Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- ARTICLE I THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION
- ARTICLE II DESIGN versus NECESSITY—A DISCUSSION
- ARTICLE III NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY
- ARTICLE IV SPECIES AS TO VARIATION, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, AND SUCCESSION
- ARTICLE V SEQUOIA AND ITS HISTORY: THE RELATIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN TO NORTH-EASTERN ASIAN AND TO TERTIARY VEGETATION
- ARTICLE VI THE ATTITUDE OF WORKING NATURALISTS TOWARD DARWINISM
- ARTICLE VII EVOLUTION AND THEOLOGY
- ARTICLE VIII “WHAT IS DARWINISM?”
- ARTICLE IX CHARLES DARWIN: SKETCH ACCOMPANYING A PORTRAIT IN “NATURE”
- ARTICLE X INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS
- ARTICLE XI INSECTIVOROUS AND CLIMBING PLANTS
- ARTICLE XII DURATION AND ORIGINATION OF RACE AND SPECIES
- ARTICLE XIII EVOLUTIONARY TELEOLOGY
- INDEX
ARTICLE XII - DURATION AND ORIGINATION OF RACE AND SPECIES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- ARTICLE I THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION
- ARTICLE II DESIGN versus NECESSITY—A DISCUSSION
- ARTICLE III NATURAL SELECTION NOT INCONSISTENT WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY
- ARTICLE IV SPECIES AS TO VARIATION, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, AND SUCCESSION
- ARTICLE V SEQUOIA AND ITS HISTORY: THE RELATIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN TO NORTH-EASTERN ASIAN AND TO TERTIARY VEGETATION
- ARTICLE VI THE ATTITUDE OF WORKING NATURALISTS TOWARD DARWINISM
- ARTICLE VII EVOLUTION AND THEOLOGY
- ARTICLE VIII “WHAT IS DARWINISM?”
- ARTICLE IX CHARLES DARWIN: SKETCH ACCOMPANYING A PORTRAIT IN “NATURE”
- ARTICLE X INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS
- ARTICLE XI INSECTIVOROUS AND CLIMBING PLANTS
- ARTICLE XII DURATION AND ORIGINATION OF RACE AND SPECIES
- ARTICLE XIII EVOLUTIONARY TELEOLOGY
- INDEX
Summary
Do Varieties wear out, or tend to wear out?
This question has been argued from time to time for more than half a century, and is far from being settled yet. Indeed, it is not to be settled either way so easily as is sometimes thought. The result of a prolonged and rather lively discussion of the topic about forty years ago in England, in which Lindley bore a leading part on the negative side, was, if we rightly remember, that the nays had the best of the argument. The deniers could fairly well explain away the facts adduced by the other side, and evade the force of the reasons then assigned to prove that varieties were bound to die out in the course of time. But if the case were fully re-argued now, it is by no means certain that the nays would win it. The most they could expect would be the Scotch verdict, “not proven.” And this not because much, if any, additional evidence of the actual wearing out of any variety has turned up since, but because a presumption has been raised under which the evidence would take, a bias the other way. There is now in the minds of scientific men some reason to expect that certain varieties would die out in the long run, and this might have an important influence upon the interpretation of the facts.
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- DarwinianaEssays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism, pp. 338 - 355Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1876