Darwin Seminar

1844 Essay

[For your convenience, the Table of Contents is shown. The whole text is available in:

The Works of Charles Darwin, edited by Paul H. Barrett and R. B. Freeman,

Volume 10 The Foundations of The Origin of Species,

Two essays written in 1842 and 1844, New York University Press, 1986.]

[Darwin's struggle for writing]


Part I

Chapter 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

Chapter II: On the variation of organic beings in a wild state; on the natural means of selction; and on the comparison of domestic races and true species

Variation - Natural means of Selection - Differences between 'Races' and 'Species': first, in their trueness of variability - Difference between 'Races' and 'Species' in fertility when crossed - Causes of Sterility in Hybrids - Infertility from causes distinct from hybridization - Points of Resemblance between 'Races' and 'Species' - External characters of Hybrids and Mongrels - Summary - Limits of Variation

Chapter III: On the variation of instincts and other mental attributes under domestication and in 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 menta 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

Chapter IV: On the number of intermediate forms required on the theory of common descent; and on their absence in a fossil state

Chapter V: Gradual appearance and disappearance of species

Gradual appearance of species - Extinction of species

Chapter VI: On the geographical distribution of organic beings in past and present times

Section I: Distribution of the inhabitants in the different continents - Relation of range in genra 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

Section II: Geographical distribution of extinct organisms - Changes in geographical distribution - Summary on the distribution of living and extinct organic beings

Section III: 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

Chapter VII: On the nature of affinities and classification of organic beings

Gradual appearance and disappearance of groups - nWhat 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

Chapter VIII: 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

Chapter IX: Abortive or rudimentary organs

The abortive organs of naturalists - The abortive organs of physiologists - Abortion from gradual disuse

Chapter X: Recapitulation and conclusion

Recapitulation - Why do we wish to reject the theory of common descent? - Conclusion


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