What say the birds of Australia to this?” – Darwin’s Origin at the National Library of Australia

From the library:

Earlier this year, the National Library of Australia acquired a copy of the first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, perhaps one of the most influential books of the nineteenth century. Believed to be one of the earliest surviving copies of Darwin’s work to have arrived in Australia, the Library’s copy was first owned by Dr William Woolls of Parramatta, N.S.W. and it bears his inscription and the date March 17 1860 on the front free end paper. Woolls, a clergyman and schoolmaster, was also a noted botanist. He wrote many articles and papers on the subject and was made a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1865 and was later awarded a doctorate by the University of Göttingen for a dissertation on the botany of the Parramatta region. His name is commemorated in the genus Woollsia, as well as the name of six species. The book contains many penciled annotations made by Woolls and these provide a fascinating insight into the reception of Darwin’s revolutionary ideas on a well-educated reader at the other side of the world. Although many of the annotations have faded with the passage of time, some of Woolls notes are still legible. While some of the comments show agreement with Darwin’s theories, other comments call into question the author’s statements, in a couple of instances drawing upon Australian examples. Next to a passage on birds learning to fear man, for example, Woolls has written “what say the birds of Australia to this?”

Also, on a more light-hearted note … A Science Carol.  According to the note that I got about it, it is …

Performed and produced by Christopher Last, Casey Walruth & Jeffrey Tucker, this podcast constitutes a dramatic interpretation of Steven Shapin’s book ‘The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation.’ Intended as a parody of Charles Dickens’ literary classic ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Last,Walruth & Tucker tell the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, a miserly old scientist who embarks on a mystical journey to learn the true-meaning of science. Visitations by the Ghosts of Science Past, Present & Future help Scrooge to see that the scientific life is not exactly what he thought it to be, and that scientists themselves are as human as the next man. Dramatic acting, excellent scripting and good-natured humor make this a presentation not to be missed.