From Forbes Robertson
Following your recent account of the Wright brothers’ publication of their
discoveries in the unlikely medium of a beekeeping journal
(Feedback, 24 April),
I thought you might be amused by another bizarre example of this phenomenon.
In 1831, the Scottish orchardist and writer Patrick Matthew, who was living
in the Carse of Gowrie, summarised in a few sentences the essential principles
of natural selection in an appendix to his book Naval Timber and
Arboriculture.
When Darwin’s On The Origin of Species appeared in 1859, Matthew was
indignant that he had received no recognition for his earlier observations, and
wrote to Darwin to that effect. In his reply, Darwin freely acknowledged that
Matthew had anticipated by many years the explanation he had offered for the
origin of species and tendered his apologies for being unaware of his
publication.
It may be surmised that Matthew, as a grower of fruit trees, routinely
practised selection and assumed that a comparable process was at work in nature,
guaranteeing vigour and successful performance among all living beings.
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