Charles Darwin.
In March, 1860 (29, 153), Gray published in the Journal an elaborate and cautious review of Darwin’s work. He alluded to the absence of the chief editor of the Journal in the following words:
“The duty of reviewing this volume in the American Journal of Science would naturally devolve upon the principal editor whose wide observation and profound knowledge of various departments of natural history, as well as of geology, particularly qualify him for the task. But he has been obliged to lay aside his pen to seek in distant lands the entire repose from scientific labor so essential to the restoration of his health, a consummation devoutly to be wished and confidently to be expected. Interested as Mr. Dana would be in this volume, he could not be expected to accept its doctrine. Views so idealistic as those upon which his ‘Thoughts upon Species’ are grounded, will not harmonize readily with a doctrine so thoroughly naturalistic as that of Mr. Darwin.... Between the doctrines of this volume and those of the great naturalist whose name adorns the title page of this Journal [Mr. Agassiz] the widest divergence appears.”
Gray then proceeds to contrast the two views of Darwin and Agassiz, “for this contrast brings out most prominently and sets in strongest light and shade the main features of the theory of the origination of species by means of Natural Selection.” He then states both sides with great fairness, and proceeds:
“Who shall decide between such extreme views so ably maintained on either hand, and say how much truth there may be in each. The present reviewer has not the presumption to undertake such a task. Having no prepossession in favor of naturalistic theories, but struck with the eminent ability of Mr. Darwin’s work, and charmed with its fairness, our humbler duty will be performed if, laying aside prejudice as much as we can, we shall succeed in giving a fair account of its method and argument, offering by the way a few suggestions such as might occur to any naturalist of an inquiring mind. An editorial character for this article must in justice be disclaimed. The plural pronoun is employed not to give editorial weight, but to avoid even the appearance of egotism and also the circumlocution which attends a rigorous adherence to the impersonal style.”
In this review he moves slowly and thoughtfully, but not timidly, over the new paths. There is no clear indication in the review that he has yet made up his mind as to the validity of Darwin’s hypothesis. But, in a second article appearing in the Journal for September of the same year (30, 226), under the title “Discussion between two readers of Darwin’s treatise on the origin of species upon its natural theology” Gray plainly begins to incline to take a very favorable view of the Darwinian theory, and makes use of the following ingenious illustration to show that it is not inconsistent with theistic design. A few paragraphs here quoted show the felicity of his style in a controverted matter:
“Recall a woman of a past generation and show her a web of cloth; ask her how it was made, and she will say that the wool or cotton was carded, spun, and woven by hand. When you tell her it was not made by manual labor, that probably no hands have touched the materials throughout the process, it is possible that she might at first regard your statement as tantamount to the assertion that the cloth was made without design. If she did, she would not credit your statement. If you patiently explained to her the theory of carding-machines, spinning-jennies, and power-looms, would her reception of your explanation weaken her conviction that the cloth was the result of design? It is certain that she would believe in design as firmly as before, and that this belief would be attended by a higher conception and reverent admiration of a wisdom, skill, and power greatly beyond anything she had previously conceived possible.”
By this review Gray disarmed hostility to such an extent that some persons who had been antagonistic to Darwinism accepted it with only slight reservation. It may be fairly claimed that the Journal bore a leading part in influencing the views of naturalists in America in regard to the Darwinian theory.
Dr. Gray soon put the Darwinian hypothesis to a severe test. In the Journal for 1840 he had called attention to the remarkable similarity which exists between the flora of Japan and a part of the temperate portion of North America. The first notice of this subject by him occurs in a short review of Dr. Zuccarini’s “Flora Japonica,” a work based on material furnished by Dr. Siebold, who had long lived in Japan. In this review (39, 175, 1840), he enumerates certain plants common to the two regions, and says, “It is interesting to remark how many of our characteristic genera are reproduced in Japan, not to speak of striking analogous forms.” In a subsequent paper (28, 187, 1859), he recurs to this subject, and, after alluding to geological data furnished by J. D. Dana, he says:
“I cannot resist the conclusion that the extant vegetable kingdom has a long and eventful history, and that the explanation of apparent anomalies in the geographical distribution of species may be found in the various and prolonged climatic or other vicissitudes to which they have been subject in earlier times; that the occurrence of certain species, formerly supposed to be peculiar to North America, in a remote or antipodal region, affords in itself no presumption that they were originated there, and that interchange of plants between eastern North America and eastern Asia is explicable upon the most natural and generally received hypothesis (or at least offers no greater difficulty than does the arctic flora, the general homogeneousness of which round the world has always been thought compatible with local origin of the species) and is perhaps not more extensive than might be expected under the circumstances. That the interchange has mainly taken place in high northern latitudes, and that the isothermal lines have in earlier times turned northward on our eastern and southward on our northwest coast, as they do now, are points which go far towards explaining why eastern North America, rather than Oregon and California, has been mainly concerned in this interchange, and why the temperate interchange, even with Europe, has principally taken place through Asia.”