Little Blue Book No. 568: Darwin and the Theory of Evolution

Little Blue Book No. 568, edited by E. Haldeman-Julius, presents Carroll Lane Fenton's "Darwin and the Theory of Evolution." This educational booklet traces Darwin's intellectual development and his formulation of evolutionary theory. Fenton examines Darwin's debts to earlier naturalists including Thales, Goethe, Erasmus Darwin, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and particularly Lamarck, whose pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas are detailed. The text follows Darwin's journey from accepting special creation during the Beagle voyage to embracing evolution after reading Lyell's Principles of Geology and observing South American specimens. Fenton documents Darwin's methodical data collection on domesticated animals and plants, and crucially, his 1838 reading of Malthus' Population essay—the catalyst for developing natural selection theory. The narrative includes Darwin's correspondence with botanist Joseph Hooker, establishing his growing confidence in evolutionary mechanism by 1844.