Origin of Species… • 15. Recapitulation and conclusion (40)

≣  •  D a r w i n  (1 8 5 9,  1 8 7 2⁶)  •  15.  R e c a p i t u l a t i o n  a n d  c o n c l u s i o n  •  √it

---

Why, it may be asked, until recently did nearly all the most eminent living naturalists and geologists disbelieve in the mutability of species. It cannot be asserted that organic beings in a state of nature are subject to no variation; it cannot be proved that the amount of variation in the course of long ages is a limited quantity; no clear distinction has been, or can be, drawn between species and well-marked varieties. It cannot be maintained that species when intercrossed are invariably sterile, and varieties invariably fertile; or that sterility is a special endowment and sign of creation. The belief that species were immutable productions was almost unavoidable as long as the history of the world was thought to be of short duration; and now that we have acquired some idea of the lapse of time, we are too apt to assume, without proof, that the geological record is so perfect that it would have afforded us plain evidence of the mutation of species, if they had undergone mutation.

_____________
K E Y W O R D S
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

◊ authp_C_h_a_r_l_e_s_D_a_r_w_i_n
◊ authp_C_h_D_a_r_w_i_n
◊ authp_D_a_r_w_i_n
◊ cover_O_r_i_g_i_n_o_f_S_p_e_c_i_e_s
◊ edit_J_o_h_n_M_u_r_r_a_y
◊ edit_J_M_u_r_r_a_y
◊ edit_M_u_r_r_a_y
◊ yauth_1_8_5_9, yauth_1_8_7_2, yedit_1_8_7_2
◊ book_quote, lantxt_en, hdr_v2

• keywords_da_inserire

_____
[]  C h.  D a r w i n,  ‹T h e  O r i g i n  o f  S p e c i e s›,  J o h n  M u r r a y,  1 8 7 2⁶.
¯¯¯¯¯