Evolution, Old and New: Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck, as Compared with that of Mr. Charles Darwin
"Of all the questions now engaging the attention of those whose destiny has commanded them to take more or less exercise of mind, I know of none more interesting than that which deals with what is called teleology--that is to say, with design or purpose, as evidenced by the different parts of animals and plants. The question may be briefly stated thus: Can we or can we not see signs in the structure of animals and plants, of something which carries with it the idea of contrivance so strongly that it is impossible for us to think of the structure, without at the same time thinking of contrivance, or design, in connection with it? It is my object in the present work to answer this question in the affirmative, and to lead my reader to agree with me, perhaps mainly, by following the history of that opinion which is now supposed to be fatal to a purposive view of animal and vegetable organs. I refer to the theory of evolution or descent with modification"--Book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
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action admit animals animals and plants appear become beetles birds body brain breeds Buffon called cause cetacea changes chapter character Charles Darwin climate common conclusion consequence continues Creation creature degeneration descent with modification disuse doctrine domestication effect Erasmus Darwin evolution existence eyes fact feel fittest G. H. Lewes Geoffroy St Goethe habits Hilaire Hist horse Ibid idea individual insects insisted instinct Isidore Geoffroy kind Lamarck less living filament manner matter mind mutability mutability of species natural selection naturalists nerves observed offspring opinion organs Origin of Species parents passage perception Phil philosophers Philosophie Zoologique present produced Professor Haeckel purpose quadrupeds race reader reason resemblance sensation sense structure sufficiently suppose survival teleology theory of descent things tion torn variations vary Vestiges of Creation volume wild wings words writers Zool Zoologique Zoonomia
Page 230 - ... would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity-, and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!
Page 248 - The work, from its powerful and brilliant style, though displaying in the earlier editions little accurate knowledge and a great want of scientific caution, immediately had a very wide circulation. In my opinion it has done excellent service in this country in calling attention to the subject, in removing prejudice, and in thus preparing the ground for the reception of analogous views.
Page 364 - In the literal sense of the word, no doubt, Natural Selection is a false term; but who ever objected to chemists speaking of the elective affinities of the various elements ? — and yet an acid cannot strictly be said to elect the base with which it in preference combines.
Page 12 - ... the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think of the answer which I had before given, that for any thing I knew the watch might have always been there.
Page 375 - ... the wingless condition of so many Madeira beetles is mainly due to the action of natural selection, combined probably with disuse. For during many successive generations each individual beetle which flew least, either from its wings having been ever so little less perfectly developed or from indolent habit, will have had the best chance of surviving from not being blown out to sea...
Page iv - THE FAIR HAVEN. A Work in Defence of the Miraculous Element in our Lord's Ministry. Cr. 8vo. , 7*. 6d. LIFE AND HABIT. An Essay after a Completer View of Evolution. Cr. 8vo., 7s. 6d EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW.
Page 321 - ... of climate, whose figure is best accommodated to health, strength, defence, and support; whose capacities and instincts can best regulate the physical energies to self-advantage according to circumstances — in such immense waste of primary and youthful life, those only come forward to maturity from the strict ordeal by which Nature tests their adaptation to her standard of perfection and fitness to continue their kind by reproduction.
Page 347 - Natural selection acts only by the preservation and accumulation of small inherited modifications, each profitable to the preserved being...
Page 13 - ... different size from what they are, or placed after any other manner, or in any other order, than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it. To reckon up a few of the plainest of these parts, and of their offices, all tending to one result : — We see a cylindrical box containing a coiled elastic spring, which, by its endeavour to relax itself, turns round the box.