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More than 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Darwin's 'dangerous idea' continues to spark impassioned scientific, philosophical and theological debates. This series includes key texts by precursors of Darwin, his supporters and detractors, and the generations that followed him. They reveal how scholars and philosophers approached the evidence in the fossil record and the zoological and botanical data provided by scientific expeditions to distant lands, and how these intellectuals grappled with topics such as the origins of life, the mechanisms that produce variation among life forms, and heredity, as well as the enormous implications of evolutionary theory for the understanding of human identity.

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63 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Darwin, Evolution and Genetics

Page 1 of 4

Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre
  • Deutsche wesentlich erweiterte Ausgabe in fünfundzwanzig Vorlesungen
  • Wilhelm Johannsen
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    21 May 2015
    First published in:
    1909
  • The Danish plant scientist Wilhelm Johannsen (1857–1927) is remembered for his experimental work on plant heredity, and as a founding figure of modern genetics. The terms 'gene', 'genotype' and 'phenotype' were first used by him. The results of his studies on beans supported theories advanced during the 1890s by the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries, who had unknowingly replicated the work of Gregor Mendel, published in English translation in 1902 (also reissued in this series) by William Bateson. Johannsen's proposal that changes in heredity resulted from sudden mutations rather than from slow processes of natural selection was seen at the time as a threat to Darwinian theory, though later research showed otherwise. This influential book, first published in 1909 (with later editions in 1913 and 1926), is a revised, expanded German translation of a 1905 Danish book by Johannsen, itself based on a journal article originally published in 1903.

Emma Darwin, Wife of Charles Darwin
  • A Century of Family Letters
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by H. E. Litchfield
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    22 April 2010
    First published in:
    1904
  • This remarkable collection of private correspondence between Emma Darwin and members of her family, published in 1904, provides the reader with a delightful and informative account of life in the late nineteenth century, and a picture of an amusing, educated, and caring woman. Emma Darwin (1808–1896) was especially remembered for her patience and fortitude in dealing with her husband's long term illness, which became apparent shortly after their marriage. In nursing and humouring Charles through his many ups and downs, she was a crucial factor in her husband's scientific accomplishments. She was responsible for bringing up their large family, running their household, and hosting visits from relatives and scientists. This, the first of two volumes edited by her daughter Henrietta, focuses on Emma's parents and relatives, up to 1839. Both volumes are organised chronologically, and include delightful illustrations from the family archives.

Le monde avant la création de l'homme
  • Origines de la terre, origines de la vie, origines de l'humanité
  • Camille Flammarion
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842–1925) won acclaim for bringing science to a general readership. His Astronomie populaire (1880) and its translation into English as Popular Astronomy (1894) are both reissued in this series. The present work, on the origins of the Earth and humankind, sold tens of thousands of copies. Flammarion's original purpose was to update Zimmermann's Le monde avant la création de l'homme, published a quarter of a century earlier. However, scientific understanding had progressed so much that he decided to rewrite the work completely. First published in 1886, it contains some 400 wood engravings depicting dramatic landscapes, dinosaurs, fossils and much more. Ranging from early chapters on the universe and solar system, through to later discussion of the emergence of humankind after aeons of evolution, this book will prove an absorbing read for those interested in a nineteenth-century perspective on the origins of life.

Recent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity, and Evolution
  • Robert Heath Lock
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 June 2013
    First published in:
    1906
  • In the nineteenth century and beyond, scientists at Cambridge produced some of the most significant developments in the study of biological variation and inheritance. The work of William Bateson (several of whose books are also reissued in this series) was especially important in this regard. This book, first published in 1906 by the botanist Robert Heath Lock (1879–1915), lucidly traces these and other milestones in modern biological understanding. A readable account is given of the evolution of the discipline since the publication of Darwin's On the Origins of Species in 1859, taking in the biometrical contributions of Francis Galton and the research into mutation conducted by Hugo de Vries. The pioneering experiments of Gregor Mendel, and the more recent rediscovery of his laws of inheritance, are clearly contextualised so that non-specialist readers can appreciate the scientific progress that had been made in the half-century prior to the book's first publication.

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
  • Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
    First published in:
    1872
  • When this monograph was first published in 1872, there already existed a good deal of thought on facial expression via the study of physiognomy; this work, notes Charles Darwin (1809–82), was full of 'surprising nonsense'. Setting aside the assumption of previous studies that human facial muscles were created specifically for a range of expressions unique to the species, Darwin sets out here to make a systematic study of both human and animal expression. The range of his research is extraordinarily wide: he not only experimented on himself, but observed infants, consulted doctors in psychiatric hospitals and sent out requests to missionaries and travellers for first-hand notes on the expressions of aboriginal peoples. Learned, meticulous and illustrated with an impressive array of drawings, photographs and engravings, Darwin's work stands as an important contribution to the study of human behaviour and its origins.

Tropical Nature and Other Essays
  • Alfred Russel Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    06 June 2013
    First published in:
    1878
  • Sometimes referred to as 'the grand old man of science', Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a naturalist, evolutionary theorist, and friend of Charles Darwin. In this study of tropical flora and fauna, he takes the reader on a tour of the equatorial forest belt - the almost continuous band of forest that stretches around the world between the tropics. There, chameleon-like caterpillars alter the colours of their cocoons, parasitical trees override their hosts with spectacular aerial root systems, and some of the most pressing questions of Victorian evolutionary science arise: how do animals and plants come to be brightly coloured? Can their adaptations provide clues about past geological eras? And was Darwin wholly correct in his theory of sexual selection? First published in 1878, Wallace's book is a skilfully written reflection of contemporary naturalism, still highly readable and relevant to students in the history of science.

Problems of Genetics
  • William Bateson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    20 September 2012
    First published in:
    1913
  • A key figure in the field of evolutionary biology, William Bateson (1861–1926) revived Mendelian methods of analysis to develop Darwin's theory of evolution, thereby pioneering the study of genetics. In these lectures, published at Yale in 1913, Bateson systematically chronicles the era's conflicting and developing theories on taxonomy, speciation, variation and hybridisation, and includes his own thoughts on continuous and discontinuous variation and its causes. Drawing on the comparative physiology and anatomy of species that he knew from his wide experience, citing detailed examples from across the taxonomic kingdoms, Bateson brings to life this exciting time in biology. Because the theories central to the modern understanding of genetics, heredity and evolution were formed at this time, this work remains valuable and relevant to students of biology and the history of science.

Philosophie zoologique
  • Ou exposition; des considerations relative à l'histoire naturelle des animaux
  • Volume 1
  • Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck
  • Published online:
    05 September 2013
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1809
  • The great French zoologist Lamarck (1744–1829) was best known for his theory of evolution, called 'soft inheritance', whereby organisms pass down acquired characteristics to their offspring. Originally a soldier, Lamarck later studied medicine and biology, becoming particularly interested in botany. His distinguished career included admission to the French Academy of Sciences (1779), and appointments as Royal Botanist (1781) and as professor of zoology at the Musée Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle in 1793. Acknowledged as the premier authority on invertebrate zoology, he is credited with coining the term 'invertebrates'. In this two-volume work of 1809, he outlines his theory that under the pressure of different external circumstances, species can develop variations, and that new species and genera can eventually evolve as a result. Darwin paid tribute to Lamarck as the man who 'first did the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of all change … being the result of law'.

Materials for the Study of Variation
  • Treated with Especial Regard to Discontinuity in the Origin of Species
  • William Bateson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    09 August 2012
    First published in:
    1894
  • Building on the work of Darwin and Mendel, the biologist William Bateson (1861–1926) was the first scientist to combine the study of variation, heredity and evolution, and to use the term 'genetics'. This book was first published in 1894 after many years of experimental and theoretical work - particularly in the embryology of the acorn worm genus Balanoglossus - which had been guided by the principle that embryonic developmental stages replay the evolutionary transitions of adult forms of an organism's ancestors. Bateson was the first to challenge this theory, which made him unpopular among the scientific establishment of the time, but he was proved right. Organising his material by anatomical sections, Bateson explores speciation, phylogeny and discontinuous and continuous variation among a wide range of species, including vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. This pioneering work offers great insight into how the study of genetics and inheritance itself evolved.

Zoological Philosophy
  • An Exposition with Regard to the Natural History of Animals
  • Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck
  • Translated by Hugh Samuel Roger Elliott
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1914
  • The great French zoologist Lamarck (1744–1829) was best known for his theory of evolution, called 'soft inheritance', whereby organisms pass down acquired characteristics to their offspring. Originally a soldier, Lamarck later studied medicine and biology. His distinguished career included admission to the French Academy of Sciences (1779), and appointments as Royal Botanist (1781) and as professor of zoology at the Musée Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle in 1793. Acknowledged as the premier authority on invertebrate zoology, he is credited with coining the term 'invertebrates'. In this 1809 work, translated into English in 1914, he outlines his theory that under the pressure of different external circumstances, species can develop variations, and that new species and genera can eventually evolve as a result. Darwin paid tribute to Lamarck as the man who 'first did the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of all change … being the result of law'.

Philosophie zoologique
  • Ou exposition; des considerations relative à l'histoire naturelle des animaux
  • Volume 2
  • Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1809
  • The great French zoologist Lamarck (1744–1829) was best known for his theory of evolution, called 'soft inheritance', whereby organisms pass down acquired characteristics to their offspring. Originally a soldier, Lamarck later studied medicine and biology, becoming particularly interested in botany. His distinguished career included admission to the French Academy of Sciences (1779), and appointments as Royal Botanist (1781) and as professor of zoology at the Musée Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle in 1793. Acknowledged as the premier authority on invertebrate zoology, he is credited with coining the term 'invertebrates'. In this two-volume work of 1809, he outlines his theory that under the pressure of different external circumstances, species can develop variations, and that new species and genera can eventually evolve as a result. Darwin paid tribute to Lamarck as the man who 'first did the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of all change … being the result of law'.

Mental Evolution in Animals
  • With a Posthumous Essay on Instinct by Charles Darwin
  • George John Romanes
  • Appendix by Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    20 October 2011
    First published in:
    1883
  • George John Romanes (1848–94), considered by The Times to be 'the biological investigator upon whom in England the mantle of Mr. Darwin has most conspicuously descended', wrote this influential work on the evolution of the mental faculties of animals in 1883. The two scientists were close friends, and Darwin gave Romanes his notes on psychology to use in his studies. Much of the book is devoted to instinct, and contained in the appendix is a posthumous essay by Darwin on the subject, originally intended for a later edition of On the Origin of Species. Romanes' method of using anecdotal evidence over empirical research has been criticised, but this book stands as an influential work in the history of evolutionary biology; it was followed in 1888 by his Mental Evolution in Man (also reissued in this series), which discussed some of the most important issues of nineteenth-century evolutionary psychology.

Darwin, and after Darwin
  • An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions
  • Volume 1, The Darwinian Theory
  • George John Romanes
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1893
  • George John Romanes (1848–94), evolutionary biologist, was one of the most zealous supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection in the nineteenth century. He met Darwin in 1874 and became a firm friend and follower, applying Darwinian theory to his work on animal intelligence and mental evolution. Romanes was elected to the Royal Society in 1879 at the age of 31, having produced his own influential research on the evolution of the nervous system. This three-volume study of Darwin's work and its implications was first developed as a series of lectures given in Edinburgh and London between 1886 and 1890. Controversially, Romanes deviates from Darwin's assertion of the significance of geographical isolation, contending that physiological differences among the same species were central to evolutionary change. First published in 1892, Volume 1 focuses on the Darwinian theory itself. This second edition appeared in 1893.

Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Volume 3
  • Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), the English biologist and naturalist, was known as 'Darwin's Bulldog', and is best remembered today for his vociferous support for Darwin's theory of evolution. He was, however, an influential naturalist, anatomist and religious thinker, who coined the term 'agnostic' to describe his own beliefs. Almost entirely self-educated, he became an authority in anatomy and palaeontology, and after the discovery of the archaeopteryx, he was the first to suggest that birds had evolved from dinosaurs. He was also a keen promoter of scientific education who strove to make science a paid profession, not dependent on patronage or wealth. Published in 1903, this three-volume work, edited by his son Leonard Huxley, is the second and most complete edition of Huxley's biography and selected letters. Volume 3 covers the period 1887–95, during which Huxley battled ill-health while continuing to defend his scientific ideals.

Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Volume 1
  • Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), the English biologist and naturalist, was known as 'Darwin's Bulldog', and is best remembered today for his vociferous support for Darwin's theory of evolution. He was, however, an influential naturalist, anatomist and religious thinker, who coined the term 'agnostic' to describe his own beliefs. Almost entirely self-educated, he became an authority in anatomy and palaeontology, and after the discovery of the archaeopteryx, he was the first to suggest that birds had evolved from dinosaurs. He was also a keen promoter of scientific education who strove to make science a paid profession, not dependent on patronage or wealth. Published in 1903, this three-volume work, edited by his son Leonard Huxley, is the second and most complete edition of Huxley's biography and selected letters. Volume 1 covers the period 1825–69, including his expedition to Australasia and the publication of the On the Origin of Species (1859).

Darwin, and after Darwin
  • An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions
  • Volume 3, Post-Darwinian Questions – Isolation and Physiological Selection
  • George John Romanes
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1897
  • George John Romanes (1848–94), evolutionary biologist, was one of the most zealous supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection in the nineteenth century. He met Darwin in 1874 and became a firm friend and follower, applying Darwinian theory to his work on animal intelligence and mental evolution. Romanes was elected to the Royal Society in 1879 at the age of 31, having produced his own influential research on the evolution of the nervous system. This three-volume study of Darwin's work and its implications was first developed as a series of lectures given in Edinburgh and London between 1886 and 1890. Controversially, Romanes deviates from Darwin's assertion of the significance of geographical isolation, contending that physiological differences among the same species were central to evolutionary change. Published posthumously in 1897, Volume 3 considers the 'post-Darwinian question' of isolation, incorporating Romanes' own theories on physiological selection.

Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Volume 2
  • Leonard Huxley, Thomas Henry Huxley
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), the English biologist and naturalist, was known as 'Darwin's Bulldog', and is best remembered today for his vociferous support for Darwin's theory of evolution. He was, however, an influential naturalist, anatomist and religious thinker, who coined the term 'agnostic' to describe his own beliefs. Almost entirely self-educated, he became an authority in anatomy and palaeontology, and after the discovery of the archaeopteryx, he was the first to suggest that birds had evolved from dinosaurs. He was also a keen promoter of scientific education who strove to make science a paid profession, not dependent on patronage or wealth. Published in 1903, this three-volume work, edited by his son Leonard Huxley, is the second and most complete edition of Huxley's biography and selected letters. Volume 2 covers the period 1870–86, including Huxley's American lecture tour, and the death of his friend Charles Darwin in 1882.

The Life and Letters of George John Romanes
  • Edited by Ethel Duncan Romanes
  • George John Romanes
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    20 October 2011
    First published in:
    1896
  • George John Romanes (1848–94) was an influential evolutionary biologist whose work focused on the evolution of mental faculties. Although criticised for his anecdotal method, he is credited as being one of the pioneers of comparative psychology for his work on animal intelligence, and he also contributed to the development of the theory of natural selection. Romanes and Charles Darwin (1809–82) were close friends, and Darwin gave Romanes his notes on psychology for use in his studies. First published in 1896, this biography was written by his wife Ethel (1856–1927), also an author on religious topics. This reissue is of the second printing (also 1896): including correspondence between Darwin and Romanes, it is a rich source of information on both men and the development of their work. This book is also fascinating for its account of Romanes' mental conflict between his Christian faith and belief in evolution.

Mental Evolution in Man
  • Origin of Human Faculty
  • George John Romanes
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    20 October 2011
    First published in:
    1888
  • George John Romanes (1848–94) was considered by The Times to be 'the biological investigator upon whom in England the mantle of Mr. Darwin has most conspicuously descended'. Incorporating some of Darwin's unpublished notes, this book explores the question of whether human intelligence evolved. In a stance still often considered controversial at the time of its first printing in 1888, the first half establishes a link between humans and animals, and introduces some of the most important issues of nineteenth-century evolutionary psychology: the impact of relative brain sizes of humans and primates, the origin of self-consciousness and the possible reasons behind the apparent mental stasis of what Romanes terms 'savage man'. Following the argument that one of the main factors to be considered is language, the second half focuses on philology. Romanes' earlier work, Mental Evolution in Animals (1883), is also reissued in this series.

Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle round the World, under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N.
  • Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1845
  • Charles Darwin (1809–82) was the English naturalist famous for the theory of evolution by natural selection. He began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but developed a fascination for natural history and left Edinburgh to attend Christ's College, Cambridge, where he pursued his new interest while taking a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating, he had the opportunity to secure a position as ship's naturalist aboard H.M.S. Beagle for a five-year, round-the-world voyage which would make him famous. Published in 1845, this book is the second edition of Darwin's expedition journal, more popularly known as The Voyage of the Beagle. Throughout the journey he made observations and discoveries that would lead him to develop his revolutionary theory of evolution, which later appeared in On the Origin of Species and created a storm in the scientific and religious communities.

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