On the Origin of Species
OCLC 352242 | | |
Preceded by | On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection | |
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Followed by | Fertilisation of Orchids | |
Text | On the Origin of Species at Wikisource |
Part of a series on |
Evolutionary biology |
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On the Origin of Species (or, more completely, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life)
Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream.
The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. Darwin was already highly regarded as a scientist, so his findings were taken seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion. The debate over the book contributed to the campaign by
Summary of Darwin's theory
Darwin's theory of evolution is based on key facts and the inferences drawn from them, which biologist Ernst Mayr summarised as follows:[6]
- Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived to reproduce, the population would grow (fact).
- Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size (fact).
- Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time (fact).
- A struggle for survival ensues (inference).
- Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another (fact).
- Much of this variation is heritable (fact).
- Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce and leave their heritable traits to future generations, which produces the process of natural selection (fact).
- This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species (inference).
Background
Developments before Darwin's theory
In later editions of the book, Darwin traced evolutionary ideas as far back as
The
Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin outlined a hypothesis of transmutation of species in the 1790s, and French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published a more developed theory in 1809. Both envisaged that spontaneous generation produced simple forms of life that progressively developed greater complexity, adapting to the environment by inheriting changes in adults caused by use or disuse. This process was later called Lamarckism. Lamarck thought there was an inherent progressive tendency driving organisms continuously towards greater complexity, in parallel but separate lineages with no extinction.[12] Geoffroy contended that embryonic development recapitulated transformations of organisms in past eras when the environment acted on embryos, and that animal structures were determined by a constant plan as demonstrated by homologies. Georges Cuvier strongly disputed such ideas, holding that unrelated, fixed species showed similarities that reflected a design for functional needs.[13] His palæontological work in the 1790s had established the reality of extinction, which he explained by local catastrophes, followed by repopulation of the affected areas by other species.[14]
In Britain,
Inception of Darwin's theory
Darwin went to
In December 1831, he joined the
In late September 1838, he started reading
Darwin now had the basic framework of his theory of natural selection, but he was fully occupied with his career as a geologist and held back from compiling it until his book on The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs was completed.[35][36] As he recalled in his autobiography, he had "at last got a theory by which to work", but it was only in June 1842 that he allowed himself "the satisfaction of writing a very brief abstract of my theory in pencil".[37]
Further development
Darwin continued to research and extensively revise his theory while focusing on his main work of publishing the scientific results of the Beagle voyage.[35] He tentatively wrote of his ideas to Lyell in January 1842;[38] then in June he roughed out a 35-page "Pencil Sketch" of his theory.[39] Darwin began correspondence about his theorising with the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in January 1844, and by July had rounded out his "sketch" into a 230-page "Essay", to be expanded with his research results and published if he died prematurely.[40]
In November 1844, the anonymously published
Hooker was persuaded to take away a copy of the "Essay" in January 1847, and eventually sent a page of notes giving Darwin much-needed feedback. Reminded of his lack of expertise in taxonomy, Darwin began an eight-year study of barnacles, becoming the leading expert on their classification. Using his theory, he discovered homologies showing that slightly changed body parts served different functions to meet new conditions, and he found an intermediate stage in the evolution of distinct sexes.[44][45]
Darwin's barnacle studies convinced him that variation arose constantly and not just in response to changed circumstances. In 1854, he completed the last part of his Beagle-related writing and began working full-time on evolution. He now realised that the branching pattern of evolutionary divergence was explained by natural selection working constantly to improve adaptation. His thinking changed from the view that species formed in isolated populations only, as on islands, to an emphasis on speciation without isolation; that is, he saw increasing specialisation within large stable populations as continuously exploiting new ecological niches. He conducted empirical research focusing on difficulties with his theory. He studied the developmental and anatomical differences between different breeds of many domestic animals, became actively involved in fancy pigeon breeding, and experimented (with the help of his young son Francis) on ways that plant seeds and animals might disperse across oceans to colonise distant islands. By 1856, his theory was much more sophisticated, with a mass of supporting evidence.[44][46]
Publication
Time taken to publish
In his autobiography, Darwin said he had "gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it".[47] On the first page of his 1859 book he noted that, having begun work on the topic in 1837, he had drawn up "some short notes" after five years, had enlarged these into a sketch in 1844, and "from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object."[48][49]
Various biographers have proposed that Darwin avoided or delayed making his ideas public for personal reasons. Reasons suggested have included fear of religious persecution or social disgrace if his views were revealed, and concern about upsetting his clergymen naturalist friends or his pious wife Emma.
A more recent study by science historian John van Wyhe has determined that the idea that Darwin delayed publication only dates back to the 1940s, and Darwin's contemporaries thought the time he took was reasonable. Darwin always finished one book before starting another. While he was researching, he told many people about his interest in transmutation without causing outrage. He firmly intended to publish, but it was not until September 1854 that he could work on it full-time. His 1846 estimate that writing his "big book" would take five years proved optimistic.[48]
Events leading to publication: "big book" manuscript
An 1855 paper on the "introduction" of species, written by Alfred Russel Wallace, claimed that patterns in the geographical distribution of living and fossil species could be explained if every new species always came into existence near an already existing, closely related species.[51] Charles Lyell recognised the implications of Wallace's paper and its possible connection to Darwin's work, although Darwin did not, and in a letter written on 1–2 May 1856 Lyell urged Darwin to publish his theory to establish priority. Darwin was torn between the desire to set out a full and convincing account and the pressure to quickly produce a short paper. He met Lyell, and in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker affirmed that he did not want to expose his ideas to review by an editor as would have been required to publish in an academic journal. He began a "sketch" account on 14 May 1856, and by July had decided to produce a full technical treatise on species as his "big book" on Natural Selection. His theory including the principle of divergence was complete by 5 September 1857 when he sent Asa Gray a brief but detailed abstract of his ideas.[52][53]
Joint publication of papers by Wallace and Darwin
Darwin was hard at work on the manuscript for his "big book" on
Abstract of Species book
Soon after the meeting, Darwin decided to write "an abstract of my whole work" in the form of one or more papers to be published by the Linnean Society, but was concerned about "how it can be made scientific for a Journal, without giving facts, which would be impossible." He asked Hooker how many pages would be available, but "If the Referees were to reject it as not strictly scientific I would, perhaps publish it as pamphlet."[59][60] He began his "abstract of Species book" on 20 July 1858, while on holiday at Sandown,[61] and wrote parts of it from memory, while sending the manuscripts to his friends for checking.[62]
By early October, he began to "expect my abstract will run into a small volume, which will have to be published separately."[63] Over the same period, he continued to collect information and write large fully detailed sections of the manuscript for his "big book" on Species, Natural Selection.[59]
Murray as publisher; choice of title
By mid-March 1859 Darwin's abstract had reached the stage where he was thinking of early publication; Lyell suggested the publisher John Murray, and met with him to find if he would be willing to publish. On 28 March Darwin wrote to Lyell asking about progress, and offering to give Murray assurances "that my Book is not more un-orthodox, than the subject makes inevitable." He enclosed a draft title sheet proposing An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through natural selection, with the year shown as "1859".[64][65]
Murray's response was favourable, and a very pleased Darwin told Lyell on 30 March that he would "send shortly a large bundle of M.S. but unfortunately I cannot for a week, as the three first chapters are in three copyists' hands". He bowed to Murray's objection to "abstract" in the title, though he felt it excused the lack of references, but wanted to keep "natural selection" which was "constantly used in all works on Breeding", and hoped "to retain it with Explanation, somewhat as thus",— Through Natural Selection or the preservation of favoured races.[65][66] On 31 March Darwin wrote to Murray in confirmation, and listed headings of the 12 chapters in progress: he had drafted all except "XII. Recapitulation & Conclusion".[67] Murray responded immediately with an agreement to publish the book on the same terms as he published Lyell, without even seeing the manuscript: he offered Darwin ⅔ of the profits.[68] Darwin promptly accepted with pleasure, insisting that Murray would be free to withdraw the offer if, having read the chapter manuscripts, he felt the book would not sell well[69] (eventually Murray paid £180 to Darwin for the first edition and by Darwin's death in 1882 the book was in its sixth edition, earning Darwin nearly £3000[70]).
On 5 April, Darwin sent Murray the first three chapters, and a proposal for the book's title.
With Murray's persuasion, the title was eventually agreed as On the Origin of Species, with the title page adding by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
Publication and subsequent editions
On the Origin of Species was first published on Thursday 24 November 1859, priced at fifteen
In January 1871,
The sixth edition was published by Murray on 19 February 1872 as The Origin of Species, with "On" dropped from the title. Darwin had told Murray of working men in
Publication outside Great Britain
In the United States, botanist Asa Gray, an American colleague of Darwin, negotiated with a Boston publisher for publication of an authorised American version, but learnt that two New York publishing firms were already planning to exploit the absence of international copyright to print Origin.[93] Darwin was delighted by the popularity of the book, and asked Gray to keep any profits.[94] Gray managed to negotiate a 5% royalty with Appleton's of New York,[95] who got their edition out in mid-January 1860, and the other two withdrew. In a May letter, Darwin mentioned a print run of 2,500 copies, but it is not clear if this referred to the first printing only, as there were four that year.[2][96]
The book was widely translated in Darwin's lifetime, but problems arose with translating concepts and metaphors, and some translations were biased by the translator's own agenda.[97] Darwin distributed presentation copies in France and Germany, hoping that suitable applicants would come forward, as translators were expected to make their own arrangements with a local publisher. He welcomed the distinguished elderly naturalist and geologist Heinrich Georg Bronn, but the German translation published in 1860 imposed Bronn's own ideas, adding controversial themes that Darwin had deliberately omitted. Bronn translated "favoured races" as "perfected races", and added essays on issues including the origin of life, as well as a final chapter on religious implications partly inspired by Bronn's adherence to Naturphilosophie.[98] In 1862, Bronn produced a second edition based on the third English edition and Darwin's suggested additions, but then died of a heart attack.[99] Darwin corresponded closely with Julius Victor Carus, who published an improved translation in 1867.[100] Darwin's attempts to find a translator in France fell through, and the translation by Clémence Royer published in 1862 added an introduction praising Darwin's ideas as an alternative to religious revelation and promoting ideas anticipating social Darwinism and eugenics, as well as numerous explanatory notes giving her own answers to doubts that Darwin expressed. Darwin corresponded with Royer about a second edition published in 1866 and a third in 1870, but he had difficulty getting her to remove her notes and was troubled by these editions.[99][101] He remained unsatisfied until a translation by Edmond Barbier was published in 1876.[2] A Dutch translation by Tiberius Cornelis Winkler was published in 1860.[102] By 1864, additional translations had appeared in Italian and Russian.[97] In Darwin's lifetime, Origin was published in Swedish in 1871,[103] Danish in 1872, Polish in 1873, Hungarian in 1873–1874, Spanish in 1877 and Serbian in 1878. By 1977, Origin had appeared in an additional 18 languages,[104] including Chinese by Ma Chün-wu who added non-Darwinian ideas; he published the preliminaries and chapters 1–5 in 1902–1904, and his complete translation in 1920.[105][106]
Content
Title pages and introduction
Page ii contains quotations by
WHEN on board HMS Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species—that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers.[111]
Darwin refers specifically to the distribution of the species
As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.[112]
Starting with the third edition, Darwin prefaced the introduction with a sketch of the historical development of evolutionary ideas.[113] In that sketch he acknowledged that Patrick Matthew had, unknown to Wallace or himself, anticipated the concept of natural selection in an appendix to a book published in 1831;[114] in the fourth edition he mentioned that William Charles Wells had done so as early as 1813.[115]
Variation under domestication and under nature
Chapter I covers
In Chapter II, Darwin specifies that the distinction between
Struggle for existence, natural selection, and divergence
In Chapter III, Darwin asks how varieties "which I have called incipient species" become distinct species, and in answer introduces the key concept he calls "
Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring ... I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to man's power of selection.[123]
He notes that both
Chapter IV details natural selection under the "infinitely complex and close-fitting ... mutual relations of all organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life".[126] Darwin takes as an example a country where a change in conditions led to extinction of some species, immigration of others and, where suitable variations occurred, descendants of some species became adapted to new conditions. He remarks that the artificial selection practised by animal breeders frequently produced sharp divergence in character between breeds, and suggests that natural selection might do the same, saying:
But how, it may be asked, can any analogous principle apply in nature? I believe it can and does apply most efficiently, from the simple circumstance that the more diversified the descendants from any one species become in structure, constitution, and habits, by so much will they be better enabled to seize on many and widely diversified places in the polity of nature, and so be enabled to increase in numbers.[127]
Historians have remarked that here Darwin anticipated the modern concept of an ecological niche.[128] He did not suggest that every favourable variation must be selected, nor that the favoured animals were better or higher, but merely more adapted to their surroundings.
Darwin proposes
Variation and heredity
In Darwin's time there was no agreed-upon model of heredity;[131] in Chapter I Darwin admitted, "The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown."[132] He accepted a version of the inheritance of acquired characteristics (which after Darwin's death came to be called Lamarckism), and Chapter V discusses what he called the effects of use and disuse; he wrote that he thought "there can be little doubt that use in our domestic animals strengthens and enlarges certain parts, and disuse diminishes them; and that such modifications are inherited", and that this also applied in nature.[133] Darwin stated that some changes that were commonly attributed to use and disuse, such as the loss of functional wings in some island-dwelling insects, might be produced by natural selection. In later editions of Origin, Darwin expanded the role attributed to the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Darwin also admitted ignorance of the source of inheritable variations, but speculated they might be produced by environmental factors.[134][135] However, one thing was clear: whatever the exact nature and causes of new variations, Darwin knew from observation and experiment that breeders were able to select such variations and produce huge differences in many generations of selection.[119] The observation that selection works in domestic animals is not destroyed by lack of understanding of the underlying hereditary mechanism.
Breeding of animals and plants showed related varieties varying in similar ways, or tending to revert to an ancestral form, and similar patterns of variation in distinct species were explained by Darwin as demonstrating
More detail was given in Darwin's 1868 book on The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, which tried to explain heredity through his hypothesis of pangenesis. Although Darwin had privately questioned blending inheritance, he struggled with the theoretical difficulty that novel individual variations would tend to blend into a population. However, inherited variation could be seen,[138] and Darwin's concept of selection working on a population with a range of small variations was workable.[139] It was not until the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s that a model of heredity became completely integrated with a model of variation.[140] This modern evolutionary synthesis had been dubbed Neo Darwinian Evolution because it encompasses Charles Darwin's theories of evolution with Gregor Mendel's theories of genetic inheritance.[141]
Difficulties for the theory
Chapter VI begins by saying the next three chapters will address possible objections to the theory, the first being that often no intermediate forms between closely related species are found, though the theory implies such forms must have existed. As Darwin noted, "Firstly, why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion, instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?"[142] Darwin attributed this to the competition between different forms, combined with the small number of individuals of intermediate forms, often leading to extinction of such forms.[143]
Another difficulty, related to the first one, is the absence or rarity of transitional varieties in time. Darwin commented that by the theory of natural selection "innumerable transitional forms must have existed," and wondered "why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?"[144] (For further discussion of these difficulties, see Speciation#Darwin's dilemma: Why do species exist? and Bernstein et al.[145] and Michod.[146])
The chapter then deals with whether natural selection could produce complex specialised structures, and the behaviours to use them, when it would be difficult to imagine how intermediate forms could be functional. Darwin said:
Secondly, is it possible that an animal having, for instance, the structure and habits of a bat, could have been formed by the modification of some animal with wholly different habits? Can we believe that natural selection could produce, on the one hand, organs of trifling importance, such as the tail of a giraffe, which serves as a fly-flapper, and, on the other hand, organs of such wonderful structure, as the eye, of which we hardly as yet fully understand the inimitable perfection?[147]
His answer was that in many cases animals exist with intermediate structures that are functional. He presented
In a section on "organs of little apparent importance", Darwin discusses the difficulty of explaining various seemingly trivial traits with no evident adaptive function, and outlines some possibilities such as correlation with useful features. He accepts that we "are profoundly ignorant of the causes producing slight and unimportant variations" which distinguish domesticated breeds of animals,[150] and human races. He suggests that sexual selection might explain these variations:[151][152]
I might have adduced for this same purpose the differences between the races of man, which are so strongly marked; I may add that some little light can apparently be thrown on the origin of these differences, chiefly through sexual selection of a particular kind, but without here entering on copious details my reasoning would appear frivolous.[153]
Chapter VII (of the first edition) addresses the evolution of instincts. His examples included two he had investigated experimentally: slave-making ants and the construction of hexagonal cells by honey bees. Darwin noted that some species of slave-making ants were more dependent on slaves than others, and he observed that many ant species will collect and store the pupae of other species as food. He thought it reasonable that species with an extreme dependency on slave workers had evolved in incremental steps. He suggested that bees that make hexagonal cells evolved in steps from bees that made round cells, under pressure from natural selection to economise wax. Darwin concluded:
Finally, it may not be a logical deduction, but to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, —ants making slaves, —the larvæ of ichneumonidæ feeding within the live bodies of caterpillars, —not as specially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.[154]
Chapter VIII addresses the idea that species had special characteristics that prevented hybrids from being fertile in order to preserve separately created species. Darwin said that, far from being constant, the difficulty in producing hybrids of related species, and the viability and fertility of the hybrids, varied greatly, especially among plants. Sometimes what were widely considered to be separate species produced fertile hybrid offspring freely, and in other cases what were considered to be mere varieties of the same species could only be crossed with difficulty. Darwin concluded: "Finally, then, the facts briefly given in this chapter do not seem to me opposed to, but even rather to support the view, that there is no fundamental distinction between species and varieties."[155]
In the sixth edition Darwin inserted a new chapter VII (renumbering the subsequent chapters) to respond to criticisms of earlier editions, including the objection that many features of organisms were not adaptive and could not have been produced by natural selection. He said some such features could have been by-products of adaptive changes to other features, and that often features seemed non-adaptive because their function was unknown, as shown by his book on
Geological record
Chapter IX deals with the fact that the
Chapter X examines whether patterns in the fossil record are better explained by common descent and branching evolution through natural selection, than by the individual creation of fixed species. Darwin expected species to change slowly, but not at
Geographic distribution
Chapter XI deals with evidence from biogeography, starting with the observation that differences in flora and fauna from separate regions cannot be explained by environmental differences alone; South America, Africa, and Australia all have regions with similar climates at similar latitudes, but those regions have very different plants and animals. The species found in one area of a continent are more closely allied with species found in other regions of that same continent than to species found on other continents. Darwin noted that barriers to migration played an important role in the differences between the species of different regions. The coastal sea life of the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Central America had almost no species in common even though the Isthmus of Panama was only a few miles wide. His explanation was a combination of migration and descent with modification. He went on to say: "On this principle of inheritance with modification, we can understand how it is that sections of genera, whole genera, and even families are confined to the same areas, as is so commonly and notoriously the case."[165] Darwin explained how a volcanic island formed a few hundred miles from a continent might be colonised by a few species from that continent. These species would become modified over time, but would still be related to species found on the continent, and Darwin observed that this was a common pattern. Darwin discussed ways that species could be dispersed across oceans to colonise islands, many of which he had investigated experimentally.[166]
Chapter XII continues the discussion of biogeography. After a brief discussion of freshwater species, it returns to oceanic islands and their peculiarities; for example on some islands roles played by mammals on continents were played by other animals such as flightless birds or reptiles. The summary of both chapters says:
... I think all the grand leading facts of geographical distribution are explicable on the theory of migration (generally of the more dominant forms of life), together with subsequent modification and the multiplication of new forms. We can thus understand the high importance of barriers, whether of land or water, which separate our several zoological and botanical provinces. We can thus understand the localisation of sub-genera, genera, and families; and how it is that under different latitudes, for instance in South America, the inhabitants of the plains and mountains, of the forests, marshes, and deserts, are in so mysterious a manner linked together by affinity, and are likewise linked to the extinct beings which formerly inhabited the same continent ... On these same principles, we can understand, as I have endeavoured to show, why oceanic islands should have few inhabitants, but of these a great number should be endemic or peculiar; ...[167]
Classification, morphology, embryology, rudimentary organs
Chapter XIII starts by observing that classification depends on species being grouped together in a Taxonomy, a multilevel system of groups and sub-groups based on varying degrees of resemblance. After discussing classification issues, Darwin concludes:
All the foregoing rules and aids and difficulties in classification are explained, if I do not greatly deceive myself, on the view that the natural system is founded on descent with modification; that the characters which naturalists consider as showing true affinity between any two or more species, are those which have been inherited from a common parent, and, in so far, all true classification is genealogical; that community of descent is the hidden bond which naturalists have been unconsciously seeking, ...[168]
Darwin discusses
Concluding remarks
The final chapter, "Recapitulation and Conclusion", reviews points from earlier chapters, and Darwin concludes by hoping that his theory might produce revolutionary changes in many fields of natural history.[171] He suggests that psychology will be put on a new foundation and implies the relevance of his theory to the first appearance of humanity with the sentence that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history."[31][172] Darwin ends with a passage that became well known and much quoted:
It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us ... Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.[173]
Darwin added the phrase "by the Creator" from the 1860 second edition onwards, so that the ultimate sentence begins "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one".[174]
Structure, style, and themes
Nature and structure of Darwin's argument
Darwin's aims were twofold: to show that species had not been separately created, and to show that natural selection had been the chief agent of change.[175] He knew that his readers were already familiar with the concept of transmutation of species from Vestiges, and his introduction ridicules that work as failing to provide a viable mechanism.[176] Therefore, the first four chapters lay out his case that selection in nature, caused by the struggle for existence, is analogous to the selection of variations under domestication, and that the accumulation of adaptive variations provides a scientifically testable mechanism for evolutionary speciation.[177][178]
Later chapters provide evidence that evolution has occurred, supporting the idea of branching, adaptive evolution without directly proving that selection is the mechanism. Darwin presents supporting facts drawn from many disciplines, showing that his theory could explain a myriad of observations from many fields of natural history that were inexplicable under the alternative concept that species had been individually created.[178][179][180] The structure of Darwin's argument showed the influence of John Herschel, whose philosophy of science maintained that a mechanism could be called a vera causa (true cause) if three things could be demonstrated: its existence in nature, its ability to produce the effects of interest, and its ability to explain a wide range of observations.[181] This reflected the influence of William Whewell's idea of a consilience of inductions, as explained in his work Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, where if you could argue that a proposed mechanism successfully explained various phenomena you could then use those arguments as evidence for that mechanism.[182]
Literary style
The Examiner review of 3 December 1859 commented, "Much of Mr. Darwin's volume is what ordinary readers would call 'tough reading;' that is, writing which to comprehend requires concentrated attention and some preparation for the task. All, however, is by no means of this description, and many parts of the book abound in information, easy to comprehend and both instructive and entertaining."[176][183]
While the book was readable enough to sell, its dryness ensured that it was seen as aimed at specialist scientists and could not be dismissed as mere journalism or imaginative fiction. Though Richard Owen did complain in the Quarterly Review that the style was too easy for a serious work of science.[184] Unlike the still-popular Vestiges, it avoided the narrative style of the historical novel and cosmological speculation, though the closing sentence clearly hinted at cosmic progression. Darwin had long been immersed in the literary forms and practices of specialist science, and made effective use of his skills in structuring arguments.[176] David Quammen has described the book as written in everyday language for a wide audience, but noted that Darwin's literary style was uneven: in some places he used convoluted sentences that are difficult to read, while in other places his writing was beautiful. Quammen advised that later editions were weakened by Darwin making concessions and adding details to address his critics, and recommended the first edition.[185] James T. Costa said that because the book was an abstract produced in haste in response to Wallace's essay, it was more approachable than the big book on natural selection Darwin had been working on, which would have been encumbered by scholarly footnotes and much more technical detail. He added that some parts of Origin are dense, but other parts are almost lyrical, and the case studies and observations are presented in a narrative style unusual in serious scientific books, which broadened its audience.[186]
Human evolution
From his early transmutation notebooks in the late 1830s onwards, Darwin considered human evolution as part of the natural processes he was investigating,[187] and rejected divine intervention.[188] In 1856, his "big book on species" titled Natural Selection was to include a "note on Man", but when Wallace enquired in December 1857, Darwin replied; "You ask whether I shall discuss 'man';—I think I shall avoid whole subject, as so surrounded with prejudices, though I fully admit that it is the highest & most interesting problem for the naturalist."[189][190] On 28 March 1859, with his manuscript for the book well under way, Darwin wrote to Lyell offering the suggested publisher John Murray assurances "That I do not discuss origin of man".[64][65]
In the final chapter of On the Origin of Species, "Recapitulation and Conclusion", Darwin briefly highlights the human implications of his theory:
"In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history."[191]
Discussing this in January 1860, Darwin assured Lyell that "by the sentence [Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history] I show that I believe man is in same predicament with other animals.[192] Many modern writers have seen this sentence as Darwin's only reference to humans in the book;[187] Janet Browne describes it as his only discussion there of human origins, while noting that the book makes other references to humanity.[193]
Some other statements in the book are quietly effective at pointing out the implication that humans are simply another species, evolving through the same processes and principles affecting other organisms. For example,
Darwin's early notebooks discussed how non-adaptive characteristics could be selected when animals or humans chose mates,
In On the Origin of Species, Chapter VI: "Difficulties on Theory", Darwin mentions this in the context of "slight and unimportant variations":[200]
I might have adduced for this same purpose the differences between the races of man, which are so strongly marked; I may add that some little light can apparently be thrown on the origin of these differences, chiefly through sexual selection of a particular kind, but without here entering on copious details my reasoning would appear frivolous."[200]
When Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex twelve years later, he said that he had not gone into detail on human evolution in the Origin as he thought that would "only add to the prejudices against my views". He had not completely avoided the topic:[201]
It seemed to me sufficient to indicate, in the first edition of my 'Origin of Species,' that by this work 'light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history;' and this implies that man must be included with other organic beings in any general conclusion respecting his manner of appearance on this earth.[201][202]
He also said that he had "merely alluded" in that book to sexual selection differentiating human races.[203]
Reception
The book aroused international interest
While Darwin had been somewhat coy about human origins, not identifying any explicit conclusion on the matter in his book, he had dropped enough hints about human's animal ancestry for the inference to be made,[210][211] and the first review claimed it made a creed of the "men from monkeys" idea from Vestiges.[212][213] Human evolution became central to the debate and was strongly argued by Huxley who featured it in his popular "working-men's lectures". Darwin did not publish his own views on this until 1871.[214][215]
The naturalism of natural selection conflicted with presumptions of purpose in nature and while this could be reconciled by theistic evolution, other mechanisms implying more progress or purpose were more acceptable. Herbert Spencer had already incorporated Lamarckism into his popular philosophy of progressive free market human society. He popularised the terms 'evolution' and 'survival of the fittest', and many thought Spencer was central to evolutionary thinking.[216]
Impact on the scientific community
Scientific readers were already aware of arguments that species changed through processes that were subject to
Evolution had less obvious applications to
The leading naturalist in Britain was the anatomist
Impact outside Great Britain
The German physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond converted to Darwinism after reading an English copy of On the Origin of Species in the spring of 1860. Du Bois-Reymond was a committed supporter, securing Darwin an honorary degree from the University of Breslau, teaching his theory to students at the University of Berlin, and defending his name to paying audiences across Germany and The Netherlands. Du Bois-Reymond's exposition resembled Darwin's: he endorsed natural selection, rejected the inheritance of acquired characters, remained silent on the origin of variation, and identified "the altruism of bees, the regeneration of tissue, the effects of exercise, and the inheritance of disadvantageous traits" as puzzles presented by the theory.[233]
Evolutionary ideas, although not natural selection, were accepted by other German biologists accustomed to ideas of
Asa Gray promoted and defended Origin against those American naturalists with an idealist approach, notably Louis Agassiz, who viewed every species as a distinct fixed unit in the mind of the Creator, classifying as species what others considered merely varieties.[235] Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt reconciled this view with evolutionism in a form of neo-Lamarckism involving recapitulation theory.[234]
French-speaking naturalists in several countries showed appreciation of the much-modified French translation by Clémence Royer, but Darwin's ideas had little impact in France, where any scientists supporting evolutionary ideas opted for a form of Lamarckism.[101] The intelligentsia in Russia had accepted the general phenomenon of evolution for several years before Darwin had published his theory, and scientists were quick to take it into account, although the Malthusian aspects were felt to be relatively unimportant. The political economy of struggle was criticised as a British stereotype by Karl Marx and by Leo Tolstoy, who had the character Levin in his novel Anna Karenina voice sharp criticism of the morality of Darwin's views.[97]
Challenges to natural selection
There were serious scientific objections to the process of
By the mid-1870s, most scientists accepted evolution, but relegated natural selection to a minor role as they believed evolution was purposeful and progressive. The range of evolutionary theories during "the eclipse of Darwinism" included forms of "saltationism" in which new species were thought to arise through "jumps" rather than gradual adaptation, forms of orthogenesis claiming that species had an inherent tendency to change in a particular direction, and forms of neo-Lamarckism in which inheritance of acquired characteristics led to progress. The minority view of August Weismann, that natural selection was the only mechanism, was called neo-Darwinism. It was thought that the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance invalidated Darwin's views.[238][239]
Impact on economic and political debates
While some, like Spencer, used analogy from natural selection as an argument against government intervention in the economy to benefit the poor, others, including Alfred Russel Wallace, argued that action was needed to correct social and economic inequities to level the playing field before natural selection could improve humanity further. Some political commentaries, including Walter Bagehot's Physics and Politics (1872), attempted to extend the idea of natural selection to competition between nations and between human races. Such ideas were incorporated into what was already an ongoing effort by some working in anthropology to provide scientific evidence for the superiority of Caucasians over non-white races and justify European imperialism. Historians write that most such political and economic commentators had only a superficial understanding of Darwin's scientific theory, and were as strongly influenced by other concepts about social progress and evolution, such as the Lamarckian ideas of Spencer and Haeckel, as they were by Darwin's work. Darwin objected to his ideas being used to justify military aggression and unethical business practices as he believed morality was part of fitness in humans, and he opposed polygenism, the idea that human races were fundamentally distinct and did not share a recent common ancestry.[240]
Religious attitudes
The book produced a wide range of religious responses at a time of changing ideas and increasing secularisation. The issues raised were complex and there was a large middle ground. Developments in geology meant that there was little opposition based on a literal reading of Genesis,[241] but defence of the argument from design and natural theology was central to debates over the book in the English-speaking world.[242][243]
Natural theology was not a unified doctrine, and while some such as Louis Agassiz were strongly opposed to the ideas in the book, others sought a reconciliation in which evolution was seen as purposeful.[241] In the Church of England, some liberal clergymen interpreted natural selection as an instrument of God's design, with the cleric Charles Kingsley seeing it as "just as noble a conception of Deity".[245][246] In the second edition of January 1860, Darwin quoted Kingsley as "a celebrated cleric", and added the phrase "by the Creator" to the closing sentence, which from then on read "life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one".[174] While some commentators have taken this as a concession to religion that Darwin later regretted,[84] Darwin's view at the time was of God creating life through the laws of nature,[247][248] and even in the first edition there are several references to "creation".[249]
Even though the book did not explicitly spell out Darwin's beliefs about
Modern influence
Various alternative evolutionary mechanisms favoured during "
Interest in Darwin's writings continues, and scholars have generated an extensive literature, the Darwin Industry, about his life and work. The text of Origin itself has been subject to much analysis including a variorum, detailing the changes made in every edition, first published in 1959,[264] and a concordance, an exhaustive external index published in 1981.[265] Worldwide commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and the bicentenary of Darwin's birth were scheduled for 2009.[266] They celebrated the ideas which "over the last 150 years have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it".[267]
In a survey conducted by a group of academic booksellers, publishers and librarians in advance of Academic Book Week in the United Kingdom, On the Origin of Species was voted the most influential academic book ever written.[268] It was hailed as "the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter" and "a book which has changed the way we think about everything".[269]
See also
- On the Origin of Species – full text at Wikisource of the first edition, 1859
- The Origin of Species – full text at Wikisource of the 6th edition, 1872
- Charles Darwin bibliography
- History of biology
- History of evolutionary thought
- History of speciation
- Modern evolutionary synthesis
- The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online
- evolutionary theory.
- Transmutation of species
References
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- ^ a b c d e Freeman 1977
- ^ a b c The book's full original title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. In the 1872 sixth edition, "On" was omitted, so the full title is The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. This edition is usually known as The Origin of Species. The 6th is Darwin's final edition; there were minor modifications in the text of certain subsequent issues. See Freeman, R. B. "The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist." In Van Wyhe, John, ed. Darwin Online: On the Origin of Species, 2002.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 477.
- ^ "Darwin Manuscripts (Digitised notes on Origin)". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
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- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 27–36, 39–42, 57–62, 67, 70, 77–80
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 84–90
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- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 111–114
- ^ Browne 1995, pp. 91, 129
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- ^ "Darwin in letters, 1856–1857: the 'Big Book'". Darwin Correspondence Project. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
"Letter 1870 – Darwin, C. R., to Hooker, J.D., 9 May (1856)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 21 March 2016. - ^ Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 2285—Darwin to Lyell (June 1858), archived from the original on 28 August 2007, retrieved 15 March 2008
- ^ Larson 2004, pp. 74–75
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- ^ Bowler 2013, pp. 61–63
- ^ a b c "Darwin in letters, 1858–1859: Origin". Darwin Correspondence Project. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2303 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 5 July (1858)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
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- ^ "Letter 2432 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 15 March (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
It [geographical distribution] was nearly all written from memory
- ^ "Letter 2339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 12 (October 1858)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
See letter to T. C. Eyton, 4 October (1858), in which CD first mentioned the possibility that his 'abstract' would form a small volume.
- ^ a b "Letter 2437 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 28 March (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
Would you advise me to tell Murray that my Book is not more un-orthodox, than the subject makes inevitable. That I do not discuss origin of man.— That I do not bring in any discussions about Genesis &c, & only give facts, & such conclusions from them, as seem to me fair.
Darwin, C. R. proposed title page for Origin of species draft. (1859) APS-B-D25.L[.38] Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker, edited by John van Wyhe - ^ a b c Desmond & Moore 2009, p. 306.
- ^ "Letter 2439 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, Charles, 30 March (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2441 — Darwin, C. R. to Murray, John (b), 31 March (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2443 — Murray, John (b) to Darwin, C. R., 1 April 1859". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2445 — Darwin, C. R. to Murray, John (b), 2 April (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Charles Darwin and his publisher". Darwin Correspondence Project. 2010. Archived from the original on 7 October 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
- ^ "Letter 2447 — Darwin, C. R. to Murray, John (b), 5 April (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ Darwin, C. R. [early draft title of Origin] On the mutability of species [& other notes] CUL-DAR205.1.70 Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker, edited by John van Wyhe
- ^ "Letter 2457A — Elwin, Whitwell, to Murray, John (b), 3 May 1859". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2459 — Darwin, C. R. to Murray, John (b), 6 May (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Letter 2448 — Darwin, C. R. to Murray, John (b), 10 September (1859)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ "Defining Evolution". National Center for Science Education. 24 August 2000. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ISBN 0-87220-458-8.
The full title [of the book] employs the term 'race' only in the broad biological use of the word, which refers to varieties throughout organic life; however, speculation about the implications of his views specifically for the question of the human races began almost as soon as the book was published.
- ^ Sober 2011, p. 45, Quote: "There nonetheless are a few cases in which Darwin does discuss selection processes in which groups are the units, and these will be the focus of the present chapter. But even here it does not matter whether the groups are from different 'races' or from the same race. It is nests of honeybees that compete with each other, and human tribes that compete with other human tribes. For Darwin, the question of group selection had nothing special to do with 'race.' Still, writing in the heyday of empire, Darwin saw European nations outcompeting the nations, kingdoms, and tribes that occupy the rest of the globe. In this one very salient example, Darwin did see races struggling with each other. In any event, the word race in Darwin's subtitle needs to be understood very broadly; it encompasses competition among individuals, competition among groups in the same 'race,' and competition from groups from different 'races.' This is a much broader meaning than the word 'race' tends to have today."
- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 15
- ^ the three instances of the phrase "races of man" are found on Darwin 1859, pp. 199, 382, 422
- ISBN 978-0-801-83741-8.
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- ^ "Science ahead of its time: Secret of 157-year old Darwin manuscript". National University of Singapore News. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
Darwin, C. R. (October 1865). "Signed autograph paragraph from Origin of species 3d ed. for Hermann Kindt". Darwin Online. Retrieved 25 November 2022.Introduction by John van Wyhe
- ^ "Charles Darwin: Autographed document could fetch record price". BBC News. 25 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life." Spencer 1864, pp. 444–445
- ^ a b Mivart 1871
- ^ Browne 2002, p. 59
- The Descent of Man in 1871, p. 2onwards.
- ^ a b Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 577, 582, 590, 592–593
- ^ Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 2592—Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 21 December (1859), archived from the original on 13 February 2009, retrieved 6 December 2008
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- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 492
- ^ a b c Browne 2002, pp. 256–259
- ^ a b Browne 2002, pp. 140–142
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- ^ Ch. Darwin, Het ontstaan der soorten van dieren en planten door middel van de natuurkeus of het bewaard blijven van bevoorregte rassen in de strijd des levens, transl. by T.C. Winkler (Haarlem 1860) Source: Teyler, Winkler, Darwin Archived 2 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine Lecture by Marijn van Hoorn Archived 6 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine MA at the Congress of the European Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Group, Prague, 23 April 2009
- ^ "Freeman Bibliographic Database".
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Darwin 1859, pp. 197–199, Quote: "We are profoundly ignorant of the causes producing slight and unimportant variations; and we are immediately made conscious of this by reflecting on the differences in the breeds of our domesticated animals in different countries" - ^ Darwin & Costa 2009, p. 199
Darwin 1874, p. vi, Quote: "… I gave, however, a tolerably clear sketch of this principle in the first edition of the 'Origin of Species,' and I there stated that it was applicable to man." - ^ Desmond & Moore 2009, p. 310.
- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 199
- ^ Darwin 1859, pp. 243–244
- ^ Darwin 1859, pp. 245–278
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- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 488
Darwin 1871, p. 1, Quote: "… this implies that man must be included with other organic beings in any general conclusion respecting his manner of appearance on this earth." - ^ Darwin 1859, pp. 489–490
- ^ a b Darwin 1860, p. 490
- ^ Darwin 1871, p. 152
- ^ a b c Secord 2000, pp. 508–511
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- ^ a b Bowler 2003, pp. 180–181
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- ^ ISBN 1-55111-337-6.
Following Darwin's lead, most commentators cite this one passage as the only reference to man in the Origin, but they thus overlook, as did Darwin himself, two sentences that are, in their own quiet way, even more effective.
- ^ Browne 2007, p. 42, quoting Darwin, C. R. Notebook C (February to July 1838) pp. 196–197 "Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy the interposition of a deity, more humble & I believe truer to consider him created from animals."
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 412–441, 457–458, 462–463
Desmond & Moore 2009, pp. 283–284, 290–292, 295 - ^ "Letter 2192 – Darwin, C. R. to Wallace, A. R., 22 December 1857". Darwin Correspondence Project.
- ^ Darwin 1871, p. 488
- ^ "Letter 2647 – Darwin, C. R. to Charles Lyell, 10 January (1860)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
- ^ For example, Browne 2002, p. 60, "In this book, he was completely silent on the subject of human origins, although he did refer in several places to mankind as an example of biological details. The only words he allowed himself—and these out of a sense of duty that he must somewhere refer to human beings–were gnomic in their brevity. 'Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history'."
- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 64, Quote: "There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, that if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five years, and at this rate, in a few thousand years, there would literally not be standing room for his progeny."
- ^ van Wyhe 2008
Darwin 1859, p. 434, Quote: "What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern, and should include the same bones, in the same relative positions?"
Darwin 1859, p. 479, Quote: "The framework of bones being the same in the hand of a man, wing of a bat, fin of the porpoise, and leg of the horse … at once explain themselves on the theory of descent with slow and slight successive modifications." - ^ Darwin, C. R. Notebook C, CUL-DAR122.- Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker. (Darwin Online), notes from de Beer, Gavin ed. 1960. Darwin's notebooks on transmutation of species. Part II. Second notebook [C] (February to July 1838). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Historical Series 2, No. 3 (May): pp. 79
- ^ Desmond & Moore 2009, pp. 139–141, quotes "our acquiring the instinct one notion of beauty & negroes another" from Darwin, C. R. Notebook M : [Metaphysics on morals and speculations on expression (1838)]. CUL-DAR125.- Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker, edited by Paul Barrett. (Darwin Online, p. 32
- ^ Richards 2017, pp. 315, 323–324. Darwin concluded his notes on the Races of Men: 'Fuegians & Brazil, climate & habits of life so different good instance of how fixed races are, in face of very different external conditions. The slowness of any changes explained by constitutions selection & sexual selection'.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 2009, pp. 290–291 Stauffer, R. C. ed. 1975. Charles Darwin's Natural Selection; being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 213 Chapter Vi On Natural Selection first draft, completed on 31 March 1857, [The outline of this original form of the chapter appears in the original table of contents] "63 [pencil addition] Theory applied to Races of Man."
- ^ a b Darwin 1859, pp. 197–199
- ^ a b Darwin 1871, p. 1, Quote: "During many years I collected notes on the origin or descent of man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views."
- ^ See also Darwin 1958, pp. 130–131, Quote: "My Descent of Man was published in Feb. 1871. As soon as I had become, in the year 1837 or 1838, convinced that species were mutable productions, I could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law. Accordingly I collected notes on the subject for my own satisfaction, and not for a long time with any intention of publishing. Although in the Origin of Species, the derivation of any particular species is never discussed, yet I thought it best, in order that no honourable man should accuse me of concealing my views, to add that by the work in question 'light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history.' It would have been useless and injurious to the success of the book to have paraded without giving any evidence my conviction with respect to his origin."
- ^ Darwin 1871, pp. 4–5, Quote: "During many years it has seemed to me highly probable that sexual selection has played an important part in differentiating the races of man; but in my 'Origin of Species' (first edition, p. 199) I contented myself by merely alluding to this belief."
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 376–379
- ^ a b van Wyhe 2008, pp. 48–49
- ^ a b Bowler 2003, pp. 177–180
- ^ "Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics". 2 June 2015.
- ^ Wilberforce, Samuel. "[review of] On the origin of species, by means of natural selection; or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin, M. A., F.R.S. London, 1860. Quarterly Review 108: 225–264". darwin-online.org.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 102–103
- ^ Darwin & Costa 2009, p. 488
- ^ a b Radick 2013, pp. 174–175
Huxley & Kettlewell 1965, p. 88 - ^ Browne 2002, p. 87
- ^ Leifchild 1859
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 207–209
- ^ Huxley 1863
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 203–207, 220–222
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 179–180, 197–198
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 183–184, 189
- ^ Bowler 2003, p. 208
- ^ a b Bowler 2003, pp. 184–185
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 105–106
- ^ Huxley 1860
- ^ Bowler 2003, p. 184
- ^ Larson 2004, p. 108
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 124–126
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 490–491, 545–547
- ^ Secord 2000, p. 512
- ^ Lucas 1979
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 464–465, 493–499
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 160–161
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 208–211, 214–216
- ^ a b Bowler 2003, pp. 169–170, 190–192
- ISBN 9780262019507.
- ^ a b Bowler 2003, pp. 186–187, 237, 241
- ^ Dupree, pp. 216–232
- ^ Kragh 2016, pp. 11–12
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 198–200, 234–236
- ^ Bowler 2003, p. 225
- ^ a b Quammen 2006, pp. 205–234
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 294–307
- ^ a b c d Bowler 2003, pp. 202–208
- ^ Dewey 1994, p. 26
- ^ Larson 2004, pp. 89–92
- ^ Bowler 2003, p. 139
- ^ a b Darwin and design: historical essay, Darwin Correspondence Project, 2007, archived from the original on 21 October 2014, retrieved 17 September 2008
- ^ Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 2534—Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, C. R., 18 November 1859, archived from the original on 29 June 2009, retrieved 11 April 2009
- ^ Quammen 2006, p. 119
- ^ Moore 2006
- ^ Barlow 1963, p. 207
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 487–488, 500
- ^ Dewey 1994, p. 27
- ^ Miles 2001
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Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-87113-953-5
- Malthus, Thomas Robert (1826), An Essay on the Principle of Population: A View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; with an Inquiry into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which It Occasions, vol. 1 (6th ed.), London: John Murray, retrieved 13 November 2017 (Vol. 2)
- Reznick, David N. (2009), The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-12978-5
- ISBN 0-7637-0365-6
- van Hoorn, Marijn (2009), Teyler, Winkler, Darwin (Lecture given at the Congress of the European Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Group, Prague, 23 April 2009), Teyler Net (Weblog of the Teylers Museum, Haarlem), archived from the original on 2 December 2011, retrieved 27 April 2010
- Pechenik, Jan A. (2023), The Readable Darwin: The Origin of Species Edited for Modern Readers (2 ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19757-526-0
Contemporary reviews
- Carpenter, William Benjamin (1859), "Darwin on the Origin of Species", National Review, vol. 10, no. December 1859, pp. 188–214. Published anonymously.
- Athenaeum(1710: 4 August 1860): 161. Extract from Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (1860): 411–415.
- Huxley, Thomas Henry (1859), "Time and Life: Mr Darwin's Origin of Species", Macmillan's Magazine, 1: 142–148.
- Huxley, Thomas Henry (1859), "Darwin on the Origin of Species", The Times (26 December 1859): 8–9. Published anonymously.
- Jenkin, Fleeming (1867), "(Review of) The Origin of Species", North British Review, 46 (June 1867): 277–318. Published anonymously.
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- Owen, Richard (1860), "Review of Darwin's Origin of Species", Edinburgh Review, 3 (April 1860): 487–532. Published anonymously.
- Wilberforce, Samuel (1860), "(Review of) On the Origin of Species, by means of Natural Selection; or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life", Quarterly Review, 108 (215: July 1860): 225–264. Published anonymously.
- For further reviews, see Darwin Online: Reviews & Responses to Darwin, Darwin Online, 10 March 2009, retrieved 18 June 2009
External links
- The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online:
- Table of contents, bibliography of On the Origin of Species – links to text and images of all six British editions of The Origin of Species, the 6th edition with additions and corrections (final text), the first American edition, and translations into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish
- Online Variorum, showing every change between the six British editions
- On the Origin of Species at Standard Ebooks
- On the Origin of Species eBook provided by Project Gutenberg
- On the Origin of Species public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- On the Origin of Species on In Our Time at the BBC
- On the Origin of Species, full text with embedded audio
- A collection of Victorian Science Texts
- Darwin Correspondence Project Home Page, University Library, Cambridge
- View online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library On the Origin of Species 1860 American edition, D Appleton and Company, New York, with front insert by H. E. Barker, Lincolniana
- Darwin's notes on the creation of On the Origin of Species digitised in Cambridge Digital Library