150th Anniversary of The Origin of Species

And what should arrive in my mailbox for review? A copy of Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World. Cool! I’ll be reviewing it when time permits. At any rate, here is a bit from The Origin of Species:

Charles Darwin and The Gibraltar Skull

Science has an interesting entry in its Origins: A History of Beginnings series. The entry concerns Charles Darwin and the Gibraltar Neanderthal skull

Darwin Quote On Ascidians And A Request For Help

I am currently rereading Darwin’s The Descent of Man: and Selection in Relation to Sex and found an interesting statement.

Darwin The Human Being

Since today is Darwin’s birthday you can expect that the blogosphere will be buzzing with posts about Darwin. Most will be about Darwin’s scientific achievements, some will be eloquent and insightful. Others will focus on the conflict between evolution and religion. Since, however, it is Darwin’s birthday, I would like to focus on the man. [...]

Happy Darwin Day

Happy Darwin Day! Below the fold, Darwin discusses paleontological finds. Note what he says about Toxodon

Darwin on the Debt Archaeologists Owe to Worms

From The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits

Darwin Quote, Tuesday Edition: On the Theory of Natural Selection

This is quite interesting, Darwin is responding to a reviewer:

Darwin and Women in Science

This really isn’t a quote by Darwin, rather it is one about him. It concerns the higher education of women – in particular in the sciences:

Darwin Speaks Out Against the Cruelty of Steel Jawed Traps

Although I myself have no moral objections to hunting and fishing some types are clearly wrong. Steel jawed traps are a good example. I was recently gratified to learn that Darwin didn’t think much of steel jawed traps either.

Darwin on Fossil Cirripedia

Don’t ask me why, but I found this description of barnacles quite amusing and just what is that “…most peculiar substance, homologically connected with the generative system…” anyway? It sounds like if we sequenced the genomes of some of the Cirripedia we might find out some really interesting stuff about evolution.

Darwin On Fossil Cirripedia

I found this quote interesting for what it reveals about Darwin’s, early, notions of variability among species. It comes from the preface to his monograph Fossil Cirripedia of Great Britain: A monograph on the fossil Lepadidae, or pedunculated cirripedes of Great Britain

Darwin on Sexual Selection

This comes from The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex

Darwin and the Caterpillar

This quote comes from the preface (actually is almost the entire preface) to Weismann’s 1882 edition of Studies in the theory of descent. and can be found here:

Darwin on Tool Use By Animals

From The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex

The Delicate Victorian Sensibility

On the other hand, I did have time to come up with a interesting Darwin quote, which actually comes from a footnote in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. This one puts Victorian prudery on display: