From Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott
From Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott |
Robert Grant was born near the end of the 18th century, the seventh of 14 children. As a young man, he read Erasmus Darwin's Zoonomia and believed, as Erasmus Darwin claimed, that life on earth "had arisen from one living filament." Grant resolved to find out what that one living filament was. Like other transmutationists of the time, he was confident that the organism that gave rise to other forms had lived in the sea.
When Grant was 15, his father died, dividing the family inheritance between his surviving children. Grant's share was enough to give him financial independence, but only for a few precious years. After earning a degree as a doctor, he left England for Germany and France to soak up wisdom from the likes of Cuvier, Lamarck and Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Lamarck especially made an impression on the young man, who decided to study the sea sponge.
Until the 1820s, the sea sponge was considered a plant, not an animal. Grant devoted several years to studying and publishing on sea sponges. He noted that they excreted fluid — evidence of digestion. He also found that, even if the sponges themselves could not move, their ova could, through the use of cilia. Between 1825 and 1827, he published his findings and hypotheses about sea sponges in a series of articles.
During this period, Grant met the young Charles Darwin, who had taken up temporary residence in Edinburgh. Grant taught Darwin to dissect sea creatures under the microscope — outside, while they were still in their native habitat. The two worked well together, Grant enthusiastically telling Darwin about the impact Erasmus Darwin's theories had on him, though the young Darwin was not yet convinced of the mutability of species. Unfortunately, Grant and Darwin had a falling out; Darwin discovered (as Grant probably also did) voluntary movement in zoophyte eggs, and when Darwin excitedly informed Grant, Grant felt the young man was encroaching on his own research, though he later did credit his "zealous young friend Mr. Charles Darwin" when he published. For his own part, Darwin never got over the shock of what he considered Grant's selfishness, and the two did not remain close.
Grant's open endorsement of transmutationism eventually cost him dearly. In later years, he still worked as a university professor, but for ridiculously low pay. He was even rumored to live in a London slum. The enormously influential Richard Owen found Grant's Lamarckism distasteful, and dropped enough derogatory comments about Grant to the right people to keep Grant in intellectual isolation. It would be Grant's former student, Charles Darwin, who would propose the theory that Owen's influence couldn't crush.
For more information:
Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott
Charles Darwin: Voyaging by Janet Browne
The Shape of Life by Nancy Burnett and Brad Matsen
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer
Evolution by Linda Gamlin
Narrative text and graphic design © by Michon Scott - Updated March 24, 2006