Comments on: Darwin has a go at the Catholic church http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/ The Friends of Charles Darwin blog Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:32:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Richard Carter FCD http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/comment-page-1/#comment-1222 Richard Carter FCD Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:34:32 +0000 http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/?p=2598#comment-1222 We've been searching the same places! Must admit, I had pretty much come to the same conclusion as you. Gould was too much of a Darwin groupie to get a quote wrong! We’ve been searching the same places! Must admit, I had pretty much come to the same conclusion as you. Gould was too much of a Darwin groupie to get a quote wrong!

]]> By: Michael D. Barton, FCD http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/comment-page-1/#comment-1221 Michael D. Barton, FCD Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:39:34 +0000 http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/?p=2598#comment-1221 That's weird, I'm not finding the quote you use in any Life and Letters on Darwin Online nor Google Books. I'm almost tempted to think that someone changed "the gradual illumination of men’s minds" to "that gradual enlightening of the human understanding" somewhere - before Gould - and it stuck. That’s weird, I’m not finding the quote you use in any Life and Letters on Darwin Online nor Google Books.

I’m almost tempted to think that someone changed “the gradual illumination of men’s minds” to “that gradual enlightening of the human understanding” somewhere – before Gould – and it stuck.

]]> By: Richard Carter, FCD http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/comment-page-1/#comment-1213 Richard Carter, FCD Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:19:54 +0000 http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/?p=2598#comment-1213 I've been doing some more research. This isn't the first time I've used the Darwin quote at the top of this post, so I struggled to remember where I originally pinched it from. Turns out it was from <a title="SJ Gould: The Great Asymmetry" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/279/5352/812#note3" rel="nofollow">this essay by Stephen Jay Gould</a>. Gould cites his source for the quote as: F. Darwin, Ed., <em>The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin</em> (Murray, London, 1888), vol.1, p. 304. <em>The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin</em> actually came out in 1887. <a title="Read at Darwin Online" href="http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=image&itemID=F1452.1&pageseq=1" rel="nofollow">p.304</a> is indeed the opening page on the chapter about Darwin's religious views, but it doesn't contain anything like the quote given by Gould (and copied by me)—not even the phrase "freedom of thought". So either Gould was mistaken, or he was working from a different edition of the book. Curiouser and curiouser. I suppose I'm going to have to amend my previous posts which use this quote now! I’ve been doing some more research. This isn’t the first time I’ve used the Darwin quote at the top of this post, so I struggled to remember where I originally pinched it from. Turns out it was from this essay by Stephen Jay Gould. Gould cites his source for the quote as: F. Darwin, Ed., The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (Murray, London, 1888), vol.1, p. 304.

The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin actually came out in 1887. p.304 is indeed the opening page on the chapter about Darwin’s religious views, but it doesn’t contain anything like the quote given by Gould (and copied by me)—not even the phrase “freedom of thought”. So either Gould was mistaken, or he was working from a different edition of the book.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I suppose I’m going to have to amend my previous posts which use this quote now!

]]> By: Richard Carter FCD http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/comment-page-1/#comment-1209 Richard Carter FCD Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:42:50 +0000 http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/?p=2598#comment-1209 Ooh! That's interesting. I don't know, is the honest answer. One to look into, I think. I suspect the quote from the letter you refer to is an entirely separate quote. Darwin must have had to clarify his position on religion many times, so it wouldn't be surprising if he used similar/stock phrases. Ooh! That’s interesting. I don’t know, is the honest answer. One to look into, I think. I suspect the quote from the letter you refer to is an entirely separate quote. Darwin must have had to clarify his position on religion many times, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he used similar/stock phrases.

]]> By: Michael D. Barton, FCD http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/2010/07/20100718/comment-page-1/#comment-1207 Michael D. Barton, FCD Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:52:25 +0000 http://blog.friendsofdarwin.com/?p=2598#comment-1207 Was the wording in "Life and Letters" changed, because this is the letter from which the quote is taken: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-12757 It also appears on the CD statue at NHM: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7230309@N05/3725084511/in/set-72157621600290314/ Was the wording in “Life and Letters” changed, because this is the letter from which the quote is taken: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-12757

It also appears on the CD statue at NHM:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7230309@N05/3725084511/in/set-72157621600290314/

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