RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. Everyone when he thinks of extermination, feels inclined to call in catastrophe. CUL-DAR205.9.113. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 9.2021. RN1
NOTE: The brown crayon number '22' indicates that this document was filed by Darwin in his portfolio for the subject of Palaeontology: extinction.
Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR205.9 contains notes on palaeontology and geology [regarding theory of evolution].
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Everyone when he thinks of extermination, feels inclined to call in catastrophe — when asked why one species is rare & another numerous he never dreams of this — yet all that we know of extermination takes place by becoming rare — we have not one argument on the other side now that caverns have ceased to be considered as filled — The [illeg] of this obvious we see not the steps in the former case — only total result — There cannot be doubt if we follow existing analogies if we had a collection every century made in many districts of a quarter continent of we should see those on road to extermination becoming rarer & ceasing in
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some spots to exist —
It would be well to show that total extermination is summation of successive local exterminations —
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 16 October, 2023