Origin of Species Variorum

→ structure of the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ number of the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ and 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

as well as 1872

→ Inasmuch as this 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

As 1872

→ seems to be 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

is 1872

→ remark seems connected 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

statements accord 1872

→ low 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

which stand low 1872

→ in this case 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

here 1872

→ object had better 1859 1860 1861 1866

purpose had better 1869

purpose must 1872

→ shape. 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

shape. Natural selection, it should never be forgotten, can act on each part of each being, solely through and for its advantage. 1860

→ on each part of each being, 1859 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ advantage. 1859 1861 1866 1869

advantage of each being. 1872

→ it has been stated by some authors, and I believe with truth, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

as it is generally admitted, 1872

→ the general subject of rudimentary and aborted organs; 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

this subject; 1872

→ be owing to 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

result from 1872

It seems to be a rule, as remarked by Is. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, both

with

varieties and

species, that when any part or organ is repeated many times in the →structure of the same individual (as the vertebræ in snakes, and the stamens in polyandrous flowers) the number is variable; whereas the →number of the same part or organ, when it occurs in lesser numbers, is constant. The same author →and some botanists have further remarked that multiple parts are

extremely

also very

liable to

vary

variation

in structure. →Inasmuch as this "vegetative repetition," to use Prof.

Owens

Owen's

expression, →seems to be a sign of low

organisation,

organisation;

the foregoing →remark seems connected with the

common

very general

opinion of naturalists, that beings →low in the scale of nature are more variable than those which are higher. I presume that lowness →in this case means that the several parts of the organisation have been but little specialised for particular functions; and as long as the same part has to perform diversified work, we can perhaps see why it should remain variable, that is, why natural selection should

not have

have

preserved or rejected each little deviation of form

less

carefully

than

when the part

had

has

to serve for

some one

one

special

purpose.

purpose

~~alone.~~

alone.

In the same way that a knife which has to cut all sorts of things may be of almost any shape; whilst a tool for some particular →object had better be of some particular →shape. Natural selection, it should never be forgotten, can act →on each part of each being, solely through and for

the

its

→advantage.

Rudimentary parts, →it has been stated by some authors, and I believe with truth, are apt to be highly variable. We shall have to recur to →the general subject of rudimentary and aborted organs; and I will here only add that their variability seems to →be owing to their uselessness, and

consequently from

therefore to

natural selection having

had no

power to check deviations in their structure. Thus