“This is truly a remarkable book which portrays a profound sense of the species origin and the theory of natural selection,” says Leora Siegel, manager of the Lenhardt Library.
This exhibit brings together books by Charles Darwin and his colleagues selected from the Rare Book Collection, which holds approximately 3,000 titles from the 15th to the 19th centuries, and from several private collections.
Much of the evidence in On the Origin of Species arose from Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle from 1831-1836. This journey gave him the opportunity to accumulate fossils, geological specimens, plants and animals. Darwin’s contributions to Captain Fitzroy’s Journal and Remarks (1832-1836)—also based on this trip—was in such high demand, it was reissued as an independent work under the title Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by the HMS Beagle. The success of the Journal of Researches motivated Darwin to draw sketches and take notes for what developed into the Origin of Species.
Since Darwin first introduced the theory of evolution it has changed, but natural selection still seems to be the most recognized and accepted scientific principle of how species evolve.
Darwin (1809-1882) was an English naturalist who acquired this theory of biological evolution based on a scientific approach to understanding the diversity of life on earth. Darwin developed the theory by examining living organisms as compared to their fossil counterparts along with his understanding of the earth’s geologic history. These studies led him to create the foundation for the scientific principles that were often found in his many publications. -- www.chicagobotanic.org
