Darwin Online: Darwin's notebooks on geology, transmutation, metaphysical enquiries and reading lists

Darwin's notebooks on geology, transmutation, metaphysical enquiries and reading lists

During the voyage of the Beagle Darwin recorded his observations in a series of field notebooks (available online here). Towards the end of the voyage he also began to use them to record theoretical speculations, especially on geology and the formation of coral reefs. The Red notebook, opened in late May 1836, became wholly devoted to theoretical writing and Darwin continued to use it after the Beagle returned home to England in October 1836. Darwin continued his note taking in his old Edinburgh notebook and his St Helena Model notebook before opening a new series of notebooks for theoretical work, termed notebooks on geology, transmutation of species and metaphysical enquiries by the editors of the definitive edition.¹ The notebooks reveal in detail Darwin's research and gradual illumination of the species question - where do new species come from? The famous sketch on the right is from Notebook B and depicts the branching system of descent with modification which Darwin realized could explain the relationship between different species in the same class or family. The most ancient forms are at the bottom and their descendants branch off irregularly. The lines with a crossed end are existing species or lineages and those without represent extinct species. By the early 1840s the notebooks were largely finished. There is no evidence that the notebooks or their contents were 'secret' as sometimes claimed. Instead they carry his name and address on the inside covers in case he lost them. Notebooks M and N, however, mostly on expression of the emotions and which record details of family and friends, are labeled 'Private'. Darwin adopted a new system of note taking after completing the notebooks. He filed notes on different subjects in separate folders or portfolios. He then cut many of the pages out of his old notebooks and filed them in the portfolios. The number of portfolios seems to have increased over the years of his research before he published his theory of evolution by natural selection in On the origin of species in 1859. Some additional Darwin notebooks and notes that are transcribed on Darwin Online are also listed on this page to help readers find them.

Notebook A: Geology (1837-1839). Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR127.-

Glen Roy notebook (1838). Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR130.-

Notebook B: [Transmutation of species (1837-1838)]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR121.-

Notebook C: [Transmutation of species (2-7.1838]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR122.-

Notebook D: [Transmutation of species (7-10.1838)]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR123.-

Notebook E: [Transmutation of species (1838-1839)]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR124.-

Torn Apart notebook (1839-1841) [An aggregate of ms pages as explained in F1817] Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR-TornApartNotebook

Notebook M: [Metaphysics on morals and speculations on expression (1838)]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR125.-

Notebook N: [Metaphysics and expression (1838-1839)]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR126.-

'Old and useless Notes about the moral sense & some metaphysical points'. (1837-1840) Text & image CUL-DAR91.4-55

Questions & experiments [1839-1844]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR206.1

[Edinburgh diary for 1826]. Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR129.-

[Edinburgh notebook]. (1827; 1828-1829; 1837-1839) Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR118.-

[Notebook of observations on the Darwin children]. (1839-1856). Text CUL-DAR210.11.37

'Books to be read' and 'Books Read' notebook. (1838-1851). Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR119.-

'Books Read' and 'Books to be Read' notebook. (1852-1860). Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR128.-

'Books [read]' notebook. (1838-1858). Text Image Text & image CUL-DAR120.-

NOTE: These images are copyright Cambridge University Library and may not be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed without the consent of the copyright holders. Reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. Thanks to Adam Perkins and Gordon Chancellor for lending copies of the colour microfilm reel.

Requests to reproduce manuscripts must be sent to the owner of the manuscript, not to Darwin Online. In most instances this will be the archivist Adam Perkins at Cambridge University Library (ajp21@cam.ac.uk).

¹ Barrett, P. H., Gautrey, P. J., Herbert, S., Kohn, D., Smith, S. eds. 1987. Charles Darwin's notebooks, 1836-1844 : Geology, transmutation of species, metaphysical enquiries. British Museum (Natural History); Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (F1817)

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File last updated 1 January, 2010