Mr. Darwin says. . .

"I may, of course, be egregiously wrong; but I cannot persuade myself that a theory which explains several large classes of facts can be wholly wrong.“
- Charles Darwin, November 13, 1859, in letter to L. Jenyns

"Mathematicians are blind men in a dark room searching for a black cat that isn't there."
- Charles Darwin, sourcing unknown

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
- Charles Darwin, sourcing unknown

Partial Book Report on Janet Browne’s “Voyaging” or "The Dog Ate My Homework."

I’ve been reading Janet Browne’s book “Voyaging”, the first of a two-book bio of Mr. Darwin’s life and work (see the reading list in one of my earlier blog entries). Anyway, I don’t get much opportunity to read – usually only and hour or so before bed most nights. Like an excuse to my elementary school teacher, “this is why I’m only half-way through the book.” I’ve just arrived at the point in the book where the H.M.S. Beagle landed in the Galapagos Islands.

I’ve been blown away thus far with Ms. Browne’s work. Her research and through knowledge of the subject matter paints a rich and detailed picture of Mr. Darwin – possibly too “rich” for some readers who aren’t interested in the myriad of details being woven into a life “well-lived”.

However, the details to me are important because they begin to show how Mr. Darwin is really is a summation of the efforts and interests of many individuals, Mr. Darwin included.


One particular point that stands out and is unknown or misunderstood by most people is that Mr. Darwin was NOT selected to serve as the “Naturalist” onboard the H.M.S. Beagle. He was chosen only to be Captain’s Fitzroy’s (pictured at left) “companion”. Due to 19th century social stratification, if it were no for Darwin, Captain Fitzroy would have had no one to interact with during the voyage because of his social status. Also, because Mr. Darwin paid his own way throughout the Beagle voyage, whatever samples he collected were his personal property not the property of the crown. At this time natural history collections and samples were worth their weight in gold – they were in very high demand by both institutions and private “collectors”. According the Browne, the net total of drafts he requested from his father was just short of 1,200 British pounds – it’s a very expensive endeavor being a “gentleman-naturalist.”

A majority of this cost was due to land excursions taken at many points during the voyage. Mr. Darwin was away from home for a total of five (5) years, but only 18 months of this was at sea aboard the Beagle. The usual ocean run was between 8 and 18 days with the longest single stretch onboard being 47 days. Amazing! Although most of us know of Mr. Darwin’s “voyage”, few of us know that the majority of this “voyage” took place on land. These extensive (sometimes up to four months) land expeditions were only possible because of Mr. Darwin’s privileged position onboard as Captain Fitzroy’s “campanion.”

Who's Buried in Darwin's Tomb?

I know, I know – but I couldn’t resist the "cheeky" title for this entry.

Since the goal of this exercise is to visit Mr. Darwin’s home (Downe House) next year while I'm in London on business (see the first entry in this blog, “What’s this all about?”), it would be a real travesty on my part if I neglected to also visit the place where Mr. Darwin eventually ended up - since I’ll be in the neighborhood (London).

It turns out that Mr. Darwin ended up in a pretty classy place (Westminster Abby, north aisle of the Nave) and in the company of some pretty stellar scientific names like Sir Isaac Newton and Sir John Herschel.

Even though (or maybe because) the inscription on his grave is short, simple and to-the-point, a bronze memorial, with a life-sized relief bust, was erected by his family in the north choir aisle, near to the grave, in 1888. The sculptor was Sir J.E. Boehm. The inscription just simply reads “DARWIN”.

Interesting (prophetic?) footnote here – Mr. Darwin’s birthday, February 12th, is the same date as my Father’s and only two days before mine and my oldest son's.

Even though the place where Mr. Darwin ended up is pretty swank, the simplicity of his monument seems to say a lot about the man, his character and his life.

Covering Up

I decided to put a cover on my VMD (Visiting Mr. Darwin) moleskine reporter notebook. Actually, it was purposely engineered to cover up an ugly stain of my own creation. Anyway, I've always wanted to decorate a moleskine notebook and have recently been inspired by some of the notebooks I've seen on Flickr and elsewhere on the web. I'm not a artist (although I believe that we all have some artist within us and are usually just afraid to let it get loose), but in the image collage I wanted to portray some of the important aspects of Mr. Darwin's life and work - the H.M.S. Beagle, His home at Downe, and something portraying him and his work (the portrait and the finch beak illustration, respectively).

I'm hoping for inspiration and perseverance with this notebook. Maybe a little visual stimuli will help.

Then and Now

Found a very interesting picture of Downe (I don't know whether you use the final "e" in Downe or not?) House in Janet Browne's book, "Voyaging." Interesting comparison of the Downe House in 1842 and today - I guess its a real tribute to the restortation effort.

Downe House then - 1842
and Downe House now -