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Those diligent Darwins and their tradition of notekeeping
Robert Day, Rescntris Inc.
 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, so it seems fitting to mention here his diligent and invaluable use of field notes and diaries to record his thoughts, ideas and research. His original handwritten notebooks are lovingly preserved at Down House in the UK and much of his work is now freely available online. Generations of science historians have delighted in tracing the observations and lines of argument that eventually led to the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, and even today, reinterpretations of his original data and notes continue to reveal new insights. Charles Darwin’s notebook-keeping habits owe much to his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (shown left), who was a medical doctor as well as a prolific thinker and inventor. Erasmus belonged to an informal group of scientifically inclined gentlemen called “The Lunar Society,” widely recognized as a major catalyzing force behind the industrial and scientific revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. Darwin never knew his grandfather but was familiar with his works, especially his scientific ideas, which Erasmus recorded in his detailed and elaborately cross-referenced “commonplace book,” an early forebear of today’s modern lab notebook. Charles Darwin was profoundly influenced by his grandfather’s ideas about evolutionary biology. We know this because Charles Darwin’s copies of his grandfather’s publications still exist and many have been clearly and thoughtfully annotated by his famous grandson. For example, next to a paragraph where Erasmus describes the way that birds’ beaks may have diversified as a result of the birds’ own endeavors to find food, Charles wrote:
"Lamarck, concisely forestalled by my grandfather"
Elsewhere, Erasmus describes farmers’ selective breeding of sheep with favorable traits as a way to to improve the flock. Charles writes "Good" showing his preference for the idea of selection rather than "modification by endeavor" as a mechanism for change.
In the parlance of the CERF Electronic Laboratory Notebook we might say that Charles Darwin was a notebook creator in his own workgroup but an annotator in his grandfather’s workgroup. In both cases the preservation of the original audit trail, including annotations by others, has proven an invaluable resource to other scientists for hundreds of years after the original work was completed. To keep these records available, tremendous resources and a full-time staff at Down House have accomplished what CERF can do for you and your laboratory with far greater ease and far less expense!
Bibliography:
Darwin, C., Krause, E. (1989) "Erasmus Darwin, The Biography of Erasmus Darwin with a Preliminary Notice by Charles Darwin” Ed. Nora Barlow. University Press.
Darwin, E. (1970) "Commonplace Book" [microform] Reproduced from the original manuscripts at Down House. New York: Distributed by Clearwater Pub.
Darwin, E. (1791) "The Botanic Garden: a Poem in Two Parts Part I: The Economy of Vegetation" London: J. Johnson.
Darwin, E. (1789) "The Botanic Garden: a Poem in Two Parts, Part II: The Loves of Plants" London: J. Johnson.
External Links:
Erasmus Darwin article at answers.com
Erasmus Darwin article at revolutionaryplayers.org
Charles Darwin article at University of Adelaide
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