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Show 2 INTRODUCTION. natural history of the Malay archipelago, ~as arrived at almost exactly the same general conclusions that I have on the origin of species. Last year he sent to me a memoi. r on thi's subiect with a request that I would J ' • L · forward it to Sir Charles Lyell, ~ho sent ~t to the In-nean so m.e t·y , and I·t is published I.n the third voludm eD o.f the Journal of that Society. Sir C. Lyell an . r. H k h both knew of my work-the latter having oo er, w o b th · ki · t read my sketch of 184~-honoured m~ y m ng 1- advisable to publish, w1th Mr. Wallace s ~xcellent me moir, some brief extracts from my ~anuscr1pts. . This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and. I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence 1n my accuracy· N 0 doubt errors will have crept in, though I hope I ~a_ve always been cautious in trusting to good aut~or1t1es al one. I can here give only the general .c on.clusions at 11 t' which I have arrived, with a few facts In I ustra Ion, but which, I hope, in most cases will suffic~. No one can feel more sensible than I do of the nec~ss1ty of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, w1th references, on which my conclusions have been grounded ; and I hope in a future work to do this .. For I ~m w~ll aware that scarcely a single pojnt is discussed 1n th1s volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparen~.ly leading to conclusions directly opposite to t~ose at whiCh I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and argum~nts on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done. . I much regret that want of space prevents my ~av1ng the satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance which I have received from very many naturalists, some of them personally unknown to me. I cannot, however, INTRODUCTION. 3 let this opportunity pass without expressing my deep oblig~tions to ~r. Hooker, who for the last fifteen years has a1ded me In every possible way by his large stores of knowledge and his excellent judgment. !n considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual a.ffinities of organic beings, on their embryological relat~ ons, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which most justly excites our admiration. Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as climate, food, &c., as the only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, b.eak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees. In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which· .has seeds that must be transported by certain birds,. and which, has flowers with separate sexes a?solutely re.quiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself. The author of the 'Vestiges of Creation ' would, I presume, say that, after a certain unknown number of B2 |