Charles Darwin Researches Animal Variation Ahead of the Publication of “The Origin of Species”
He considers the case of a Tibetan dog that lost its fine wall after being brought down from the Himalayas so significant that he cited it in his "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication".
Hugh Falconer was a Scottish paleontologist and botanist who studied the flora and fauna of India and Asia. He was superintendent of the botanic garden at Saharanpur, India, and then Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden and Professor of Botany at Calcutta Medical College. He returned to Britain in 1855, and served...
Hugh Falconer was a Scottish paleontologist and botanist who studied the flora and fauna of India and Asia. He was superintendent of the botanic garden at Saharanpur, India, and then Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden and Professor of Botany at Calcutta Medical College. He returned to Britain in 1855, and served as Vice President of the Royal Society of London. Falconer was a supporter of Darwin, and was the first to suggest the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which holds that evolutionary species branching may happen quickly rather than gradually.
Falconer wrote about a case he had observed in India, wherein Tibetan mastiffs and goats, when brought down from the Himalayas to Kashmir, lost their fine wool. In 1857 Darwin was working on "The Origin of Species" (which was published in 1859), and thinking about the variation of animal and plant life. Since natural selection cannot act without varieties to act upon, Darwin wanted to know where, how and in what way variations appeared in animals and plants. He became acquainted with Falconer's article, and saw it as support for his idea that climate influences the hairy covering of animals. He wrote Falconer, requesting more information, if any was available.
Autograph Letter Signed, Down House, Bromley, Kent, March 8, 1857, to Falconer. "My dear Falconer, I have written down what I gathered from you on Tibet dogs; and if at any time you could add a few details, the case probably would be a very valuable and interesting one for me, as I know of nothing parallel to it." He adds a postscript, "I enjoy so much a chat with you, that you will be sure to see me when next in London." This is an important letter written just ahead of publication of "The Origin of Species", in which we see Darwin meditating upon a theme directly linked to the central idea put forth in that epochal work, namely that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution.
Darwin considered Falconer's information so significant that he specifically cited it in his 1868 book, "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication." This letter is one of just a very few Darwin letters we have had over the years dealing directly with the core premises of his greatest works.
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