R. Goodwin was rhizopod, a creature belonging to the provide an indelible record of the long provost at Penn from 1860 to 1868. very lowest forms of life … But when we evolution of life on earth.◆ THe arrived at a time when the College see these lowest of all known forms Howard Goldfine is a professor of microbiology in was beginning to regain the reputation it standing alone at the very beginning of the School of Medicine and co-chaired Penn’s Year had had during its early days and is cred- time and man, the highest and noblest of Evolution in 2008-09.

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