 As a young man , Cope read Charles Darwin 's Voyage of a Naturalist , which had little effect on him . The only comment about Darwin 's book recorded by Cope was that Darwin discussed " too much geology " from the account of his voyage . Due to his background in taxonomy and paleontology , Cope focused on evolution in terms of changing structure , rather than emphasizing geography and variation within populations as Darwin had . Over his lifetime , Cope 's views on evolution shifted . 
