Not that Darwin, the other Darwin. Erasmus Darwin was Charles Darwin's grandfather. A doctor and naturalist in his own right as well. He also was a poet and penned down many verses in his life, often quite racy and sensual (for the pre-Victorian era). Here is a poem titled The Temple of Nature penned in 1802. Erasmus actually formulated his own theory of evolution which is similar in many ways to Lamarck's but includes the concepts of competition and sexual selection. This poem highlights some of that thinking.
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Organic life beneath the shoreless waves
Was born and nurs'd in ocean's pearly caves;
First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass,
Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;
These, as successive generations bloom,
New powers acquire and larger limbs assume;
Whence countless groups of vegetation…
Finally, the much anticipated return of Friday Flower Porn! For you debauched botanical voyeurs, I have two offerings for you today: a purple posy and turgid Darwinian prose.
Here's a violet blooming in Princeton's Marchand Park where a fair number of specimen trees and shrubs hang out. Just look…
So. It's National Poetry Month. Type that key phrase into the "search" query field on the main page of SB, and you'll find that April brings forth a veritable poetry slam among Science Bloggers. In this fine tradition, I will don my black trousers, turtleneck, jaunty (but dirty) beret, take a…
Following on from earlier postings (here, here and here) what follows is the fourth and final part of the talk. Enjoy!
Creation History?
To emphasize my assertion of the danger of Creationism to nonscientific areas, it is worth noting that Creationist scholarship outside the sciences is equally as…
Thanks for this. I love this site for the sheer breadth and variety of items that you post. Great stuff!!