The Collected Letters of Erasmus Darwin Reprint edition by Darwin, Erasmus (2013) Paperback

by Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin has often been cited as the most widely talented man of the past 250 years. He excelled in medicine and poetry, was an inventor and wide ranging man of science, and founded several societies. This 2006 collection of 460 of his letters provides an insight into the life of this amazing man. Darwin was famous throughout Britain as a physician; his medical letters to patients and private letters to his physician son Robert are a rich source for historians of medicine. His lively letters to the 'Lunar Men', Boulton, Watt, Keir and Wedgwood, provide insight into the Industrial Revolution in England. In the 1790s Darwin propounded the idea of biological evolution, although it was his grandson Charles who persuaded people to take it seriously. This unique collection reveals the variety of Erasmus Darwin's talents, and his wide range of important friendships.

Paperback

First published December 21, 2006

About the author

Erasmus Darwin was an English physiologist and poet. He was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh. He practiced medicine most of his life. His chief poetic work was The Botanic Garden (1789 - 1792), a long poem, stilted in expression but showing enthusiasm for science and nature. His prose work Zoonomia (1794 - 1796) anticipated some of the evolutionary theories of the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck but was intuitive and unscientific. Darwin was the grandfather of the British scientists Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Galton.