Darwin and Darwinism

Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on 12 February 1809. He was the fifth of six children of doctor Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. When he was 16 he began studying medicine but he renounced for lack of interest. Then his father sent him to the University of Cambridge to become an Anglican priest, but he didn’t want to become that. So he studied theology but also natural science. In 1831 he started a long journey of five years around the world as naturalist on the research ship “Beagle”. During this voyage he collected an enormous quantity of biological and geological observations. He found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species, noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type. His more famous observations were on the Galapagos Islands, archipelago to the west of South America, where he noted 13 different types of mockingbirds and different tortoise’s shape from island to island. Darwin came home in 1836 and in 1839 he married his rich cousin Emma Wedgwood: they went to live in a country’s residence called down house and they had 10 children. Darwin didn’t have economical problems and so he continued his studies: in 1859 he published “On The Origin of Species”. Charles Darwin died in Downe, England on 19 April 1882 and then he was buried in Westminster Abbey close to Isaac Newton.

In 1836, after his return to London from the voyage on the Beagle, Darwin started to analyze his observations. He was influenced by Malthus’s essay “On the principle of the population”: food and other factors controls the population, only the strongest being could survive. Darwin was also influenced by Lamarck’s theory of evolutionism: each species derived from another species, and there was the inheritance of characters. So there should be a gradual and slow evolution of species and the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection. He published “The Origin of Species” in 1859 and after that Darwin continued to write on botany, geology, and zoology until his death. Darwin explained that individuals of the same species differ for genetic characteristics: the characteristics that lead individuals to have more favourable features in certain environmental conditions are favoured. When individuals with certain characteristics inherited survive and reproduce while others with different hereditary characters are eliminated, the population will slowly change. After a long period of time natural selection leads to an accumulation of changes that differentiate groups of organisms. The same Darwin knew that his theory would have difficulties to be accepted and he published his work after a long time because he wanted to gather as much evidence to confirm his theory and because he was afraid to put himself against the creationist thought of the Victorian society.

Reactions due to the spread of Darwinism were immediate. Some intellectuals made satire on the Darwin’s theories. Some biologists supported that Darwin was not able to demonstrate experimentally his theories, while others criticized him saying that he could not explain the origin of the changes, or how they are transmitted to succeeding generations. The Anglican church attacked violently Darwin because he said materialism and indirectly denied the creation in six days by God. Last year, 126 years after his death, Anglican church apologized with the great scientist.

Lapi Matteo

CHARLES DICKENS

Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, in Landport, Portsmouth, in Hampshire, the second of eight children to John Dickens and his wife, Elizabeth Barrow. When he was five, the family moved to Chatham, Kent. In 1822, when he was ten, the family relocated to 16 Bayham Street, Camden Town, in London.
Just before his father's arrest, the 12-year-old Dickens had begun working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, near the present Charing Cross railway station. He earned six shillings a week pasting labels on jars of thick shoe polish.
In March 1836 he wrote his first novel “The Pickwick Papers” and with this work he became famous.
On 2 April 1836, he married Catherine Thomson Hogarth (1816 – 1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle. After a brief honeymoon in Chalk, Kent, they set up home in Bloomsbury. They had ten children.
Dickens made two trips to North America. In 1842, he travelled with his wife to the United States and Canada and in 1844-45 he went in Italy and he visited Genoa, Rome, Naples and Florence and, after this journey he wrote “Pictures from Italy 1844-45”
When he came back in England he worked in some journal, the most famous is Daily News.
When Dickens separated from his wife in 1858, divorce was almost unthinkable, particularly for someone as famous as he was. He put an announcement on journals and accused her of incapacity in take care the children and the family.
Georgina, Catherine's sister, helped him and we think that he falled in love with her.
An indication of his marital dissatisfaction may be seen when, in 1855, he went to meet his first love, Maria Beadnell. Maria was by this time married as well, but seemed to have fallen short of Dickens's romantic memory of her.
On 9 June 1865 he was involved in railway accident of Staplehurst where six wagon of train falled from the bridge, the only wagon that remained on the bridge was Dickens'. This event is called “The miracle of the wagon”.
Charles was on this train because he was coming back from France where he had met Ellen Ternan and with her he forgot his wife.
During 1869 he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild stroke.
He suffered another stroke on 8 June 1870, after a full day's work and five years after the Staplehurst crash, on 9 June 1870, he died at his home in Gad's Hill Place. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poet's corner.
The major part of his novels were published in a serial form, published in monthly installments, the most famous are “Oliver Twist”, that was published from 1837 to 1839, and “David Copperfield”, that was published from 1849 to 1850.
Many elements within the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of all of his novels. David Copperfield is considered also an industrial novel because it talks about the misery of the Industrial Revolution, when the exploitation in the factories was very common.
The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of the first person narrator, David Copperfield himself, and was the first Dickens novel to do so.
The principal theme is the disciplining of the hero's emotional and moral life.
Characters in the novel generally belong to one of three categories: Those who have disciplined hearts, those who lack disciplined hearts, or those who develop disciplined hearts over time.
Some of the characters of this novel come from the real life of Dickens, as Maria Beadnell (his first love).
On 18 December 1843 he published “A Christmas Carol”. From this book we have taken the major part of our Christmas' traditions.
Christmas tree, presents, Santa Claus, good feelings, greeting card, dinner, family, holiday, snow, carols, charity, sweet come from this book.
In honour of the author, one crater of Mercury was called Dickens by International Astronomic Union.

Camilla Capaccioli, Sara Poggiali

WORKHOUSES

Officially workhouses were defined as places that could support paupers and poor people that couldn’t sustain themselves in board and lodging; the first workhouses dates back to 1652 in Exeter. There is however some written evidence that workhouses existed before this date; records mention a workhouse in 1631 in Abingdon.
In 1601 Queen Elizabeth made a new law about poor; in this law she made no mention about workhouses. Nevertheless the act stated that “materials should be bought to provide work for the unemployed able-bodied". The act did propose the building of housing for the impotent poor, which included the elderly and chronically sick.
The system was funded through rates, a local tax. The workhouse system began to evolve in the 17th century as a way for parishes to decrease the cost to rate-payers. This form of indoor relief was a deterrent to the able-bodied who were required to work usually without pay. The Workhouse Test Act made it possible for parishes to deny outdoor relief and only provide indoor relief.
The workhouse was not necessarily regarded as a place of punishment and some workhouses gained the nickname "Pauper palaces" because of their pleasant conditions.
The passing of the Workhouse Test Act in 1723, gave parishes the option of denying out-relief and offering claimants only the workhouse.
Gilbert's Act of 1782 simplified and standardized the procedures for parishes to set up and run workhouses, either on their own, or by forming a group of parishes called a Gilbert Union. Under Gilbert's scheme, able-bodied adult paupers would not be admitted to the workhouse, but were to be maintained by their parish until work could be found for them. Although relatively few workhouses were set up under Gilbert's scheme, the practice of supplementing labourers' wages out of the poor rate did become widely established.
Inmates were free to enter and leave as they liked and would receive free food and accommodation. Workhouse life was deliberately made as harsh and degrading as possible so that only the truly destitute would apply. Attempts were also made to provide moral guidance, training and education to the poor. Workhouse conditions were governed by the Consolidated General Order, a formidable series of rules governing every aspect of workhouse life such as diet, dress, education and discipline. The workhouse system underwent several administrative reforms and was abolished on 1st April 1930, being replaced by other social legislation for the unemployed and retired.

LORENZO QUERCIOLI & MATTEO RICOTTINI

Queen Victoria

QUEEN VICTORIA (1819-1901)

Queen Victoria was born in 1819, daughter of Victoria Maria Luisa and Edoardo of the Hannover dinasty. But there are many doubs about this paternity: in fact one hypotesis is that she was the daughter of the secretary of her mother, Sir John Conroy. One probable proof that shows Conroy’s paternity is that neither Victoria nor her descendants were affected by the genetic illness of her grandfather, George III, that was ill of mental insanity. An other important thing to say abouut Victoria is that she was affected by Hemophlia, but no one of her predecessors presented that genetic desease.So there is a probability that this illness was introduced for the first time by Sir Conroy.

She became a very intelligent and clever woman; from her youth she studied many languages like Italian, Greek, Latin and French and when she get the throne she showed to know very well the story and the condition of her country. She was crowned as “Queen Victoria, for God glory, of the United Kingdom and Irlan, Defender of the faith”.The nation was identified with Queen: she was beloved by middle classes especially for her behaviour and moral values. During her reign, England had an unprecedent material progress, social reforms and imperial expansion; she reduced the working hours of women and children and she made a school reform thinking that “the ignorance will not let England enter gloriously in the XX century”. The expansion of the British Empire during the age of Queen Victoria happend all over the world: there were several wars both to protect English interests and also to gain new territories. England extended his power into Asia, for examle in India, Africa, like in Egipt and Kenia, Central America and Oceania. She never overruled parlament and became a mediatore above the two main party politics: Liberals and Conservatives.
During her reign there were many premiers and one of those was Lord Merlbourne, who was Queen lover for a short time before her marriage. In fact the sentimental life of Queen Victoria is a bit complicated.
When she was sixteen she met for the first time the man who will be her husband: her cousin Albert. They spent a happy life toghether until Albert’s death in 1861.
Their was a real love marriage and in just 11 years they had 9 sons, even if some of them died because of hemophilia. The inaspected death of Albert caused to Vittoria a period of depression: a legend tells that the Queen carried on sleeping with a clothes of his husband and every morning she ordinated to prepare the bathroom for Albert. She became istheric and unable to govern, so someone bring to the castle a man: John Brown, the ex adviser of Albert.
He was a rude and often drunk man, but between them grew up a sexual relationship: for this reason he was called the “stallion of the Queen”. During her story with Brown she felt in love with the premier Disraeli: he sent her erotic poems and she gave in back many gift. But her last love was a younger Indian boy, Abdul Karim; she discoverd that he was a spy so she could not spend her last time in India as she dreamed. The most strange event happend during her seolture: she was buried dressing her wedding dress, having Albert’s hat in one hand and in the other hand she had a picture and a ring of John Brown.

Queen Victoria’s reign was the longest in the history of England, from 1837 to 1901. She organized her Diamond Jubilee (60 years of reign) where all the premiers of English colonies took part.
The Queen died in 1901 when she was 82: she was ill and old, but she asked for a trip in the coach in Osborne; during the trip she close softly the eyes without open them again.
Nowdays there are many places named after Queen Victoria: the Australian state Vittoria, the capital of Seychelles (Port Victoria), the biggest african lake (Lake Victoria) and the biggest waterfalls of the word (Waterfalls Victoria).

Martina Sartoni & Irene Andreini

The great exhibition of the industry of all nations-1851

Introduction

When queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 started a long period, called “the Victorian Age” in which there were an unprecedented material progress, imperial expansion , political development social reforms with the consequent of a great period of stability and pace.
This features, in fact, were the basis for The development of second industrial revolution, typically dated between 1870 and 1914. It was a second phase of the Industrial Revolution, involving several developments within the chemical, electrical, , petroleum and steel industries. Other key developments during this period include the introduction of steam-driven steel ships, the development of the airplane, Mass production of consumer goods, the perfection of canning, mechanical refrigeration, and other food preservation techniques, and the invention of the telephone. So during this period there was one of the most important exhibition of the industry.

The great exhibition

The events that bring to the Great Exhibition of 1851 were prompted by the success of the French Industrial Exposition of 1844, so it was suggested to the English Government that it would be most advantageous to British industry to have a similar exhibition in London. So the exhibition was intended to raise the level of industrial design, to display production and acquire new and larger markets, to celebrate the modern industrial technology, but also to show at all the people the new invention, lots of this were unknown. It was open in the Crystal Place in Hyde Park for five months and fifteen days from may to October. Crystal Palace was built for these exhibition and it was a palace of glass and steal. Over six million visitors came to see some fourteen thousand exhibitors, of which Great Britain was the most important. At different of the French Exposition “the great exhibition” was very internationally in fact the object came from all the countries, also the colonialist country, like India, Australia, and China. Prince Albert, Victoria’s consort, was an enthusiastic promoter of a self-financing Exhibition of All Nations. He was one of the promoter of the exhibition, in fact he was the president of the Royal Commission for the exhibition and persuaded the government to make these exhibition. The palace was divided in sectors where the states could show own manufactures. There were well represented engineering, raw materials, and scientific instruments, military arms and models, chemicals, naval architecture, philosophical instruments, civil engineering, musical instruments, anatomical models, glass chandeliers, and animal and vegetable manufactures, trains with the new locomotive and the new sewing-machine. There were many electrical applications, although there was as yet little understanding of their potential except in the case of the electric telegraph. A large area was given over to machinery, some of it powered by the Exhibition's own steam engines. The exibitors were Africa, Canada, the West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, , Persia, Greece, Egypt, and Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and Italy, Prussian, Malta, Australia, New Zeeland, China, German and Switzerland. There were the Medieval Court, and the English Sculpture Court, the great British Furniture Court. India showed the own rich ornament. England showed the mineral products; the cotton fabric and carriage courts, leather, furs, minerals and machinery, cotton and woollen power-looms in motion; flax, silk, and lace, rope-making lathes, tools and minerals, marine engines, hydraulic presses, steam machinery.
France was very important, in fact showed its machinery, arms and instruments, and ornamental furniture, occupying two large sectors. Belgium, showed in particular carpets. Austria, showed her beautiful furniture courts; Russia, showed its vases, ornaments and clothes and hats, and at the end the United States, showed in particular the new agricultural machinery like steam-power tractor. In the palace was represented the history of arts and architecture from ancient Egypt to Renaissance. There were a sector where was made a circus and a theatre. After the Great exhibition the Crystal Palace was disassembled and was re-built in Sydeham where it was re-opened in 1854, but in 1936 was destroyed by a fire.
Today the Great Exhibition is became a symbol of the Victorian age.

FEDERICO FALORNI

Colonialism & Imperialism

Colonialism

The word “colonialism”derives from the latin verb “colère”, that means “to coltivate”. There are two types of colony: colony of people, in wich a land is conquered and inhabited by new people; colony of exploitation, in wich a land is conquered in order to overwork the population that inhabits it exploiting it trough mines and plantations. Imperialism originated from this kind of colony.
After 1880 the main european nations like England, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy started to conquer colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The development of the conquest started with the military partecipation of the nations and continued with industrial and trader affairs that abused colony's raw materials. The main reasons of colonial development in XIX century were four:
I.Economic: research of raw materials
II.politics: nationalism, all the nation must have been politically superior to the others
III.Cultural: superiority of the white man compared to black man
IV.Social: the large increase of population
All these components caused colonialism. In a large part of cases this trial was exasperated and aggressive because it was dominated only by colon's thirst for wealth and power.
Same nations, England on all, imposed on their colonies even their culture and lifestyles. This situation caused the making of new “indigenous” middle-class which later, such as in India and South Africa, will take in their hands the administration of their nations, and then the indipendence.
France and England were the first european nations that colonized Africa: France (that was already in possesion of Algery since 1830) extended its possesion in western and equatorial parts of the continent (Senegal, Madagascar, Tunisy), while England, that had substracted Egypt from Turkey for the control of Suez's Channel, entered upon of colonial system that from El Cairo arrived to Cape Town (Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa). Here England substracted lands of Orange and Transvaal from Boers due to mineral deposits. In the Africa's sharing were partecipating even Belgium (Congo), Italy (Somalia and Eritrea) and Germany (south-western Africa).
In Asia european colonial expansionism met with very ancient empires like the Chinese and the Japanese. England was the first to run the blockede of chinese harbours. The industrial and economic development, better ways of communications and the new commercial organizations leaded to the overmark of colonies' resourches. European nations gained benefits from this politics of exploitation, diffused besides their civilization, their culture, their system of government, religion and language.
Colonial expansionism had repercussions even on the european politics system because the relation of power between the nations was completely lacerated. That contributed to the outbreak of the I World War.
Imperialism

Imperialism started after the great geographic discoveries of XVI century.
The reasons of the imperialism were different:
I.Economic reasons: colonial lands were market-place for wares and a source of raw materials under cost
II.Politics reasons: the conquest of large colonies signified internetional prestige
III.Cultural reasons: in the society began to assert nationalism (prestige of one's own nation as the primary value) and racism
An event of great importance was the millenary chinese empire's end, between 1800 and 1900. The european irruption leaded bad effects. In the meanwhile, grew a new leading class that became rich with trade, while the people continued to live in misery. Before this situation, there were xenophobe and conservative reactions.


British Imperialism

England layed the founds of its own colonial empire in XVI century developing the navy, with East India Company that entered in challange with the spanish naval power.
The main theme of British imperialism was the assertion of determinate races and nation's superiority compared to other people of the Earth. As these last was unable of utilizing their country's wealthes, the “higher” nations claimed the right to take possession of it.
Writers and politicians applied these thesis to the english people and developed the theme of the civilization's mission that England had to carry out in the world.
England granted a large political and economical autonomy to the most ancient colonies (Canada, Australia and New Zeland).
The most important colonial estate of England was India. Firstly was only a stiff overwork (the indian cotton's manufacture was completely ruined by english competition). Later, after some rebellions, England modified its own way to govern India engaging itself to modernize India's economy and to create a middle-class of indian officers educated in order to collaborate in managing the country.
The most brutal aspect of english colonization was the war against China, in order to force it to accept the wicked opium's trade.
This drug was imported in China by english traders when changed it with chinese products. Opium beared in few years catastrophical consequences on people.
England answered to the chinese's protest with the so callaed Opium's War from 1839 to 1842.
The defeat of China leaded to the english installation in Hong Kong and to a series of unfair commercial dealings, imposed with strenght.

Marco Seminara & Leonardo Trapassi

Lucy

Lucy is a beauty and charming young woman. This character appears for the first time in “Dracula” after Jonathan’s story in Dracula’s castle. She is a good friend of Jonathan’s girlfriend Mina.
Lucy lives at Whitby with her old mother, she writes some letters to Mina, telling her about three men who try to win Lucy’s love: these three are the American Q. Morris, the respectable doctor Seward and Arthur Holmwood that will became his boyfriend.
Lucy asks Mina to came at Whitby, so the narration as epistolary exchange between the two friends stops, and stars the diary form with the two different points of view (Mina’s and Lucy’s diary).
Lucy falls in love with Arthur so she declares to the other two suitors her refusal. During this time in Whitby happens a strange fact: a ship, during a stormy night arrives from the sea with on board only the dead captain tied to the helm; someone says that something similar to a dog is jumped out to the ship.
A night Lucy, during one of her frequently crises of sleep-walking, goes out home and when Mina becomes aware of this she looks for her friend and she finds Lucy near the place where the ship was found. After that night Lucy is always tired and her colour is more pale. Mina decides to ask help to doctor Seward but also he doesn’t understand what is happening to Lucy, and calls Van Helsing his old professor from Amsterdam that immediately understands the problem and he tries to explain this to Seward, Mina, Arthur and Morris. Lucy was bitten by a vampire and soon she dies and becomes a vampire too.
Van Helsing is arrived too late and he had not to avoid the Lucy’s death. Now she is a vampire and they must kill her, because she every night goes out from her crypt to bits and hurts some children.
The difficult duty is entrusted to Arthur, the one that Lucy loved, Van Helsing explains that he must hit Lucy’s vampire with a stake of wood in the heart. So Arthur just grieved about the death of his lover now he must hit that body again and finally Lucy’s aim will be free.

Matteo Baggiani