The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
London: John Murray [6th edition].
See full text
The aim of the author of this masterpiece of natural science and anthropology is clearly stated at the beginning of his preface: “I will here attempt to give a brief, but I fear imperfect, sketch of the progress of opinion on the Origin of Species” (p. v).
The whole book is subdivided into fourteen chapters, dealing with the following topics: 1) variation under domestication; 2) variation under nature; 3) struggle for existence; 4) natural selection; 5) laws of variation; 6) difficulties on theory; 7) instinct; 8) hybridism; 9) on the imperfection of the geological record; 10) on the geological succession of organic beings; 11) geographical distribution and dispersal; 12) distribution of fresh–water production and colonization; 13) mutual affinities of organic beings: morphology, embryology, rudimentary organs; 14) recapitulation (difficulties in theory) and conclusion (on natural selection, immutability of species, further paths of research).
Back to top: Charles Darwin 1872