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The Origin
of the Species.
Charles Darwin.
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C
he Origin of the Species.
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About the author
Charles Robert Darwin,
F.R.S. (February 12, 1809 - April
19, 1882) was a revolutionary
English naturalist who laid the
foundation for both the modern
theory of evolution and the prin-
ciple of common descent by pro-
posing natural selection as a
mechanism. He published this
proposal in 1859 in the book The
Origin of Species, which remains
his most famous work. A world-
wide sea voyage aboard the HMS
Beagle and observations on the
Galapagos Islands in particular
provided inspiration and much of
the data on which he based his
theory.
becoming a parson. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, but
while at Cambridge, he came under the intellectual influence of scien-
tific minds such as William Whewell and John Stevens Henslow which
(combined with his interest in collecting beetles, which was encour-
aged by his cousin, William Darwin Fox) resulted in him pursuing
natural history.
After taking his degree with honours, Darwin stayed at Cam-
bridge for further studies in geology, where he proved particularly adept.
In the summer of 1831, Darwin worked with the great geologist Adam
Sedgwick mapping strata in Wales.
Darwin had planned to visit Madeira with some class-mates upon
graduation in 1831. These plans, however, fell through. After Darwin
finished his studies, Henslow recommended him for the position of
naturalist and gentleman's companion to Robert Fitzroy, the captain of
the HMS Beagle, which was departing on a five-year expedition to
chart the coastline of South America. His father objected to the expe-
dition, thinking it a waste of his son's time, but was eventually per-
suaded to let him go.
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on
the same day as Abraham Lincoln. He was the fifth of six children of
Robert and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood), and the grandson of
Erasmus Darwin, and of Josiah Wedgwood.
After finishing school, Darwin studied medicine in Edinburgh in
1825. His dislike for dissection and the brutality of surgery at the time
led him to leave the medical school in 1827. Whilst there, however, he
was influenced by the Lamarckian Robert Edmund Grant.
His father, unhappy that his younger son had not become a physi-
cian and fearing that he would become a "ne'er do well", enrolled him
at Christ's College, Cambridge, with the hopes of Charles' eventually
C
he Origin of the Species.
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Contents
Introduction.
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C
he Origin of the Species.
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1
The Origin
of the Species.
“But with regard to the material world, we can at least go
so far as this— we can perceive that events are brought about
not by insulated interpositions of Divine power, exerted in
each particular case, but by the establishment of general
laws.”—Whewell: “Bridgewater Treatise”.
“The only distinct meaning of the word ‘natural’ is
STATED, FIXED or SETTLED; since what is natural as
much requires and presupposes an intelligent agent to render
it so, i.e., to effect it continually or at stated times, as what is
supernatural or miraculous does to effect it for once.”—But-
ler: “Analogy of Revealed Religion”.
or, the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle
for Life.
“To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit
of sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain,
that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the
book of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works; divinity
or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an endless progress
or proficience in both.”—Bacon: “Advancement of Learning”.
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C
he Origin of the Species.
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3
An historical sketch.
of the progress of opinion on the origin of species, previously to
the publication of the first edition of this work.
applies the same argument to organisation; and adds (as trans-
lated by Mr. Clair Grece, who first pointed out the passage to
me), “So what hinders the different parts (of the body) from
having this merely accidental relation in nature? as the teeth,
for example, grow by necessity, the front ones sharp, adapted
for dividing, and the grinders flat, and serviceable for masti-
cating the food; since they were not made for the sake of this,
but it was the result of accident. And in like manner as to
other parts in which there appears to exist an adaptation to an
end. Wheresoever, therefore, all things together (that is all
the parts of one whole) happened like as if they were made
for the sake of something, these were preserved, having been
appropriately constituted by an internal spontaneity; and
whatsoever things were not thus constituted, perished and
still perish.” We here see the principle of natural selection
shadowed forth, but how little Aristotle fully comprehended
the principle, is shown by his remarks on the formation of the
teeth.), the first author who in modern times has treated it in
a scientific spirit was Buffon. But as his opinions fluctuated
greatly at different periods, and as he does not enter on the
causes or means of the transformation of species, I need not
here enter on details.
Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the sub-
ject excited much attention. This justly celebrated naturalist
first published his views in 1801; he much enlarged them in
1809 in his “Philosophie Zoologique”, and subsequently,
I will here give a brief sketch of the progress of opinion on
the Origin of Species. Until recently the great majority of
naturalists believed that species were immutable productions,
and had been separately created. This view has been ably
maintained by many authors. Some few naturalists, on the
other hand, have believed that species undergo modification,
and that the existing forms of life are the descendants by true
generation of pre existing forms. Passing over allusions to the
subject in the classical writers (Aristotle, in his “Physicae
Auscultationes” (lib.2, cap.8, s.2), after remarking that rain
does not fall in order to make the corn grow, any more than it
falls to spoil the farmer’s corn when threshed out of doors,
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