ion of numerous successive, slight favorable variations: aided in an important manner by the inherited effects of the use and disuse of parts. . ."(Darwin, Origin, pp.239) We find though that even Darwin's idea of natural selection was not original either. Professor William Lawrence, F.R.S., wrote of natural selection in 1822, years before Darwin sailed on the Beagle. Darwin wrote, in what seems a rather petulant tone, in his Historical Sketch a response to critics accusing him of trying to take credit for an idea that was not his own. He revealed: "As far as the mere enunciation of the principle of natural selection is concerned, it is quite immaterial whether or not Professor Owen preceded me, for both of us, as shown in this historical sketch, were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthew." (Historical Sketch to later editions of the Origin.) Jacques Barzun wrote that, "Anyone in fact, who would gauge the familiarity of the European mind with evolutionary ideas before Darwin need do no more than reread Tennyson's In Memoriam. There he will find not only. . . natural selection, but likewise man's kinship with the ape, the chain of beings, their development, and the consequences to religion and morals of the thoroughgoing naturalism of science."(23)While Darwin was still a youth it appears that the entire culture of England was awash with evolutionary ideas. Years before he even set foot on the Beagle, we find a collection of anecdotes on monkeys titled Apology Addressed to the Travelors Club, or anecdotes of Monkeys published in 1825, which were written , according to Geoffrey Bourne, with "the double objective of making the ideas of the evolutionists look foolish and of satirizing human weaknesses."(24)Loren Eiseley informs us: "Charles Darwin did not compose the theory out of thin air. All of the elements which were to enter into it were being widely discussed during his college years." (25)At first Darwin claimed that his met...
