Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of ContentsLord, John
Philosophy
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents
Lord, John
History
In 1813 Dr. W.C. Wells read before the Royal Society "An Account of a
White Female, Part of whose Skin resembles that of a Negro." In this
paper the author distinctly recognized the principle of natural
selection, but applied it only to the races of man, and in man only to
certain characters. After remarking that negroes and mulattoes enjoy an
immunity from certain tropical diseases, he observed, first, that all
animals tend to vary in some degree, and, secondly, that
agriculturalists improve their domesticated animals by selection. He
added that what is done in the latter case by art seems to be done with
equal efficacy, though more slowly, by nature in the formation of
varieties of mankind fitted for the countries which they inhabit. Again
in 1831 Mr. Patrick Matthew published a work on "Naval Timber and
Arboriculture," in which he put forth precisely the same view
concerning the origin of species as that propounded by Mr. Wallace and
by Darwin. Unfortunately for himself, the view was cursorily suggested
in scattered passages of an appendix to a work on a different subject,
so that it remained unnoticed until Mr. Matthew himself drew attention
to it in 1860, after the publication of the "Origin of Species." We
observe finally that Mr. Herbert Spencer, in an essay published in 1852,
and republished six years later, contrasted the theories of the creation
and the development of organic beings. He argued from the analogy of
domestic productions, from the changes which the embryos of many species
undergo, from the difficulty of distinguishing species and varieties,
and from the principle of general gradation, that species have been
modified; and he attributed the modification to the change of
circumstances.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account