



Produced by Sue Asscher





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.,

Author of "The Descent of Man," etc., etc.


Sixth London Edition, with all Additions and Corrections.

The 6th Edition is often considered the definitive edition.

Also see Project Gutenberg Etext #1228 for the First Edition.



"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."--Butler: "Analogy of Revealed Religion".

"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".




AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF OPINION ON THE ORIGIN OF
SPECIES,

PREVIOUSLY TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS WORK.

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, applies the same argument
to organisation; and adds (as translated 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 masticating
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 subject 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, 1815, in the Introduction to his "Hist. Nat. des
Animaux sans Vertebres". In these works he up holds the doctrine that
all species, including man, are descended from other species. He first
did the eminent service of arousing attention to the probability of
all change in the organic, as well as in the inorganic world, being the
result of law, and not of miraculous interposition. Lamarck seems
to have been chiefly led to his conclusion on the gradual change of
species, by the difficulty of distinguishing species and varieties,
by the almost perfect gradation of forms in certain groups, and by
the analogy of domestic productions. With respect to the means of
modification, he attributed something to the direct action of the
physical conditions of life, something to the crossing of already
existing forms, and much to use and disuse, that is, to the effects of
habit. To this latter agency he seems to attribute all the beautiful
adaptations in nature; such as the long neck of the giraffe for
browsing on the branches of trees. But he likewise believed in a law
of progressive development, and as all the forms of life thus tend to
progress, in order to account for the existence at the present day of
simple productions, he maintains that such forms are now spontaneously
generated. (I have taken the date of the first publication of Lamarck
from Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's ("Hist. Nat. Generale", tom. ii.
page 405, 1859) excellent history of opinion on this subject. In
this work a full account is given of Buffon's conclusions on the same
subject. It is curious how largely my grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin,
anticipated the views and erroneous grounds of opinion of Lamarck in
his "Zoonomia" (vol. i. pages 500-510), published in 1794. According to
Isid. Geoffroy there is no doubt that Goethe was an extreme partisan of
similar views, as shown in the introduction to a work written in 1794
and 1795, but not published till long afterward; he has pointedly
remarked ("Goethe als Naturforscher", von Dr. Karl Meding, s. 34) that
the future question for naturalists will be how, for instance, cattle
got their horns and not for what they are used. It is rather a singular
instance of the manner in which similar views arise at about the same
time, that Goethe in Germany, Dr. Darwin in England, and Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire (as we shall immediately see) in France, came to the same
conclusion on the origin of species, in the years 1794-5.)

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, as is stated in his "Life", written by his
son, suspected, as early as 1795, that what we call species are various
degenerations of the same type. It was not until 1828 that he published
his conviction that the same forms have not been perpetuated since
the origin of all things. Geoffroy seems to have relied chiefly on the
conditions of life, or the "monde ambiant" as the cause of change. He
was cautious in drawing conclusions, and did not believe that existing
species are now undergoing modification; and, as his son adds, "C'est
donc un probleme a reserver entierement a l'avenir, suppose meme que
l'avenir doive avoir prise sur lui."

In 1813 Dr. W.C. Wells read before the Royal Society "An Account of a
White Female, part of whose skin resembles that of a <DW64>"; but his
paper was not published until his famous "Two Essays upon Dew and Single
Vision" appeared in 1818. In this paper he distinctly recognises the
principle of natural selection, and this is the first recognition which
has been indicated; but he applies it only to the races of man, and to
certain characters alone. After remarking that <DW64>s and mulattoes
enjoy an immunity from certain tropical diseases, he observes, firstly,
that all animals tend to vary in some degree, and, secondly, that
agriculturists improve their domesticated animals by selection; and
then, he adds, but what is done in this latter case "by art, seems to
be done with equal efficacy, though more slowly, by nature, in the
formation of varieties of mankind, fitted for the country which they
inhabit. Of the accidental varieties of man, which would occur among
the first few and scattered inhabitants of the middle regions of Africa,
some one would be better fitted than others to bear the diseases of the
country. This race would consequently multiply, while the others would
decrease; not only from their in ability to sustain the attacks of
disease, but from their incapacity of contending with their more
vigorous neighbours. The colour of this vigorous race I take for
granted, from what has been already said, would be dark. But the same
disposition to form varieties still existing, a darker and a darker race
would in the course of time occur: and as the darkest would be the best
fitted for the climate, this would at length become the most prevalent,
if not the only race, in the particular country in which it had
originated." He then extends these same views to the white inhabitants
of colder climates. I am indebted to Mr. Rowley, of the United States,
for having called my attention, through Mr. Brace, to the above passage
of Dr. Wells' work.

The Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, afterward Dean of Manchester, in the
fourth volume of the "Horticultural Transactions", 1822, and in his
work on the "Amaryllidaceae" (1837, pages 19, 339), declares that
"horticultural experiments have established, beyond the possibility of
refutation, that botanical species are only a higher and