物种起源-英文版 目录

物种起源-英文版 内容简介

witen on board h.m.s. beagle, as naturalist, lwas much struckwith certainfacts in the distribution of the organic beingsinhabiting south america. and in thegeological relations of thepresent to the past inhabitants of that continent. thesefacts, aswill be seen in the latter chapters of this volume, seemed to throwsomelight on the origin of species--that mystery of mysteries, asit h~as been called byone of our greatest philosophers. on myreturn home. it occurred to me. in i837,that something mightperhaps be made out on this question by'pxatientlyaccumulating andreflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly haveanybearing on it. after five years' work 1 allowed myself tospeculate on the subject.and drew up some short notes; these ienlarged in i844 into a sketch of theconclusions, which then seemedto me probable: from that period to the presentday i have steadilypursued the same object. i hope that i may be excused forenteringon these personal details, as i give them to show that i have notbeenhasty in coming to a decision.