Reading
the last chapter of Darwin’s Origin of Species with Blurbs
In
the last chapter of his book: On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles
Darwin explains:
“As
this whole volume is one long argument, it may be convenient to the reader to
have the leading facts and inferences briefly recapitulated. [He says: I
will tell you why I wrote this book]. That many and grave objections may be
advanced against the theory of descent with modification through natural
selection, I do not deny. [That my fairy tale is too good to be true, I do
not deny, he says]. I have endeavoured to give to them their full force. [I
tried my best to make you believe there is a Santa Claus in the Northpole].
Nothing at first can appear more difficult to believe than that the more
complex organs and instincts should have been perfected, not by means superior
to, though analogous with, human reason, but by the accumulation of innumerable
slight variations, each good for the individual possessor. [I agree it is
unbelievable but I will nevertheless give the idea a shot]. Nevertheless,
this difficulty, though appearing to our imagination insuperably great, cannot
be considered real if we admit the following propositions, namely, [What I
fantasies about will not be considered real if you accept creation after each
kind of Genesis] —that gradations in the perfection of any organ or
instinct, which we may consider, either do now exist or could have existed,
each good of its kind, [You will not believe my story if you accept that different
sizes of cats were always there since creation as Genesis say] — that all
organs and instincts are, in ever so slight a degree, variable, [Also not go
along with me if you hold that changes slightly occur normally anyway but do
not jump between species] —and, lastly, that there is a struggle for
existence leading to the preservation of each profitable deviation of structure
or instinct. [You will not a Darinist if you say that all this happen only
to preserve as the Bible says but not like I Darwin is saying that happen to go
extinct into a new form]. The truth of these propositions cannot, I think,
be disputed. [I cannot fight against the Bible. Surely] Yet, as we have
reason to believe [oops! ...Is ‘believe’ not a philosophical and religious
assertion and not a scientific fact?] that some species have retained the
same specific form or very long periods, enormously long as measured by years,
too much stress ought not to be laid on the occasional wide diffusion of the
same species; for during very long periods of time there will always be a good
chance for wide migration by many means. [People ask me Darwin where the
intermediate forms are: migrate, or they are too few and goes into extinction
for the new....]
A
broken or interrupted range may [may or was really?] often be accounted
for by the extinction of the species in the intermediate regions. It cannot be
denied that we are as yet very ignorant [you can say that again!] of the
full extent of the various climatical and geographical changes which have affected
the earth during modern periods; and such changes will [but we are ignorant
though] obviously have greatly facilitated migration.
As
an example, I have attempted to show how potent has been the influence of the
Glacial period on the distribution both of the same and of representative
species throughout the world. We are as yet profoundly ignorant [strange
that you keep saying it?] of the many occasional means of transport. With
respect to distinct species of the same genus inhabiting very distant and isolated
regions, as the process of modification has necessarily been slow, all the
means of migration will have been possible during a very long period; and
consequently the difficulty of the wide diffusion of species of the same genus
is in some degree lessened. [Rationalizing, right?] As on the theory of
natural selection an interminable number of intermediate forms must have
existed, linking together all the species in each group by gradations as fine
as our present varieties, it may be asked, Why do we not see these linking
forms all around us? [Yes. All Creationists ask you this question] Why
are not all organic beings blended together in an inextricable chaos? With
respect to existing forms, we should remember that we have no right to expect
(excepting in rare cases) [What? Theory on the absence of data?] to
discover directly connecting links between them, but only between each and some
extinct and supplanted form. Even on a wide area, which has during a long
period remained continuous, and of which the climate and other conditions of
life change insensibly in going from a district occupied by one species into
another district occupied by a closely allied species, we have no just right [really?]
to expect often to find intermediate varieties [data lacking?] in the
intermediate zone. For we have reason to believe [Oops! …Confession again] that
only a few species are undergoing change at any one period; and all changes are
slowly effected. I have also shown that the intermediate varieties which will
at first probably [strange that you as a scientist use this word?] exist
in the intermediate zones, will be liable to be supplanted by the allied forms
on either hand; and the latter, from existing in greater numbers, will
generally be modified and improved at a quicker rate than the intermediate
varieties, which exist in lesser numbers; so that the intermediate varieties
will, in the long run, be supplanted and exterminated.”
Response:
Darwin you are quite a believer….