Introducing Darwinism to Toronto's post-1887 Reconstituted Medical School

Abstract

Charles Darwin's scientific paradigm was largely welcomed in Canadian academic biology and medicine, while reaction among other faculty and lay-people ranged from interest to outrage. In 1874, Ramsay Wright, a Darwinian-era biologist from Edinburgh, was appointed to the University of Toronto's Chair of Natural History. Over his 38-year career Wright integrated the evolutionary perspective into medical and biology teaching without accentuating its controversial source. He also applied the emerging German experimental research model and laboratory technology. This study identifies five categories of scientific and personal influences upon Wright through archival research on biographical sources and his writings.