On Thu, 28 Mar 1996, Brian D. Harper wrote:
> >BH>Also note that
> >>the quote begins "It is often said ..." indicating that the
> >>subject was commonly discussed at the time. I also read somewhere
> >>(but can't seem to find the reference) that Darwin's father
> >>Erasmus also discussed the warm little pond. In any event,
> >>there seems good reason to doubt that the idea was original
> >>to Darwin.
> >
>
> >SJ>Erasmus Darwin was Charles Darwin's *grandfather*. I have already
> >quoted Orgel and Shapiro who state that "the warm little pond" origin
> >of life idea originated with Charles Darwin. If you claim it was
> >originated by Erasmus Darwin, then you would need to demonstrate
> >that.
Yes, again, there is that Stephen Jones Method, "I have already quoted
[authors of SECONDARY LITERATURE]..."
BH:
> Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length
> of time since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions
> of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind,
> would it he too bold to imagine, that all [vegetables and
> animals now existing were originally derived from the
> smallest microscopic ones, formed by spontaneous vitality
> in primeval oceans], which The Great First Cause endued
> with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts,
> attended with new propensities, directed by irritations,
> sensations, volitions, and associations; and thus possessing
> the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent
> activity, and of delivering down those improvements by
> generation to its posterity, world without end!
> -- Erasmus Darwin, as quoted by D. King-Hele in
> <Erasmus Darwin>, Macmillan, 1963, p. 71.
>
> According to King-Hele, Darwin wrote something like this first in
> <Zoonomia> [volume I, 1794] except for the part in [brackets].
> The above version appeared in <The Temple of Nature>, 1803.
>
> Now on page 73 of <Erasmus Darwin>, King-Hele writes:
>
> In <The Temple of Nature> Darwin sums up the process
> of evolution in four brilliant couplets, emphasizing
> his belief that life began spontaneously in the sea:
>
> ORGANIC LIFE beneath the shoreless waves
> Was born and nurs'd in Ocean's pearly caves;
> First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass,
> Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;
> These, as successive generations bloom,
> New powers aquire, and larger limbs assume;
> Whence countless groups of vegetation spring,
> And breathing realms of fin, and feet, and wing.
Sounds like a pond theory to me. But then, Brian, this is out of the
PRIMARY LITERATURE and I'm not sure it would be looked upon all that
favorably in the light of the scholarly criteria afforded by the Stephen
Jones Method.
> >
> >>(b) he doesn't deserve credit for it. IMHO, proper credit is
> >>due the first person who *was* willing to take responsibility
> >>for the idea by publishing it and defending it publicly.
> >
> >This is your criteria. But the fact is that Charles Darwin *has*
> >been given the "credit" for it, because he first thought of it and
> >wrote it down (albeit in private correspondence).
> >
>
> It is irrelevant that he *has* been given credit. Orgel et al could
> be wrong, no?
The SECONDARY LITERATURE could not possibly be wrong! After all Stephen
cites gobs and gobs of it ... it has to right, no? Doesn't TRUTH = VOLUME?
Again--beauty post, Brian.
Cordially,
Denis
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Denis O. Lamoureux DDS PhD PhD (cand)
Department of Oral Biology Residence:
Faculty of Dentistry # 1908
University of Alberta 8515-112 Street
Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton, Alberta
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CANADA CANADA
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E-mail: dlamoure@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
"In all debates, let truth be thy aim, and endeavor to gain
rather than expose thy opponent."
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