Studies Scientific & Social, 1. köideMacmillan and Company, 1900 - 532 pages |
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abundant adapted Africa allied alluvium Alpine America animals appear apterous argument Asia Australians Azores beautiful BIRD OF PARADISE birds causes characteristic characters coast colour considerable continuous crust curious Darwin denudation distinct Eastern equally erosion erratics Europe European evidence existence extensive fact favourable feet flora flowers forests genera genus geological geologists glacial glacier gorge groups Guinea hair ice age ice-sheet important individual inhabit insects islands Lake Zurich lakes land larvæ lemurs less Madeira Mahoris Malay miles Miocene modification monkeys moraine mountain native natural selection naturalists Nearctic nearly North occur ocean organic origin origin of species Palearctic Papuans peculiar perhaps phenomena plants Polynesians portion probably produced Professor race regions remarkable Rhone glacier river rock rocky slopes species streams supposed surface tail theory thickness tion trees tribes tropical valley valley-lakes variation varied whole winged writers Yosemite YOSEMITE VALLEY
Popular passages
Page 285 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator 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.
Page 367 - Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficult— at least I have found it so— than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of nature, with every fact on distribution, rarity, abundance, extinction, and variation, will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood.
Page 338 - In my opinion, the greatest error which I have committed has been not allowing sufficient weight to the direct action of the environments, ie, food, climate, &c., independently of natural selection . . . When I wrote the 'Origin,' and for some years afterwards, I could find little good evidence of the direct action of the environment; now there is a large body of evidence, and your case of the Saturnia is one of the most remarkable of which I have heard.
Page 12 - To descend into some of these valleys, it is necessary to go round twenty miles; and into others, the surveyors have only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not yet been able to drive in their cattle. But the most remarkable feature in their structure is, that although several miles wide at their heads, they generally contract towards their mouths to such a degree as to become impassable.
Page 346 - At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.
Page 293 - By JA Allen. (Bulletin of the Mntevm of Comparafire Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., vol. ii. No. 3.) in proportions ; in the length of the head, feet, wings, and tail ; in the length of particular feathers, thus altering the shape of the wing or tail ; in the length of the tarsi and of the separate toes ; and in the length, width, thickness, and curvature of the bill. These variations are by no means small in amount or requiring very accurate measurements for their detection, since...
Page 517 - ... other, are alike unknown ; when all receive the best and most thorough education that the state of civilization and knowledge at the time will admit; when the standard of public opinion is set by the wisest and the best, and that standard is systematically inculcated on the young — then we shall find that a system of selection will come spontaneously into action which will steadily tend to eliminate the lower and more degraded types of man, and thus continuously raise the average standard of...
Page 322 - In various countries horn-like projections have been observed on the frontal bones of the horse : in one case described by Mr. Percival they arose about two inches above the orbital processes, and were " very like those in a calf from five to six months old...
Page 127 - It is submitted that we have here a positive criterion, now adduced for the first time, which is absolutely fatal to any theory of submersion. Lastly, the special case of the Lake of Geneva is discussed, and it is shown that the explanation put forth by the antiglacialists is wholly unsupported by facts, and is opposed to the known laws of glacier motion. The Contemporary is included among the magazines that we have received, and to it Mr. Herbert Spencer contributes a rejoinder to Prof. Weismann....
Page 353 - ... (p. 16). Again, at page Gt), he urges that the essential character of species is that they constitute a discontinuous series, and he asks "Is it not then possible that the discontinuity of species may be a consequence and expression of the discontinuity of variation?" He then states that on the received hypothesis, "Variation is continuous, and the discontinuity of species results from the operation of selection.