Talk:Erasmus Darwin

Family tree
I have the Darwin family tree done in PowerPoint. Please post on my talk page to request changes or email me to get a copy of the PowerPoint.Cutler 21:22, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Mistake in dating?
I can't help but notice that after speaking of his death in 1802, the article discusses a person he referenced in a work he completed in 1803, was this information checked? Shinzen 04:32, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Further on, in Section 4.3 Poem on evolution, it is mentioned that the work in question (The Temple of Nature) was published posthumously. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.60.183 (talk) 11:43, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Added Big Bang and Big Crunch Details
Text added that proves Erasmus Darwin theorized and documented the Big Bang and Big Crunch theories over a century before anyone else. --GBoehm 20:08, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Rocket engine?
The foll was posted by an anon: I have removed it until anyone can verify it. The idea seems unlikely, but not impossible, given Priestley's recent work with gases. But I would certainly question whether such an arrangement would be for propulsion, or simply for experiment/water creation. JackyR 19:43, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
 * ===Rocket engine===
 * In notes dating 1779, a sketch of a simple liquid-fuel rocket engine can be found, with hydrogen and oxygen tanks connected by plumbing and pumps to an elongated combustion chamber and expansion nozzle, a concept not to be seen again until one century later.
 * Here you can read: "He suggested the oxygen-hydrogen rocket engine," . If you google "Erasmus Darwin" and "rocket engine" or "Erasmus Darwin" and "ramjet" or "rocketry", you find various references. I reestablish the paragraph if you don't mind. Hektor 22:34, 18 June 2006 (UTC)


 * See also the book Darwin among the machines by George Dyson. Hektor 20:30, 7 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I removed 'ramjet', which refers only to an engine using external air. The way, the truth, and the light 05:24, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Can someone please start adding sources like this into the article? Thank you. Viriditas (talk) 10:56, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Artesian Well Invention?
Alex Shrugged (talk) 18:12, 14 February 2016 (UTC) I removed "An Artesian well" from his inventions. He drilled the original artesian that supplied water to his property, but that is not an invention. Artesian wells had been around for centuries by that time. Follow the source link to The Genius of Erasmus Darwin. Go to page 10. It reads, "...he had dug the original artesian well to supply his house...." If that is not clear, check Wikipedia under Artesian aquifer which reads "...where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks from 1126.".

Practice/practise
Chambers dictionary (Edinburgh) gives: So this article, being about a Brit, should use practise for the verb. JackyR 19:55, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
 * "practice n"
 * "practise, (N Am) practice vt".

Erasmus
He was apparently the first member of his family to be named this, which must be after Erasmus. Interesting; is there any source that may explain this? The way, the truth, and the light 05:24, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Not the case. He was descended from Erasmus Earle, a prominent legal officer (I can't remember his title off hand) under Cromwell. There had actually been at least one other Erasmus Darwin before him. King-Hele has an edited family tree (going back much further than the Darwin-Wedgwood wiki one), but the full genealogy can be found in Darwin of Downe, Burke's Landed Gentry 1968 Francis Hoar (talk)Francis HoarFrancis Hoar (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 18:11, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

in fiction
There were a series of fictional stories about E. Darwin..

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:16, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this can be useful here.
Found this source on a website that another editor pointed me towards... "The world itself might have been generated, rather than created; that is, it might have been gradually produced from very small beginnings, increasing by the activity of its inherent principles, rather than by a sudden evolution of the whole by the Almighty fiat. What a magnificent idea of the infinite power of THE GREAT ARCHITECT! THE CAUSE OF CAUSES! PARENT OF PARENTS! ENS ENTIUM! For if we may compare infinities, it would seem to require a greater infinity of power to cause the causes of effects, than to cause the effects themselves."

E. Darwin, Zoonomia; The Laws of Organic Life (J. Johnson, London 1794), vol. 1, p. 509 Hope this is useful. -- Low Sea (talk) 20:50, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Mistake in Lineage?
Under Early Life section, Robert Waring Darwin (Charles Darwin's Father) is marked as a sibling to Erasmus. In the next section, the same person is marked as one of Erasmus' sons. Said names both link to the same article. Erasmus is Charles' grandfather, so I think that R. Darwin should be omitted from the siblings list. As I am not certain on whether or not there is a Robert Sr./Jr., I want to bring it up here prior to editing anything. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.8.35.210 (talk) 20:28, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

abolitionist?
Shouldn't the rubric "abolitionist" be added to the first paragraph list of distinctions for this man? He was a very principled, ardent, immovable advocate for the cessation of the slave trade and for total abolition, and he stood by Clarkson through every trial. This might be the most important reason to remember this man. If there is no objection, I would like to add the word "abolitionist" to the first paragraph. NaySay (talk) 14:56, 6 March 2009 (UTC)


 * That would be fine: go ahead! There's no doubt that the Wedgwoods and Darwins were influential in opposing the commercial interests of the slavers with moral suasion. Do we have a Category:Anti-slavery campaigners? If not, we should have. You might do that, too. Macdonald-ross (talk) 17:16, 6 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, there is an existing "List of opponents of slavery," and I have added Erasmus to the list, and while I was at it, Charles Darwin. NaySay (talk) 19:25, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Freemasonry
It appears that several important members of the Lunar Society were members of Freemasonry, including Erasmus Darwin himself, who apart from being the grandfather of Charles Darwin, also contributed to evolutionary philosophy. ADM (talk) 02:41, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

need sources
It's most annoying that someone has added two long paras to Poem on evolution without refs. They have quite obviously been lifted wholesale from some older source, and should be credited. They are liable to be removed if there is no response to this notice, as wholesale appropriation of others' work is scarcely reputable. Macdonald-ross (talk) 11:31, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Since no response, it's now cut. Macdonald-ross (talk) 15:13, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Matters of Fact: I have a number of factual corrections to the Erasmus Darwin page supplied to me by Dr Desmond King-Hele, FRS, the biographer of Erasmus Darwin. I should like to amend the article on the basis of KIng-Hele's corrections. It also involves the deletion of some erroneous material taken from unreliable sources. I should like to go ahead with this. I should also like to add some references as alternatives to those given. As 'Stuart Harris' I am the editor and publisher of Erasmus Darwin's poetry, as well as the author of a critical study of ED's epic poems: Erasmus Darwin's Enlightenment Epic [2002]' (User talk: Stuart Oram-Harris) —Preceding undated comment added 14:53, 23 September 2010 (UTC).
 * Well, do go ahead and do what you think is right, and try to explain what you're doing, and give us some refs to support the changes. I had no idea, incidentally, that King-Hele was still alive. Good for him! Macdonald-ross (talk) 13:00, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Wrong signature?
the signature looks like it belongs to Erasmus Darwin Keyes who is a different person to Erasmus Darwin. 146.90.246.249 (talk) 19:21, 8 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Good spot. I removed File:Signature of Erasmus Darwin Keyes.png. -- Wire723 (talk) 13:50, 9 September 2023 (UTC)