The Darwinian Theory of the Transmutation of Species |
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Page vii
... imagination , to the neglect of all the more exact demands of science . * Cuvier has thus expressed himself on this subject : The * ' L'échelle prétendue des êtres n'est qu'une application erronée à la totalité de la création , de ces ...
... imagination , to the neglect of all the more exact demands of science . * Cuvier has thus expressed himself on this subject : The * ' L'échelle prétendue des êtres n'est qu'une application erronée à la totalité de la création , de ces ...
Page viii
... imagination in him was held in firm restraint , without re- pressing the quickness of his sagacity and his innate genius . When the imagination is left at liberty in scientific pursuits , the result is almost always error and confusion ...
... imagination in him was held in firm restraint , without re- pressing the quickness of his sagacity and his innate genius . When the imagination is left at liberty in scientific pursuits , the result is almost always error and confusion ...
Page 17
... imagination where it had its origin . We shall see ere long that Mr Darwin virtually accedes to the general * See Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology ( 261 ) , first edition . + Cuvier's Recherches sur les ossemens ( Discours preliminaire ...
... imagination where it had its origin . We shall see ere long that Mr Darwin virtually accedes to the general * See Lawrence's Lectures on Physiology ( 261 ) , first edition . + Cuvier's Recherches sur les ossemens ( Discours preliminaire ...
Page 27
... imagination , for thousands of millions of ages have existed , though not a shred or a vestige of one of them is anywhere to be found — and yet , if a brother naturalist ventures to conjecture that there may have existed some missing ...
... imagination , for thousands of millions of ages have existed , though not a shred or a vestige of one of them is anywhere to be found — and yet , if a brother naturalist ventures to conjecture that there may have existed some missing ...
Page 89
... imagination . It suffices , ' says he , that bees should be enabled to stand at the proper relative distances , and form the walls of the last completed cells , and then by striking imaginary spheres , ' & c . ( 253 ) . We have also ...
... imagination . It suffices , ' says he , that bees should be enabled to stand at the proper relative distances , and form the walls of the last completed cells , and then by striking imaginary spheres , ' & c . ( 253 ) . We have also ...
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Common terms and phrases
acknowledged advance ages Algæ amongst ancient appear beauty bees believe birds blood bones character contrivances creation creatures Cuvier Darwin Darwin's Theory descended difficulty distinct earth effected Eocene existence exterminated fact favoured female fertile fishes formation forms fossil genera geology germ giraffe gorilla habits hive-bee horse human hybrid imagination improvement infinite insects instance instinct intellect Lamarck larvæ learned limbs living Lucretius Lyell male means ment metaphor millions modification mutation Natural Selection naturalists never object observed organic Origin of Species passage perfect physiologists plants principle produced Professor progenitor proof quadrupeds race red clover reptiles respiration result says seems sequence of events Silurian soil spore sterility structure struggle suppose tail tapir Tertiary Theory of Transmutation things tion transformation TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES Transmutationists Trémaux Trilobite variations varieties vertebral column vertebrata vertebrated animals whale whole words
Popular passages
Page 20 - And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Page 20 - And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Page 371 - A few naturalists, endowed with much flexibility of mind, and who have already begun to doubt the immutability of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look with confidence to the future, to young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of the question with impartiality.
Page 348 - Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit. to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's power of selection.
Page 7 - In short, we shall have to treat species in the same manner as those naturalists treat genera, who admit that genera are merely artificial combinations made for convenience. This may not be a cheering prospect ; but we shall at least be freed from the vain search for the undiscovered and undiscoverable essence of the term species.
Page 232 - the recognition of an ideal Exemplar for the Vertebrated Animals proves that the Knowledge of such a being as Man must have existed before Man appeared. For the Divine mind which planned the Archetype also foreknew all its modifications. The Archetypal idea was manifested in the flesh, under divers modifications, upon this planet, long prior to the existence of those animal species that actually exemplify it.
Page 70 - Under changed conditions of life, it is at least possible that slight modifications of instinct might be profitable to a species ; and if it can be shown that instincts do vary ever so little, then I can see no difficulty in natural selection preserving and continually accumulating variations of instinct to any extent that was profitable. It is thus, as I believe, that all the most complex and wonderful instincts have originated.
Page 61 - The similar framework of bones in the hand of a man, wing of a bat, fin of the porpoise, and leg of the horse, — the same number of vertebrae forming the neck of the giraffe and of the elephant, — and innumerable other such facts, at once explain themselves on the theory of descent with slow and slight successive modifications.
Page 1 - These facts, as will be seen in the latter chapters of this volume, seemed to throw some light on the origin of species — that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers.
Page 45 - It has been said that I speak of natural selection as an active power or Deity ; but who objects to an author speaking of the attraction of gravity as ruling the movements of the planets ? Everyone knows what is meant and is implied by such metaphorical expressions; and they are almost necessary for brevity.