Snark hunting with Charles Darwin

Darwin did use tuning forks for experiments with spiders. 201 · · You may seek it with thimbles--and seek it with care; 202· · · · You may hunt it with forks and hope; 203· · You may threaten its life with a railway-share ; 204· · · · You may charm it with smiles and soap -- I think that The Hunting of the Snark alludes to many events in the Victorian era. Among those, Charles Darwins Beagle voyage, his discoveries and the resulting challenge to religious beliefs surely were important issues to the Reverend Dodgson (aka. Lewis Carroll) and his Snark illustrator, Henry Holiday. The image: Illustration by Henry Holiday to the chapter The Hunting in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). Inset: Charles Darwin , photo probably by Messrs. Maull and Fox, around 1854, see also commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Darwin_aged_51.jpg . Inset in inset: Charles Darwin's "I think" sketch of the evolutionary tree ( about July 1837 , 1st notebook 1837-1838, page 36) compared to a "weed" in the lower left corner of Holiday's illustration. I learned, that Darwin did not keep his notebook secret after the publication of On the Origin of Species , but I do not know of any presentation of his sketch before 1876. Thus, the resemblance between the "weed" and Darwin's evolutionary tree sketch may be purely incidental. Remarks: (1) I also left a copy here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CharlesDarwinHuntingSnark.jpg , License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 (2) The person on the right side in Holiday's illustration is "The Banker". This figure has different faces in different illustrations. (3) Henry Holiday may have been inspired by Darwin's "tree of life" sketch when he did his illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark . However, the problem with my guess is, that (as far as I know) the sketch still may not have been known to the public when Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday worked on The Hunting of the Snark .

1876 and around 1870. If it was for this pairing only, I would not use this side-by-side image as an example for allusions to Charles Darwin (19th century portrait) in Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark . Also, too obvious allusions to Darwin would have narrowed the interpretation space which Carroll wanted to leave to his readers. However, there is more . Darwin portrait found in What Mr Darwin Saw in His Voyage Round the World in the Ship ‘Beagle’ , 1879. »Extracts paraphrased by W.P. Garrison from Darwin’s Beagle diaries. Son of a US abolitionist, W.P. Garrison published this work anonymously. His stated aim was to 'interest children in the study of natural history, and physical and political geography'. Garrison selected extracts from Darwin's original diaries, reorganising material thematically into four parts: 'Animals', 'Man' (strange peoples and customs, particularly of savage and barbarous life), 'Geography' (physical features of the countries visited by Mr Darwin) and 'Nature' (account of the grandeur of terrestrial processes).« Source: University of Cambridge > Department of History and Philosophy of Science > Whipple Library > Rare book collections > Online exhibitions

"A sailing ship: the brig H. M. S. Beagle . It is commanded by the bigoted Captain Robert Fitz Roy. The year is 1831. On board, a brain explosion. With a delay of about two centuries of Physics, it is shattered by the the Galileo of Biology. The following stages: In 1838 the theory of natural selection was completed. In 1859 comes the Origin of Species. · · Fade-over. · · When it returns into the scene, it is still a ship. A sailing ship, of course. The Beagle took to the sea again? The year is 1874: Darwin is still alive, well and chatty." (Adriano Orefice) Images: [left]: Illustration "He had wholly forgotten his name" by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876) [right]: "Crossing the Line" (1839), redrawn (2013) based on a print by Thomas Landseer, after Augustus Earle. The print you will find in Robert Fitz-Roy's Narrative of the surveying voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle , Vol II (1839). This comparison is related to my assumption that Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark at least partially has been inspired by Charles Darwin's explorational Beagle voyage.

1875: Proposal for a depicton of a Boojum turned Snark by Henry Holiday (and redrawn by me) to Lewis Carroll. However, Carroll (Dodgson) preferred to leave it to the imagination of his readers (and to the imagination of the Barrister ) how the Snark may look like. The little vanishig guy is The Baker . Does the Boojum sit on some of the Baker's 42 boxes? It is said that Carroll "suppressed" Holiday's Boojum, but I think that between these two gentlemen that is not the right term. "[...] One of the first three [illustrations] I had to do was the disappearance of the Baker , and I not unnatuarally invented a Boojum. Mr. Dodgson wrote that it was a delightful monster, but that it was inadmissible. All his descriptions of the Boojum were quite unimaginable, and he wanted the creature to remain so. I assented, of course, though reluctant to dismiss what I am still confident is an accurate representation. I hope that some future Darwin in a new Beagle will find the beast, or its remains; if he does, I know he will confirm my drawing. [...]" (Source: Henry Holiday (1898): The Snark's Significance ) Did Henry Holiday's Boojum turned Snark sit on the Baker's boxes? From a sketch by H. Holiday and a painting by J. E. Millais:

[left]: HMS Beagle Among Porpoises (183X) by Robert Taylor Pritchett. [right]: A vessel in an illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (1876). The shape of the vessels is pretty generic, but William Snow Harris' new lightning conductors were a special feature of the HMS Beagle.

Assembled scans from original 19th century sources: • Illustration by H. Holiday to The Hunting of the Snark, 1876 • Inlay: Print based on a drawing (1834-04-16) by Conrad Martens , etching published in: Francis Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , p. 160, 1888. Conrad Martens' drawing has been engraved by T. Landseer and published in the year 1838 by H. Colburn in The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle .

Illustration by Henry Holiday (cut by Joseph Swain) to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876. Why should a peaceful activity like lace-making (see below or lines #277 to #280 of the Snark ) have "proved an infringement of right"? This image may have been used to symbolize dissection in context with C. L. Dodgson's (aka Lewis Carroll's) involvement in the vivisection debate . 053 · · The last of the crew needs especial remark, 054· · · · Though he looked an incredible dunce: 055· · He had just one idea--but, that one being "Snark," 056· · · · The good Bellman engaged him at once. 057· · He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared, 058· · · · When the ship had been sailing a week, 059· · He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared, 060· · · · And was almost too frightened to speak: 061· · But at length he explained, in a tremulous tone, 062· · · · There was only one Beaver on board; 063· · And that was a tame one he had of his own, 064· · · · Whose death would be deeply deplored. 065· · The Beaver, who happened to hear the remark, 066· · · · Protested, with tears in its eyes, 067· · That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark 068· · · · Could atone for that dismal surprise! 069· · It strongly advised that the Butcher should be 070· · · · Conveyed in a separate ship: 071· · But the Bellman declared that would never agree 072· · · · With the plans he had made for the trip: 073· · Navigation was always a difficult art, 074· · · · Though with only one ship and one bell: 075· · And he feared he must really decline, for his part, 076· · · · Undertaking another as well. 077· · The Beaver's best course was, no doubt, to procure 078· · · · A second-hand dagger-proof coat-- 079· · So the Baker advised it-- and next, to insure 080· · · · Its life in some Office of note: 081· · This the Banker suggested, and offered for hire 082· · · · (On moderate terms), or for sale, 083· · Two excellent Policies, one Against Fire, 084· · · · And one Against Damage From Hail. 085· · Yet still, ever after that sorrowful day, 086· · · · Whenever the Butcher was by, 087· · The Beaver kept looking the opposite way, 088· · · · And appeared unaccountably shy. And if that was not enough: 273 · · The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade-- 274 · · · · Each working the grindstone in turn: 275 · · But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed 276 · · · · No interest in the concern: 277 · · Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride, 278 · · · · And vainly proceeded to cite 279 · · A number of cases, in which making laces 280 · · · · Had been proved an infringement of right . 421 · · But the Barrister, weary of proving in vain 422 · · · · That the Beaver's lace-making was wrong, 423 · · Fell asleep, and in dreams saw the creature quite plain 424 · · · · That his fancy had dwelt on so long. (from Lewis Carroll's and Henry Holiday's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876) Links: o Charles Darwin: www.ipernity.com/doc/goetzkluge/album/370833 o Eva Amsen, Alice's Adventures in Animal Experimentation , 2007-09-19, easternblot.net/2007/09/19/alices_adventures_in_animal_experimentation o Lewis Carroll, Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection , Fortnightly Review [London: 1865-1934] 23 (1875 Jun): 847-854; Online at Animal Rights History, 2003. www.animalrightshistory.org/animal-rights-quotes/literatu... o On the usage of lace-needles with microscopes see pg. 391 in Darwin, C. R. 1849, On the use of the microscope on board ship , in Owen, R., Zoology. In Herschel, J. F. W. ed., A manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the use of Her Majesty's Navy, and adapted for travellers in general. London: John Murray, pp. 389-395. "Circular discs of fine-textured cork, of the size of the saucers (with one or two circular springs of steel-wire to keep the cork at the bottom of the water), serve for fixing objects to be dissected by direct instead of transmitted light. For this end short fine pins and lace-needles should be procured; wherever it is possible, the animal ought to be fixed to the cork under water." darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&i... o Jed Mayer: The vivisection of the Snark , 2009-06-22: Victorian Poetry (Amazon etext in HTML) www.amazon.com/vivisection-Snark-fictional-animal-Report/... o Rod Preece: Darwinism, Christianity, and the Great Vivisection Debate , Journal of the History of Ideas - Volume 64, Number 3, July 2003, pp. 399-419 www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3654233 o Letters on vivisection from/to Charles Darwin: www.darwinproject.ac.uk/advanced-search?as-corresp=&as-person=&as-place=&ask-content=vivisection&asv-content=as-body&as-year-from=&as-year-to=&as-set=&as-physdesc=&as-volume=&as-repository=&as-calnum=&as-n=&intercept=adv&asp-page=0&as-type=letter&asdesc=#type=letters&secondKeyword=vivisection&sort=date&itemsPerPage=25&currentPage=1&filterOperand=AND o People related to vivisection and Charles Darwin: www.darwinproject.ac.uk/advanced-search?as-corresp=&as-person=&as-place=&ask-content=vivisection&asv-content=as-body&as-year-from=&as-year-to=&as-set=&as-physdesc=&as-volume=&as-repository=&as-calnum=&as-n=&intercept=adv&asp-page=0&as-type=letter&asdesc=#type=people&keyword=vivisection&sort=title&itemsPerPage=25&currentPage=1&filterOperand=AND

This is about a possible allusion by Alfred Parsons to Henry Holiday. [left]: The Study at Down (from the The Century illustrated monthly magazine , v.25 1882-1883, p. 420 , Indiana University Library) Illustration from a painting (1882, from a photo) by Alfred Parsons Engraver: J. Tynan (Scan from original 19th century source: Francis Darwin: The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin , Vol. 1, 1888, p. 101) [right]: illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , 1876 The comparison of these two images started in June 2010. Alfred Parsons may have alluded to Henry Holiday's illustration. I am not so sure about that, but if Parson played Holiday's game with Holiday's illustration, then Parsons must have manipulated the reality of Darwin's study a bit.

Segments from [left, vertically stretched]: The top of the fireplace in Alfred Parsons' depiction (1882) of Charles Darwin's study in Downe [right]: an illustration (1876, printed 1911) by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark Rescaleable formats for printing posters: PDF (7.7 MB) and SVGZ (8.3 MB). (The segment of Alfred Parsons' depiction of Charles Darwin's new study is used here with permission by Dr. John van Wyhe, darwin-online.org.uk/ . Henry Holiday's illustration has been scanned from a 1911 book.)