PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS 



OF THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



January 8th, 1861 . 

 Dr. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 

 The following papers were read : — 

 1. On Typical Selection, as a means of removing the 



DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THE DoCTRINE OF THE OrIGIN 



OF Species by Natural Selection. By E. Vansittart 

 Neale, F.Z.S. 



The great interest excited in the scientific world by the theory of 

 the origin of species proposed by Mr. Darwin, and the obscurity ne- 

 cessarily attached to many of the data employed in the arguments 

 adduced either in support of or in opposition to it, must be my apo- 

 logy for bringing before this Society the following considerations, rest- 

 ing upon admitted facts, but which appear to me both to elucidate 

 the difficulties of that theory, and to suggest the means of overcoming 

 them. 



The strong points of Mr. Darwin's theory I apprehend to be, (1) 

 the satisfactory explanation afforded by it of the analogies and dif- 

 ferences observed in the various forms of living beings which have been, 

 or actually are, the tenants of our globe ; (2) the fact, experimentally 

 ascertainable, that the element of variation whence his explanations are 

 derived exists in active operation at the present day. Mr. Darwin 

 can say of the modifications of form manifested in living organisms. 



Prog. Zool. Soc— 1801, No. I. 



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