Botanical works and the Lichfield Botanical Society Darwin formed 'A Botanical Society, at Lichfield' almost always incorrectly named as the Lichfield Botanical Society (despite the name, composed of only three men, Erasmus Darwin,
Sir Brooke Boothby and Mr John Jackson,
proctor of
Lichfield Cathedral) to translate the works of the Swedish botanist
Carl Linnaeus from Latin into English. This took seven years. The result was two publications:
A System of Vegetables between 1783 and 1785, and
The Families of Plants in 1787. In these volumes, Darwin coined many of the English names of plants that we use today. Darwin then wrote
The Loves of the Plants, a long poem, which was a popular rendering of Linnaeus' works. Darwin also wrote
Economy of Vegetation, and together the two were published as
The Botanic Garden. Among other writers he influenced were
Anna Seward and
Maria Jacson.
Zoonomia Darwin's most important scientific work,
Zoonomia (1794–1796), contains a system of
pathology and a chapter on '
Generation'. In the latter, he anticipated some of the views of
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, which foreshadowed the modern theory of
evolution. Erasmus Darwin's works were read and commented on by his grandson
Charles Darwin the naturalist. Erasmus Darwin based his theories on
David Hartley's psychological theory of
associationism. The essence of his views is contained in the following passage, which he follows up with the conclusion that one and the same kind of living filament is and has been the cause of all organic life: Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end! Erasmus Darwin also anticipated survival of the fittest in
Zoönomia mainly when writing about the "three great objects of desire" for every organism: "lust, hunger, and security." His poetry was admired by
Wordsworth, while
Coleridge was intensely critical, writing, "I absolutely nauseate Darwin's poem". It often made reference to his interests in science; for example botany and
steam engines.
Education of women The last two leaves of Darwin's
A plan for the conduct of female education in boarding schools (1797) contain a book list, an apology for the work, and an advert for "Miss Parkers School". The school advertised on the last page is the one he set up in
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, for his two illegitimate children, Susanna and Mary. Darwin regretted that a good education had not been generally available to women in Britain in his time, and drew on the ideas of
Locke,
Rousseau, and
Genlis in organising his thoughts. Addressing the education of middle-class girls, Darwin argued that amorous romance novels were inappropriate and that they should seek simplicity in dress. He contends that young women should be educated in schools, rather than privately at home, and learn appropriate subjects. These subjects include physiognomy, physical exercise, botany, chemistry, mineralogy, and
experimental philosophy. They should familiarise themselves with arts and manufactures through visits to sites like
Coalbrookdale, and Wedgwood's potteries; they should learn how to handle money, and study modern languages. Darwin's educational philosophy took the view that men and women should have different capabilities, skills, interests, and spheres of action, where the woman's education was designed to support and serve male accomplishment and financial reward, and to relieve him of daily responsibility for children and the chores of life. In the context of the times, this program may be read as a modernising influence in the sense that the woman was at least to learn about the "man's world", although not be allowed to participate in it. The text was written seven years after
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by
Mary Wollstonecraft, which has the central argument that women should be educated in a rational manner to give them the opportunity to contribute to society. Some women of Darwin's era were receiving more substantial education and participating in the broader world. An example is
Susanna Wright, who was raised in Lancashire and became an American colonist associated with the Midlands Enlightenment. It is not known whether Darwin and Wright knew each other, although they definitely knew many people in common. Other women who received substantial education and who participated in the broader world (albeit sometimes anonymously) whom Darwin definitely knew were
Maria Jacson and
Anna Seward. == Lunar Society ==