Darwin and the barnacle / Rebecca Stott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stott, Rebecca.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Natural selection.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.

Darwin, Charles.

Barnacles.

Physical Description:

xxv, 309 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 22 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, 2003.

Summary:

A scientific detective story that illuminates the remarkable saga of Darwin's greatest achievement. Pairing Charles Darwin and a rare species of barnacle as her unlikely protagonists, Rebecca Stott has written an absorbing work of history, a book that guides readers through the treacherous shoals of nineteenth-century biology. Beginning her narrative in the 1820s even before Darwin's Beagle voyage, Stott examines the mystery of why Darwin waited over two decades between formulating his pivotal theory of natural selection and publishing it. Lavishly illustrated, filled with riddles and concepts that challenge our notion of Victorian science, Darwin and the Barnade is a thrilling account of how genius proceeds through indirection--and how one small item of curiosity contributed to one of science's greatest achievements.

Contents:

1 A Cross-section of the Acorn Barnacle: Darwin, C., Plate 25, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1854)

2 A Cross-section of the Stalked Barnacle (Anelasma: Ibla): Darwin, C., Plate 4, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1851)

3 Robert Grant: The Wellcome Library, London

4 Leith Races: City Art Centre: City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries

5 Leith Pier and Harbour, 1798: Grant, J., Old and New Edinburgh: Its History, Its People and Its Places, vol. 3 (London, Paris and Melbourne: Cassell and Company, 1887), p. 272. From a drawing by J. Waddell.

6 Darwin's Colour Chart: From Syme, P. ed., Werner's Nomenclature of colours with Additions, 2nd ed. (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and T. Cadell, 1821)

7 Botofogo Bay: From Caldcleugh, A., Travels in South America (London, 1825)

8 Repairing the Beagle: The Wellcome Library, London

9 Down House: Engraving of Down House, The Century Magazine, 1883

10 Darwin's study: English Heritage Photo Library

11 Charles Darwin with his son William, 1842: University College London Library Services, Galton Papers, 9

12 Mr Arthrobalanus: Darwin, C., Plate 23, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1854)

13 Emma Darwin with her son Leonard: H. Litchfield, Emma Darwin wife of Charles Darwin: A Century of Family Letters, vol. 2, (Cambridge, 1904), p.168. Original photograph by Maull and Fox

14 Ibla: Darwin, C., Plate 5, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1851)

15 Annie Darwin: The English Heritage Photo Library

16 The Wet Sheet: The Wellcome Library, London

17 Dr Gully: Worcester County Council Cultural Services, Malvern

18 Douche: The Wellcome Library, London

19 Joseph Hooker: The Linnaean Soicety of London

20 Microscope: Beck, R. (1865), A Treatise on the Construction, &c of Smith, Beck and Beck's Achromatic Microscopes, London: John Van Voorst, p. 102

21 Darwin's Memorial of Annie: The Syndics of Cambridge University Library

22 Interior of The Crystal Palace: The Dickinson Brothers (1854), Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851, vol. 1, (London: Dickinson Brothers - Her Majesty's Publishers). Frontispiece of The Transept. Original paintings by Messrs Nash, Haghe and Roberts, R.A.

23 Royal Polytechnic Institution: Guildhall Library, Corporation of London

24 The Outside of a Stalked Barnacle: Darwin, C., Plate 7, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1851)

25 Thomas Huxley: Frontispiece to vol. 2 of Huxley, L., ed., Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, (London: Macmillan, 1903). Original photograph by Maull and Polyblank, 1857

26 The Allied Camp on the plateau before Sebastopol: Detail from photograph by Roger Fenton, The Central Library, Birmingham

27 The Outside of an Acorn Barnacle: Darwin, C., Plate 1, A Monograph of the Sub-Class Cirripedia, with figures of all the Species (Ray Society, 1854)

28 'Common Objects at the Seaside': John Leech's cartoon in Punch, London, 1857

29 'Valuable Addition to the Aquarium': Drawing room aquaria as illustrated by John Swain in Punch, London, 1860

30 The Spirit Store: Courtesy of University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge; photographed by Yvonne Barnett

31 Darwin's barnacles - microscope specimens: Courtesy of University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge; photographed by Yvonne Barnett

32 Microscopic image of the remains of Darwin's Mr Arthrobalanus (Cryptophialus minutus): Courtesy of Professor Michael Akam, FRS, University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge.

Notes:

"First published in Great Britain in 2003 by Faber and Faber Limited"--T.p. verso.

"The story of one tiny creature and history's most spectacular scientific breakthrough"--Front dust jacket.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-272) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0393057453

OCLC:

51630824