The Foundations of the Origin of Species Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844

For convenience sake I shall divide this chapter into three sections{340}. In the first place I shall endeavour to state the laws of the distribution of existing beings, as far...

{104} In the original MS. the heading is: Part III.; but Part II. is clearly intended; for details see the Introduction. I have not been able to discover where § IV. ends and §...

Most organic beings in a state of nature vary exceedingly little{218}: I put out of the case variations (as stunted plants &c., and sea-shells in brackish water{219}) which are...

I will now recapitulate the course of this work, more fully with respect to the former parts, and briefly the latter. In the first chapter we have seen that most, if not all, or...

The most favourable conditions for variation seem to be when organic beings are bred for many generations under domestication{186}: one may infer this from the simple fact of th...

An individual organism placed under new conditions [often] sometimes varies in a small degree and in very trifling respects such as stature, fatness, sometimes colour, health, h...

ON THE VARIATION OF INSTINCTS AND OTHER MENTAL ATTRIBUTES UNDER DOMESTICATION AND IN STATE OF NATURE; ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN THIS SUBJECT; AND ON ANALOGOUS DIFFICULTIES WITH RES...

{425} Ch. XIII of the _Origin_, Ed. i., Ch. XIV Ed. vi. begins with a similar statement. In the present Essay the author adds a note:--"The obviousness of the fact (_i.e._ the n...

Scarcely anything is more wonderful or has been oftener insisted on than that the organic beings in each great class, though living in the most distant climes and at periods imm...

I must here premise that, according to the view ordinarily received, the myriads of organisms, which have during past and present times peopled this world, have been created by...

We know from the contents of Charles Darwin's Note Book of 1837 that he was at that time a convinced Evolutionist{1}. Nor can there be any doubt that, when he started on board t...

Parts of structure are said to be "abortive," or when in a still lower state of development "rudimentary{486}," when the same reasoning power, which convinces us that in some ca...

In the Tertiary system, in the last uplifted beds, we find all the species recent and living in the immediate vicinity; in rather older beds we find only recent species, but som...

natural and artificial selection, man not regularly exercising or adapting his varieties to new ends, whereas selection by nature presupposes such exercise and adaptation in eac...

The fact that in 1842, seventeen years before the publication of the _Origin_, my father should have been able to write out so full an outline of his future work, is very remark...

{22} It is evident that _Parts_ and _Chapters_ were to some extent interchangeable in the author's mind, for p. 1 (of the MS. we have been discussing) is headed in ink Chapter I...

Distribution of the inhabitants in the different continents Relation of range in genera and species Distribution of the inhabitants in the same continent Insular Faunas Alpine F...

{305} In the _Origin_ the division of the work into Parts I and II is omitted. In the MS. the chapters of Part II are numbered afresh, the present being Ch. I of Pt. II. I have...

Variation Natural means of Selection Differences between "Races" and "Species":-first, in their trueness or variability Difference between "Races" and "Species" in fertility whe...

ON THE VARIATION OF INSTINCTS AND OTHER MENTAL ATTRIBUTES UNDER DOMESTICATION AND IN A STATE OF NATURE; ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN THIS SUBJECT; AND ON ANALOGOUS DIFFICULTIES WITH R...

author as discussing "whether the characters and relations of animated things are such as favour the idea of wild species being races descended from a common stock." Again at p....

Unity of Type Morphology Embryology Attempt to explain the facts of embryology On the graduated complexity in each great class Modification by selection of the forms of immature...

Variation On the hereditary tendency Causes of Variation On Selection Crossing Breeds Whether our domestic races have descended from one or more wild stocks Limits to Variation...

Gradual appearance and disappearance of groups What is the Natural System? On the kind of relation between distinct groups Classification of Races or Varieties Classification of...