Origin of Species Variorum

→ OMIT 1869

the existence of 1861 1866

→ or the survival of the fittest, which implies only 1869

which only implies 1861

which implies only 1866

→ or individual differences of a favourable nature occasionally arise in a few species, and are then preserved. 1869

occasionally occurring in single species are under favourable conditions preserved. 1861

occasionally occur in single species, and that these when favourable are preserved; but this will occur only at long intervals of time after changes in the conditions of each country. 1866

↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1869 1872; present in 1861 1866

As Mr. Fawcett has well asked, what would be thought of a man who argued that because he could show that Mont Blanc and the other Alpine peaks had exactly the same height 3000 years ago as at present, consequently that these mountains had never been slowly upraised, and that the height of other mountains in other parts of the world had not recently been increased by slow degrees?

→ an agent, why 1869

why 1861 1866

→ OMIT 1866 1869

flower of the 1861

→ parts and organs have varied 1866 1869

organs have happened to vary 1861

→ the effects being often checked as they 1869

checked as it 1861 1866

→ be 1861 1869

on the whole be 1866

→ on the whole to 1869

to 1861 1866

→ to supply force for 1869

in 1861 1866

→ OMIT 1869

supply force to 1861 1866

exposed to great changes of climate and have migrated over great distances; whereas, in Egypt, during the last 3000 years, the conditions of life, as far as we know, have remained absolutely uniform. The fact of little or no modification having been effected since the glacial period would be of some avail against those who believe in →OMIT an innate and necessary law of development, but is powerless against the doctrine of natural

selection,

selection

→or the survival of the fittest, which implies only that variations →or individual differences of a favourable nature occasionally arise in a few species, and are then preserved. ↑

It has been objected, if natural selection be so

powerful,

powerful

→an agent, why has not this or that organ been

recently

....

modified and improved? Why has not the proboscis of the hive-bee been lengthened so as to reach the nectar

the →OMIT red-clover? Why has not the ostrich acquired the power of flight? But granting that these →parts and organs have varied in the right

direction,

direction—

granting that there has been time sufficient for the slow work of natural selection, →the effects being often checked as they will be by intercrossing and the tendency to reversion, who will pretend that he knows the

natural history

life-history

of any one organic being sufficiently well to say

whether

that

any particular change would →be →on the whole to its advantage? Can we feel sure that a long proboscis would not be a disadvantage to the hive-bee in sucking the innumerable small flowers which it frequents? Can we feel sure that a long proboscis would not, by

correlation

correlation,

of growth,

....

almost necessarily give increased size to other parts of the mouth, perhaps interfering with the delicate cell-constructing work? In the case of the

ostrich

ostrich,

moment's

moments

reflection will show

that

what

an enormous supply of food would be necessary →to supply force for this bird of the

desert,

desert

to →OMIT move its huge body through the air.