Origin of Species Variorum

→ slow action of the coast-waves. 1859 1860 1861 1866

agencies which we see still at work. 1869 1872

→ but that other species are real, that is, have been independently created. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

but that other species are real, that is, have been independently created. This seems to me a strange conclusion to arrive at. 1872

steps. The difficulty is the same as that felt by so many geologists, when Lyell first insisted that long lines of inland cliffs had been formed, and great valleys excavated, by the →slow action of the coast-waves. The mind cannot possibly grasp the full meaning of the term of

even ten

even a

a hundred

million years; it cannot add up and perceive the full effects of many slight variations, accumulated during an almost infinite number of generations.

Although I am fully convinced of the truth of the views given in this volume under the form of an abstract, I by no means expect to convince experienced naturalists whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts all viewed, during a long course of years, from a point of view directly opposite to mine. It is so easy to hide our ignorance under such expressions as the "plan of creation," "unity of design," &c., and to think that we give an explanation when we only

re-state

restate

a fact. Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of a certain number of facts will certainly reject

the

theory. A few naturalists, endowed with much flexibility of mind, and who have already begun to doubt

the immutability of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look with confidence to the

future,—

future,

to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality. Whoever is led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by conscientiously expressing his conviction; for

thus only

only thus

can the load of prejudice by which this subject is overwhelmed be removed.

Several eminent naturalists have of late published their belief that a multitude of reputed species in each genus are not real species; →but that other species are real, that is, have been independently created.