General identity of human and animal structure—Rudiments and variations showing relation of man to other mammals—The embryonic development of man and other mammalia—Diseases common to man and the lower animals—The animals most nearly allied to man—The brains of man and apes—External differences of man and apes—Summary of the animal characteristics of man—The geological antiquity of man—The probable birthplace of man—The origin of the moral and intellectual nature of man—The argument from continuity—The origin of the mathematical faculty—The origin of the musical and artistic faculties—Independent proof that these faculties have not been developed by natural selection—The interpretation of the facts—Concluding remarks
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR]
MAP SHOWING THE 1000-FATHOM LINE
[1.] DIAGRAM OF VARIATIONS OF LACERTA MURALIS
[2.] " VARIATION OF LIZARDS
[3.] " VARIATION OF WINGS AND TAIL OF BIRDS
[4.] " VARIATION OF DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS
[5.] " VARIATION OF AGELAEUS PHOENICEUS
[6.] " VARIATION OF CARDINALIS VIRGINIANUS
[7.] " VARIATION OF TARSUS AND TOES
[8.] " VARIATION OF BIRDS IN LEYDEN MUSEUM
[9.] " VARIATION OF ICTERUS BALTIMORE
[10.] " VARIATION OF AGELAEUS PHOENICEUS
[11.] " CURVES OF VARIATION
[12.] " VARIATION OF CARDINALIS VIRGINIANUS
[13.] " VARIATION OF SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS
[14.] " VARIATION OF SKULLS OF WOLF
[15.] " VARIATION OF SKULLS OF URSUS LABIATUS
[16.] " VARIATION OF SKULLS OF SUS CRISTATUS
[17.] PRIMULA VERIS (Cowslip). From Darwin's Forms of Flowers
[18.] GAZELLA SOEMMERRINGI (to show recognition marks)
[19.] RECOGNITION MARKS OF AFRICAN PLOVERS
(from Seebohm's Charadriadae)
[20.] RECOGNITION OF OEDICNEMUS VERMICULATUS AND OE. SENEGALENSIS
(from Seebohm's Charadriadae)
[21.] RECOGNITION OF CURSORIUS CHALCOPTERUS AND C. GALLICUS
(from Seebohm's Charadriadae)
[22.] RECOGNITION OF SCOLOPAX MEGALA AND S. STENURA
(from Seebohm's Charadriadae)
[23.] METHONA PSIDII AND LEPTALIS ORISE
[24.] OPTHALMIS LINCEA AND ARTAXA SIMULANS
(from the Official Narrative of the Voyage of the Challenger)
[25.] WINGS OF ITUNA ILIONE AND THYRIDIA MEGISTO
(from Proceedings of the Entomological Society)
[26.] MYGNIMIA AVICULUS AND COLOBORHOMBUS FASCIATIPENNIS
[27.] MIMICKING INSECTS FROM THE PHILIPPINES
(from Semper's Animal Life)
[28.] MALVA SYLVESTRIS AND M. ROTUNDIFOLIA
(from Lubbock's British Wild Flowers in Relation to Insects)
[29.] LYTHRUM SALICARIA, THREE FORMS OF
(from Lubbock's British Wild Flowers in Relation to Insects)
[30.] ORCHIS PYRAMIDALIS (from Darwin's Fertilisation of Orchids)
[31.] HUMMING-BIRD FERTILISING MARCGRAVIA NEPENTHOIDES
[32.] DIAGRAM OF MEAN HEIGHT OF LAND AND DEPTH OF OCEANS
[33.] GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HORSE TRIBE
(from Huxley's American Addresses)
[34.] DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS
(from Ward's Sketch of Palaeobotany)
[35.] TRANSFORMATION OF ARTEMIA SALINA TO A. MILHAUSENII
(from Semper's Animal Life)
[36.] BRANCHIPUS STAGNALIS AND ARTEMIA SALINA
(from Semper's Animal Life)
[37.] CHIMPANZEE (TROGLODYTES NIGER)
CHAPTER I
WHAT ARE "SPECIES," AND WHAT IS MEANT BY THEIR "ORIGIN"
Definition of species—Special creation—The early Transmutationists—Scientific opinion before Darwin—The problem before Darwin—The change of opinion effected by Darwin—The Darwinian theory—Proposed mode of treatment of the subject.
The title of Mr. Darwin's great work is—On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection and the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. In order to appreciate fully the aim and object of this work, and the change which it has effected not only in natural history but in many other sciences, it is necessary to form a clear conception of the meaning of the term "species," to know what was the general belief regarding them at the time when Mr. Darwin's book first appeared, and to understand what he meant, and what was generally meant, by discovering their "origin." It is for want of this preliminary knowledge that the majority of educated persons who are not naturalists are so ready to accept the innumerable objections, criticisms, and difficulties of its opponents as proofs that the Darwinian theory is unsound, while it also renders them unable to appreciate, or even to comprehend, the vast change which that theory has effected in the whole mass of thought and opinion on the great question of evolution.