Darwin, Erasmus, 1731–1802, English physician and poet. During most of his life he practiced medicine in Lichfield and cultivated a botanical garden. He was a prominent member of the Lichfield literary group, which included Anna Seward Seward, Anna , 1742–1809, English poet, called the Swan of Lichfield. A member of the Lichfield literary group, which included Thomas Day and Erasmus Darwin, she was acquainted also with Dr. Johnson and James Boswell.
..... Click the link for more information. and Thomas Day Day, Thomas, 1748–89, English social reformer and author. He supported the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery and was interested in improving the lot of the small farmer. His moralistic History of Sandford and Merton (3 vol.
..... Click the link for more information. . In a long poem, The Botanic Garden (1789–91), Darwin expounded the botanical system of Linnaeus Linnaeus, Carolus , 1707–78, Swedish botanist and taxonomist, considered the founder of the binomial system of nomenclature and the originator of modern scientific classification of plants and animals. He studied botany and medicine and taught both at Uppsala.
..... Click the link for more information. . His Zoonomia (1794–96), explaining organic life according to evolutionary principles, anticipates later theories. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert, 1809–82, English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury; grandson of Erasmus Darwin and of Josiah Wedgwood. He firmly established the theory of organic evolution known as Darwinism.
..... Click the link for more information. and of Francis Galton Galton, Sir Francis , 1822–1911, English scientist, founder of eugenics; cousin of Charles Darwin. He turned from exploration and meteorology (where he introduced the theory of the anticyclone) to the study of heredity and eugenics (a term that he coined).
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See biography by D. King-Hele (1964).

Darwin, Erasmus

Erasmus Darwin, detail of an oil painting by Joseph Wright, 1770; in the National Portrait Gallery, …

(credit: Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London)

(born Dec. 12, 1731, Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died April 18, 1802, Derby, Derbyshire) British physician, grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. A freethinker and radical, Darwin often wrote his opinions and scientific treatises in verse. In Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life (1794–96), he advanced a theory of evolution similar to that of Lamarck, suggesting that species modified themselves by adapting to their environment in an intentional way. His conclusions, drawn from simple observation, were rejected by the more sophisticated 19th-century scientists, including his grandson Charles.

Darwin, Erasmus

Born Dec. 12, 1731, in Elton; died Apr. 18, 1802, in Derby. English physician, naturalist, and poet. Grandfather of C. Darwin.

In Zoonomia (1794–96), Darwin developed a theory in natural philosophy concerning the evolution of organisms. According to Darwin, embryos originate in the form of very thin fibrils that separate from the nerve endings in the body of the father and enter the ovum during fertilization. This process is the same for all animals, which, Darwin suggested, originated from the mixture of several “natural orders”; under the influence of the external environment, the use and nonuse of organs, and other causes, animals develop and change. In the narrative poems entitled The Botanic Garden (1789–92) and The Temple of Nature (1803; Russian translation, 1911) Darwin set forth his views of natural science in poetical form; philosophically, he was a deist.

REFERENCES

Krause, E. Erasmus Darwin und seine Stellung in der Geschichte der Descendenz-Theorie mit seinem Lebens- und Charakterbilde von Ch. Darwin. Leipzig, 1880.
Darwin, C. “Zhizn’ Erazma Darvina.” Soch.. vol. 9. Moscow, 1959. Pages 250–306.

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