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Sometimes today we sloppily bracket 'atheist' and 'agnostic' together, as if they meant the same thing. The newly minted word in Darwin's time had a more precise meaning, 'not knowing'. That this should not be confused with the word 'atheist', is made clear by Darwin himself in a letter to John Fordyce of 1879; he wrote this:

It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist and an evolutionist. You are right about [Charles] Kingsley. Asa Gray, the eminent [American] botanist, is another case in point.... In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.

So Darwin, on his own account was never an atheist, but fluctuated between theism and agnosticism.

~ John Marsh

#atheist #agnostic #bracket #charles darwin #botany #john fordyce #charles kingsley #asa gray

putterings, 194

studying roses considerably as he journeyed he was not able to do much my own slow “puttering” course which if it does not accomplish much has its attractions

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puutterings | their index | these derivations | 20221016

#puttering #derivation2 #Asa Gray #botany

Establishing the University Library's Collection: Asa Gray's Purchase

In this post, student Eric Morgel provides a brief overview of Asa Gray's foundational purchase of materials for the University Library. Read more!

#asa gray #u-m bicentennial #university of michigan #bicentennial

Darwin had fretted for years about the cataclysm that his book’s publication would cause. In the U.S, one opponent loomed over others.

#charles darwin #evolution #science history #asa gray

Gray's Lily Roan Highlands Temperate Grassy Balds by Mark Via Flickr: A Rare & Endangered Gray's Lily in the Roan Highlands Mitchell County, NC / Carter County, TN Accessed via the Appalachian Trail (North from Carver's Gap) Date taken: June 20, 2016 My schedule didn't allow much time to be with the Gray's Lilies this bloom season; however, I managed to find a couple of early bloomers before I had to hit the pavement. The Gray's Lily is named after Asa Gray and is considered a species of concern (Tennessee), rare and imperiled (Virginia), and of special concern (NC). Their largest population can be found in the Roan Highlands of the Southern Appalachian mountains where favorable conditions still exist in the temperate grassy balds (themselves critically imperiled as habitat). This entire area is extremely beautiful and I can only hope that both the balds and the Gray's Lilies are enjoyed and respected by many long after I can no longer make the annual pilgrimage to see their presence.

studying roses considerably as he journeyed

Although he delighted in the “gorgeous flowers” of Colorado, he was not able to do much in botany — “the scientific interest comes afterwards,” he said, and did what he said Gray called “puttering” — wondering the while...

ex preview snippet, Andrew Denny Rodgers, American Botany, 1873-1892 : Decades of Transition (1968) : 150 : link

my own slow “puttering” course which if it does not accomplish much has its attractions 137 what he said Gray called “puttering” 150 still puttering away at plants 222