Illustrated On the Origin of Species

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COVERTK

Michael KellerILLUSTRATED BY NICOLLE RAGER FULLER

A G R APHIC ADAPTATION

Charles Darwins

On the

Origin of Species

Reprinted from Charles Darwin On the Origin Of Species: A

Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller. Copyright 2009 by

Michael Keller. Permission granted by Rodale Inc.


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When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I wasmuch struck with certain facts in the distribution

of the organic beings inhabiting South America, andin the geological relations of the present to thepast inhabitants of that continent.

DARWINSAPARTMENTATNO. 41 GREATMARLBOROUGHSTREET, LONDON

March 1837


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To my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckooejecting its foster-brothers,

ants making slaves,

the larvae of Ichneumonidaefeeding within the live bodies of

caterpillars,

not as specially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general lawleading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely,


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Many years ago, when comparing,and seeing others compare, the

birds from the closely neighbour-ing islands of the Galpagos

archipelago, one with another,and with those from the Americanmainland, I was much struck how

entirely vague and arbitrary isthe distinction between speciesand varieties.

I look at the term species as onearbitrarily given, for the sake ofconvenience, to a set of individu-als closely resembling each other,

and that it does not essentiallydiff er from the term variety,which is given to less distinct and

more fluctuating forms.

The passage from one stage ofdiff erence to another may, in manycases, be the simple result of thenature of the organism and ofthe diff erent physical conditionsto which it has long been exposed;

but with respect to the moreimportant and adaptive charac-ters, the passage from one stageof diff erence to another, may besafely attributed to the cumula-tive action of natural selection.

Hence I look at individual diff erencesas of thehighest importance for us, as being the first stepstowards such slight varieties as are barely thought

worth recording in works on natural history.


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Can itbe thought improbable, seeing thatvariations useful to man have undoubtedlyoccurred, that other variations useful insome way to each being in the great and

complex battle of life, should occur in thecourse of many successive generations?

If such do occur, can we doubt(remembering that many moreindividuals are born than canpossibly survive) that indi-

viduals having any advantage,however slight, over others,would have the best chance ofsurviving and of procreating

their kind?


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This preservation of favorable individual diff er-ences and variations, and the destruction of thosewhich are injurious, I have calledNatural Selection,

or the Survival of the Fittest.

It is diffi cult toavoid personifying

the word Nature; butI mean by nature,only the aggregateaction and product

of many naturallaws, and by laws the

sequence of eventsas ascertained by us.

On the other hand, we may feel surethat any variation in the least degreeinjurious would be rigidly destroyed.

NATURAL SELECTION


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How fl eeting are the wishes and efforts of man! Howshort his time! And consequently how poor will behis results, compared with those accumulated by

Nature during whole geological periods!

Man can act only onexternal and visible

characters;

As man can produce,and certainly has

produced, a greatresult by his methodicaland unconscious means

of selection, what maynot natural selectioneff ect?

Nature, if I may beallowed to personifythe natural preser-vation or survival ofthe fittest, cares noth-ing for appearances,except in so far asthey are useful to

any being.

She can act on every internalorgan, on every shade of consti-tutional diff erence, on the whole

machinery of life. Man selects onlyfor his own good; Nature only forthat of the being which she tends.

Can we wonder, then, that Natures productions should be far truer in character thanmans productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex

conditions of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher workmanship?


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We see nothing of these slow changes inprogress, until the hand of time has marked

the lapse of ages,

and then soimperfect isour view into

long-past geologi-cal ages, that wesee only that theforms of life arenow diff erent

from what theyformerly were.


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NORTHAMERICAPINETREEDISTRIBUTION

ISOLATIONANDNATURAL SELECTION

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Throughout a great and open area, notonly will there be a better chance of

favourable variations, arising from thelarge number of individuals of the same

species there supported,

For within a confinedarea, with some place inthe natural polity not

perfectly occupied, allthe individuals varying inthe right direction, thoughin diff erent degrees, will

tend to be preserved.

But if the area be large, its severaldistricts will almost certainly present

diff erent conditions of life.

Isolation also is an importantelement in the modificationof species through natural

selection.

but the conditions of lifeare much more complex fromthe large number of already

existing species; and if someof these many species becomemodified and improved, otherswill have to be improved in acorresponding degree, or they

will be exterminated.


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And what of the complexities of the humaneye? How can that possibly have evolvedthrough gradual changes when any missing

component to the system prevents theentire thing from working?

We mayfind aggregates ofpigment-cells, apparently servingas organs of vision, without any

nerves. (These) are not capable ofdistinct vision, and serve only todistinguish light from darkness.

The simplest organ which can be called an eye consists of an optic nerve, surrounded bypigment-cells and covered by translucent skin, but without any lens or other refractivebody. In this concentration of the rays we gain the first and by far the most importantstep towards the formation of a true, picture-forming eye; for we have only to place the

naked extremity of the optic nerveat the right distance from the concentrating apparatus,and an image will be formed on it.

We must suppose that there is a power, represented bynatural selection or the survival of the fittest, always

intently watching each slight alteration in the transparentlayers; and carefully preserving each which, under varied

circumstances, in any way or in any degree, tends to producea distincter image.


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on this law of the succession oftypeson this wonderful relationship

in the same continent between thedead and the living.

I was so much impressed with thesefacts that I strongly insisted

The inhabitants of the world at each successive period in its historyhave beaten their predecessors in the race for life.

The succession of the same types of structure within the same areas during the latergeological periods ceases to be mysterious, and is intelligible on

the principle of inheritance.

LAWOFTHESUCCESSIONOF TYPES


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Professor Hckelhas recently brought his greatknowledge and abilities to bear on what he callsphylogeny, or the lines of descent of all organic

beings. In drawing up the several series he trustschiefl y to embryological characters, but receives aidfrom homologous and rudimentary organs, as well

as from the successive periods at which the variousforms of life are believed to have first appeared in

our geological formations....

We have seen that the members of the same class, independently of their habits of life, resembleeach other in the general plan of their organisation. This resemblance is often expressed by theterm unity of type; or by saying that the several parts and organs in the diff erent species ofthe class are homologous.... This is one of the most interesting departments of natural history,

and may almost be said to be its very soul.

What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed forgrasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddleof the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructedon the same pattern, and should include similar bones, in the same

relative positions?...

MOLE HUMAN ORCA BAT

ANATOMICAL SIMILARITIES

Illustrated On the Origin of Species

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