Thoughts in a Haystack

. . . Darwin did think that the temporal order of the verification and the publishing of a hypothesis was important in the sociology of science, both for the sake of the scientist's own reputation and for the sake of the acceptance of his theory by the scientific community. To a young scientist, Darwin advised, "I would suggest to you the advantage, at present, of being very sparing in introducing theory in your papers (I formerly erred much in Geology in that way) [2]; let theory guide your observations, but till your reputation is well established, be sparing of publishing theory. It makes persons doubt your observations."

Darwin also had a reason for advising restraint in publication which was less personal and more significant to the progress of science. He was aware of the fate of Lamarck and Chambers. Chambers had received considerable popular acclaim but scathing denunciation from the academic community, including T. H. Huxley (1854). Lamarck received nothing but ridicule from all sides. Darwin criticized Lamarck and Chambers, not for suggesting mechanisms for evolution which he thought were mistaken, but for foisting their views on the scientific community without sufficient effort at careful formulation and verification. Lamarck and Chambers looked upon the process of scientific verification as a very casual affair. Darwin looked upon these matters as of utmost gravity. Lamarck published radically new theories in a variety of fields as diverse as mineralogy and meteorology. He felt that the originality of his impressionistic sketches would be enough to motivate others to undertake the subordinate task of filling out and verifying his theories. As Burkhardt (1970) has aptly observed, public neglect and private ridicule were the fate of his theories. Prior to knowing that Chambers was the author of the Vestiges of Creation, Darwin chided him for objecting to the skepticism of scientific men. "You would not fulminate quite so much if you had had so many wild-goose chases after facts stated by men not trained in scientific accuracy."

Darwin's conservative views on publication were rewarded to some degree. His Origin of Species did not suffer the same fate as those works on evolution that had preceded it. It was treated as a serious work of science even by those who denounced it. But a similar reticence on the part of Gregor Mendel resulted in his laws of heredity being overlooked for almost forty years. Mendel published his laws in 1865, soon after the appearance of the Origin. He too wanted to avoid being branded a speculator. In his original paper he barely alludes to his unobservable "factors," though the cogency of his entire argument rested upon their existence. In a letter to Carl Nägeli (Mendel, 1867), he claimed that, "as an empirical worker" he had to "define constancy of type as the retention of a character during the period of observation." Perhaps Darwin's advice might protect scientists from being engulfed in half-baked scientific publications, but it also contributed to the obscurity of Mendel's potentially great contribution to science. Because Lamarck neglected the niceties of the sociology of science, his work was ignored with disdainful embarrassment. Because Mendel was too scrupulous in observing them, his work was overlooked. Darwin struck an appropriate compromise.

Darwin's beliefs on the ethics of publication go a great way toward explaining his reticence in publishing his own views on the origin of species until his big book was complete. (pp. 10-11)