F373    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st ed., 1st issue.   Text   Image   PDF

turn to this subject in our chapter on Classification. It would be almost superfluous to adduce evidence in support of the above statement, that specific characters are more variable than generic; but I have repeatedly noticed in works on natural history, that when an author has remarked with surprise that some important organ or part, which is generally very constant throughout large groups of species, has differed considerably in closely-allied species, that it has, also, been variable in

F373    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st ed., 1st issue.   Text   Image   PDF

by saying that the several parts and organs in the different species of the class are homologous. The whole subject is included under the general name of Morphology. This is the most interesting department of natural history, and may be said to be its very soul. 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

F373    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st ed., 1st issue.   Text   Image   PDF

, changes in vegetation, 72. Heer, O., on plants of Madeira, 107. Helix pomatia, 397. Helosciadium, 359. Hemionus, striped, 163. Herbert, W., on struggle for existence, 62. ——, on sterility of hybrids, 249. Hermaphrodites crossing, 96. Heron eating seed, 387. Heron, Sir R., on peacocks, 89. Heusinger on white animals not poisoned by certain plants, 12. Hewitt, Mr., on sterility of first crosses, 264. Himalaya, glaciers of, 373. ——, plants of, 375. Hippeastrum, 250. Holly-trees, sexes of, 93

F376    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 2d ed., second issue.   Text   Image   PDF

the petals of the corolla into a tube. Hard parts seem to affect the form of adjoining soft parts; it is believed by some authors that the diversity in the shape of the pelvis in birds causes the remarkable diversity in the shape of their kidneys. Others believe that the shape of the pelvis in the human mother influences by pressure the shape of the head of the child. In snakes, according to Schlegel, the shape of the body and the manner of swallowing determine the position of several of the

F376    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 2d ed., second issue.   Text   Image   PDF

turn to this subject in our chapter on Classification. It would be almost superfluous to adduce evidence in support of the above statement, that specific characters are more variable than generic; but I have repeatedly noticed in works on natural history, that when an author has remarked with surprise that some important organ or part, which is generally very constant throughout large groups of species, has differed considerably in closely-allied species, that it has, also, been variable in

F376    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 2d ed., second issue.   Text   Image   PDF

the general name of Morphology. This is the most interesting department of natural history, and may be said to be its very soul. 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 similar bones, in the same relative positions? Geoffroy St. Hilaire has insisted strongly on the high importance of relative

F376    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 2d ed., second issue.   Text   Image   PDF

. Seedlings destroyed by insects, 67. Seeds, nutriment in, 77. ——, winged, 146. ——, power of resisting salt-water, 358. —— in crops and intestines of birds, 361. —— eaten by fish, 362, 387. —— in mud, 386. ——, hooked, on islands, 392. Selection of domestic products, 29. ——, principle not of recent origin, 33. ——, unconscious, 34. ——, natural, 80. ——, sexual, 87. ——, natural, circumstances favourable to, 102. Sexes, relations of, 87. Sexual characters variable, 156. —— selection, 87. Sheep, Merino

F381    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 3d ed. Seventh thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

colour with the female sex; the feathered feet and skin between the outer toes in pigeons, and the presence of more or less down on the young birds when first hatched, with the future colour of their plumage; or, again, the relation between the hair and teeth in the naked Turkish dog, though here probably homology comes into play? With respect to this latter case of correlation, I think it can hardly be accidental, that if we pick out the two orders of mammalia which are most abnormal in their dermal

F381    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 3d ed. Seventh thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

. Geoffroy St. Hilaire seems to entertain no doubt, that the more an organ normally differs in the different species of the same group, the more subject it is to individual anomalies. On the ordinary view of each species having been independently created, why should that part of the structure, which differs from the same part in other independently-created species of the same genus, be more variable than those parts which are closely alike in the several species? I do not see that any explanation can

F381    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 3d ed. Seventh thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

analogous conclusions. From a circular lately issued it appears that Dr. Freke, in 1851 ('Dublin Medical Press,' p. 322), propounded the doctrine that all organic beings have descended from one primordial form. His grounds of belief and treatment of the subject are wholly different from mine; but as Dr. Freke has now (1861) published his Essay on 'the Origin of Species by means of Organic Affinity,' the difficult attempt to give any idea of his views would be superfluous on my part. Mr. Herbert Spencer

F381    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 3d ed. Seventh thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

not causing variability, 83. Fur, thicker in cold climates, 150. ——, on naturalised plants in the United States, 121. Furze, 471. G. ——, on rarity of intermediate varieties, 194. ——, on Alpine plants, 396. Galapagos Archipelago, birds of, 421. ——, Dr. J. E., on striped mule, 183. ——, productions of, 429, 431. Grebe, 203. Galeopithecus, 199. Groups, aberrant, 461. Game, increase of, checked by vermin, 73 Grouse, colours of, 89. ——, red, a doubtful species, 51. Gärtner on sterility of hybrids, 269

F385    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1866. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 4th ed. 8th thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

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

F385    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1866. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 4th ed. 8th thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

attached to the bases of the prehensile antenn . Now the saving of a large and complex structure, when rendered superfluous by the parasitic habits of the Proteolepas, though effected by slow steps, would be a decided advantage to each successive individual of the species; for in the struggle for life to which every animal is exposed, each individual Proteolepas would have a better chance of supporting itself, by less nutriment being wasted in developing a structure now become useless. Thus

F385    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1866. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 4th ed. 8th thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

it as of subordinate value. This principle has been broadly confessed by some naturalists to be the true one; and by none more clearly than by that excellent botanist, Aug. St. Hilaire. If certain characters are always found correlated with others, though no apparent bond of connexion can be discovered between them, especial value is set on them. As in most groups of animals, important organs, such as those for propelling the blood, or for a rating it, or those for propagating the race, are

F385    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1866. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 4th ed. 8th thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

'Essays on the Unity of Worlds,' 1855. Nothing can be more striking than the manner in which he shows that the introduction of new species is a regular, not a casual phenomenon, or, as Sir John Herschel expresses it, a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process. The third volume of the 'Journal of the Linnean Society' contains papers, read July 1st, 1858, by Mr. Wallace and myself, in which, as stated in the introductory remarks to this volume, the theory of Natural Selection is

F385    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1866. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 4th ed. 8th thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

life, 9. of hybrids, 292. , laws of, 302. , causes of, 310. from unfavourable conditions, 317. of certain varieties, 326. not induced through natural selection, 310. St. Helena, productions of, 464. St. Hilaire, Aug., on classification, 493. St. John, Mr., on habits of cats, 103. Sting of bee, 242. Stocks, aboriginal, of domestic animals, 19. Strata, thickness of, in Britain, 344. Stripes on horses, 191. Structure, degrees of utility of, 237. Struggle for existence, 70. Succession, geological, 376

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

. , on homologous organs, 516. , Isidore, on variability of repeated parts, 184. , on correlation, in monstrosities, 12. , on correlation, 179. G NTHER. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Isidore, on variable parts being often monstrous, 190. Geographical distribution, 422. Geography, ancient, 576. Geology, future progress of, 576. , imperfection of the record, 345. Giraffe, tail of, 239. Glacial period, 442. , affecting the North and South, 450. Gmelin, on distribution, 443. Godwin-Austen, Mr., on the Malay

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

. So with plants, the seeds of the different varieties of the bean or maize differ more in size, than do the seeds of the distinct species in any one genus of the same two families. The same remark holds good in regard to the fruit of the several varieties of the plum, and still more so with the melon, as well as in endless other analogous cases. To sum up on the origin of our domestic races of animals and plants. Changed conditions of life are of the highest importance in causing variability

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

classifications. Although we are quite ignorant of the exciting cause of each modification, yet it seems probable from what we know of the relations of variability to changed conditions, that under certain conditions the one structure would have prevailed over the other, and thus might have been rendered almost or quite constant. From the very fact of such differences being unimportant for the welfare of the species, any slight deviations which did occur would not be augmented or accumulated through natural

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

of the organisation, as soon as it is rendered by changed habits of life superfluous, without by any means causing some other part to be largely developed in a corresponding degree. And, conversely, that natural selection may perfectly well succeed in largely developing any organ, without requiring as a necessary compensation the reduction of some adjoining part. Multiple, Rudimentary, and Lowly-organised Structures are Variable. It seems to be a rule, as remarked by Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

common to a great number of forms, and not common to others, they use it as one of high value; if common to some lesser number, they use it as of subordinate value. This principle has been broadly confessed by some naturalists to be the true one; and by none more clearly than by that excellent botanist, Aug. St. Hilaire. If certain characters are always found correlated with others, though no apparent bond of connection can be discovered between them, especial value is set on them. As in most groups

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

modification of species. The 'Philosophy of Creation' has been treated in a masterly manner by the Rev. Baden Powell, in his 'Essays on the Unity of Worlds,' 1855. Nothing can be more striking than the manner in which he shows that the introduction of new species is a regular, not a casual phenomenon, or, as Sir John Herschel expresses it, a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process. * From references in Bronn's 'Untersuchungen ber die Entwickelungs-Gesetze' it appears that the

F387    Book:     Darwin, C. R. 1869. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 5th ed. Tenth thousand.   Text   Image   PDF

into error. It is consolatory to me that others find Professor Owen's controversial writings as difficult to understand and to reconcile with each other, as I do. As far as the mere enunciation of the principle of natural selection is concerned, it is quite immaterial whether or not Professor Owen preceded me, for both of us, as shown in this historical sketch, were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells and Mr. Matthews. M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, in his Lectures delivered in 1850 (of which a R