Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic ModificationButler, Samuel
Philosophy
Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification
Butler, Samuel
Evolution; Natural selection
“On my view” was cut out in 1869.
On the following page we read—“On my view this question can easily be
answered.” “On my view” is retained in the latest edition.
Again:—
“Yet there must be, _on my view_, some unknown but highly efficient means
for their transportation” (p. 397).
“On my view” became “according to our view” in 1869.
Again:—
“I believe this grand fact can receive no sort of explanation _on the
ordinary view of independent creation_; whereas, _on the view here
maintained_, it is obvious that the Galapagos Islands would be likely to
receive colonists . . . from America, and the Cape de Verde Islands from
Africa; and that such colonists would be liable to modification; the
principle of inheritance still betraying their original birth-place” (p.
399).
Again:—
“With respect to the distinct species of the same genus which, _on my
theory_, must have spread from one parent source, if we make the same
allowances as before,” &c.
“On my theory” became “on our theory” in 1869.
Again:—
“_On my theory_ these several relations throughout time and space are
intelligible; . . . the forms within each class have been connected by
the same bond of ordinary generation; . . . in both cases the laws of
variation have been the same, and modifications have been accumulated by
the same power of natural selection” (p. 410).
“On my theory” became “according to our theory” in 1869, and natural
selection is no longer a power, but has become a means.
Again:—
“_I believe that something more is included_, and that propinquity of
descent—the only known cause of the similarity of organic beings—is the
bond, hidden as it is by various degrees of modification, which is
partially revealed to us by our classification” (p. 418).
Again:—
“_Thus_, _on the view which I hold_, the natural system is genealogical
in its arrangement, like a pedigree” (p. 422).
“On the view which I hold” was cut out in 1872.
Again:—
“We may feel almost sure, _on the theory of descent_, that these
characters have been inherited from a common ancestor” (p. 426).
Again:—
“_On my view of characters being of real importance for classification
only in so far as they reveal descent_, we can clearly understand,” &c.
(p. 427).
“On my view” became “on the view” in 1872.
Again:—
“The more aberrant any form is, the greater must be the number of
connecting forms which, _on my theory_, have been exterminated and
utterly lost” (p. 429).
The words “on my theory” were excised in 1869.
Again:—
“Finally, we have seen that _natural selection_ _. . . explains_ that
great and universal feature in the affinities of all organic beings,
namely, their subordination in group under group. _We use the element of
descent_ in classing the individuals of both sexes, &c.; . . . _we use
descent_ in classing acknowledged varieties; . . . and I believe this
element of descent is the hidden bond of connection which naturalists
have sought under the term of the natural system” (p. 433).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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