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The Origin of Species · Chapter

An Historical Sketch of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species, Previously to the Publication of the First Edition of This Work explained

Darwin provides a historical overview of the development of ideas about the origin of species, from early thinkers like Buffon and Lamarck to his contemporaries.

What happens

Darwin provides a historical overview of the development of ideas about the origin of species, from early thinkers like Buffon and Lamarck to his contemporaries. He traces the gradual shift from belief in immutable, separately created species to the concept of descent with modification, highlighting key figures such as Lamarck, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Dr. W. C. Wells, and Mr. Patrick Matthew, who anticipated aspects of natural selection. The sketch culminates with the joint presentation of Darwin's and Wallace's theory in 1858 and the publication of Darwin's own work in 1859.

Themes in this chapter

  • Natural Selection and the Struggle for Existence

    Darwin traces early recognitions of natural selection by Wells, Matthew, and Wallace, culminating in his own formulation.

  • Variation and Inheritance

    Lamarck and others emphasized variation and the inheritance of acquired characters as drivers of species change.

  • Common Descent and the Tree of Life

    The sketch highlights the growing acceptance that species are descendants of preexisting forms, as argued by Lamarck, Naudin, and others.

Characters to notice

  • Charles Darwin

    Author of the historical sketch and the Origin of Species; presents the progression of ideas leading to his own theory.

  • Lamarck

    First to publish conclusions on species descent, attributing change to use and disuse, physical conditions, and a law of progressive development.

  • Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

    Suspected species were degenerations of a type; relied on conditions of life as cause of change.

  • Dr. W. C. Wells

    First to recognize the principle of natural selection, applying it to human races in an 1813 paper.

  • Mr. Patrick Matthew

    Anticipated natural selection in an appendix to his 1831 work on naval timber.

  • Mr. Wallace

    Co-promulgator of the theory of natural selection in a joint paper with Darwin in 1858.

  • Dr. Hooker

    Published Introduction to the Australian Flora in 1859, supporting descent and modification of species.

  • Professor Huxley

    Gave a lecture in 1859 on persistent types, arguing against separate creation and for gradual modification.

Key passages

  • “Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the subject excited much attention. This justly celebrated naturalist first published his views in 1801 ; he much enlarged them in 1809 in his 'Philosophie Zoologique,' and subsequently, 1815 , in the Introduction to his Hist. Nat. des Animaux sans Vertebres . In these works he upholds the doctrine that all species, including man, are descended from other species.”

    Lamarck was the first to gain widespread notice for his ideas, publishing in 1801 and expanding them in 1809 and 1815, arguing that all species, including humans, evolved from earlier forms.

    Darwin credits Lamarck as the first influential proponent of species descent.

  • “In 1813 Dr. W. C. Wells read before the Royal Society 'An Account of a White Female, part of whose skin resembles that of a Negro;' but his paper was not published until his famous Two Essays Upon Dew and Single Vision appeared in 1818 . In this paper he distinctly recognises the principle of natural selection, and this is the first recognition which has been indicated; but he applies it only to the races of man, and to certain characters alone.”

    Dr. W. C. Wells presented a paper in 1813, published in 1818, that clearly identified natural selection, though only in the context of human racial differences and specific traits.

    Darwin highlights Wells as the first to articulate natural selection, albeit in a limited scope.

  • “Mr. Patrick Matthew published a work on Naval Timber and Arboriculture in 1831 , in which he gives precisely the same view upon the origin of species as that propounded by Mr. Wallace and myself in the Linnean Journal , and as that enlarged in the present volume.”

    Patrick Matthew's 1831 book on naval timber contained the same theory of species origin that Darwin and Wallace later presented in 1858 and in this volume.

    Darwin acknowledges Matthew's prior independent formulation of natural selection.

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