Of course, Wallace would have published natural se...

2009-07-11T16:06:34.557+01:00

Of course, Wallace would have published natural selection, but would it have had the same impact as On the Origin of Species? Darwin had such a special gift for communication, and, unlike Wallace, was unencumbered by the need to earn his living, so had time to muster all the evidence and present it as 'one long argument'. (See Dawkins' excellent talk Darwin's Five Bridges).

It might have taken longer, for example, for the full suite of implications of the theory to be synthesized, and how would this have overlapped with what we now know as the 'modern synthesis'?

Stories like this also tempt some to speculate that Stokes' suicide was 'for a purpose' because it seems so in hindsight ...which is why it's so delightful in this case that it's exactly that kind of egocentric view of which Darwin taught us to disabuse ourselves.

p.s. Was that last line for me? If so, thanks!

Richard, most Americans think that Australia is ac...

2009-07-11T15:48:40.877+01:00

Richard, most Americans think that Australia is actually still part of Britain, so we don't understand your patriotic indignance.

An important find.

Comments on The Beagle Project Blog: Stokes's Journal

Of course, Wallace would have published natural se...

Richard, most Americans think that Australia is ac...