Charles Darwin's Works: The life and letters of Charles Darwin... ed. by his son, Francis Darwin. 2v |
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Page 286
Looking to the world at no very distant date , what an endless number of the lower races wili have been eliminated by the higher civilized races through- out the world . But I will write no more , and not even men- tion the many points ...
Looking to the world at no very distant date , what an endless number of the lower races wili have been eliminated by the higher civilized races through- out the world . But I will write no more , and not even men- tion the many points ...
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admiration animals answer appears Asa Gray asked Beagle believe called Cambridge Captain cause chapter character collecting consider Darwin DEAR delightful described doubt early edition expressed facts father feel felt Fitz-Roy gave geological give given hand hear heard Henslow History hope interest islands J. D. Hooker Journal kind late letter living London look Lyell manner means mind months natural never object observations once Origin perhaps person plants pleasure present published reason received remained remarkable remember respect seems short Shrewsbury sketch Society soon South speaks species suppose sure tell thank theory things thought tion told took trouble voyage week whole wish write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 82 - I suppose, have thus suffered; and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.
Page 368 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator 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.
Page 69 - The solution, as I believe, is that the modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.
Page 86 - Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may have amounted to, has been determined, as far as I can judge, by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of these, the most important have been — the love of science — unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject — industry in observing and collecting facts — and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced...
Page 51 - Beagle" has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me thirty miles to Shrewsbury, which few uncles would 41 have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose.
Page 81 - My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts...
Page 370 - After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions which then seemed to me probable; from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object.
Page 277 - The old argument from design in Nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows.
Page 29 - Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means- of education to me was simply a blank.
Page 53 - Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen or was likely to see ; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage. I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Charles Darwin's Works: The life and letters of Charles Darwin... ed. by his son, Francis Darwin. 2v Volume 17 of Charles Darwin's Works, Sir Francis Darwin |
| Author | Charles Darwin |
| Publisher | D. Appleton, 1896 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 6 Jul 2006 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |