Darwin''s Lab
(McCLEOD,REHBOCK)
Darwin''s Laboratory is a collection of essays on
the history of science, built on the thematic pillars of Darwin, Darwinism, and
the Pacific. This is a huge span to cover, but the volume forms a surprisingly
cohesive whole. Readers from a wide range of backgrounds will find relevant
material in it; they may also find themselves lured into unfamiliar territory.
Some of the essays are relatively narrow and likely to interest only
specialists: a detailed survey of Darwin''s correspondents in the Pacific
region; an essay on P. Brooks Randolph, the Seattle Young Naturalists Society,
and their contributions to the development of science in the United States
Northwest; a history of the early Balfour Studentships and the decline of
evolutionary embryology; and biographical studies of John T. Gulick, of
Australian geologist and geographer Griffith Taylor (1880-1964), and of Richard
Schomburgk, director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden from 1865 to 1891. Other
essays treat subjects of broader interest within the history of evolutionary
biology: Darwin and Dana and the debate over the origin of coral atolls; the
role of the central Pacific islands in confirming Darwin''s biogeographical
theories; and the importance of maps (particularly in the context of Wallace''s
Line) to biogeography and early evolutionary theory. There is also an essay on
the 1898 Torres Strait Expedition and its significance for the disciplines of
anthropology and psychology.
Darwin''s Laboratory contains three essays on missionary
contributions to Pacific science: the relationships of Darwin and FitzRoy with
the missionaries they met on the Beagle voyage; the links between the
Church of England Melanesian mission and the nascent discipline of
anthropology; and the scientific importance of British missionaries in the
Pacific more generally. And there are three essays on connections between
Darwinism and politics: the way in which reports on the Australian Aborigines
influenced Darwin (and the lack of evidence for a separation between Darwinism
and Social Darwinism); the use of Darwinism to support racism in late
nineteenth century New Zealand; and the influence of Darwinism on left-wing
politics in Japan, Australia, and Hawaii around the turn of the century.
Resumos Relacionados
- Lifelines
- Rocks Of Sges
- Criminals And Their Scientists
- The French Speaking Pacific
- Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals
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