Charles Robert Darwin and Argentina's National Academy of Sciences
Pedro José Depetris
Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Avenida Vélez Sarsfield 229, 5000 Córdoba.
ABSTRACT: Over 175 years ago Charles Robert Darwin arrived in Argentina to find a bare and boundless plain, the brave centaur called "gaucho", Quaternary fossils everywhere, and a society strikingly strange and aggressive to the British eyes of the young traveller. Although the voyage aboard HMS Beagle was the indispensable way towards increasing his stature as a biologist, Lyell's work awakened an inquisitive geological mind which allowed him to wonder at the splendour of the Andes. Forty-two years after having concluded his voyage on the Beagle, the National Academy of Sciences of Argentina appointed him as an Honorary Member. This must be interpreted as an early gesture of recognition -in the context of those times- to the magnificence of his scientific work.
Keywords: Darwin; Argentina; National Academy of Sciences; Geology; Sarmiento.
RESUMEN: Charles Robert Darwin y la Academia Nacional de Ciencias. Hace más de 175 años, Charles Robert Darwin llegaba a la Argentina para descubrir una llanura desprovista de límites y de árboles, el valeroso centauro que era el gaucho, fósiles cuaternarios por doquier y una sociedad sorprendentemente extraña y agresiva a los británicos ojos del joven viajero. Aunque el viaje a bordo del Beagle fue el camino indispensable para incrementar su estatura como biólogo, la obra de Lyell despertó una mente inquisitivamente geológica que le permitió maravillarse ante la magnificencia de los Andes. Cuarenta y dos años después de haber concluido su viaje en el Beagle, la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Argentina lo designó Miembro Honorario, en lo que debe interpretarse como un temprano gesto de reconocimiento -en el contexto del momento- por la magnificencia de su obra científica.
Palabras clave: Darwin; Argentina; Academia Nacional de Ciencias; Geología; Sarmiento.
Recibido: 25 de agosto de 2008
Aceptado: 2 de octubre de 2008
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
On July 26, 1832, one day short of seven
months after leaving Plymouth harbor,
HMS. Beagle moored at Montevideo. It
was a Cherokee class 10-gun brig-sloop
of the Royal Navy named after the Beagle,
the famous British dog breed. The
most important task entrusted by the
British Admiralty to 26-year-old Captain
Robert FitzRoy was about to begin - the
survey of the coasts south of the Río de
la Plata, down to the southern tip of
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. There
were significant gaps in the geographical
knowledge that the British Admiralty had
gathered through countless reports of
sailors who had visited the region for
many years. Now that George Canning
had signed in 1825 a commercial treaty
with the newly independent federation of
Argentinean states, trade was flourishing
with the ex Spanish colonies and accurate
geographical information was urgently
needed.
Charles Robert Darwin was only 22-
years-old when he saw the muddy waters
of the Río de la Plata for the first time;
he had been recommended to FitzRoy as
a companion and naturalist without pay
(Darwin's father covered all the expenses
involved in the long voyage) by John
Stevens Henslow, clergyman, botanist,
and mineralogist, whom Darwin had met
in Cambridge. Young Darwin was expected
to gather information on the natural
history and geology of many exotic regions
that he was going to visit during a
two-year long journey around the world.
The trip was initially extended to threeyears
and then to five-years and it would
be the most extraordinary experience in
the life of Charles Darwin; an experience
that would change dramatically the view
that humankind had of itself and of
nature. In his memoirs, he would simply
state that "the voyage of the Beagle has been by
far the most important event in my life and has
determined my whole career".
Darwin had left unfinished his medical
education at Edinburgh in 1827, and had
gone to Cambridge's Christ's College
where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts
(BA) degree, without honors. He was an
enthusiastic entomologist and an avid
biological collector and his experience in
the Earth Sciences was limited to a field
trip to northern Wales with the famous
Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873), Woodwardian
Professor of Geology at Cambridge.
Notwithstanding, Darwin was supposed
to become a clergyman and his father
-Robert Waring Darwin- initially had
strong objections when Charles was offered
the opportunity of boarding the
HMS Beagle for a journey to South
America to "survey the S. extremity". However,
after Charles's uncle, Josiah Wedgwood II, wrote an eloquent letter in
which he stated that being young Charles
a man of enlarged curiosity, "...it affords
him such an opportunity of seeing men and
things as happens to few".
After an absence of five years and two
days, on October 2nd, 1836, the Beagle
anchored at Falmouth, and on the 4th Darwin returned home to Shrewsbury.
As we know today, the voyage of the
Beagle made him a scientific celebrity, as
he produced several books and numerous
articles, and profusely described and
distributed many specimens that he
brought home with him aboard the ship
(Fig. 1). All these events rapidly led him
to join the elite world of international
science on an equal footing. The revolutionary
ideas set into motion by this long
voyage swirled through Darwin's later
life until, precipitated by Alfred Russel
Wallace, they suddenly broke through into Victorian society in 1859, under the
form of a book that bore the provocative
title of On the Origin of Species by Means
of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured
Races in the Struggle for Life (Fig. 2).
Figure 1: Portrait of
young (~31-year-old)
Charles Darwin four
years after he returned
from the voyage
of the HMS. Beagle,
painted by George
Richmond (1840).
Figure 2: Facsimile of the front page of Origin of Species. The volume was sent by the publisher to
the National Academy of Sciences, in Córdoba, upon Darwin's request.
The best place to find a detailed and personal account of Darwin's rich experiences is his first book, entitled Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle, under the Command of Captain FitzRoy, R.N. from 1832 to 1836 (Fig. 3). The book was a success when first published, in 1839, and Darwin's fondness for this particular work was transparent when he wrote at the end of his life that "the success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books". Originally published in four volumes (Darwin's volume, plus FitzRoy's two and an extended appendix), Darwin describes not only the exciting travels, the exotic ports of call, and the fascinating inland expeditions (in fact, he spent much more time on land than he did at sea), but also his emotions, his intense feelings on first arriving in the tropics, his dangerous overland excursions with the gauchos (which he deeply admired), and the awesome sight of the stars over the Cordillera de los Andes.
Figure 3: Facsimile of
the front page of
Darwin's Journal of
Researches, a.k.a. Voyage
of the Beagle.
Moreover, in his first work - later published
as Voyage of the Beagle (e.g., Darwin
1989)- it is very clear that Darwin, at
least, was never a detached observer and
the book shows how he saw a totally
foreign society through British eyes and
strongly supported the social order and
political structure as he understood it
from his native country. Along this line, it
is particularly interesting to read about
his impressions and views on Argentine
society in times of severe turmoil, when
Juan Manuel de Rosas (whom he met
personally) was growing as a political figure
in the conflictive scenario that was
at the time the Argentine Confederation.
Darwin set foot for the first time on
Argentina's soil in Patagonia when the
Beagle arrived on August the 3rd off the
mouth of the Río Negro. He traveled
afterwards overland to Bahía Blanca,
Buenos Aires, and Santa Fe. On December
6th 1833 the Beagle set sail to Patagonia
(Puerto Deseado) and then anchored
within the mouth of the Río Santa
Cruz, which was explored upstream for
several weeks. On June 10th, 1834, the
Beagle "bade farewell for ever to Tierra del
Fuego". Darwin was not particularly fond
of sailing rough seas and one can only
imagine the feeling of relief that he
experienced when they left Cape Horn
for good. Darwin would enter again Argentina's
territory when he crossed the
Andes and arrived in Mendoza during
the 2nd half of March, 1835. The awe-inspiring
sight of the Cordillera and the
possibility of seeing geological processes
at such large scale made a very deep impression
on the young scientist.
DARWIN, THE GEOLOGIST
Since this article is published in a geological
journal, it seems appropriate to
briefly consider the geological facet of
Charles Darwin. It is accepted now that
geology influenced Darwin and, conversely,
he influenced the science (Herbert
2005). Like FitzRoy, he had a special interest
in geology and he had read most of
the best-known texts in the field, particularly
Charles Lyell's famous Principles of
Geology (Lyell 1998), which was originally
published in 1830. This shared interest in
geological sciences was probably a factor
that drew FitzRoy and Darwin together
during their time on board. In fact,
FitzRoy was approached by Lyell before
the Beagle sailed off Plymouth in order
to ask that specific geological features be
recorded, such as erratic boulders of glacial
origin. Darwin gathered geological
specimens and took detailed notes on
geology during the circumnavigation of
the globe. Contradicting widespread belief,
upon his return to Great Britain, it
was his geological findings that first promoted
enthusiastic scientific and public
opinion. It must be kept in mind that, as
a young scientist, Charles Darwin was
eager to contribute with a simple theory
that would explain most, if not all, of the
observed geological phenomena. Only
his scheme explaining the structure and
distribution of coral reefs has survived to
this day (Herbert 2005).
The British government sponsored publication
of his research and numerous
geologists, including Darwin's former
teachers like Sedgwick, proved to be an
interested audience. Doubtlessly the experience
of the voyage of the Beagle had
been transformative: the methods and
hypothesis of Victorian-era geology profoundly
shaped Darwin's mind and his
scientific methods as he worked toward a
complete comprehension of evolution
and natural selection.
DARWIN AND ARGENTINA'S NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The Academy was founded on September 11th 1869, by a bill passed on to
Congress by Argentina's President Domingo
Faustino Sarmiento (García Castellanos
1987). The bill authorized President
Sarmiento to hire a significant
number of European scientists in order
to promote scientific research in the natural
and exact sciences and foster higher
education at the Universidad Nacional de
Córdoba. The first to arrive in August
1871 was Prof. M. Siewert, from the Universität
Halle (known today as Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg),
soon followed by Prof. P.G. Lorentz, a
botanist from the Universität Munchen.
Others, like the geologist Stelzner, the
zoologist H. Weyenbergh, the astronomer
K. Schultz-Sellack, arrived the following
year (García Castellanos 1987). As
academicians and naturalists from prominent
European centers of higher learning,
all undoubtedly knew about the
revolutionary ideas put forward in the
Origin of Species and, although not all supported
Darwin's views (G. Burmeister, a
prominent biologist, organizer of the
Academy, for example, opposed evolutionary
ideas), there is ground to sustain
that most were enthusiastic supporters of
Darwin's work. Moreover, during his
visit to Argentine territory Charles Darwin
made numerous and valuable observations
that increased the knowledge on
the natural history and geology of the
young country. Hence, it should not come
as a surprise that Darwin's magnificent
work and his contact with Argentina
led to his appointment as a Corresponding
Member ("Miembro Corresponsal") of
the National Academy of Sciences,
which still has its seat in the city of Córdoba,
Argentina. On August 7th 1878, the President of the Academy, Dr. Hendrik
Weyenbergh, wrote a letter to Argentina's
Minister of Education Dr. Bonifacio
Lastra requesting the appointment of
several new members and the change of
Charles Robert Darwin's status to Honorary
Member ("Miembro Honorario")
(Fig. 4), along with D. A. Grisebach. In
return, Darwin instructed his publisher
to send a copy of the Origin of Species to the Academy (still in the Academy's
collection of antique books), sent an
autographed picture (see frontispiece of
this volume), and wrote a grateful letter
to the Academy's President. Darwin's letter
dated March 18th 1879 to the Academy's
President, Dr. Hendrik Weyenbergh,
read: "Dear Sir, I beg leave to acknowledge
the receipt of the very handsome Diploma
of your Society, and to repeat my thanks for the
honour conferred on me. According to your request
I enclose my photograph, and I have directed
my publisher to send a copy of my Origin of
Species to the Society as I suppose that this is the
best of my works. I have the honour to remain,
Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, Charles Darwin" (Fig. 5).
Figure 4: Facsimile of the letter sent by the National Academy of Science's President, Dr.
Hendrik Weyenbergh to Argentina's Minister of Education, Dr. Bonifacio Lastra, requesting the
appointment of Charles Darwin as an Honorary Member of the Academy.
Figure 5: Facsimile of the letter sent by Charles Darwin on March 18th 1879 to the Academy's
President, Dr. Hendrik Weyenbergh, acknowledging his appointment as Honorary Member of
Argentina's National Academy of Sciences.
To this day, the volume presented
by Darwin as a gift, as well as the
photograph and the letter, are cherished
in Argentina's Academy of Sciences as
valuable icons of the development of
world science.
Darwin's approach to explain the evolution
of nature and, above all, of humankind
rapidly rooted in Argentina's newly
born but growing science. Perhaps
nothing better than Sarmiento's own
words to express the widespread feelings
towards these revolutionary biological
ideas. In 1882, he expressively said "…Y
yo, señores, adhiero a la doctrina de la evolución
así generalizada, como procedimiento del espíritu,
porque necesito reposar sobre un principio
armonioso y bello a la vez, a fin de acallar la
duda que es el tormento del alma" (Sarmiento
1951, p. 118). ("And I, gentlemen, adhere
to the theory of evolution thus generalized,
as a procedure of the spirit, because
I need to rest upon a harmonious
as well as beautiful principle, in order to
hush doubt, that torment of soul").
Darwin died in 1882 after a long illness;
it was not realized until after his death
that he had suffered from Chagas's disease,
which he had contracted while visiting
South America. Although he was not
the only originator of the evolution
hypothesis, he certainly was the first man
of science that gained for such theory a
wide acceptance among biological experts.
By contributing his own ideas on
natural selection to the evolutionism
outlined by Erasmus Darwin -his grandfather-,
Lamarck and other biologists, he
raised the evolutionary hypothesis to a
provable theory.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to acknowledge the assistance of my friend and fellow academician, Dr. Alfredo Cocucci, who supplied valuable information for the preparation of this article. Gonzalo Biarnes and librarian Sandra Ledesma, both members of the Academy's staff, kindly supplied the facsimiles herein included. Most important, my wife Elizabeth kindly helped out introducing needed corrections to the original manuscript.
WORKS CITED IN THE TEXT
1. Darwin, C. 1989. Voyage of the Beagle. Penguin Classics, 432 p., London.
2. García Castellanos, T. 1987. Breve historia de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Córdoba, República Argentina. Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Miscelánea 75, 39 p.
3. Herbert, S. 2005. Charles Darwin, geologist. Cornell University Press, 512 p., New York.
4. Lyell, C. 1998. Principles of Geology. Penguin Classics, 528 p., London.
5. Sarmiento, D.F. 1951. Obras completas, Discursos Populares. Ed. Luz del Día, 12, 382 p., Buenos Aires.