The Origin of Species (1859) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Charles Lyell: Geologist whose writings inspired Darwin, and who taught Darwin the significance of how long there has been life on earth.
• Georges Cuvier: the most famous and influential naturalist and anatomist of the first part of the nineteenth century.
• Dr. Asa Gray: Wrote "Manual of the Flora of the Northern United States".
• Andrew Knight: First suggested that with all hermaphrodites two individuals, either occasionallly or habitually, concur for the reproduction of their kind.
• Professor Huxley: Wrote on the structure of hermaphrodites, embryological succession, homologous organs, and on the development of aphia.
• Dr. Hooker: Wrote on the acclimatization of Himalayan trees, on the glaciers of the Himalayas, on vegetation at the base of the Himalayas, on the algae of New Zealand, on Australian plants, on the plants of Tierra del Fuego, on relations of flora of South America, on plants of the Galapagos, on flora of the Antarctic islands.
• Dr. F. Muller: Wrote on alpine plants in Australia.
• Professor Owen: Wrote on the swim-bladder of fishes, on birds that do not fly, on the habit of laying eggs together.
• Mr. Wallace: Also wrote on the origin of species, on the law of geographical distribution, and on the Malay Archipelago.
• Pierre Huber: Wrote on the cells of bees, on reason blended with instinct, on the habitual nature of insects, on slave-making ants, on Melipona domestica (a Mexican bumble-bee).
• Alphonse De Candolle: Wrote on the struggle for existence, on umbelliferae (e.g. parsley, carrots), on widely-dispersed low plants, on widely-ranging plants being variable, on naturalization of plants, on winged seeds, on alpine species suddenly becoming rare with altitude, on the distribution of plants with large seeds.
• Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire: Wrote on homologous organs, on the variability of repeated parts, in correlation in monstrosities, on variable parts often being monstrous.
• M. Barrande: Wrote on the colonies of Silurian molluscs.
• Koelreuter: With Gaertner, devoted most of his life to studying the sterility of species when crossed, and hybrid offspring.
• Mr. H. C. Watson: Marked 182 British plants for Darwin
• Gaertner: Wrote on the sterility of hybrids, on recriprocal crosses, on crossed maize and verbascum, on the comparison of hybrids and mongrels.
• J. Lubbock: Darwin calls Lubbock a 'philosophical naturalist'.
• Mr. Waterhouse: Wrote on Australian marsupials, on greatly-developed parts being highly variable, on the cells of bees, on general affinities.
• Edward Forbes: Wrote on the color of sea shells, the abrupt, noted how abruptly shells disappear at a certain depth, remarked on the poorness of paleontological collections, noted that genera do not reappear once they have disappeared.
• Professor Sedgwick: Wrote on groups of species suddenly appearing.
• Mr. Godwin-Austen: His description of the Malay Archipelago (present-day Malaysia) helped Darwin to explain the imperfection of the geological record, with regard to documenting species from the past.
• Robert Brown: Wrote on classification
• Frederick Cuvier: Described by Darwin as a 'metaphysician'. Wrote on conditions of existence, fossil monkeys. Compared instinct and habit.
• Milne Edwards: Wrote on the physiological division of labor among the organs of the same individual body.
• Sir R. Heron: Wrote to Darwin regarding birds in confinement
• Mr. Blyth: Wrote to Darwin on the distinctness of Indian cattle.
• Mr. Babington: Wrote to Darwin regarding British plants, declaring 251 species. Darwin used him as an example of how arbitrary the difference between a species and a variation.
• Mr. Bentham: Wrote to Darwin regarding British plants, declaring only 112 species. Darwin used him as an example of how arbitrary the difference between a species and a variation.
• Mr. Wollaston: Wrote on insects on the Little Madeira islets.
• Mr. Downing: A horticulturalist, who wrote to Darwin regarding fruit trees in the United States.
• Kolreuter: Add a description of this character.
• Mr. Youatt
• Poole
• Mr. Gould
• Mr. Herbert
• Pliny
• Lamarck
• Linnaeus
• Pictet
• Ramsay
• Hugh Miller
• Dr. Falconer
• Woodward
• Gartner
• Agassiz
• Bronn
• Mr. F. Smith

Quotes edit see section history

• “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

• “Finally, it may not be a logical deduction, but to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, ants making slaves, the larvae of ichneumonidae feeding within the live bodies of caterpillars, not as specially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general law leading to the advancement of all organic beings—namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.”

• “It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Europe
• South America
• Australia
• North America
• United States
• New Zealand
• Madeira
• England
• South Africa
• Africa
• India
• Switzerland
• Great Britain
• Himalaya
• Pacific
• Melipona
• France
• Brazil
• Egypt
• Spain
• Russia
• Japan
• Paraguay
• Greenland
• Agassiz
• Abyssinia
• Lobelia
• Bermuda

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Evolution and Natural Selection: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Charles Darwin (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Ray Comfort (Introduction)
2. Philip Appleman
3. Gillian Beer
4. L. Harrison Matthews

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: QH365 .O2
• Dewey: 576.822

Notes for Parents edit see section history

This is dense reading, but appropriate for young adults who can get through it.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Professional & Technical › Professional Science › Evolution
• Books › Science › Evolution
• Books › Nonfiction › Social Sciences › Research

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Wikipedia Article: Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. For the sixth edition of 1872, the short title was changed to The Origin of Species. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.
• Book Review: Darwin’s The Origin of Species is one of the most important books written during the past 150 years. It provides the foundation for modern biology, but its influence extends far beyond biology to such distant areas as ethics. It has been called “the book that shook the world.” Its impact on man’s concept of himself and the world has been greater than the works of Copernicus or Newton. It has been said that it would be impossible to understand the history of western culture in the last half of the 19th century and the entire 20th century without a discussion of the impact of Darwin’s book.
• Book Review: Darwin’s theory is based on the notion of variation. It argues that the numerous traits and adaptations that differentiate species from each other also explain how species evolved over time and gradually diverged. Variations in organisms are apparent both within domesticated species and within species throughout the natural world. Variations in colors, structures, organs, and physical traits differentiate a multitude of species from one another. Heredity is the mechanism that perpetuates variations, Darwin argues, as traits are passed from parents to offspring. What is important about these variations to Darwin, though, is the way they allow species to adapt and survive in the natural world.
• Book Review: Novelties are enticing to most people: to us they are simply annoying. We cling to a long-accepted theory, just as we cling to an old suit of clothes. A new theory, like a new pair of breeches, ("The Atlantic" still affects the older type of nether garment,) is sure to have hardfitting places; or even when no particular fault can be found with the article, it oppresses with a sense of general discomfort. New notions and new styles worry us, till we get well used to them, which is only by slow degrees.
• Book Review: In The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply-held beliefs of the Western world. Arguing for a material, not divine, origin of species, he showed that new species are achieved by "natural selection." The Origin communicates the enthusiasm of original thinking in an open, descriptive style, and Darwin's emphasis on the value of diversity speaks more strongly now than ever. As well as a stimulating introduction and detailed notes, this edition offers a register of the many writers referred to by Darwin in the text.

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Creation (IMDb): English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to find a balance between his revolutionary theories on evolution and the relationship with religious wife, whose faith contradicts his work.
• Master and Commander (IMDb): Paul Bettany's character was modeled on Darwin.

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