Like other aspiring geologists in the 1830s, Darwin focused heavily on the rising and falling of the earth's crust. I use his time in the Andes to underscore the importance he placed on larger questions of vertical movement, which mountains helped to solidify in his mind. His most impressive ramblings occurred in 1835 on two high passes in the Andes. Prior to his upland journey, he was well prepared to see the gradual movement of the earth's crust, but his time (...) in the mountains honed his vertical vision. His actual travels up and over enabled him to think more clearly about rise and fall, and how corresponding geographies could link the past to the present. Mountains were instructive backdrops to his theorizing, partly because he traveled through them, but also because his time there, linked with other geographies, became a means to foster his thinking both spatially and temporally. He did not think about mountains, but with them and through them. He is a good example of the broader vertical consciousness that directed many sciences at this time. (shrink)

Este artículo testa la generalizada aceptación experta que detecta en _Journal of Researches _de Darwin una influencia estilístico-ideológica proveniente de las obras de Humboldt. Para ello, dado que las descripciones de la naturaleza Humboldt y Darwin deberían contener implícita la concepción de la naturaleza de cada autor, se han analizado comparativamente pasajes dedicados al análisis descriptivo del influjo del paso del tiempo sobre el paisaje geológico en _Journal _y en _Ansichten der Natur _de Humboldt. Se demuestra así que la descripción (...) de la percepción humboldtiana del tiempo deja entrever una concepción de la naturaleza romántico-naturalista que asume el tiempo y su influjo en la naturaleza como objeto estético. Por contra, a la descripción de la percepción darwiniana del tiempo subyace una concepción científico-naturalista que utiliza el concepto del tiempo como herramienta especulativa para el análisis científico del paisaje geológico. (shrink)