The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection (6th ed) | Page 3

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The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection;
or, the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
By Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., Author of "The Descent of Man,"
etc., etc.
Sixth London Edition, with all Additions and Corrections. The 6th
Edition is often considered the definititive edition. Also see Project
Gutenberg Etext #1228 for an earlier edition.

"But with regard to the material world, we can at least go so far as
this-- we can perceive that events are brought about not by insulated
interpositions of Divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by
the establishment of general laws."--Whewell: "Bridgewater Treatise".
"The only distinct meaning of the word 'natural' is STATED, FIXED or
SETTLED; since what is natural as much requires and presupposes an

intelligent agent to render it so, i.e., to effect it continually or at stated
times, as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect it for
once."--Butler: "Analogy of Revealed Religion".
"To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety,
or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search
too far or be too well studied in the book of God's word, or in the book
of God's works; divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an
endless progress or proficience in both."--Bacon: "Advancement of
Learning".
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE PROGRESS OF OPINION ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES,
PREVIOUSLY TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION
OF THIS WORK.
I will here give a brief sketch of the progress of opinion on the Origin
of Species. Until recently the great majority of naturalists believed that
species were immutable productions, and had been separately created.
This view has been ably maintained by many authors. Some few
naturalists, on the other hand, have believed that species undergo
modification, and that the existing forms of life are the descendants by
true generation of pre existing forms. Passing over allusions to the
subject in the classical writers (Aristotle, in his "Physicae
Auscultationes" (lib.2, cap.8, s.2), after remarking that rain does not fall
in order to make the corn grow, any more than it falls to spoil the
farmer's corn when threshed out of doors, applies the same argument to
organisation; and adds (as translated by Mr. Clair Grece, who first
pointed out the passage to me), "So what hinders the different parts (of
the body) from having this merely accidental relation in nature? as the
teeth, for example, grow by necessity, the front ones sharp, adapted for
dividing, and the grinders flat, and serviceable for masticating the food;
since they were not made for the sake of this, but it was the result of
accident. And in like manner as to other parts in which there appears to
exist an adaptation to an end.