CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

and were produced only after a long process of evolution of carbon compounds, which produced first not living albuminoids and then living protoplasm which, in the first period of its life, fed on the antecedent stages of its own evolution. But at present we cannot form any conception of the process by which the first living beings could be evolved. Organic compounds have been produced by synthesis, and it is possible that in the surroundings where life first began albuminoids may have been

A76    Book:     Cunningham, Joseph Thomas. 1886. Charles Darwin, naturalist. The Round Table series. Edinburgh: William Brown.   Text   Image

inquiry: they all have a close relation to the question of organic evolution, but they do not describe investigations into the process of modification, into the causes of variation or of heredity. They enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, and bring into the field of mental vision new phenomena to be explained by the general theory of biology. Darwin acknowledged that his explanation of organic evolution was not exhaustive, but he devoted himself to the application of the theory he had adopted

A76    Book:     Cunningham, Joseph Thomas. 1886. Charles Darwin, naturalist. The Round Table series. Edinburgh: William Brown.   Text   Image

attained their present marvellously perfect adaptation to the conditions under which they live. But our comprehension of the evolution of organic forms will not be complete until it is a constituent part of the conception of universal evolution. That conception itself may be said in one sense to be [page] 2

CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

inquiry: they all have a close relation to· the question of organic evolution, but they do not describe investigations into the process of modification, into the causes of variation or of heredity. They enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, and bring into the field of mental vision new phenomena to be explained by the general theory of biology. Darwin acknowledged that his explanation of organic evolution was not exhaustive, but he devoted himself to the application of the theory he had adopted

CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

attained their present marvelously perfect adaptation to the conditions under which they live. But our comprehension of the evolution of organic forms will not be complete until it is a constituent part of the conception of universal evolution. That conception itself may be said in one sense to be [page]  2

A76    Book:     Cunningham, Joseph Thomas. 1886. Charles Darwin, naturalist. The Round Table series. Edinburgh: William Brown.   Text   Image

cannot be accounted for at all on any other hypothesis than that of descent with modification. The phenomena of geographical distribution are next reviewed, and the impossibility of accounting for them on any other hypothesis than that of evolution insisted upon. Finally, the classification of organisms, the facts of embryology and morphology are reviewed, and all shown to support the theory. The arguments drawn from these various departments of biological science are not essentially different

A76    Book:     Cunningham, Joseph Thomas. 1886. Charles Darwin, naturalist. The Round Table series. Edinburgh: William Brown.   Text   Image

anthropomorphic if it is found when completely analysed to rest upon a belief in the persistence of force which is derived from our own consciousness of muscular effort. But this is a general and philosophical anthropomorphism, while Darwin's is particular and empirical. When we have reached a real comprehension of organic evolution, we shall explain the modification of organisms by human cultivation as a particular instance of the general laws of modification and not vice-vers . In an

CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

portion of land gradually sinking below the sea. For ten years after his return to England, from 1836 to 1846, Darwin was almost entirely devoted to geology. Through these studies he became a firm believer in evolution as the true character of the history of the earth, and the immensity of time, which even small epochs of this history had occupied, was deeply impressed on his mind. We know from his own words that, in spite of his labours in geology, he had the problem of evolution in the world of

CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

the body of the parent. But our knowledge is not made clearer by a hypothesis of gemmules which build up the reproductive cells. It is certain that the cells are not built up by composition from smaller units, unless the supposed units are the molecules of the substances by which the reproductive cells are nourished. The Fertilization of Orchids preceded Animals and Plants under Domestication, although it has less immediate connection with the doctrine of evolution. To the general reader it is

CUL-DAR134.3    Printed:    1886   'Charles Darwin' [Edinburgh, Brown (Round Table Series no 5)]: 32pp   Text   Image

earth myriads or protoplasts sprang into existence, whenever and wherever the conditions of the formation of organized substance were present. It is probable that this has been incessantly going on, and that every day new protoplasts appear, struggle for existence, and serve as food for more highly organized rivals; but whether in evolution of the lower forms is or is not still going on, there can be no reluctance on the part or every believer in evolution to admit that when organized