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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY of CHARLES DARWIN 1809-1882 Nora Barlow, Ed., 1958½

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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY of CHARLES DARWIN 1809-1882 Nora Barlow, Ed., 1958½ THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DARWIN 1809-1882 Nora Barlow, ed., 1958½ ½ With original omissions restored. Edited and with appendix and notes by his grand-daughter Nora Barlow. London: Collins. darwin-online.org.uk 1 CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY APPENDIX 1. On Charles Darwin and his grandfather Dr. Erasmus Darwin 149 2. The Darwin-Butler Controversy 167 NOTES 1. Unpublished letter from Dr. Erasmus Darwin to his son Robert 223 2. How Dr. Robert Darwin's objections to the Voyage were overcome 226 3. The pencil notes of 1837-8: "This is the Question" 231 4. Mrs. Darwin's papers on Religion 235 5. On Charles Darwin's Ill-Health 240 6. Page and line references to previously omitted passages 244 "If I lived twenty more years and was able to work, how I should have to modify the Origin, and how much the views on all points will have to be modified! Well it is a beginning, and that is something …." Charles Darwin to J. D. Hooker, 1869 LIST OF PLATES Charles Darwin aged 51 frontispiece Dr. Robert Darwin facing page Charles Darwin with his eldest child, William Charles Darwin aged 72 The frontispiece is from a photograph by Maull & Fox The last plate is from a photograph by Elliott & Fry 2 PREFACE IN HIS old age Charles Darwin wrote down his recollections for his own amusement and the interest of his children and their descendants. He finished the main narrative of 121 pages between May and August, 1876, writing as he tells us for an hour on most afternoons. During the last six years of his life he enlarged on what he had already written as fresh memories occurred to him, inserting the sixty-seven further pages of Addenda into their appropriate places. The present edition of the Autobiography is a complete transcript of the whole manuscript, now housed in its old leather binding in the Cambridge University Library. The Autobiography first appeared in print as part of Life and Letters of Charles Darwin edited by his son Francis and published in 1887 by John Murray, five years after Charles's death, when many omissions were considered necessary. Two reprints have been published. In 1929 the Autobiography was issued as a separate volume in The Thinkers Library, No. 7 (Watts & Co.), with two appendices; the first a chapter of Reminiscences by Francis Darwin, and the second a statement also by Francis Darwin of his father's religious views. In 1950 G. G. Simpson brought out a volume entitled Charles Darwin's Autobiography, (Henry Schuman, New York), which included an introductory essay by Simpson, The Meaning of Darwin; the Reminiscences by Francis Darwin, and Notes and Letters of Charles Darwin depicting the growth of the Origin of Species. All these texts were taken from the 1887 version, with no revision from the original manuscript. Some excerpts, however, from the unpublished passages have recently appeared, now that the manuscript is available to students. I have followed the original closely, restoring omissions amounting to nearly six thousand words, and correcting many trivial errors and alterations that had crept into the earlier rendering; and where necessary I have changed erratic punctuation and filled in purely formal abbreviations, both of which checked smooth reading. Throughout, Charles Darwin's parentheses are in round brackets; my own additions are indicated by square ones. Footnotes in Francis Darwin's edition of the Autobiography are initialled F. D., those added by me are initialled N. B. To maintain the continuity of the text, I have not marked the earlier omissions as they occur, but there is a page and line reference to the more important at the end of the book for those who wish to trace them. An Appendix and Notes enlarge on matters arising in the text, and include unpublished letters. The Samuel Butler controversy has been given at considerable length in Part Two of the Appendix, where to some it may appear over-emphasised. But I felt that the unpublished letters threw a further light on the complex story, so often misunderstood. Moreover it has a wider interest as the sequel to Charles Darwin's views on the early evolutionists. My thanks are due to Sir Charles Darwin, who let me keep the bound volume of the manuscript for many months before it was handed over to the Cambridge University 3 Library. The Librarian has allowed me facilities for a final revision and I am indebted to him for his kindness, and to the helpfulness of Mr. R. V. Kerr and to Mr. Pilgrim. Help has come from many quarters; from my husband and from my sons; from my sister, Mrs. Rees Thomas; and from my cousins, Mrs. Cornford and the late Mrs. Raverat; and from Miss Sybil Fountain, Mr. Argent and Dr. Padel. Charles Darwin aged 51 4 FAMILY TREE OF CHARLES DARWIN 5 INTRODUCTION CHARLES DARWIN'S own reflections on his life and work, written between the ages of 67 and 73, must remain an important work of reference, whether in the history of ideas or in a portrait gallery of men. He still stands as the leading figure of that revolution in scientific thought which followed the publication of the Origin of Species in the middle of the 19th century, a revolution soon involving all realms of knowledge. But posterity must continually reassess the past, and accurate contemporary sources are specially needed to provide insight into those stormy seasons when the wind of accepted belief changes. The great figures must be seen in their own setting and their own words must be heard, cleared of the posthumous growth of later dogmas. In the Autobiography Charles Darwin tells the story of the slow maturing of his mind and of his theories, leading to the publication of the Linnean paper with A. R. Wallace in 1858, and of the Origin of Species in 1859. The time has come for restoring the suppressions made in 1887. The occasional astringency of some passages had to be censored seventy years ago out of deference to the feelings of friends; now these comments not only seem harmless, but are revealing flashes lighting up the past. The major suppressions, however, arose from the memory of the intense feelings roused after the publication of the Origin, and still alive in the early eighties, when Francis Darwin was working at Life and Letters. The family was, in fact, divided concerning the publication of some of the passages relating to Charles Darwin's religious beliefs. Francis, the editor, held the view that complete publication was the right course, whilst other members of the family felt strongly that Charles's views, so privately recorded and not intended for publication, would be damaging to himself in their crudity. I write as one of the next generation, and it is difficult now to imagine the state of tension that existed in what had always seemed to us a solid and united phalanx of uncles and aunts. Yet soon after Charles's death, before the publication of Life and Letters, feelings were so strong that litigation was suggested. Leonard Darwin1 wrote to me in 1942:—"I am now the only person alive who can remember what hot feelings were aroused at the time about the publication of the Autobiography. Etty2 went so far as to speak of legal proceedings to stop its publication. These could only have been against Frank. She felt that on religious questions it was crude and but half thought-out, and that in these circumstances it was not only unfair to his memory to publish it, but that he would have objected strongly. I should not be surprised if my Mother, unknown to us all, put in the final word against it [publication of the suppressed passages] to Frank." The suggestion of Mrs. Darwin's intervention is supported by a comment in her own handwriting in a manuscript copy of theAutobiography written out by Francis. This comment is given as a 1 Charles Darwin's fourth son, became a Major in the Royal Engineers. 2 Henrietta, Charles's eldest daughter, married R. B. Litchfield. 6 footnote in its appropriate place. The underlining of the word "speak" in Leonard's letter shows, I think, that he felt sure that Henrietta, his sister, would never have taken legal action. Nevertheless it is clear that opinions were divided and feelings ran high in this united family, perhaps best explained by a divided loyalty amongst the children between the science of their father and the religion of their mother; though the differences of view that existed caused no estrangement between the parents. This desire for reticence was an aftermath of the scientific-religious storm that had raged in the 60's and 70's with a fury that is now difficult to understand. Charles's own shrinking from anything verging on public or personal dispute, also found an echo in this family difference after his death. Francis refers to Charles's religion and to his reticence in Chap. VIII of Life and Letters, Vol. I, considerable parts of which are drawn from the Autobiography,—passages which were presumably passed by the family censorship, and which are here reinstated in their right place. Evolution has now been widely accepted, and the author of the Origin of Species has been dead for over seventy years. Omissions that were made so soon after his death should now be replaced, for all available evidence is of value concerning those who transform fundamental beliefs; how fundamental the change was it is difficult to remember to-day, when it is hard to think back into the pre-evolutionary era.
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