Erasmus Darwin / by Ernst Krause ; translated from the German by W.S. Dallas ; with a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin.

  • Krause Ernst, 1839-1903.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Erasmus Darwin / by Ernst Krause ; translated from the German by W.S. Dallas ; with a preliminary notice by Charles Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    the animal world, to which we must ascribe will and active efforts, the idea is so suitable, that Lamarck, who was evidently a disciple of Darwin, has worked it out in all directions, and thus originated a system which is not only still appreciated, but is even now con- stantly being further elaborated, inasmuch as many naturalists of the present day, as has already been stated, ascribe to birds, for ex- ample, the faculty of enhancing the beauty of their plumage by wishes and efforts, and so forth. This is true Darwinism of the last century—Darwinism of the old school. This Darwinism has been criticized by no one so well as by its author himself, when he applied it with strict logic to the development of plants. To be able to do this he was obliged to attribute mental functions to plants, and to endow them with the faculty of striving for a purpose. Even in the ‘ Botanic Garden ’ he therefore declared the necessity of admitting that plants possess the sense of heat and cold, of moisture and dry- ness, of light and darkness, a sense of touch, and amatory desires, besides the power of the roots to select suitable nourishment. For