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geological periods, as offspring or by direct descent ; 

 that there have been no total destructions of life in past 

 time, but only a transfer of it from place to place, owing 

 to changes of circumstance ; that the types of structure 

 become simpler and more similar to each other as we 

 trace them from later to earlier periods; and that 

 finally we reach the simplest forms consistent with one 

 or several original parent types of the great divisions 

 into which living beings naturally fall. 



It is evident, therefore, that the hypothesis does not 

 include change of species by hybridization, nor allow 

 the descent of living species from any other living 

 species : both these propositions are errors of misap- 

 prehension or misrepresentation. 



In order to understand the history of creation of a 

 complex being, it is necessary to analyze it and ascer- 

 tain of what it consists. In analyzing the construction 

 of an animal or plant we readily arrange its characters 

 into those which it possesses in common with other ani- 

 mals or plants, and those in which it resembles none 

 other : the latter are its individual characters, constitu- 

 ting its individuality. Next we find a large body of 

 characters, generally of a very obvious kind, which it 

 possesses in common with a generally large number of 

 individuals, which, taken collectively, all men are ac- 

 customed to call a species ; these characters we conse- 

 quently name specific. Thirdly, we find characters, 

 generally in parts of the body which are of importance 

 in the activities of the animal, or which lie in near rela- 

 tion to its mechanical construction in details, which are 

 shared by a still larger number of individuals than those 

 which were similar in specific characters. In other 

 words, it is common to a large number of species. This 



