The Doctor Weighs In

While Pat and Dov are away on a well-deserved vacation, I'll host TDWI. We've lined up an array of great posts that will maintain the same high quality you've come to expect on this site, so stay with us.

 Brian Klepper 

This interesting, sad little piece appeared in the July 1st edition of the The Writers'  Almanac, which is produced and edited by Garrison Keilor. It provides real context to the ongoing controversy over the "reality" of evolution. But it also is a reminder that, sometimes, drivers of change have a very clear idea of just how much turmoil they're creating, that their contributions can occur in the midst of the same difficult life issues that we all face, and that their lives aren't necessarily easier as a result of their momentous contributions.

It was on this day in 1858 that a paper by Charles Darwin about his theory of evolution was first presented to a public audience. Darwin had actually come up with the theory twenty years before that, in 1837. Back then, he drafted a thirty-five page sketch of his ideas and arranged with his wife to publish the sketch after his death. Then, for the next twenty years, he told almost no one about the theory. He practically went into hiding, moving to a small town and living like a monk, with specific times each day for walking, napping, reading, and backgammon. He was so reclusive that he even had the road lowered outside his house, to prevent passersby from looking in the window.

He was reluctant to publish his ideas, because he didn't want to create a controversy by offending anyone's religious beliefs. Atheism was a crime punishable by prison at the time, and Darwin feared that people would object to the idea that God hadn't created each creature individually. When he finally told one of his friends about his theory of evolution, he said it was like confessing a murder.

But then after his daughter died of typhoid, Darwin began to worry that his children might not be able to provide for themselves. So, to help assure his children's well-being, he began writing a book about evolution, which he hoped would become a scientific classic. He worked on the book seven days a week. He had struggled to complete a quarter of a million words when, on June 18, 1858, he learned that a man named Alfred Russel Wallace was about to publish a paper about a similar theory. In order to get credit, Darwin had to present an extract of his work to a scientific society in two weeks.

Almost the same day he received that news, his household was struck by an epidemic of scarlet fever. His children and several nursery maids came down with the disease. Most everyone recovered, but Darwin's youngest son, Charles, died. And so it was that Charles Darwin wasn't even in attendance when his theory of evolution was first presented to a public audience on this day in 1858. He was at home, grieving the death of his son.

Dr. Klepper is a health care analyst and founder of the Center for Practical Healthcare Reform.