Darwinian Debates

The Darwinian debates are useful not only for their effect on science but also for their far reaching effect on society. The debates tie everything that we learned about the Victorian era together. First, the Darwinian debate engaged all sections of literate society instead of an esoteric group of people. By reaching all of literate society, the debate was widened and applied to many different things, so much so that the term “Darwinian” or “Darwinists” became associated with many different things had had little or no relation to Darwin’s actual arguments. Also in reaching an entire swath of society, the book was spread across the world, creating a global as well as domestic debates about the meanings and consequences of evolution through natural selection. How many editions of the Origin of Species were sold when the book first came out? How many evolutionary-minded clubs or organizations were founded after the work was published? Were the lower, semi-literate or illiterate classes aware of Darwin’s theories?

With the societal debates came accelerated secularization. Evolution through natural selection provided a scientific explanation instead of relying on scripture and Biblical teaching for an explanation of the creation of the earth. Another element of the increased secularization was the realization that the earth is older than 5,000 years and so the teachings in the Bible were not historically accurate, although they were still useful for moral instruction. The Great Exhibition of 1850 had started a trend of venerating science as the way for explaining natural phenomenon and using reason and logic to solve problems. In about 100 years, the idea of religion had radically changed and the power and influence of the Church had noticeably declined going from an era of religiosity alien to today’s society to an increasingly modern view of religion’s place in everyday life. How many people became agnostic or atheists as a result of Darwin and Wallace’s work? Were there any churches that explicitly supported Darwin’s theories? Were new religious sects created advocating Darwin’s ideas?

Another equally interesting aspect of Victorian life the Darwin debates influenced was medicine and gender roles. Because Darwinism advocated ideas of struggle for survival, people began to think of creating a more perfect race and ideas of eugenics began appearing. Did these ideas influence Adolf Hitler when he began his work with eugenics to try and create a perfect Aryan race?

After hearing and seeing so many references to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it was really nice to actually read the book. I was really interested in the extensive discussion of physiognomy. Mr. Hyde was considered to look deformed although there appeared to be nothing wrong with his appearance. That he was considered evil just because of physical appearance and evoked emotions of fear is an important element of Victorian philosophy. Cesare Lombroso studied physiognomy and phrenology and said one could determine if a person was evil or mad from their physical appearance. Stevenson utilized Lombraso’s ideas in his writing. Mr. Hyde can be clearly classified as a degenerate criminal type from studying his unnerving appearance.

In addition to utilizing ideas of physiognomy for identifying a criminal, Stevenson exploits different genres in his book to make it seem more believable. By calling the novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson uses the idea of a medical case study and of a police case history. I think it is even more interesting that he used such specialized areas because through evoking the idea of a specialist, Stevenson places himself in a special kind of authority role which another writer would not have been able to presume because there were no centralized police forces and medicine was beginning to get specialized. I think that the book was very effective in conveying its ideas because it appealed to the inner Mr. Hyde in all of us, which is both frightening and exhilarating. On the one hand it was terrifying to see a person from whom all seemed to be good and at least relatively righteous even if he was a bit fairy in the character of Dr. Jekyll, to a character who exudes pure evil: from the way he walks, to the way he talks to the way he looks and carries himself. I also thought it was interesting that after the novella came out, Jack the Ripper started on his bloody rampage, so much so that the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was shut down and some people believed that the actor playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was Jack the Ripper. He was not, and was acquitted of his charges. I found it interesting how people were communicating more easily and people were getting involved in their communities.

Darwin, Wallace and Bad Nerves

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace came to parallel discoveries of the principle of evolution through natural selection. However, though they came to similar conclusions, the path they each took to come to their conclusions and what they did after their discoveries was very different. Both Darwin and Wallace went to relatively uninhabited island formations (Darwin went to the Galapagos and Wallace to the Malay Archipelago) and traveling from island to island, noted the wide variety of species even at short distances. Wallace and Darwin were both influenced by Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population which argued that there was a greater population than available food which created a struggle for existence and created misery. Both Darwin and Wallace were wary of publishing their work after seeing the way Sedgwick, one of Darwin’s advisors at Cambridge, had lambasted Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation in 1844.

After Wallace sent Darwin his ideas on evolution through natural selection, Darwin realized that his ideas might be taken so he worked to publish before Wallace. Darwin’s good friends Hooker and Lyell, pushed him to publish his work and present his work with Wallace in a joint paper. After Darwin and Wallace presented their work, they went in different directions with their work. Wallace became involved in Socialism and many other radical causes, whereas Darwin avoided confrontation and promoted more conservative ideas including the belief that women were the inferior sex. I found it interesting that men with such similar ideas would have completely diverged in almost the next instant. I also found it interesting that Darwin had bad nerves because it meant that he was clearly in the upper class and educated because bad nerves and nerve exhaustion was a common problem for people in the upper class whereas the people of the lower classes might have been institutionalized. By blaming problems on brain function, people could save face. During the “great debate” between Huxley and Wilberforce, Darwin did not attend because he was ill. I wonder if he was ill or was suffering from a nervous problem. When did Darwin’s nervous condition begin? How widespread was the problem? Did nervous conditions come about because more people were entering the middle class and with the improvements and faster pace of life, did people just mentally collapse?

Malaria

With Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the English began a period of almost unchecked imperial growth. The expansion created opportunities for ambitious members of the middle class to amass large sums of money and live in imperial lands like members of the upper class. However, living in a distant colony was anything but easy and the lands were termed the “white man’s grave” because of the droves of people that died from malaria. Due to the high mortality rates, in the 1890s, the London School of Tropical Medicine was set up to deal with the diseases people encountered in the colonies. The London School of Tropical Medicine is interesting because although the institution was created to deal with colonial diseases, there were no satellites in the colonies . The founders wanted to keep it within the established framework of medicinal institutions.

Two doctors, Manson and Ross, were critical in dealing with the malaria problems. They proposed two different and effective solutions for combating malaria. Manson focused on the etiology of tropical diseases and research in the UK with established networks and centers, particularly with the London School of Tropical Medicine. Ross, on the other hand, proposed direct involvement with the problem by cleaning stagnant water, finding breeding grounds and eliminating them to eradicate mosquitoes. The malaria debate shows two very different ways of dealing with public health problems recognizable today. Extensive study allowed scientists to identify that there were two cycles of malaria and that both humans and mosquitoes acted as vectors and helped people realize that they could use quinine as an effective prophylaxis. I found it interesting that the biggest reason for creating studies to deal with malaria were to increase profits because with so many people dying, businesses were not as efficient because their workforce was not lasting. I also thought it was interesting that no care was given to the natives. I would have thought that they would have wanted to take care of them so they could use them as cheap labor. The malaria question nicely ties science, medicine, and government into one. Without Chamberlain’s influence the London School of Tropical Medicine would never have been created. The London School of Tropical Medicine focused more on etiology and scientific research into the disease than going into the colonies. How much did medicine change after the London School was created? Did large numbers of people still die after the introduction of quinine, particularly in gin and tonics? Did alcoholism increase in the colonies after gin and tonics because people could rationalize drinking?

Transatlantic Telegraph

Aside from railroads, the most important invention during the Victorian era was the telegraph. With the first attempt of underwater telegraphs in 1839 in Calcutta until the first successful transatlantic cable linking the United States to Great Britain in 1865, the way people expected to get information completely changed. The telegraph reduced the time for transmitting information from a few hours to minutes, although longer distance such as from India to England could take up to a month. The telegraph provided the British with more control over their colonies.

I was intrigued that the telegraph would be used as a metaphor for the brain and nervous system. The metaphor could also extend to the idea of Great Britain being the brain and the nervous system being the wires running to the different outposts in the British Empire. I think it is interesting that the Victorians were so interested in the brain and the workings of the mind and would liken the brain to machinery especially with the high incidence of mental illness and the primitive understanding of nerve function. How much did colonial control change after the telegraph? Did the local civil service lose power? Was administration conducted increasingly from England? If colonial administration was conducted from England, were the decisions carried out effectively or did the local authority implement their directives effectively?

With the insulation of copper wires with gutta percha, cable could be placed in nearly any conditions. The House of Commons realized that submarine cables could be extremely useful and created a Select Committee to look into lying cable to more remote parts of the empire. When the cables were finally placed, it is interesting that the British would have gone to so much effort to place their cables in specifically zones within the empire even if that meant taking a more expensive and longer route. Did any of the other European countries create extensive telegraph lines to their colonies? Did any country ever propose creating an international telegraph service? Like other Victorian inventions, I found it surprising how quickly people accepted the telegraph and how quickly the submarine telegraph wires were taken for granted.

Maudsley

After the progress with Conolly’s ideas manifest in Colney Hatch and domesticity, a new era of psychiatry came about, supported by Maudsley, turned from optimism to therapeutic pessimism and professionalization of psychiatry and distance from the patients. Unlike other medical professions, psychiatry did not experience major improvements in diagnoses or treatment. During the Victorian era, many new psychiatric clinics were built. The public began to worry about the number of the mentally ill sharply increased. The Times declared, “If lunacy continues to increase as at present, the insane will be in the majority, and freeing themselves, will put the sane in asylums.” I thought it was really interesting that Victorians noted such a sharp increase in the number of psychiatric patients and were so concerned, when before they had prided themselves for having mental asylums and used them as evidence of their superiority over native peoples. What would have caused such high numbers of people to be institutionalized? Was there a changing view of the role of the family where people no longer felt responsible to look after their ill family? Did people resort to asylums for ill family members because they had to work in factories and could not provide the care that their family members would need? Was the asylum a place for putting the mentally ill person in an asylum a way to maintain the family’s status which may have been ruined otherwise?

Maudsley changed psychiatry during his lifetime. He believed there was a physical basis for all mental illness and there were hereditary origins for mental weakness. The idea that mental illness is hereditary was prevalent and can be seen in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in the character of Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s first wife. Bertha’s mother is insane and her mental illness is hidden from Mr. Rochester as he courts Bertha, however, after he marries, she also goes mad and Rochester attributes his wife’s insanity to her Creole upbringing and her mother. Maudsley would have supported the way Rochester took care of his wife: isolation. The psychiatric movement at the time was one of alienation and as little contact as possible with the patient because the intimate, paternalistic treatments used at Colney Hatch had not worked and the asylums were unprofitable. With Maudsley’s model, the clinics made money and the practitioners consulted wealthy families on the side. I thought it was really interesting how radically psychiatry changed within the span of a century. It went from a form of entertainment with freaks to study as examples of moral degradation to a paternalistic, family-style caring environment, back to a harsh and pessimistic outlook on recovery and mental illness as a whole. Why did psychiatry take so long to catch up with the other medical professions for dealing with illness? I also find it fascinating that Colney Hatch was made into luxury apartments with no mention that it was once a lunatic asylum.

Annihilation of time

In an age marked by invention, one of the most important from Victorian England was the railroad. One of the first engines built was the Rocket by the Stephensons, a prominent engineering family, in 1829 for the Rainhill trials. Railways are seen as a symbol of progress and a symbol of mechanical triumph bringing people one step closer to having power over the Earth. It can be taken so far as to be seen as a cultural metaphor of the Victorian era because it embodied everything the Victorians wished to portray: progress, power, innovation, pride, and strength. The railroad changed the landscape of the earth and changed the way people lived and their concept of travel. Before the railroad, methods of transportation had remained unchanged for centuries: the only possibilities for travel were with some sort of draft animal, walking, or by boat.

One consequence of railroads was standardization of time. Before the invention of the railroad, time was dictated by local areas and varied from town to town. With the standardization of time, the pace of life sped up. People could now travel greater distances relatively easy and the idea of commuting from town to the city became a feasible idea. This also brought about a preoccupation with time and punctuality. One example of Victorian’s preoccupation with time is Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days in which the protagonist, Phileas Fogg plans an entire trip according to a basic understanding of train time tables and an obsession with punctuality. Another important aspect of Around the World in 80 Days is its use of technology, particularly trains and how they seem ubiquitous by the time Verne writes, although they had not even been around for 50 years. Did the increased preoccupation with time lead to more psychiatric problems, anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder? If people were constantly worrying about time and their lives sped up, would this, along with the disruption of their way of life have caused for more anxiety problems? Did technology, specifically the train, with its prosperity bring about more mental illness because people had more things to worry about and more time on their hands? Would the idea of “the annihilation of space by time” have helped bring about the loss of regional identities and specific traditions because people were so able to travel?