See Also: Darwin, Erasmus(encyclopedia)
Erasmus, Desiderius(encyclopedia)
Erasmus, Desiderius(dictionary)
Darwin(encyclopedia)
Darwin(dictionary)
Darwin(dictionary)
darwin(medicine)
Darwin's(tourism)
Darwin, Charles(dictionary)
Charles Darwin(medicine)

Darwin, Erasmus (sh)




born Dec. 12, 1731, Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire, Eng.
died April 18, 1802, Derby, Derbyshire

British physician, grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton.

A freethinker and radical, Darwin often wrote his opinions and scientific treatises in verse. In Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life (1794-96), he advanced a theory of evolution similar to that of Lamarck, suggesting that species modified themselves by adapting to their environment in an intentional way. His conclusions, drawn from simple observation, were rejected by the more sophisticated 19th-century scientists, including his grandson Charles.


Erasmus Darwin, detail of an oil painting by Joseph Wright, 1770; in the National Portrait Gallery, ...

By courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London