These essays have been streamlined to present Darwin's most lucid and interesting ideas from such volumes as The Autobiography, The Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The
Descent of Man and The Expression of the Emotions.
A CENTURY AND A HALF after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, the
Vatican has come out in support of Darwin's theory, long thought to be incompatible with Catholic teachings.
Two books examine the precedents of Origin of Species, the
voyage of the HMS Beagle which, as Janet Browne writes in her introduction to Charles Darwin: The 'Beagle' Letters (edited by Frederick Burkhardt, Cambridge University Press, 25 [pounds sterling]), 'has become famous for turning his mind towards evolutionary theory, for giving him the intellectual materials and stamina to support such a theory and for the romantic symbolism of his movement towards such an unsuspected yet magnificent goal'.
Here are THE VOYAGE OF THE BEATLE, ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, THE
DESCENT OF MAN and THE EXPRESSIONS OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS, representing Darwin's evolving theories.
This, according to their authors, would maintain, in regard to the origin of species, the
immediate creation of each species by God, and the immutability of each species with the passing of time.
During the 1850s, while Darwin was concluding The Origin of Species, the
rate of extinction is believed to have been one every five years.
Although allopatric speciation can be confirmed from the biogeographic evidence adduced in Systematics and the Origin of Species, the
same is not true for sympatric speciation, which also requires historical observation or measurements of gene flow.