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Read Ebook: Practicable Socialism: Essays on Social Reform by Barnett S A Mrs Barnett S A Samuel Augustus
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Ebook has 462 lines and 78958 words, and 10 pages
ESSAY OF 1842 PAGES
INTRODUCTION xi
PART I
? i. On variation under domestication, and on the principles of selection 1
? ii. On variation in a state of nature and on the natural means of selection 4
? iii. On variation in instincts and other mental attributes 17
PART II
?? iv. and v. On the evidence from Geology. 22
? vi. Geographical distribution 29
? vii. Affinities and classification 35
? viii. Unity of type in the great classes 38
? ix. Abortive organs 45
? x. Recapitulation and conclusion 48
ESSAY OF 1844
PART I
ON THE VARIATION OF ORGANIC BEINGS UNDER DOMESTICATION; AND ON THE PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION.
Variation On the hereditary tendency Causes of Variation On Selection Crossing Breeds Whether our domestic races have descended from one or more wild stocks Limits to Variation in degree and kind In what consists Domestication--Summary
ON THE VARIATION OF ORGANIC BEINGS IN A WILD STATE; ON THE NATURAL MEANS OF SELECTION; AND ON THE COMPARISON OF DOMESTIC RACES AND TRUE SPECIES.
Variation Natural means of Selection Differences between "Races" and "Species":-first, in their trueness or variability Difference between "Races" and "Species" in fertility when crossed Causes of Sterility in Hybrids Infertility from causes distinct from hybridisation Points of Resemblance between "Races" and "Species" External characters of Hybrids and Mongrels Summary Limits of Variation
ON THE VARIATION OF INSTINCTS AND OTHER MENTAL ATTRIBUTES UNDER DOMESTICATION AND IN A STATE OF NATURE; ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN THIS SUBJECT; AND ON ANALOGOUS DIFFICULTIES WITH RESPECT TO CORPOREAL STRUCTURES.
Variation of mental attributes under domestication Hereditary habits compared with instincts Variation in the mental attributes of wild animals Principles of Selection applicable to instincts Difficulties in the acquirement of complex instincts by Selection Difficulties in the acquirement by Selection of complex corporeal structures
PART II
ON THE EVIDENCE FAVOURABLE AND OPPOSED TO THE VIEW THAT SPECIES ARE NATURALLY FORMED RACES, DESCENDED FROM COMMON STOCKS.
ON THE NUMBER OF INTERMEDIATE FORMS REQUIRED ON THE THEORY OF COMMON DESCENT; AND ON THEIR ABSENCE IN A FOSSIL STATE
GRADUAL APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF SPECIES.
Gradual appearance of species Extinction of species
ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS IN PAST AND PRESENT TIMES.
SECTION FIRST 151-174
Distribution of the inhabitants in the different continents Relation of range in genera and species Distribution of the inhabitants in the same continent Insular Faunas Alpine Floras Cause of the similarity in the floras of some distant mountains Whether the same species has been created more than once On the number of species, and of the classes to which they belong in different regions
SECOND SECTION 174-182
Geographical distribution of extinct organisms Changes in geographical distribution Summary on the distribution of living and extinct organic beings
SECTION THIRD 183-197
An attempt to explain the foregoing laws of geographical distribution, on the theory of allied species having a common descent Improbability of finding fossil forms intermediate between existing species
ON THE NATURE OF THE AFFINITIES AND CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANIC BEINGS.
Gradual appearance and disappearance of groups What is the Natural System? On the kind of relation between distinct groups Classification of Races or Varieties Classification of Races and Species similar Origin of genera and families
UNITY OF TYPE IN THE GREAT CLASSES; AND MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURES.
Unity of Type Morphology Embryology Attempt to explain the facts of embryology On the graduated complexity in each great class Modification by selection of the forms of immature animals Importance of embryology in classification Order in time in which the great classes have first appeared
ABORTIVE OR RUDIMENTARY ORGANS.
The abortive organs of Naturalists The abortive organs of Physiologists Abortion from gradual disuse
RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION.
Recapitulation Why do we wish to reject the Theory of Common Descent? Conclusion
INDEX 257
INTRODUCTION
These quotations show that he was struggling to see in the origin of species a process just as scientifically comprehensible as the birth of individuals. They show, I think, that he recognised the two things not merely as similar but as identical.
It is impossible to know how soon the ferment of uniformitarianism began to work, but it is fair to suspect that in 1832 he had already begun to see that mutability was the logical conclusion of Lyell's doctrine, though this was not acknowledged by Lyell himself.
In this citation the italics are mine.
It is also to be noted, in regard to the remains of extinct animals, that, in the above quotation from his Pocket Book, he speaks of March 1837 as the time at which he began to be "greatly struck on character of South American fossils," which suggests at least that the impression made in 1832 required reinforcement before a really powerful effect was produced.
We may therefore conclude, I think, that the evolutionary current in my father's thoughts had continued to increase in force from 1832 onwards, being especially reinforced at the Galapagos in 1835 and again in 1837 when he was overhauling the results, mental and material, of his travels. And that when the above record in the Pocket Book was made he unconsciously minimised the earlier beginnings of his theorisings, and laid more stress on the recent thoughts which were naturally more vivid to him. In his letter to Otto Zacharias he wrote, "On my return home in the autumn of 1836, I immediately began to prepare my Journal for publication, and then saw how many facts indicated the common descent of species." This again is evidence in favour of the view that the later growths of his theory were the essentially important parts of its development.
It is surprising that Malthus should have been needed to give him the clue, when in the Note Book of 1837 there should occur--however obscurely expressed--the following forecast of the importance of the survival of the fittest. "With respect to extinction, we can easily see that a variety of the ostrich , may not be well adapted, and thus perish out; or on the other hand, like Orpheus, being favourable, many might be produced. This requires the principle that the permanent variations produced by confined breeding and changing circumstances are continued and produce
A bird.
I can hardly doubt, that with his knowledge of the interdependence of organisms and the tyranny of conditions, his experience would have crystallized out into "a theory by which to work" even without the aid of Malthus.
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