| → still better adapted or improved; 1869 1872 |
| improved; 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → in every country 1869 1872 |
| everywhere 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → Nature, if I 1869 1872 |
| nature cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they 1859 |
| Nature cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they 1860 |
| Nature (if I 1861 1866 |
|
| → allowed to personify the natural preservation or survival of the fittest, cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they are 1869 1872 |
| allowed thus to personify the natural preservation of varying and favoured individuals during the struggle for existence) cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they are 1861 1866 |
| OMIT 1859 1860 |
|
| → as is implied by the fact of their selection. 1869 1872 |
| and the being is placed under well-suited conditions of life. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → be his results, 1869 1872 |
| his products be, 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → OMIT 1869 1872 |
| every variation, even 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
| → variations; rejecting those that are 1869 1872 |
| rejecting that which is 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
|
|
the native inhabitants are now so perfectly adapted to each other and to the physical conditions under which they live, that none of them could
be
→still better adapted or improved;
for in all countries, the natives have been so far conquered by naturalised productions, that they have allowed
to take firm possession of the land. And as foreigners have thus
→in every country
beaten some of the natives, we may safely conclude that the natives might have been modified with advantage, so as to have better resisted
intruders. |
|
| As man can
and certainly has
a great result by his methodical and unconscious means of selection, what may not
Man can act only on external and visible characters:
→Nature, if I
may be
→allowed to personify the natural preservation or survival of the fittest, cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they are
useful to any being. She can act on every internal organ, on every shade of constitutional difference, on the whole machinery of life. Man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends. Every selected character is fully exercised by
→as is implied by the fact of their selection. Man keeps the natives of many climates in the same country; he seldom exercises each selected character in some peculiar and fitting manner; he feeds a long and a short beaked pigeon on the same food; he does not exercise a long-backed or long-legged quadruped in any peculiar manner; he exposes sheep with long and short wool to the same climate. He does not allow the most vigorous males to struggle for the females. He does not rigidly destroy all inferior animals, but protects during each varying season, as far as lies in his power, all his productions. He often begins his selection by some half-monstrous form; or at least by some modification prominent enough to catch
or to be plainly useful to him. Under nature, the slightest
of structure or constitution may well turn the nicely-balanced scale in the struggle for life, and so be
How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will
→be his results,
compared with those accumulated by
during whole geological
Can we wonder, then, that
productions should be far "truer" in character than
productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher workmanship? |
|
| It may
said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world,
→OMIT
the
→variations; rejecting those that are
bad, preserving and adding up all that
|
