Extracts from Darwin’s Publications, and His Basic Geophysical Ideas

Abstract

The 3-volume Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle was published in London by Henry Colburn in 1839. Volume 1 contains FitzRoy’s Proceedings of the first expedition, Volume 2 contains FitzRoy’s Proceedings of the second expedition and Volume 3 contains Darwin’s Journal and Remarks. Darwin’s Volume 3 was reprinted a few weeks later as a separate book Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various countries visited by H. M. S. Beagle under the command of Captain FitzRoy, R.N. from 1832 to 1836, which got published in German translation. Darwin revised that book significantly for the second edition published in 1845 by John Murray, and that 2^nd edition has been reprinted very many times (with many variations in the title) and translated into many languages. The texts of the 1839 and 1845 editions of Journal of Researches can conveniently be compared at the website http://www.rockvillepress.com/tierra/texts/Journal-2.PHP. FitzRoy’s Volumes 1 and 2 have twice been reprinted: in the facsimile edition of the 3 volumes (including Darwin’s Journal and Remarks) by AMS Press, New York 1966; and in a 4-volume version (edited by Katharine Anderson), Pickering & Chatto, London 2012.

On February 20, 1835 Darwin experienced a great earthquake at Valdivia. The devastation was horrifying – nearly every building in the area was destroyed. Then the Beagle went to the city of Concepcion, and while the Beagle tried to make anchorage there, Darwin landed on the island of Quiriquina. There he found areas of the land that had risen a few feet due to the earthquake, and he was very excited by that discovery. It was direct evidence that the Andes Mountains, and indeed all of the South America, were very slowly rising above the ocean. That confirmed Charles Lyell’s theory that land masses were rising in tiny increments during an extremely long period of time. Charles Lyell (1797–1875) was a great geologist, and the first edition of his famous Principles of Geology was Charles Darwin’s ‘vade mecum’ during the voyage of the Beagle (Sibson Seismological Res Lett 77(3):358–363, 2006). Lyell argued that the face of the Earth had changed gradually over long periods of time through continuing, cumulative effects of local disturbances, such as eruptions, earthquakes, erosion and deposition. The planet was changing locally, eroding here, erupting there, in a state of perpetual directional flux during an unimaginable span of time. Darwin was greatly impressed by Lyell’s ideas, and he considered them to be an important influence on his theory of natural selection. Given this fact of uplift, Darwin accepted the idea that the Earth must be extremely old. The next day he sailed to the town of Talcahuano and from there he rode a horse to Concepcion to meet up with the Beagle.

Darwin concentrated on one of the most important geological problems: elevation and subsidence of the Earth crust. This enhanced his interest in the effects of the great earthquake which he witnessed in Chile. He observed the earthquake-induced uplift of the ground surface, and that observation supported his opinion that the high Andes have been formed as a result of the ceaseless vertical movement of the crust. The modern theory explains this formation by movement of the tectonic plates.

In this Chapter we present some pages from the accounts by Darwin of that great earthquake. And there are some of Darwin’s memories of the voyage of the Beagle, and of that period when he thought of himself as a geologist. At the end of the Chapter we shortly discuss Darwin’s thoughts about the earthquake-induced catastrophic phenomena (Keynes, The Beagle record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979; Darwin, Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, R.N. from 1832 to 1836, 1st edn. Henry Colburn, London, 1839; FitzRoy, Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle’s circumnavigation of the globe, vol 2. Henry Colburn, London. Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831–1836, under the command of Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, R N, 1839; Darwin, On the connexion of certain volcanic phenomena in South America; and on the formation of mountain chains and volcanoes, as the effect of the same power by which continents are elevated. (Read March 7, 1838). In: Barrett PH (ed) (1977) The Collected Papers of Charles Darwin. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1840), the Earth’s dynamics and extreme waves.

… I a geologist … (Notebook M, p. 528)