Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) was an English physician, natural philosopher, inventor and poet, the grandfather of Charles Darwin and of Francis Galton. He practiced medicine at Lichfield and Derby, refused an invitation to become physician to George III, and was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham with Boulton, Watt, Priestley and Wedgwood. His long poem The Botanic Garden set Linnaean botany in heroic couplets, his Zoonomia offered a theory of life and disease and an early account of the transmutation of species, and his posthumous Temple of Nature traced the progress of life from microscopic beginnings. He also designed carriages, a speaking machine and a copying device.