On the Origin of Species

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Charles Darwin was born in England in 1809 and attended the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. When he decided against that vocation, he enrolled at Cambridge where he earned a degree in theology. During an expedition to Africa and South America, Darwin continued his studies in natural science and began writing about his theories of natural selection. His work led to the publication of On the Origin of Species, a book that changed the world.

Charles Darwin: Original Thinking
Each generation of students comes to Darwin's epoch-making works, several of which are the basis of our publishing program in biology and related fields: The Essential Darwin, 2006; The Descent of Man, 2010; The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 2006; and On the Origin of the Species, 2006. In the Author's Own Words: "A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there." "I feel most deeply that this whole question of Creation is too profound for human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton! Let each man hope and believe what he can." "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed 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." "Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system ? with all these exalted powers ? Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." ? Charles Darwin

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"The Origin is one of the most important books ever published, and a knowledge of it should be a part of the intellectual equipment of every educated person. . . . The book will endure in future ages so long as a knowledge of science persists among mankind." ? Nature
It took Charles Darwin more than twenty years to publish this book, in part because he realized that it would ignite a firestorm of controversy. On the Origin of Species first appeared in 1859, and it remains a continuing source of conflict to this day. Even among those who reject its ideas, however, the work's impact is undeniable. In science, philosophy, and theology, this is a book that changed the world.
In addition to its status as the focus of a dramatic turning point in scientific thought, On the Origin of Species stands as a remarkably readable study. Carefully reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, the work offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that form the foundation of modern evolutionary theory. This volume is a reprint of the critically acclaimed first edition.

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Introduction to the Dover Edition
Introduction
CHAPTER I. Variation under Domestication.
CHAPTER II. Variation under Nature.
CHAPTER III. Struggle for Existence.
CHAPTER IV. Natural Selection.
CHAPTER V. Laws of Variation.
CHAPTER VI. Difficulties on Theory.
CHAPTER VII. Instinct.
CHAPTER VIII. Hybridism.
CHAPTER IX. On the Imperfection of the Geological Record.
CHAPTER X. On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings.
CHAPTER XI. Geographical Distribution.
CHAPTER XII. Geographical Distribution--continued.
CHAPTER XIII. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs.
CHAPTER XIV. Recapitulation and Conclusion.
Index