Zoonomia; or, the laws of organic life. Volume 1

by Erasmus Darwin

London : printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, [1794]-96.

Facsimile in Eighteenth Century Collections Online.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biology

601 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1794

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.

Reviews

[Lawrence]

Whoof! This was.. a slog. Not my most favourite thing I've read for research, even if some of the anecdotes and odd details were really interesting. I was constantly wrestling with the question: "is this absolutely crazy, or do I know nothing about biology?" The answer was often "both"! Fun takeaways: plants have wet dreams; cheerfulness is often a suitable treatment for disease, but if it's not available then opium will do; dreams are God's way of making sure our eyes don't drive us insane; and sometimes research means swallowing things and then seeing if you pee them out. The best chapters are the one on "generation," the one about a woman playing piano, and the ones on optical effects. I AM glad looked at the whole thing since I found a lot of interesting tidbits I wouldn't have known about any other way (like the Prometheus story!) but it was not a naturally engaging read. And now it's time for me to read........ volume two.