MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

14 Jan 2014: "In my last year at Cambridge, I read with care and profound interest Humbodlt's Personal Narrative [of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America].  This work, and Sir J. Hershel's Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy, stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science. " Darwin autobiography

Baron Alexander von Humbolt's Personal Narrative is a description of his travels across northern South America, including the lowlands of Venezuela and the highlands of Andes. He includes natural history, geology, social customs, and reads much like an adventure. I haven't read it myself although I feel like I need to now. It is listed as #1 in the Journal of Natural History Education and Experience's list of 101 natural history books that I should read before I die. Our library has the three volume version and I'll make this my "fun" spring break reading. Humbolt became a world famous traveler and is the namesake of several geological features as well as a penguin (there's a good Welsh word). He inspired Darwin and a number of other natural historians. 

There's much less information about The Study of Natural Philosophy on the web but Natural Philosophy has deistic origins. When speaking about natural historians of the time, theists viewed God as influencing everyday events, the power of prayer, miracles, etc. This was giving way to the deistic view that God imparted rules onto the natural world and it is the responsibility of the natural philosopher to discover the rules. Pre-Origin of Species this meant that species were perfect and immutable creations. Deistic views were held by many scientists of the time including Darwin, Newton and influenced the American founding fathers (see the Declaration of Independence). I suspect that books on Natural Philosophy were a mix of natural history observations and deistic interpretations.

So Darwin is in his last year of college. He's highly motivated to (1) collect organisms, (2) travel, and (3) make contributions to science. He's already an adept collector of insects, birds, bird eggs, plants and marine organisms. He has been trained by Henslow, one of the top botanists of his time. It's time for something. Something big.  

References:
Natural History Network 101 natural history books that you should read before you die