The Darwinian Theory of the Transmutation of Species |
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Page vii
... word of God , so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear ; ' a formulary of words which precisely excludes Mr Darwin's Theory . The interests of science may , however , suffer detriment for a season by ...
... word of God , so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear ; ' a formulary of words which precisely excludes Mr Darwin's Theory . The interests of science may , however , suffer detriment for a season by ...
Page xiii
... words of Shakspeare , ' See now how wit may be made a Jack - a - lent , when ' tis upon ill employ- ment .'- ( Merry Wives of Windsor . ) At any rate such has been the conviction of the writer of these pages , so that he has entertained ...
... words of Shakspeare , ' See now how wit may be made a Jack - a - lent , when ' tis upon ill employ- ment .'- ( Merry Wives of Windsor . ) At any rate such has been the conviction of the writer of these pages , so that he has entertained ...
Page xiii
... word of God , so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear ; ' a formulary of words which precisely excludes Mr Darwin's Theory . The interests of science may , however , suffer detriment for a season by ...
... word of God , so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which do appear ; ' a formulary of words which precisely excludes Mr Darwin's Theory . The interests of science may , however , suffer detriment for a season by ...
Page viii
... words , ' penetrated with that severe spirit ' of synthesis and method which regulated his thoughts in his subsequent labours . It is greatly owing to that severe spirit that he became so illustrious in the scientific world . The ...
... words , ' penetrated with that severe spirit ' of synthesis and method which regulated his thoughts in his subsequent labours . It is greatly owing to that severe spirit that he became so illustrious in the scientific world . The ...
Page 8
... words, that ornament and beauty, merely as such, was the end proposed.' This of course, if it be a right deduction, is ' absolutely fatal ' to Mr Darwin's theory ; for he has told us this in so many words. Mr Gould proceeds : ' It might ...
... words, that ornament and beauty, merely as such, was the end proposed.' This of course, if it be a right deduction, is ' absolutely fatal ' to Mr Darwin's theory ; for he has told us this in so many words. Mr Gould proceeds : ' It might ...
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Common terms and phrases
advance ages algæ amongst ancient antecedent appear beauty bees believe birds blood bones character contrivances creation creatures crustacean Cuvier Darwin Darwin's Theory descendants distinct earth effected elephant Eocene existence exterminated fact favoured female fishes foot formation genera geology giraffe gorilla habits heart horse human hybrid improvement insects instance instinct intellect Lamarck learned limbs living lower Lyell male means ment metaphor millions modification mutation Natural Selection naturalists negative evidence never object observed organic Origin of Species passage perfect physiologists plants prehensile principle produced Professor progenitor proof quadrupeds race racter red clover reptiles rocks 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 wings words
Popular passages
Page 7 - 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 52 - 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 7 - 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 27 - So again it is difficult to avoid personifying the word Nature ; but I mean by Nature, only the aggregate action and product of many natural laws, and by laws the sequence of events as ascertained by us.
Page xiii - 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 113 - I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale.
Page 43 - 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 xi - 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 221 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
Page 26 - 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.