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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 4 of 4

Erasmus Darwin
  • Ernst Krause, Charles Robert Darwin
  • Translated by William Sweetland Dallas
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    24 September 2009
    First published in:
    1879
  • The author of this life of Erasmus Darwin, published in 1879, is given as Ernst Krause (1839–1903) a German biologist, but in fact more than half the book is a 'preliminary notice' by Charles Darwin, who explains in the preface that he has written it because of his access to family papers which add 'to the knowledge of Erasmus Darwin's character'. Krause wrote his original article in a German periodical because, in turn, he was intrigued by a reference made by Charles Darwin in the later editions of On the Origin of Species to his grandfather's anticipation in his Zoonomia (also reissued in this series) of Lamarckian theory: 'I thought immediately ... that this ancestor of his must certainly deserve considerable credit in connection with the history of the Darwinian theory.' The German text was translated by W. S. Dallas, who had previously collaborated with Darwin as both indexer and translator.

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin
  • Including an Autobiographical Chapter
  • Volume 2
  • Charles Darwin
  • Edited by Francis Darwin
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1887
  • This book, the second of three-volumes detailing the life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his father's collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, Francis Darwin explains his editorial principles: 'In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author.' Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication. This account of Darwin the man has never been bettered.

Insectivorous Plants
  • Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1875
  • Darwin had long been fascinated by insectivorous plants, from the native British sundews and bladderworts to the exotic pinguiculas and nepenthes which he encountered during the Beagle voyage. Growing in environments low in soil nutrients, their highly specialised ways of obtaining enough food, including the capability for fast movement in the case of the Venus flytrap, were evidence of evolutionary adaptation. But he was also interested in what food they needed, and whether they would be selective when offered a varied diet; and how did the flytrap close its trap on its prey? Darwin conducted a range of simple but ingenious experiments on his collection of insectivores and observed and noted the results of each with his customary meticulousness. The results can be seen in this book, which remains of enormous interest to anyone whose imagination has been fired by these strange and beautiful plants.

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