of God and of the
immortality
of the soul.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v08 - Dah to Dra
Of individual objects, perhaps nothing is more
create astonishment than the first sight in his native haunt of a
barbarian of man in his lowest and most savage state. One's
mind hurries back over past centuries, and then asks: Could our
progenitors have been men like these? men whose very signs
and expressions are less intelligible to us than those of the
domesticated animals; men who do not possess the instinct of
those animals, nor yet appear to boast of human reason, or at
least of arts consequent on that reason. I do not believe it is
possible to describe or paint the difference between savage and
civilized man. It is the difference between a wild and tame
animal; and part of the interest in beholding a savage is the
same which would lead every one to desire to see the lion in his
desert, the tiger tearing his prey in the jungle, or the rhinoceros
wandering over the wild plains of Africa.
## p. 4395 (#165) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4395
Among the other most remarkable spectacles which we have
beheld may be ranked the Southern Cross, the cloud of Magellan,
and the other constellations of the southern hemisphere- the
water-spout—the glacier leading its blue stream of ice, over-
hanging the sea in a bold precipice-a lagoon island raised by
the reef-building corals-an active volcano-and the overwhelm-
ing effects of a violent earthquake. These latter phenomena per-
haps possess for me a peculiar interest, from their intimate
connection with the geological structure of the world. The
earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive
event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the
type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet;
and in seeing the labored works of man in a moment over-
thrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.
It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent
delight in man-a relic of an instinctive passion. If so, I am
sure the pleasure of living in the open air, with the sky for a
roof and the ground for a table, is part of the same feeling; it
is the savage returning to his wild and native habits. I always
look back to our boat cruises and my land journeys, when
through unfrequented countries, with an extreme delight, which
no scenes of civilization could have created. I do not doubt that
every traveler must remember the glowing sense of happiness
which he experienced when he first breathed in a foreign clime,
where the civilized man had seldom or never trod.
There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long voy-
age which are of a more reasonable nature. The map of the
world ceases to be a blank; it becomes a picture full of the
most varied and animated figures. Each part assumes its proper
dimensions; continents are not looked at in the light of islands,
or islands considered as mere specks, which are in truth larger
than many kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North and South.
America, are well-sounding names, and easily pronounced; but
it is not until having sailed for weeks along small portions of
their shores that one is thoroughly convinced what vast spaces
on our immense world these names imply.
From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look
forward with high expectations to the future progress of nearly
an entire hemisphere. The march of improvement consequent
on the introduction of Christianity throughout the South Sea
probably stands by itself in the records of history. It is the
## p. 4396 (#166) ###########################################
4396
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
:
more striking when we remember that only sixty years since,
Cook, whose excellent judgment none will dispute, could foresee
no prospect of a change. Yet these changes have now been
effected by the philanthropic spirit of the British nation.
In the same quarter of the globe Australia is rising, or
indeed may be said to have risen, into a grand centre of
civilization, which at some not very remote period will rule as
empress over the southern hemisphere. It is impossible for an
Englishman to behold these distant colonies without a high pride
and satisfaction. To hoist the British flag seems to draw with it,
as a certain consequence, wealth, prosperity, and civilization.
In conclusion, it appears to me that nothing can be more
improving to a young naturalist than a journey in distant coun-
tries. It both sharpens and partly allays that want and craving
which, as Sir J. Herschel remarks, a man experiences although
every corporeal sense be fully satisfied. The excitement from
the novelty of objects, and the chance of success, stimulate him.
to increased activity. Moreover, as a number of isolated facts
soon become uninteresting, the habit of comparison leads to gen-
eralization. On the other hand, as the traveler stays but a short
time in each place, his descriptions must generally consist of
mere sketches instead of detailed observations. Hence arises, as
I have found to my cost, a constant tendency to fill up the wide
gaps of knowledge by inaccurate and superficial hypotheses.
But I have too deeply enjoyed the voyage not to recommend
any naturalist,- although he must not expect to be so fortunate
in his companions as I have been,- to take all chances, and to
start, on travels by land if possible, if otherwise on a long voy-
age. He may feel assured he will meet with no difficulties or
dangers, excepting in rare cases, nearly so bad as he beforehand
anticipates. In a moral point of view the effect ought to be to
teach him good-humored patience, freedom from selfishness, the
habit of acting for himself, and of making the best of every
occurrence. In short, he ought to partake of the characteristic
qualities of most sailors. Traveling ought also to teach him dis-
trust; but at the same time he will discover how many truly
kind-hearted people there are with whom he never before had,
or ever again will have, any further communication, who yet are
ready to offer him the most disinterested assistance.
## p. 4397 (#167) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4397
THE GENESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES>
From Life and Letters
A
FTER several fruitless searches in Surrey and elsewhere, we
found this house and purchased it. I was pleased with the
diversified appearance of vegetation proper to a chalk dis-
trict, and so unlike what I had been accustomed to in the Mid-
land counties; and still more pleased with the extreme quietness
and rusticity of the place. It is not however quite so retired a
place as a writer in a German periodical makes it, who says that
my house can be approached only by a mule-track! Our fixing
ourselves here has answered admirably in one way which we did
not anticipate,—namely, by being very convenient for frequent
visits from our children.
Few persons can have lived a more retired life than we have
done.
Besides short visits to the houses of relations, and occa-
sionally to the seaside or elsewhere, we have gone nowhere.
During the first part of our residence we went a little into
society, and received a few friends here; but my health almost
always suffered from the excitement, violent shivering and vomit-
ing attacks being thus brought on. I have therefore been com-
pelled for many years to give up all dinner parties; and this has
been somewhat of a deprivation to me, as such parties always
put me into high spirits. From the same cause I have been
able to invite here very few scientific acquaintances.
During the voyage of the Beagle I had been deeply impressed
by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil animals,
covered with armor like that on the existing armadillos; secondly,
by the manner in which closely allied animals replace one another
in proceeding southwards over the Continent; and thirdly, by the
South-American character of most of the productions of the
Galapagos Archipelago, and more especially by the manner in
which they differ slightly on each island of the group; none of
the islands appearing to be very ancient in a geological sense.
It was evident that such facts as these, as well as many
others, could only be explained on the supposition that species.
gradually become modified; and the subject haunted me. But it
was equally evident that neither the action of the surrounding
conditions, nor the will of the organisms (especially in the case
of plants), could account for the innumerable cases in which
## p. 4398 (#168) ###########################################
4398
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
organisms of every kind are beautifully adapted to their habits of
life; for instance, a woodpecker or a tree-frog to climb trees,
or a seed for dispersal by hooks or plumes. I had always been
much struck by such adaptations, and until these could be
explained it seemed to me almost useless to endeavor to prove
by indirect evidence that species have been modified.
After my return to England it appeared to me that by fol-
lowing the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all
facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and
plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps
be thrown on the whole subject. My first note-book was opened
in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles; and without
any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale, more especially
with respect to domesticated productions, by printed inquiries,
by conversation with skillful breeders and gardeners, and by
extensive reading. When I see the list of books of all kinds
which I read and abstracted, including whole series of Journals
and Transactions, I am surprised at my industry. I soon per-
ceived that selection was the keystone of man's success in making
useful races of animals and plants. But how selection could be
applied to organisms living in a state of nature, remained for
some time a mystery to me.
In October 1838-that is, fifteen months after I had begun
my systematic inquiry-I happened to read for amusement
'Malthus on Population'; and being well prepared to appreciate
the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-
continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at
once struck me that under these circumstances favorable varia-
tions would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be
destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new
species. Here then I had at last got a theory by which to work;
but I was so anxious to avoid prejudice that I determined not
for some time to write even the briefest sketch of it.
In June
1842 I first allowed myself the satisfaction of writing a very
brief abstract of my theory in pencil in thirty-five pages; and
this was enlarged during the summer of 1844 into one of two
hundred and thirty pages, which I had fairly copied out and
still possess.
But at that time I overlooked one problem of great import-
ance; and it is astonishing to me, except on the principle of
Columbus and his egg, how I could have overlooked it and its
## p. 4399 (#169) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4399
solution. This problem is the tendency in organic beings de-
scended from the same stock to diverge in character as they
become modified. That they have diverged greatly is obvious
from the manner in which species of all kinds can be classed
under genera, genera under families, families under sub-orders,
and so forth: and I can remember the very spot in the road,
whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to
me; and this was long after I had come to Down. The solution,
as I believe, is that the modified offspring of all dominant and
increasing forms tend to become adapted to many and highly
diversified places in the economy of nature.
Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my views pretty
fully, and I began at once to do so on a scale three or four
times as extensive as that which was afterwards followed in my
'Origin of Species'; yet it was only an abstract of the materials.
which I had collected, and I got through about half the work
on this scale. But my plans were overthrown, for early in the
summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, who was then in the Malay Archi-
pelago, sent me an essay On the Tendency of Varieties to
depart Indefinitely from the Original Type'; and this essay con-
tained exactly the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed
the wish that if I thought well of his essay, I should send it to
Lyell for perusal.
The circumstances under which I consented, at the request
of Lyell and Hooker, to allow of an abstract from my MS. ,
together with a letter to Asa Gray dated September 5th 1857, to
be published at the same time with Wallace's essay, are given
in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' 1858,
page 45. I was at first very unwilling to consent, as I thought
Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, for I did
not then know how generous and noble was his disposition. The
extract from my MS. and the letter to Asa Gray had neither
been intended for publication, and were badly written. Mr. Wal-
lace's essay, on the other hand, was admirably expressed and quite
clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions excited very little
attention, and the only published notice of them which I can
remember was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict
was that all that was new in them was false, and what was true
was old. This shows how necessary it is that any new view
should be explained at considerable length in order to arouse
public attention.
## p. 4400 (#170) ###########################################
4400
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
My habits are methodical, and this has been of not a little
use for my particular line of work. Lastly, I have had ample
leisure from not having to earn my own bread. Even ill health,
though it has annihilated several years of my life, has saved me
from the distractions of society and amusement.
Therefore my success as a man of science, whatever this may
have amounted to, has been determined as far as I can judge
by complex and diversified mental qualities and conditions. Of
these, the most important have been the love of science, un-
bounded patience in long reflecting over any subject, industry in
observing and collecting facts, and a fair share of invention as
well as of common-sense. With such moderate abilities as I pos-
sess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a
considerable extent the belief of scientific men on some import-
ant points.
CURIOUS ATROPHY OF ÆSTHETIC TASTE
From Life and Letters >
HERE seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind, leading me to
put at first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awk-
ward form. Formerly I used to think about my sentences
before writing them down; but for several years I have found that
it saves time to scribble in a vile hand whole pages as quickly
as I possibly can, contracting half the words; and then correct
deliberately. Sentences thus scribbled down are often better
ones than I could have written deliberately.
Having said thus much about my manner of writing, I will
add that with my large books I spend a good deal of time over
the general arrangement of the matter. I first make the rudest
outline in two or three pages, and then a larger one in several
pages, a few words or one word standing for a whole discussion
or a series of facts. Each one of these headings is again en-
larged and often transferred before I begin to write in extenso.
As in several of my books facts observed by others have been
very extensively used, and as I have always had several quite
distinct subjects in hand at the same time, I may mention that I
keep from thirty to forty large portfolios in cabinets with labeled
shelves, into which I can at once put a detached reference or
## p. 4401 (#171) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4401
memorandum. I have bought many books, and at their ends I
make an index of all the facts that concern my work; or if the
book is not my own, write out a separate abstract, and of such
abstracts I have a large drawer full. Before beginning on any
subject I look to all the short indexes and make a general and
classified index, and by taking the one or more proper portfolios,
I have all the information collected during my life ready for
use.
I have said that in one respect my mind has changed during
the last twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty, or
beyond it, poetry of many kinds, such as the works of Milton,
Gray, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley, gave me great
pleasure; and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in
Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays. I have also said
that formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very
great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read
a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and
found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also
almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets
me thinking too energetically on what I have been at work on,
instead of giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine
scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it
formerly did. On the other hand, novels which are works of
the imagination, though not of a very high order, have been for
years a wonderful relief and pleasure to me, and I often bless
all novelists. A surprising number have been read aloud to me,
and I like all if moderately good, and if they do not end unhap-
pily against which a law ought to be passed. A novel, according
to my taste, does not come into the first class unless it contains
some person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty
woman, all the better.
-
This curious and lamentable loss of the higher æsthetic tastes
is all the odder, as books on history, biographies, and travels
(independently of any scientific facts which they may contain),
and essays on all sorts of subjects, interest me as much as ever
they did. My mind seems to have become a kind of machine
for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts; but
why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the
brain alone on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot con-
ceive. A man with a mind more highly organized or better con-
stituted than mine would not, I suppose, have thus suffered:
VIII-276
## p. 4402 (#172) ###########################################
4402
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to
read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every
week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would
thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes
is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the
intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling
the emotional part of our nature.
PRIVATE MEMORANDUM CONCERNING HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER
From Life and Letters>
UR poor child Annie was born in Gower Street on March
2d, 1841, and expired at Malvern at midday on the 23d
of April, 1851.
I write these few pages, as I think in after years, if we live,
the impressions now put down will recall more vividly her chief
characteristics. From whatever point I look back at her, the main
feature in her disposition which at once rises before me is her
buoyant joyousness, tempered by two other characteristics; namely,
her sensitiveness, which might easily have been overlooked by a
stranger, and her strong affection. Her joyousness and animal
spirits radiated from her whole countenance, and rendered every
movement elastic and full of life and vigor. It was delightful
and cheerful to behold her. Her dear face now rises before me,
as she used sometimes to come running down-stairs with a stolen
pinch of snuff for me, her whole form radiant with the pleasure
of giving pleasure. Even when playing with her cousins, when
her joyousness almost passed into boisterousness, a single glance
of my eye, not of displeasure (for I thank God I hardly ever
cast one on her), but of want of sympathy, would for some min-
utes alter her whole countenance.
The other point in her character, which made her joyousness
and spirits so delightful, was her strong affection, which was of
a most clinging, fondling nature. When quite a baby this
showed itself in never being easy without touching her mother
when in bed with her; and quite lately she would, when poorly,
fondle for any length of time one of her mother's arms. When
very unwell, her mother lying down beside her seemed to
soothe her in a manner quite different from what it would have
## p. 4403 (#173) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4403
done to any of our other children. So again she would at
almost any time spend half an hour in arranging my hair,
"making it,” as she called it, "beautiful," or in smoothing, the
poor dear darling! my collar or cuffs-in short, in fondling me.
Besides her joyousness thus tempered, she was in her man-
ners remarkably cordial, frank, open, straightforward, natural,
and without any shade of reserve. Her whole mind was pure
and transparent. One felt one knew her thoroughly and could
trust her. I always thought that come what might, we should
have had in our old age at least one loving soul which nothing
could have changed. All her movements were vigorous, active,
and usually graceful. When going round the Sand-walk with
me, although I walked fast, yet she often used to go before,
pirouetting in the most elegant way, her dear face bright all the
time with the sweetest smiles. Occasionally she had a pretty
coquettish manner towards me, the memory of which is charm-
ing. She often used exaggerated language, and when I quizzed
her by exaggerating what she had said, how clearly can I now
see the little toss of the head, and exclamation of "Oh, papa,
what a shame of you! " In the last short illness, her conduct in
simple truth was angelic. She never once complained; never
became fretful; was ever considerate of others, and was thankful
in the most gentle, pathetic manner for everything done for her.
When so exhausted that she could hardly speak, she praised
everything that was given her, and said some tea "was beauti-
fully good. " When I gave her some water she said, "I quite
thank you;" and these I believe were the last precious words ever
addressed by her dear lips to me.
We have lost the joy of the household and the solace of our
old age.
She must have known how we loved her. Oh that she
could now know how deeply, how tenderly, we do still and shall
ever love her dear joyous face! Blessings on her!
April 30th, 1851.
## p. 4404 (#174) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4404
.
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
From Life and Letters'
I
AM much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and I can-
not spare time to answer your questions fully,-nor indeed
can they be answered. Science has nothing to do with
Christ, except in so far as the habit of scientific research makes
a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I do not
believe that there ever has been any revelation. As for a future
life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague
probabilities.
During these two years [October 1836 to January 1839] I was
led to think much about religion.
Whilst on board the Beagle I was quite orthodox, and I
remember being heartily laughed at by several of the officers
(though themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an un-
answerable authority on some point of morality. I suppose it
was the novelty of the argument that amused them. But I had
gradually come by this time-i. e. , 1836 to 1839-to see that the
Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books
of the Hindoos. The question then continually rose before my
mind and would not be banished,—is it credible that if God
were now to make a revelation to the Hindoos, he would permit
it to be connected with the belief in Vishnu, Siva, etc. , as
Christianity is connected with the Old Testament? This appeared
to me utterly incredible.
By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be
requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which
Christianity is supported,-and that the more we know of the
fixed laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become,
that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a
degree almost incomprehensible by us,—that the Gospels cannot
be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events,
-that they differ in many important details, far too important,
as it seemed to me, to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of
eye-witnesses; - by such reflections as these, which I give not as
having the least novelty or value, but as they influenced me,— I
gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revela-
tion. The fact that many false religions have spread over large
portions of the earth like wild-fire had some weight with me.
## p. 4405 (#175) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4405
But I was very unwilling to give up my belief; I feel sure
of this, for I can well remember often and often inventing day-
dreams of old letters between distinguished Romans, and manu-
scripts being discovered at Pompeii or elsewhere, which confirmed.
in the most striking manner all that was written in the Gospels.
But I found it more and more difficult, with free scope given to
my imagination, to invent evidence which would suffice to con-
vince me. Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate,
but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no
distress.
Although I did not think much about the existence of a
personal God until a considerably later period of my life, I will
here give the vague conclusions to which I have been driven.
The old argument from design in Nature, as given by Paley,
which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that
the law of natural selection has been discovered. We can no
longer argue that for instance the beautiful hinge of a bivalve
shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the
hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in
the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural
selection, than in the course which the wind blows. But I have
discussed this subject at the end of my book on the 'Variations
of Domesticated Animals and Plants'; and the argument there
given has never, as far as I can see, been answered.
But passing over the endless beautiful adaptations which
we everywhere meet with, it may be asked, How can the gener-
ally beneficent arrangement of the world be accounted for?
Some writers indeed are so much impressed with the amount of
suffering in the world, that they doubt, if we look to all sen-
tient beings, whether there is more of misery or of happiness;
whether the world as a whole is a good or bad one. According
to my judgment happiness decidedly prevails, though this would
be very difficult to prove. If the truth of this conclusion be
granted, it harmonizes well with the effects which we might
expect from natural selection. If all the individuals of any
species were habitually to suffer to an extreme degree, they
would neglect to propagate their kind; but we have no reason to
believe that this has ever, or at least often, occurred. Some
other considerations moreover lead to the belief that all sen-
tient beings have been formed so as to enjoy, as a general rule,
happiness.
## p. 4406 (#176) ###########################################
4406
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
Every one who believes as I do, that all the corporeal and
mental organs (excepting those which are neither advantageous
nor disadvantageous to the possessor) of all beings have been
developed through natural selection, or the survival of the fittest,
together with use or habit, will admit that these organs have
been formed so that their possessors may compete successfully
with other beings, and thus increase in number. Now an animal
may be led to pursue that course of action which is most bene-
ficial to the species by suffering, such as pain, hunger, thirst,
and fear; or by pleasure, as in eating and drinking, and in the
propagation of the species, etc. ; or by both means combined, as
in the search for food. But pain or suffering of any kind, if
long continued, causes depression and lessens the power of action,
yet is well adapted to make a creature guard itself against any
great or sudden evil. Pleasurable sensations, on the other hand,
may be long continued without any depressing effect; on the
contrary, they stimulate the whole system to increased action.
Hence it has come to pass that most or all sentient beings
have been developed in such a manner, through natural selec-
tion, that pleasurable sensations serve as their habitual guides.
We see this in the pleasure from exertion, even occasionally from
great exertion of the body or mind,-in the pleasure of our
daily meals, and especially in the pleasure derived from sociabil-
ity, and from loving our families. The sum of such pleasures
as these, which are habitual or frequently recurrent, give, as I
can hardly doubt, to most sentient beings an excess of happi-
ness over misery, although many occasionally suffer much. Such
suffering is quite compatible with the belief in natural selec-
tion, which is not perfect in its action, but tends only to ren-
der each species as successful as possible in the battle for life.
with other species, in wonderfully complex and changing circum-
stances.
That there is much suffering in the world, no one disputes.
Some have attempted to explain this with reference to man by
imagining that it serves for his moral improvement. But the
number of men in the world is as nothing compared with that
of all other sentient beings, and they often suffer greatly with-
out any moral improvement. This very old argument from the
existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent First
Cause seems to me a strong one; whereas, as just remarked,
the presence of much suffering agrees well with the view that
## p. 4407 (#177) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4407
all organic beings have been developed through variation and
natural selection.
At the present day, the most usual argument for the exist-
ence of an intelligent God is drawn from the deep inward con-
viction and feelings which are experienced by most persons.
Formerly I was led by feelings such as those just referred to
(although I do not think that the religious sentiment was ever
strongly developed in me), to the firm conviction of the existence.
of God and of the immortality of the soul. In my Journal I
wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of a
Brazilian forest, "it is not possible to give an adequate idea of
the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion, which
fill and elevate the mind. " I well remember my conviction that
there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. But
now the grandest scenes would not cause any such convictions
and feelings to rise in my mind. It may be truly said that I am
like a man who has become color-blind, and the universal belief
by men of the existence of redness makes my present loss of
perception of not the least value as evidence. This argument
would be a valid one if all men of all races had the same inward
conviction of the existence of one God; but we know that this
is very far from being the case. Therefore I cannot see that
such inward convictions and feelings are of any weight as evi-
dence of what really exists. The state of mind which grand
scenes formerly excited in me, and which was intimately con-
nected with a belief in God, did not essentially differ from that
which is often called the sense of sublimity; and however diffi-
cult it may be to explain the genesis of this sense, it can hardly
be advanced as an argument for the existence of God, any more
than the powerful though vague and similar feelings excited by
music.
With respect to immortality, nothing shows me [so clearly]
how strong and almost instinctive a belief it is, as the consid-
eration of the view now held by most physicists, namely, that
the sun with all the planets will in time grow too cold for life,
unless indeed some great body dashes into the sun, and thus
gives it fresh life. Believing as I do that man in the distant
future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is
an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings
are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued
slow progress.
To those who fully admit the immortality of
## p. 4408 (#178) ###########################################
4408
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so
dreadful.
Another source of conviction in the existence of God, con-
nected with the reason, and not with the feelings, impresses me
as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme
difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and
wonderful universe, including man, with his capacity of looking
far backward and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance
or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a
First Cause, having an intelligent mind in some degree anal-
ogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.
This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far
as I can remember, when I wrote the 'Origin of Species'; and
it is since that time that it has very gradually, with many
fluctuations, become weaker. But then arises the doubt: Can the
mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed
from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be
trusted when it draws such grand conclusions ?
I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse
problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble
by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.
C. DARWIN TO MISS JULIA WEDGWOOD: ON DESIGN
From Life and Letters >
JULY 11th [1861].
SOME
COME one has sent us 'Macmillan,' and I must tell you how
much I admire your article; though at the same time I
must confess that I could not clearly follow you in some
parts, which probably is in main part due to my not being at all
accustomed to metaphysical trains of thought. I think that you
understand my book perfectly, and that I find a very rare event
with my critics. The ideas in the last page have several times
vaguely crossed my mind. Owing to several correspondents I
have been led lately to think, or rather to try to think, over
some of the chief points discussed by you. But the result has
been with me a maze-something like thinking on the origin of
evil, to which you allude. The mind refuses to look at this
universe, being what it is, without having been designed; yet
## p. 4409 (#179) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4409
where one would most expect design,- viz. , in the structure of
a sentient being,- the more I think on the subject, the less I
can see proof of design. Asa Gray and some others look at each
variation, or at least at each beneficial variation (which A. Gray
would compare with the rain-drops which do not fall on the sea,
but on to the land to fertilize it), as having been providentially
designed. Yet when I asked him whether he looks at each
variation in the rock-pigeon, by which man has made by accumu-
lation a pouter or fantail pigeon, as providentially designed for
man's amusement, he does not know what to answer; and if he
or any one admits [that] these variations are accidental, as far
as purpose is concerned (of course not accidental as to their
cause or origin), then I can see no reason why he should rank
the accumulated variations by which the beautifully adapted
woodpecker has been formed, as providentially designed. For it
would be easy to imagine the enlarged crop of the pouter, or
tail of the fantail, as of some use to birds in a state of nature,
having peculiar habits of life. These are the considerations
which perplex me about design; but whether you will care
hear them, I know not.
[On the subject of design, he wrote (July 1860) to Dr.
Gray: -]
One word more on "designed laws" and "undesigned results. "
I see a bird which I want for food, take my gun and kill it; I
do this designedly. An innocent and good man stands under a
tree and is killed by a flash of lightning. Do you believe (and
I really should like to hear) that God designedly killed this man?
Many or most persons do believe this; I can't and don't.
If you
believe so, do you believe that when a swallow snaps up a gnat,
that God designed that that particular swallow should snap up
that particular gnat at that particular instant? I believe that
the man and the gnat are in the same predicament. If the
death of neither man nor gnat is designed, I see no good
reason to believe that their first birth or production should be
necessarily designed.
·
## p. 4410 (#180) ###########################################
4410
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
CORRESPONDENCE
From The Life and Letters'
.
C. DARWIN TO J. D. HOOKER
My Dear Hooker:
I
AM astonished at your note. I have not seen the Athenæum,
but I have sent for it, and may get it to-morrow; and will
then say what I think.
Down, February 24th [1863].
I have read Lyell's book [The Antiquity of Man']. The
whole certainly struck me as a compilation, but of the highest
class; for when possible the facts have been verified on the spot,
making it almost an original work. The Glacial chapters seem
to me best, and in parts magnificent. I could hardly judge about
Man, as all the gloss of novelty was completely worn off. But
certainly the aggregation of the evidence produced a very strik-
ing effect on my mind. The chapter comparing language and
changes of species seems most ingenious and interesting. He has
shown great skill in picking out salient points in the argument
for change of species; but I am deeply disappointed (I do not
mean personally) to find that his timidity prevents him giving
any judgment.
From all my communications with him,
I must ever think that he has really entirely lost faith in the
immutability of species; and yet one of his strongest sentences is
nearly as follows: "If it should ever be rendered highly probable
that species change by variation and natural selection," etc. , etc.
I had hoped he would have guided the public as far as his own
belief went.
One thing does please me on this subject,
that he seems to appreciate your work. No doubt the public or
a part may be induced to think that as he gives to us a larger
space than to Lamarck, he must think there is something in our
views. When reading the brain chapter, it struck me forcibly
that if he had said openly that he believed in change of species,
and as a consequence that man was derived from some quadru-
manous animal, it would have been very proper to have discussed
by compilation the differences in the most important organ, viz. ,
the brain. As it is, the chapter seems to me to come in rather
by the head and shoulders. I do not think (but then I am as
prejudiced as Falconer and Huxley, or more so) that it is too
•
## p. 4411 (#181) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4411
It might per-
severe. It struck me as given with judicial force.
haps be said with truth that he had no business to judge on a
subject on which he knows nothing; but compilers must do this
to a certain extent. (You know I value and rank high com-
pilers, being one myself. ) I have taken you at your word, and
scribbled at great length. If I get the Athenæum to-morrow, I
will add my impression of Owen's letter.
The Lyells are coming here on Sunday evening to stay till
Wednesday. I dread it, but I must say how much disappointed
I am that he has not spoken out on species, still less on man.
And the best of the joke is that he thinks he has acted with the
courage of a martyr of old. I hope I may have taken an exag-
gerated view of his timidity, and shall particularly be glad of
your opinion on this head. When I got his book I turned over
the pages, and saw he had discussed the subject of species, and
said that I thought he would do more to convert the public than
all of us; and now (which makes the case worse for me) I must,
in common honesty, retract. wish to Heaven he had said not
a word on the subject.
WEDNESDAY MORNING. I have read the Athenæum. I do
not think Lyell will be nearly so much annoyed as you expect.
The concluding sentence is no doubt very stinging.
No one
but a good anatomist could unravel Owen's letter; at least it is
quite beyond me.
Lyell's memory plays him false when he says all anatomists
were astonished at Owen's paper: it was often quoted with
approbation. I well remember Lyell's admiration at this new
classification! (Do not repeat this. ) I remember it because,
though I knew nothing whatever about the brain, I felt a con-
viction that a classification thus founded on a single character
would break down, and it seemed to me a great error not to
separate more completely the Marsupialia.
What an accursed evil it is that there should be all this quar-
reling, within what ought to be the peaceful realms of science.
I will go to my own present subject of inheritance and forget
it all for a time. Farewell, my dear old friend.
C. DARWIN.
•
## p. 4412 (#182) ###########################################
4412
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
C. DARWIN TO T. H. HUXLEY
OCTOBER 3d, 1864.
My Dear Huxley:
IF I do not pour out my admiration of your article on Köl-
liker, I shall explode. I never read anything better done. I
had much wished his article answered, and indeed thought of
doing so myself, so that I considered several points. You have
hit on all, and on some in addition, and oh, by Jove, how well
you have done it! As I read on and came to point after point
on which I had thought, I could not help jeering and scoffing at
myself, to see how infinitely better you had done it than I could.
have done. Well, if any one who does not understand Natural
Selection will read this, he will be a blockhead if it is not as
clear as daylight. Old Flourens was hardly worth the powder
and shot; but how capitally you bring in about the Academi-
cian, and your metaphor of the sea-sand is inimitable.
It is a marvel to me how you can resist becoming a regular
reviewer. Well, I have exploded now, and it has done me a
deal of good.
C. DARWIN TO E. RAY LANKESTER
Down, March 15th [1870].
My Dear Sir:
I Do not know whether you will consider me a very trouble-
some man, but I have just finished your book, and cannot
resist telling you how the whole has much interested me. No
doubt, as you say, there must be much speculation on such a
subject, and certain results cannot be reached; but all your
views are highly suggestive, and to my mind that is high
praise. I have been all the more interested, as I am now
writing on closely allied though not quite identical points. I
was pleased to see you refer to my much despised child,
'Pangenesis,' who I think will some day, under some better
nurse, turn out a fine stripling. It has also pleased me to
see how thoroughly you appreciate (and I do not think that
this is general with the men of science) H. Spencer; I sus-
pect that hereafter he will be looked at as by far the greatest
living philosopher in England; perhaps equal to any that have
## p. 4413 (#183) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4413
lived. But I have no business to trouble you with my notions.
With sincere thanks for the interest which your work has
given me,
I remain, yours very faithfully,
CH. DARWIN.
FROM A LETTER TO J. D. HOOKER
CLIFF COTTAGE, BOURNEMOUTH, September 26th, 1862.
My Dear Hooker:
Do NOT read this till you have leisure. If that blessed
moment ever comes, I should be very glad to have your
opinion on the subject of this letter. I am led to the opin--
ion that Drosera must have diffused matter in organic con-
nection, closely analogous to the nervous matter of animals.
When the glans of one of the papillæ or tentacles in its natural
position is supplied with nitrogenized fluid and certain other
stimulants, or when loaded with an extremely slight weight, or
when struck several times with a needle, the pedicel bends near
its base in under one minute. These varied stimulants are con-
veyed down the pedicel by some means; it cannot be vibration,
for drops of fluid put on quite quietly cause the movement; it
cannot be absorption of the fluid from cell to cell, for I can see
the rate of absorption, which, though quick, is far slower, and in
Dionæa the transmission is instantaneous; analogy from animals
would point to transmission through nervous matter. Reflecting
on the rapid power of absorption in the glans, the extreme
sensibility of the whole organ, and the conspicuous movement
caused by varied stimulants, I have tried a number of substances
which are not caustic or corrosive,
but most of which
are known to have a remarkable action on the nervous matter
of animals. You will see the results in the inclosed paper. As
the nervous matter of different animals is differently acted on
by the same poisons, one would not expect the same action on
plants and animals; only, if plants have diffused nervous matter,
some degree of analogous action. And this is partially the case.
Considering these experiments, together with the previously
made remarks on the functions of the parts, I cannot avoid the
conclusion that Drosera possesses matter at least in some degree
analogous in constitution and function to nervous matter. Now
do tell me what you think, as far as you can judge from my
abstract. Of course many more experiments would have to be
•
## p. 4414 (#184) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4414
tried; but in former years I tried on the whole leaf, instead of
on separate glands, a number of innocuous substances, such as
sugar, gum, starch, etc. , and they produced no effect. Your
opinion will aid me in deciding some future year in going on
with this subject. I should not have thought it worth attempt-
ing, but I had nothing on earth to do.
My dear Hooker, yours very sincerely,
CH. DARWIN.
P. S. — We return home on Monday 28th. Thank Heaven!
-
THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
From the Origin of Species >
BE
EFORE entering on the subject of this chapter, I must make a
few preliminary remarks, to show how the struggle for
existence bears on Natural Selection. It has been seen in
the last chapter that amongst organic beings in a state of nature
there is some individual variability; indeed, I am not aware that
this has ever been disputed. It is immaterial for us whether
a multitude of doubtful forms be called species, or sub-species,
or varieties; what rank, for instance, the two or three hundred
doubtful forms of British plants are entitled to hold, if the exist-
ence of any well-marked varieties be admitted. But the mere
existence of individual variability and of some few well-marked
varieties, though necessary as the foundation for the work, helps
us but little in understanding how species arise in nature. How
have all those exquisite adaptations of one part of the organiza-
tion to another part, and to the conditions of life, and of one
organic being to another being, been perfected? We see these
beautiful co-adaptations most plainly in the woodpecker and the
mistletoe; and only a little less plainly in the humblest parasite
which clings to the hairs of a quadruped or feathers of a bird;
in the structure of the beetle which dives through the water; in
the plumed seed which is wafted by the gentlest breeze: in
short, we see beautiful adaptations everywhere and in every part
of the organic world.
Again, it may be asked, how is it that varieties, which I have
called incipient species, become ultimately converted into good
and distinct species, which in most cases obviously differ from
each other far more than do the varieties of the same species?
## p. 4415 (#185) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4415
How do those groups of species, which constitute what are
called distinct genera, and which differ from each other more
than do the species of the same genus, arise? All these results,
as we shall more fully see in the next chapter, follow from the
struggle for life. Owing to this struggle, variations, however
slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if they be in any
degree profitable to the individuals of a species, in their infi-
nitely complex relations to other organic beings and to their
physical conditions of life, will tend to the preservation of such
individuals, and will generally be inherited by the offspring.
The offspring also will thus have a better chance of surviving;
for of the many individuals of any species which are periodically
born, but a small number can survive. I have called this prin-
ciple, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by
the term Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to
man's power of selection. But the expression often used by Mr.
Herbert Spencer, of the Survival of the Fittest, is more accurate
and is sometimes equally convenient. We have seen that man
by selection can certainly produce great results, and can adapt
organic beings to his own uses, through the accumulation of
slight but useful variations given to him by the hand of Nature.
But Natural Selection, as we shall hereafter see, is a power
incessantly ready for action, and is as immeasurably superior
to man's feeble efforts as the works of Nature are to those
of Art.
We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for
existence. In my future work this subject will be treated, as it
well deserves, at greater length. The elder De Candolle and
Lyell have largely and philosophically shown that all organic
beings are exposed to severe competition. In regard to plants,
no one has treated this subject with more spirit and ability than
W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his
great horticultural knowledge. 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 ingrained
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. We behold the face of
nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of
food; we do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly
## p. 4416 (#186) ###########################################
4416
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus
constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these song-
sters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds
and beasts of prey; we do not always bear in mind that though
food may be now superabundant, it is not so at all seasons of
each recurring year.
I should premise that I use this term in a large and meta-
phorical sense, including dependence of one being on another,
and including (which is more important) not only the life of the
individual, but success in leaving progeny. Two canine ani-
mals, in a time of dearth, may be truly said to struggle with
each other which shall get food and live. But a plant on the
edge of a desert is said to struggle for life against the drought,
though more properly it should be said to be dependent on the
moisture. A plant which annually produces a thousand seeds, of
which only one on an average comes to maturity, may be more
truly said to struggle with the plants of the same and other
kinds which already clothe the ground. The mistletoe is depend-
ent on the apple and a few other trees, but can only in a far-
fetched sense be said to struggle with these trees, for if too
many of these parasites grow on the same tree, it languishes
and dies. But several seedling mistletoes, growing close to-
gether on the same branch, may more truly be said to struggle
with each other. As the mistletoe is disseminated by birds, its
existence depends on them; and it may metaphorically be said
to struggle with other fruit-bearing plants, in tempting the
birds to devour and thus disseminate its seeds. In these several
senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience's sake
the general term of Struggle for Existence.
THE GEOMETRICAL RATIO OF INCREASE
From Origin of Species>
A
STRUGGLE for existence inevitably follows from the high rate
at which all organic beings tend to increase. Every being
which during its natural lifetime produces several eggs or
seeds must suffer destruction during some period of its life, and
during some season or occasional year; otherwise, on the princi-
ple of geometrical increase, its numbers would quickly become
## p. 4417 (#187) ###########################################
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
4417
so inordinately great that no country could support the product.
Hence, as more individuals are produced than can possibly sur-
vive, there must in every case be a struggle for existence, either
one individual with another of the same species, or with the
individuals of distinct species, or with the physical conditions of
life. It is the doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force
to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms; for in this case
there can be no artificial increase of food, and no prudential
restraint from marriage. Although some species may be now
increasing, more or less rapidly, in numbers, all cannot do so,
for the world would not hold them.
There is no exception to the rule that every organic being
naturally increases at so high a rate that if not destroyed, the
earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair.
Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five years; and
at this rate, in less than a thousand years there would literally
not be standing-room for his progeny. Linnæus has calculated
that if an annual plant produced only two seeds-and there is
no plant so unproductive as this-and their seedlings next year
produced two, and so on, then in twenty years there would be a
million plants. The elephant is reckoned the slowest breeder of
all known animals, and I have taken some pains to estimate its
probable minimum rate of natural increase; it will be safest to
assume that it begins breeding when thirty years old: and goes
on breeding till ninety years old, bringing forth six young in
the interval, and surviving till one hundred years old: if this be
so, after a period of from 740 to 750 years there would be
nearly nineteen million elephants alive, descended from the first
pair.
But we have better evidence on this subject than mere theo-
retical calculations, namely, the numerous recorded cases of the
astonishingly rapid increase of various animals in a state of
nature, when circumstances have been favorable to them during
two or three following seasons. Still more striking is the evi-
dence from our domestic animals of many kinds which have run
wild in several parts of the world; if the statements of the rate of
increase of slow-breeding cattle and horses in South America, and
latterly in Australia, had not been well authenticated, they would
have been incredible. So it is with plants; cases could be given
of introduced plants which have become common throughout
whole islands in a period of less than ten years. Several of
VIII-277
## p. 4418 (#188) ###########################################
4418
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN
the plants, such as the cardoon and a tall thistle, which are
now the commonest over the wide plains of La Plata, clothing
square leagues of surface almost to the exclusion of every other
plant, have been introduced from Europe; and there are plants
which now range in India, as I hear from Falconer, from Cape
Comorin to the Himalaya, which have been imported from
America since its discovery. In such cases—and endless others
could be given-no one supposes that the fertility of the animals
or plants has been suddenly and temporarily increased in any
sensible degree. The obvious explanation is that the conditions.
of life have been highly favorable, and that there has conse-
quently been less destruction of the old and young, and that
nearly all the young have been enabled to breed.
Their geo-
metrical ratio of increase, the result of which never fails to be
surprising, simply explains their extraordinarily rapid increase
and wide diffusion in their new homes.
In a state of nature almost every full-grown plant annually
produces seed, and amongst animals there are very few which do
not annually pair. Hence we may confidently assert that all
plants and animals are tending to increase at a geometrical
ratio, that all would rapidly stock every station in which they
could anyhow exist,- and that this geometrical tendency to in-
crease must be checked by destruction at some period of life.
