THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES: 

 THE ARGUMENT IN SUMMARY 



Charles Darwin 



[Charles Darwin, one of the greatest men of all time, did 

 more to advance and prove the theory of evolution than 

 anybody else who ever lived. This he accomplished by 

 virtue of the highest gifts of observation, experiment, and 

 generalization. His truthfulness, patience, and calmness 

 of judgment have never been exceeded by mortal. His 

 works are published by D. Appleton & Co., New York, 

 together with his "Life and Letters," edited by his son 

 Francis. From "The Origin of Species" the argument in 

 summary is here given. fl 



On the view that species are only strongly 

 marked and permanent varieties, and that each 

 species first existed as a variety, we can see why 

 it is that no line of demarcation can be drawn 

 between species, commonly supposed to have 

 been produced by special acts of creation, and 

 varieties which are acknowledged to have been 

 produced by secondary laws. On this same 

 view we can understand how it is that in a region 

 where many species of a genus have been pro- 

 duced, and where they now flourish, these same 

 species should present many varieties; for where 

 the manufactory of species has been active, wo 

 might expect, as a general rule, to find it still in 

 action ; and this is the case if varieties be incipient 

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tSOPEKTY LIBRARY 



