Darwin Seminar

1842 Sketch

[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 handwriting on the Sketch]


PART I

Section I: On varitation under domestication, and on the principles of selection

Mueller's twins: "Seedlings from the same fruit, and the young of the same litter, sometimes differ considerably from each other, though both the young and the parents, as Mueller has remarked, have apparently been exposed to exactly the same conditions of life; and this shows how unimportant the direct effects of the conditions of life are in comparison with the laws of reproduction, and of growth, and of inheritance; for had the action of the conditions been direct, if any of the young had varied, all would probably have varied in the same manner. (Origin 1st ed., 10)

Section II: On variation in a state of nature and on the natural means of selection

Section III: On variation in instincts and other mental attributes

PART II

Sections IV and V: On the evidence from Geology

Section VI: Geographical distribution

Section VII: Affinities and classification

Section VIII: Unity of type in the great classes

Section IX: Abortive organs

Section X: Recapitulation and conclusion


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