World fisheries expert opens BRLSI’s major 2009 exhibition on Darwin’s 200th birthday.
Thursday 12th February 2009: To mark Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday Dr Daniel Pauly, Professor of Fisheries at the University of British Columbia and a world expert on fish conservation, opened Darwin’s Fishes, the major exhibition of the BRLSI’s 2009 Darwin and Beyond programme. After cutting a fish-shaped cake made specially for the evening by three local artists, Prof Pauly gave a lecture entitled From Darwin’s Fishes to Jenyns’ Fishes— Ichthyology and the Voyage of the Beagle, describing the marine aspects of Charles Darwin’s voyage around the world. Among the audience were the Mayor of Bath and a relative of the Rev Leonard Jenyns, Darwin’s friend and collaborator who left his library and collections to the BRLSI.
Thursday 12th February 2009: To mark Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday Dr Daniel Pauly, Professor of Fisheries at the University of British Columbia and a world expert on fish conservation, opened Darwin’s Fishes, the major exhibition of the BRLSI’s 2009 Darwin and Beyond programme. After cutting a fish-
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Dr Daniel Pauly, Professor of Fisheries at the University of British Columbia, speaking at the BRLSI.
Dr Pauly cuts the special fish-themed Darwin Birthday Cake, made by Bath-based artist group Eak-Art.
Sweet-toothed attendees ensured that Darwin’s cake didn’t remain intact for long.
Prof Pauly told the audience how Darwin had been determined to collect specimens of new fish species in order to give British taxonomists a chance to catch up with the French, who dominated the field. However concentrating on previously unexplored areas of South America and the Indo-Pacific brought its own problems, not least getting the specimens back before they rotted.
On board the Beagle Darwin performed 'Baconian' experiments based on practical observation. These included opening up a marine iguana to settle a longstanding dispute on whether they fed on underwater vegetation or fish, and allowing himself to be bitten by the benchuca beetle in Chile (a notorious carrier of Chagas disease) and observing it for several months as it digested his blood. In Dr Pauly’s view Darwin’s later recurrent ill-health may have stemmed from Chagas or a similar infection.
Following his voyage on the Beagle, Charles Darwin commissioned five naturalists to compile volumes for The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, a catalogue of the species he had found. For volume IV, Fish, he chose Leonard Jenyns, an East Anglian clergyman who later moved to Bath, where he became a key figure in the city’s Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
The Darwin’s Fishes exhibition traces the story of Darwin’s marine specimens from South America to Cambridge and the library of the BRLSI. As well as exhibits from the BRLSI collection it includes a film specially made at the Natural History Museum in London which shows some of Darwin’s original fish specimens, now too fragile and valuable to travel.
Darwin’s Fishes runs until July 25th, and is open from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Saturdays. Admission is free. •
On board the Beagle Darwin performed 'Baconian' experiments based on practical observation. These included opening up a marine iguana to settle a longstanding dispute on whether they fed on underwater vegetation or fish, and allowing himself to be bitten by the benchuca beetle in Chile (a notorious carrier of Chagas disease) and observing it for several months as it digested his blood. In Dr Pauly’s view Darwin’s later recurrent ill-
Following his voyage on the Beagle, Charles Darwin commissioned five naturalists to compile volumes for The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, a catalogue of the species he had found. For volume IV, Fish, he chose Leonard Jenyns, an East Anglian clergyman who later moved to Bath, where he became a key figure in the city’s Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
The Darwin’s Fishes exhibition traces the story of Darwin’s marine specimens from South America to Cambridge and the library of the BRLSI. As well as exhibits from the BRLSI collection it includes a film specially made at the Natural History Museum in London which shows some of Darwin’s original fish specimens, now too fragile and valuable to travel.
Darwin’s Fishes runs until July 25th, and is open from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Saturdays. Admission is free. •
The Mr Darwin’s Fishes exhibition traces the story of Darwin’s marine specimens from South America to Cambridge and the library of the BRLSI. It includes a film specially made at the Natural History Museum, and is open 10am-4pm Monday to Saturday until 25th July.
Roger Jenyns, great-great nephew of the Rev Leonard Jenyns, travelled from East Anglia to be at the opening. In the display cabinet (top right) is a copy of Fish - Part IV of The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, written by Leonard Jenyns between 1840 and 1842, and kindly loaned by Roger Jenyns for the exhibition.
Time to relax - the creators of Darwin’s Fishes, BRLSI Curator Matt Williams and designer Jude Harris.
Prof Pauly revealed that Darwin often ate the fish specimens he collected on the Beagle. Contrary to rumours, his 200th birthday cake didn’t actually contain any fish.
The Major of Bath, Cllr Tim Ball, with Dr Daniel Pauly
Right: No, it’s not another cake - also on display at the launch event (and still in the Elwin room), Darwin’s Dreams, a work in plaster by Adrienne Horswill, BRLSI’s Convenor of Visual Arts.
