Darwin and Dokuchaev. Interaction of ideas

Soil scientists have long believed that the first printed work of V.V. Dokuchaev was his diploma thesis in 1871 “On alluvial sediments along the Kasna River of the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province”, which he defended after graduating from St. Petersburg University, under the guidance of Professor P.A. Puzyrevsky. However, there is a little-known article written under the pseudonym of V. D-chaev, “Darwin's theory before the court of Holy Scripture as the oldest historical botanical and zoological monument”, published in 1869 in the spiritual journal “Strannik” (“Wanderer”), which was written by V.V. Dokuchaev shortly after graduating from the theological seminary. The first work of V. Dokuchaev is of interest due to the fact that it appeared in the transition period from Dokuchaev-theologian to Dokuchaev-naturalist. Analyzing the article, written on 52 pages, one can understand how seriously the young man approached this publication. According to the former seminarian, the Holy Scriptures are the main and most reliable source of information about the past. In formulating his attitude to Darwin's theory, he relies on the work of M.A. Sibirtsev and spiritual father Matveevsky, finding in them arguments in support of his point. In addition, Dokuchaev mentions and cites the publications of more than two dozen geologists, mostly foreign ones. However, it should be noted that most of the works he refers to were popular sources. Objections to Darwin on the basic aspects of evolutionary theory show the spiritual maturity of the future scientist. The manuscript is still a student's article, but it contains the analysis of the problem of time, which later became the basis of Dokuchaev's teaching about time as a factor of soil formation. Dokuchaev came to understand the law of love as a universal law of the commonwealth that rules the world, which in fact is the basis of the ecological perception of the world. 

1. Balandin R.K., V.V. Dokuchaev, Moscow: Prosveshhenie, 1990, 96 p.

2. Varfolomeev L.A., Sibirtsevy – sem'ya arkhangel'skaya (Sibirtsevs – Arkhangelsk family), Arhangel'sk, 1996, 150 p.

3. Veretennikova S.V., Dukhovno-nravstvennyi potentsial biologicheskogo obrazovaniya. Kniga dlya uchitelya (Spiritual and moral potential of biological education. A book for teachers), Voronezh, 2010, 263 p.

4. Darvin Ch., O proiskhozhdenii vidov v tsarstvakh zhivotnom i rastitel'nom putem estestvennogo podbora rodichei ili o sokhranenii usovershenstvovannykh porod v bor'be za sushchestvovanie (About the origin of species in the animal and vegetable kingdoms by natural selection of relatives or about the preservation of improved breeds in the struggle for existence), Translated by A.S. Rachinsky, Saint-Petersburg: Izd. knigoprodavtsa A.I. Glazunova, 1864, 399 p.

5. Darvin Ch., Obrazovanie pochvennogo sloya dozhdevymi chervyami i nablyudeniya nad ikh obrazom zhizni (Formation of the soil layer by earthworms and observations on their way of life), Translated by M. Lindeman, Moscow: Izd. tip. S.P. Arkhipova i K°, VIII, 204 p.

6. Darvin Ch.R., Dnevnik raboty i zhizni. 1809–1882 (Work and Life Diary), Translated by S.L. Sobol, Moscow: AST Publishing House, 2018, 95 p.

7. Dokuchaev V.V., Russkii chernozem. Otchet Imperatorskomu Vol'nomu ekonomicheskomu obshchestvu (Russian chernozem. Report to the Imperial Free Economic Society), Saint-Petersburg: Tip. Deklerona i Evdokimova, 1883, 376 p.

8. Dokuchaev V.V., Sochineniya (Essays), Moscow: Iz. AN SSSR, 1953, Vol. 7, 277 p.

9. D-chaev V., Teoriya Darvina pred sudom Sv. Pisaniya kak samogo drevnego istoricheskogo botaniko-zoologicheskogo pamyatnika (Darwin's theory before the court of Holy Scripture, as the oldest historical botanical and zoological monument), Saint-Petersburg: tip. dukhovnogo zhurn “Strannikr”, 1869, 52 p.

10. Ivanov I.V., Istoriya otechestvennogo pochvovedeniya (History of Russian Soil Science), Book 1, 1870–1947, Moscow: Nauka, 2003, 398 p.

11. Ivanov I.V., Anan'eva N.D., Darvin i Dokuchaev: vzglyad iz Rossii i SShA (Darwin and Dokuchaev: A look from Russia and the United States), Materialy III Vserosijskoj nauchnoj konferencii “Problemy istorii, metodologii i sociologii pochvovedenija” (Proc. III Sci. Conf. “Problems of historical, methodological and sociological soil science”), Pushhino, 2017, pp. 129–132.

12. Masanov I.F., Slovar' psevdonimov russkikh pisatelei, uchenykh i obshchestvennykh deyatelei (Dictionary of Pseudonyms of Russian Writers, Scientists and Public Figures), Moscow: Izd-vo Vsesoyuzn. knizhn. palaty, 1956, Vol. 1, 329 p.

13. Polynov B.B., Vremya kak faktor pochvoobrazovaniya (1916) (Time as a factor of soil formation (1916)), Selected works, Moscow: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 1956, pp. 41–48.

14. Polynov B.B., Krupenikov I.A., Krupenikov L.A., Vasilii Vasil'evich Dokuchaev (Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev), Moscow: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 1956, 258 p.

15. Ravikovich A.I., Charlz Laiel' (Charles Lyell), Moscow: Nauka, 1976, 200 p.

16. Serebrjakov N.S., Otnoshenie russkikh bogoslovov vtor. pol. XIX – nach. XX vv. k teorii evolyutsii Ch. Darvina (The attitude of Russian Theologians Deut. XIX-beginning. XX centuries. on the theory of evolution by Ch. Darwin), Gumanitarnoe prostranstvo, 2019, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 623–635.

17. Sibircev M.I., Opyt bibleisko-estestvennoi istorii ili opisatel'noe izlozhenie bibleiskoi geologii, botaniki i zoologii (Experience of Biblical-natural history or a descriptive account of Biblical geology, botany, and zoology), Saint-Petersburg: Strannik, 1867, 346 p.

18. Tikhomirov V.V., Geologiya v Akademii Nauk (ot Lomonosova do Karpinskogo) (Geology at the Academy of Sciences (from Lomonosov to Karpinsky)), Moscow: Nauka, 1979, 295 p.

19. Hellman Hal., Velikie protivostoyaniya v nauke. Desyat' samykh zakhvatyvayushchikh disputov (Great confrontations in science. Ten of the most exciting debates), Moscow: LLC “I.D. Williams”, 2018, 304 p.

20. Johnson D.L., Schaetzl R.J., Differing views of soil and pedogenesis by two masters: Darwin and Dokuchaev, Geoderma, 2015, Vol. 237–238, pp. 176–189.