The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 17, 1869

Description

'I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal & hard work; and I still think there is an eminently important difference'. Throughout 1869, Darwin continued to collect data for his two most significant books after Origin: The Descent of Man and Expression of the Emotions. Explorers, diplomats, and missionaries all over the world were politely encouraged to investigate, for example, how emotions such as surprise, anger and shame were expressed in different cultures. As Darwin's research on human evolution neared completion, he learned that Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory, had begun to raise questions about its application to certain aspects of human development, attributing these to the action of a 'higher power'. In his correspondence, Wallace alluded to his belief in spiritualism, which he fully believed to be open to scientific investigation, but which gave Darwin much pause.

Frederick Burkhardt (1912-2007) was the founder of the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project, and the associated high profile book series The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press, 1985-the present). He was President of the American Council of Learned Societies from 1957 to 1974, and in 2003 was awarded the American Philosophical Society Thomas Jefferson Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences.

From reviews of earlier volumes: 'Nothing in recent history of science quite tops the achievement of the volumes of Darwin correspondence. It is our own Human Genome Project.' Annals of Science 'Readers of earlier volumes will probably already be addicted, since no aspect of Darwin's life, work, or writing, is ever dull.' Human Genetics '... a superb series ... beautifully produced, beautifully readable, efficiently indexed, supportively but not gossipily annotated.' The Times Literary Supplement 'Every now and then ... publishing and academe work together to produce books so splendid that it seems ungrateful not to acquire them: this promises to be another such.' The Guardian '... this authoritative work is a model of scholarship in both its comprehensiveness and supporting documentation which provides a rich source of background, biographical and bibliographical detail.' The Naturalist 'These volumes are indeed treasures of high scholarship ... every real science library needs this series.' Trends in Ecology and Evolution