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founded the discovery of Evolution rest upon common, plain facts, which all may see and know. Mr. Wallace has given a summary of these facts (Essays on Natural Selection, p. 265): 1. The law of multiplication in geometrical progression. A simple instance of geometrical progression is thus represented 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., or 3, 9, 27, 81, etc. All organised beings multiply very rapidly. Man multiplies more slowly than most animals, yet he could double his numbers every fifteen years, and increase a
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to be much the more important; for nearly similar variations sometimes arise under, as far as we can judge, dissimilar conditions; and, on the other hand, dissimilar variations arise under conditions which appear to be nearly uniform. No words can emphasise this passage too strongly if we are to comprehend and apply the theory of Evolution. We must remember these two forces which no man can measure, either in their strength or variety. Darwin continues: Changed habits produce an inherited effect
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Hence, if we look at each species as descended from some unknown form, both the parent and all the transitional varieties will generally have been exterminated by the very process of the formation and perfection of the new form. We must grasp this and ponder over it, till we are familiar with the law, for, if it is not true, evolution by Natural Selection has no ground to stand upon. Still, by the demands of the theory, there must have been transitional forms that is, forms between the lower
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of arrangement in form, or mode of life, or method of reproduction, this group would present a difficulty fatal to the doctrine of Evolution. Again, if species were separately created, there must have been many manifestations of this creative energy, for many species have become extinct and new species have taken their places. But here we find another marvel, for the new species show a striking likeness to the extinct species. Are we to suppose that the power to create requires practice in
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their simplest forms it is sometimes impossible to tell whether these single cells are vegetable or animal. Had there been a design in nature to prevent proud Ignorance from wrapping itself in a cloak of self-conceit, I can imagine no surer way of doing this than that all life should so blend into one that it is impossible sometimes to tell a plant from an animal. These connections cry aloud for an answer to the man who denies that Evolution is the explanation of life as we see it. The same
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The Evolutionist can not only easily explain them, but they are exactly what he would expect. If different species have their origin in one and the same family group, he would expect that thousands of years after they had separated species widely differing from each other in their main characters would yet retain some marks of the old family from which they had sprung. Now, will any person who denies the truth of Evolution give us a clear explanation of the presence of these useless rudiments
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of a state of unity into one of disunity by separating itself into segments, passes again into unity by joining these segments together. Why this process of doing and undoing and doing again? If, originally, the spine in vertebrate animals consisted from head to tail of separate moveable segments, as it does still in fishes and some reptiles if, in the evolution of the higher vertebrates, certain of these moveable segments were rendered less moveable with respect to each other by the mechanical
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Evolution furnishes the only rational answer. We will take other facts which admit of no dispute, for they are independent of all opinion and all prejudice. I refer to the facts furnished by the growth of every animal before birth. The branch of science dealing with these facts is known as embryology. Eminent men of science in every civilised country have made careful inquiries on this subject. Every sort of animal, in all stages of its growth, has been examined, and an army of observers has
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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CHAPTER II. EVOLUTION 1844-1858. SINCE the publication of the Life and Letters, Mr. Huxley's obituary notice of Charles Darwin has appeared.1 This masterly paper is, in our opinion, the finest of the great series of Darwinian essays which we owe to Mr. Huxley. We would venture to recommend it to our readers as the best possible introduction to these pages. There is, however, one small point in which we differ from Mr. Huxley. In discussing the growth of Mr. Darwin's evolutionary views, Mr
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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History of the Mammalia, of which the first volume had appeared. It was published in The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Volume XIX., page 53. The following sentence is the only one which shows even a trace of evolution: whether we view classification as a mere contrivance to convey much information in a single word, or as something more than a memoria technica, and as connected with the laws of creation, we cannot doubt that where such important differences in the generative and cerebral
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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no anamorphism takes place in this group. There is no progression from a lower to a higher type, but merely a more or less complete evolution of one type. Huxley seems to use the term anamorphism in a sense differing from that of some writers. Thus in Jourdan's Dictionnaire des Termes Usités dans les Sciences Naturelles, 1834, it is defined as the production of an atypical form either by arrest or excess of development. [page 74
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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his paper.1 Letter 76. TO T.H. HUXLEY. The date of this letter is unfortunately doubtful, otherwise it would prove that at an early date he was acquainted with Erasmus Darwin's views on evolution, a fact which has not always been recognised. We can hardly doubt that it was written in 1859, for at this time Mr. Huxley was collecting facts about breeding for his lecture given at the Royal Institution on February 10th, 1860, on Species and Races and their Origin. See Life and Letters, II., page 281
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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to scrawl down half a dozen other notes, which may, or may not, be worthless to you. The three next letters refer to Huxley's lecture on Evolution, given at the Royal Institution on February 10th, 1860, of which the peroration is given in Life and Letters, II., page 282, together with some letters on the subject. Letter 83. TO T.H. HUXLEY. November 25th [1859]. I rejoice beyond measure at the lecture. I shall be at home in a fortnight, when I could send you splendid folio 1. See the Times
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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some unknown law of evolution by which species necessarily change; and if this be so, I cannot agree. This, however, is too large a question even for so unreasonably long a letter as this. Nevertheless, just to explain by mere valueless conjectures how I imagine the teeth of your elephants change, I should look at the change as indirectly resulting from changes in the form of the jaws, or from the development of tusks, or in the case of the primigenius even from correlation with the woolly
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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Journal will die, and I shall not cry: what a contrast with the old Natural History Review. Letter 222. TO J.D. HOOKER. Freshwater, Isle of Wight, July 28th [1868]. I am glad to hear that you are going2 to touch on the statement that the belief in Natural Selection is passing away. I do not suppose that even the Athenaeum would pretend that the belief in the common descent of species is passing away, and this is the more important point. This now almost universal belief in the evolution (somehow) of
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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me before. It strikes me as admirable, as it did on the first reading, though I differ in some few points. Such an address is worth its weight in gold, I should think, in making converts to our views. Lyell tells me that Bunbury has been wonderfully impressed with it, and he never before thought anything of our views on evolution. P.S. (2). I have just read, and like very much, your review of Schimper.1 Letter 233. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, November 19th [1869]. Thank you much for telling me all
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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CHAPTER V. EVOLUTION. 1870-1882. Letter 235. TO J. JENNER WEIR.1 Down, March 17th [1870]. It is my decided opinion that you ought to send an account to some scientific society, and I think to the Royal Society.2 I would communicate it if you so decide. You 1. Mr. John Jenner Weir (1822-94) came of a family of Scotch descent; in 1839 he entered the service of the Custom House, and during the final eleven years of his service, i.e. from 1874 to 1885, held the position of Accountant and
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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appointed Lecturer in the Medical School of St. Mary's Hospital. In the Genesis of Species, published in 1871, Mivart expressed his belief in the guiding action of Divine power as a factor in Evolution. 4. Chauncey Wright in the North American Review, Volume CXIII., reprinted by Darwin and published as a pamphlet (see Life and Letters, III., page 145). [page 333
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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chaotic, localities alone, with some few exceptions, accurate. To put this in order they were first arranged according to their adult characteristics. This proving unsatisfactory, I determined to test thoroughly the theory of evolution by following out the developmental history of each species and placing them within their formations, Middle or Upper Lias, Oolite or so, according to the extent to which they represented each other's characteristics. Thus an adult of simple structure being taken as
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F1548.1
Book:
Darwin, Francis & Seward, A. C. eds. 1903. More letters of Charles Darwin. A record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. London: John Murray. Volume 1
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point is less definitely stated by Hyatt in his letter of December 4th, 1872. I am thus perpetually led to look upon a series very much as upon an individual, and think that I have found that in many instances these afford parallel changes. See also Lamarck the Founder of Evolution, by A.S. Packard: New York, 1901. [page 343
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