Table Of Content^
GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN WORLD
LUCRETIUS
12.
EPICTETUS
Introductory Volumes:
MARCUS AURELIUS
1. The Great Conversation
VIRGIL
13.
2. The Great Ideas I PLUTARCH
14.
3. The Great Ideas II
TACITUS
15.
PTOLEMY
16.
HOMER
4. COPERNICUS
KEPLER
AESCHYLUS
5.
SOPHOCLES PLOTINUS
17.
EURIPIDES
AUGUSTINE
ARISTOPHANES 18.
THOMAS AQUINAS
HERODOTUS 19. I
6.
THUCYDIDES THOMAS AQUINAS
20. II
PLATO DANTE
7. 21.
ARISTOTLE CHAUCER
8. I 22.
9. ARISTOTLE II 23. MACHIAVELLI
HOBBES
HIPPOCRATES
10.
GALEN 24. RABELAIS
EUCLID MONTAIGNE
11. 25.
ARCHIMEDES
SHAKESPEARE
26. I
APOLLONIUS
NICOMACHUS SHAKESPEARE
27. II
"*"'-^^'^^'^^.^^^
^ ^
c;R£^T gQQK5 OF THE WESTERN WORLD
28. GILBERT 41. GIBBON II
GALILEO
KANT
HARVEY 42.
AMERICAN STATE
CERVANTES 43.
29.
PAPERS
FRANCIS BACON THE FEDERALIST
30.
MILL
DESCARTES J. S.
31.
SPINOZA BOSWELL
44.
MILTON LAVOISIER
32. 45.
FOURIER
PASCAL
33. FARADAY
NEWTON
34. HEGEL
46.
HUYGENS
GOETHE
47.
LOCKE
35.
BERKELEY 48. MELVILLE
HUME
DARWIN
49.
SWIFT
36.
MARX
STERNE 50.
ENGELS
FIELDING
37.
TOLSTOY
51.
MONTESQUIEU
38.
ROUSSEAU 52. DOSTOEVSKY
ADAM SMITH WILLIAM JAMES
39. 53.
GIBBON FREUD
40. I 54.
M»t»«««»«««»»»M»4»»«««»«»»»MMt
GREAT BOOKS
OF THE WESTERN WORLD
ROBERT MAYNARD HUTCHINS, EDITOR IN CHIEF
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DARWIN
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J.
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WallaceBrockway, ExecutiveEditor
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
BYMEANS OFNATURAL SELECTION
MAN
THE DESCENT OF
AND SELECTIONINRELA TION TO SEX
BY CHARLES DARWIN
William Benton, Publisher
B
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, INC.
(miCAGO LONDON TORONTO GENEVA SYDNEY TOKYO MANILA
• • - • • •
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
The Great Books
ispublished with the editorial advice oj thejacuities
oj The University oj Chicago
No part ofthis work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recording,orbyany
informationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe
publisher.
©
1952
BY Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Twenty-eighth Printing, 1986
Copyright under International Copyright Union
All Rights Reserved under Pan American and Universal Copyright
Conventions by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 55-10355
International Standard Book Number: 0-85229-163-9
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Charles Darwin, 1809-1882
In evaluating the qualities that accounted for relation of living animals to thefossil remains
his "successasamanofscience,"CharlesDar- of the same species.
wininhismodestautobiography, written "be- Darwin described the voyage of the Beagle
cause it might possibly interest my children," as "by far the most important event in my
tracesfromhisearlyyouth, "the strongestde- life." Besides making him one of the best
sire to understand and explain" whatever he qualified naturalistsofhisday, itdevelopedin
observed. His childhood fantasies were con- him the "habit of energetic industry and of
cernedwithfabulousdiscoveriesinnaturalhis- concentrated attention." This new purpose-
tory; to his schoolmates he boasted that he fulness on the part of his son was succinctly
could produce variously colored flowers of the noted by Dr. Darwin, who remarked upon
sameplant by wateringthem with certain col- first seeing him after the voyage: "Why, the
ored fluids. shape of his head is quite altered."
His father, a highly successful physician, After his return, Darwin settled in London
was somewhat puzzled by the singular inter- andbeganthetaskoforganizingandrecording
estsofhissecondsonaswellasbyhisundistin- his observations. He became a close friend of
guished career in the classical curriculum of Lyell, the leading English geologist, and later
Dr. Butler's day school; he accordingly de- of Hooker, an outstanding botanist. In 1839
cidedtosendhimtoEdinburghtostudymedi- he married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and
cine. At Edinburgh Darwin collected animals toward the end of 1842, because of Darwin's
in tidal pools, trawled for oysters with Nev/- chronic ill-health, the family moved to Down,
haven fishermen to obtain specimens, and where he lived in seclusion for the rest of his
made two small discoveries which he incor- days. During the six years in London, he pre-
porated in papers read before the Plinian paredhisJournalfromthenotesofthevoyage
Society. He put forth no very "strenuous ef- and published his carefully documented study
fort" to learn medicine. of Coral Reefs.
With some asperity, Dr. Darwin proposed The nexteightyearswere spentin the labo-
the vocation of clergyman as an alternative. riousclassificationofbarnaclesforhisfour-vol-
The life of a country clergyman appealed to umeworkonthatsubject."Ihavebeenstruck,"
young Darwin, and, after quieting his doubts he wrote to Hooker, "with the variability of
concerning his belief in "all the dogmas of the every part in some slight degree of every
Church," he began this new career at Cam- species." After this period of detailed work
bridge. He proved unable, however, to repress with a single species, Darwin felt prepared to
his scientific interests and developed into an attack the problem of the modification of spe-
ardent entomologist, particularly devoted to cies which he had been pondering for many
collecting beetles; he had the satisfaction of years.
seeing one of his rare specimens published in A number of facts had come to light during
Stephen's IllustrationsofBritish Insects. As at the voyage of the Beagle that Darwin felt
Edinburgh, he enjoyed many stimulating as- "could only be explained on the supposition
sociations with men of science. It was a pro- thatspecies graduallybecome modified."Lat-
fessor of botany at Cambridge, J. S. Henslow, er, after his return to England, he had col-
who arranged for his appointment as natural- lected all the material he could find which
istonthegovernmentship, H. M. S. Beagle. "boreinanywayonthevariationofplantsand
From 1831 to 1836 the Beagle voyaged in animals under domestication." He soon per-
Southern waters. Lyell's researches into the ceived "that selection was the keystone of
changes wrought by natural processes, set man's success. But how selection could be ap-
forth in Principles of Geology, gave direction plied to organisms living in a state of nature
toDarwin'sownobservationsofthegeological remained for some time a mystery." One day,
structure of the Cape Verde Islands. He also while reading Malthus on Population, it sud-
madeextensiveexaminationsofcoralreefsand denly occurred tohim how, in the strugglefor
notedtherelationsofanimalsonthemainland existence, which he had everywhere observed,
fothose of the adjacent islands, as well as the "favorable variations would tend to be pre-
.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
served and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. tion to Sex (1871), Darwin fulfilled his state-
The result would be the formation of a new mentintheOriginthat"lightwouldbethrown
species. Here then I had at last a theory by ontheoriginofmanandhishistory." TheEx-
which to work." pression oftheEmotions (1872) offered anatu-
HeconfidedthistheorytoHookerandLyell, ralexplanationofphenomenawhich appeared
who urged him to write out his viewsforpub- to be adifficulty in the way of the acceptance
lication. But Darwin worked deliberately; he of evolution. His last works were concerned
wasonlyhalfthroughhisprojectedbookwhen, with the form, movement, and fertilization of
in the summer of 1858, he received an essay plants.
from A. R. Wallace at Ternate in the Moluc- Darwin's existence at Down was peculiarly
cas, containing exactly the same theory as his adapted topreservehisenergy and givedirect
own.DarwinsubmittedhisdilemmatoHooker order to his activity. Because of his continual
and Lyell, to whom he wrote: "Your words ill-health, his wife took pains "to shield him
have come true with a vengeance—that I from every avoidable annoyance." He ob-
should beforestalled." It was theirdecisionto servedthesameroutinefornearly forty years,
publish an abstract of his theory from a letter his days being carefully parcelled into inter-
of the previous year together with Wallace's vals of exercise and light reading in such pro-
essay, the joint work being entitled: On the portions that he could utilize to his fullest
TendencyofSpeciestoform Varietiesandonthe capacity the four hours he devoted to work.
PerpetuationofVarietiesandSpeciesbyNatural His scientific reading and experimentation, as
Means ofSelection. well, were organized with the most rigorous
A year later, on November 24, 1859, The economy. Even the phases of his intellectual
OriginofSpeciesappeared.Theentirefirstedi- lifenon-essentialtohisworkbecame, asheput
tionof 1,250copieswassoldonthedayofpub- it, "atrophied," a fact which he regretted as
Hcation. Astormofcontroversyaroseoverthe "alossofhappiness." Suchnon-scientificread-
hook, reaching its height at a meeting of the ing ashedid waspurelyforrelaxation, and he
British Association at Oxford, where the cele- thoughtthat"alawoughttobepassed"against
bratedduelbetweenT. H. HuxleyandBishop unhappy endings to novels.
Wilberforcetookplace.Darwin, whocouldnot Withhiswifeandsevenchildrenhismanner
sleepwhenheansweredanantagonistharshly, wassounusually "affectionateanddelightful"
took Lyell's advice and saved both "time and that his son, Francis, marvelled that he could
temper" by avoiding the fray. preserve it "with such an undemonstrative
In his work, however, he stayed close to his race as we are." When he died on April 19,
thesis. He expanded the material of the first 1882, his family wanted him to be buried at
chapterofthe Origininto abook, Variationof Down; public feeling decreed that he should
PlantsandAnimalsunderDomestication(1868) be interred in Westminster Abbey, where he
In The Descent of Man and Selection in Rela- was laid beside Sir Isaac Newton.
GENERAL CONTENTS
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THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Page 1
THE DESCEN'T«OF«MAN, Page 253
