I don’t know about this quote specificly, but Darwin spent almost 10 years working on barnacles to establish himself and came to hate them. It was supposed to be a quick detour before releasing ‘On the Origin of Species’. During that time he made a lot of similar statements.
At the time barnacles represented a major taxonomic mystery. They have a bizarre lifecycle that baffled scientists and figuring out what they were related to was baffling
I assumed it was something more inconsequential and personal. It’s the sort of thing I usually say after doing something particularly embarrassing that I can’t get out of my head…
so.
what is the context to that? anyone know? I could imagine a bout of some food poisoning or something affecting the ship.
I don’t know about this quote specificly, but Darwin spent almost 10 years working on barnacles to establish himself and came to hate them. It was supposed to be a quick detour before releasing ‘On the Origin of Species’. During that time he made a lot of similar statements.
Those things have a tendency to stick around hey
10 years… of barnacles.
yeah. I’d hate my life too.
The history of Darwin’s Barnacles is fascinating https://youtu.be/plYuvU2VZkE?si=Xq6rwC8FdhXFBDYD
At the time barnacles represented a major taxonomic mystery. They have a bizarre lifecycle that baffled scientists and figuring out what they were related to was baffling
The TLDR is that he couldn’t figure iut how to classify the fuckers because he didn’t have modern biology tools like genetic analysis, protein identification, or any molecular biology.
Reminds me of the Onion video about the man who wasted his life studying anteaters: https://youtu.be/qXD9HnrNrvk?si=x3vd96q2BzMRFAnA
I assumed it was something more inconsequential and personal. It’s the sort of thing I usually say after doing something particularly embarrassing that I can’t get out of my head…
Oh, there’s a lot things it could have been.
Late night caused by the guy next door getting drunk and trying his hand at singing opera.
Getting rejected because barnacles reek;
Finding out the rum is gone…
Why is it always?
Where are you getting anything about a ship?
Darwin is well known for his voyage on the HMS Beagle, but there is no mention of that in the post.
Right exactly. Wondered if it was just an assumption or if I missed something
It was an assumption,