Historical Influences on Darwin

Charles Lyell, a geologist, had the most influence over Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural selection. I believe this to be true because Lyell passion was in Geology and believed that the Earth’s surface were produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes through long periods of geological time. He wrote a book, “Principles of Geology” which placed him among the most recognizable leaders of his field. He was also great friends with Darwin. In 1859 the publication of “Darwin’s Origins of Species” gave new insight to Lyell’s work and which lead to the publication of “The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man.” Lyell accepted evolution by natural selection. Charles Lyell forever changed the way the earth was viewed in the scientific community. His studies/ publications contributed to adding powerful arguments of his own to Darwin’s theory, which he later adopted Darwin’s conclusion. This was a big deal because of Lyell’s status in the scientific community. It was Lyell who demonstrated that forces such as wind, water erosion, local flooding, frost, decomposition of vegetables matter, volcanoes, earthquakes, and glacial movements had all contributed in the past to produce the geological landscape that we see today. He found through research that the earth was older than we thought. The concept of deep time was Lyell’s most significant contribution to the discovery of evolutionary principles because the immensity of geological time permitted the time depth for the slow process of evolutionary change. From the bullet points listed I believe the following help Darwin built upon the knowledge that this information provided. The points I believe to most directly affect Lyell’s work are; resources are limited, organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts and if the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. I choose these because Lyell demonstrated that natural forces through geological time change the earth and if the climates are slowly changing we evolve base on the environments. The strongest will survive and move on to reproduce. I believe that Darwin could not have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of Charles Lyell because Lyell influenced Darwin’s work. He was Darwin’s mentor and looked up to him. He theories help better understand natural selection. The attitude of the church affected Darwin and his decision to publish his theory by believing that if these new ideas of evolution were generally accepted, the Church would crash, the moral fabric of society would be torn apart, and civilized man would return to savagery. Darwin believed his work to be controversial and his wife didn’t agree with his ideas because of her strong religious convictions. The evolutionary theory was also viewed as a threat.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Charles-Lyell-Baronet
 

If I were stranded on a desert island I would take with me a knife and canteen to hold your water. I choose these things because having a knife is very handy to have to help you make items you may need to survive. For example, "a fishing pole,or a spear!" Who knows, maybe you can use the knife to help you chop branches down to help start a fire later to stay warm or cook your food. I like to believe that it increases your chances of surviving. Its also a weapon to help defend yourself and help you hunt and prepare your food you catch.  Besides having a knife, having access to a canteen can help you stay hydrated and its easy to carry as you make your way through the desert island and fill it with water as you go.Having water by your side at all times is good because as humans, we need it to survive especially out in a desert island. I like to think of myself as a nature person meaning I feel connected to this earth and I can find my way by using the alignments of the sun and star's to help me tell time and have a sense of direction.