On The Origin Of Species Annotated First Edition

Presents Darwin's masterwork on evolution with extensive annotations by an experienced field biologist.

This is the first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on November 24, 1859 in London by John Murray. It is a seminal work in scientific literature and a landmark work in evolutionary biology. It introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. The starting chapters introduce the theory of natural selection, explaining why certain species thrive, while others decrease in number, how the members of nature are in competition with each other and why organisms tend to vary and change with time. Much of this work is based on experiments and observations seen within domestic animals and plants. The later chapters defend the theory of natural selection against apparent inconsistencies, why geological records are incomplete, why we find species so widespread and how sterility can be inherited when the organisation is unable to reproduce and more. The book is approachable for any audience.

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is one of the most important and yet least read scientific works in the history of science. The Annotated Origin is a facsimile of the first edition of 1859, and is accompanied by James T. Costa’s marginal annotations, drawing on his extensive experience with Darwin’s ideas in the field, lab, and classroom.

An essential new edition of the 19th-century scientific masterpiece that translates Darwin’s Victorian prose into modern English: “Most useful” (Walter Brock, Columbia University). Charles Darwin’s most famous book On the Origin of Species is without question one of the most important books ever written. Yet many students have great difficulty understanding it. While even the grandest works of Victorian English can be a challeng for modern readers, Darwin’s dense scientific prose is especially difficult to navigate. For an era in which Darwin is more talked about than read, doctoral student Daniel Duzdevich offers a clear, modern English rendering of Darwin’s first edition. Neither an abridgement nor a summary, this version might best be described as a translation for contemporary English readers. A monument to reasoned insight, the Origin illustrates the value of extensive reflection, carefully gathered evidence, and sound scientific reasoning. By removing the linguistic barriers to understanding and appreciating the Origin, this edition brings 21st-century readers into closer contact with Darwin’s revolutionary ideas.

Marking the centennial of Alfred Russel Wallace's death, James Costa presents an elegant edition of the "Species Notebook" of 1855-1859, which Wallace kept during his Malay Archipelago expedition. Presented in facsimile with text transcription and annotations, this never-before-published document provides a window into the travels, trials, and genius of the co-discoverer of natural selection. In one section, headed "Note for Organic Law of Change"--a critique of geologist Charles Lyell's anti-evolutionary arguments--Wallace sketches a book he would never write, owing to the unexpected events of 1858. In that year he sent a manuscript announcing his discovery of natural selection to Charles Darwin. Lyell and the botanist Joseph Hooker proposed a joint reading at the Linnean Society of his scientific paper with Darwin's earlier private writings on the subject. Darwin would go on to publish On the Origin of Species in 1859, to much acclaim; pre-empted, Wallace's first book on evolution waited two decades, but by then he had abandoned his original concept. On the Organic Law of Change realizes in spirit Wallace's unfinished project, and asserts his stature as not only a founder of biogeography and the preeminent tropical biologist of his day but as Darwin's equal.

Darwin addresses some of the flaws in his theory of natural selection. He tackles two major questions: First, if species have gradually descended from other species, why do clearly defined, separate species exist, instead of numerous intermediate forms of species? Second, can natural selection really produce highly complex organs, such as the eye, from species lacking anything remotely similar to such complex organs?To answer the first question, Darwin argues that natural selection requires that intermediate varieties become extinct. Since natural selection urges species to become perfectly adapted to their environments, certain environments favor some characteristics and other environments favor others, allowing species to diverge based on their separate environments. The favored characteristics in these respective environments would become more advantageous than any intermediate characteristics, causing the intermediate species to become extinct. Darwin addresses the question of whether an intermediate species would exist in an intermediate geological area between the two different environments. He argues that intermediate environments are so geographically small that intermediate species in those areas would not be able to reproduce sufficiently to perpetuate themselves and survive and would eventually become extinct. Therefore, we only see small numbers of intermediate species in these intermediate geographical zones.Darwin is not as confident about the answer to his second question as he is about the answer to his first. He admits that it is difficult to explain how new structures, such as the wings of a bat, are created when a species descends from one that lacks such structures. He does give examples from other species, in which modifications develop from existing structures instead of sprouting anew, such as the species of flying squirrels with broad tails that allow them to parachute through the air, a tail modified from existing tails in other squirrel species. He also explains that scientists are unable to see a clear line of organ modification because of gaps in the development of these structures (for example, squirrel tails that are not yet fully adapted for flying). These gaps come about when the intermediate species have become extinct. Examples of explainable models, such as the flying squirrel's tail, can help an observer imagine the development of more complex organs, such as the wings of the bat or the eye. Over time, gradual developments of structures and nerves become more complex with modifications, until finally the most perfect eye organ develops. Darwin compares the eye to a telescope: Over time and through its development, the telescope has become more and more advanced, replacing older versions. While the mechanism of change for the telescope is technological advancement, for the eye it is natural selection.

Jean Octave Edmond Perrier was a French zoologist who lived through the tumult of British Darwinism and Lyellism, and reminds us in this revealing account that French scientists had much to contribute to such perennial topics as evolution, catastrophism and creationism. While very much a product of the Third Republic, Perrier’s account also aimed to outline timeless issues and permanent advances in taxonomic and developmental biology since classical Greece and Rome. In this aim he succeeds with surprisingly modern perspectives for a book first published in 1884. Perrier was born May 9, 1844 at Tulle, the son of the principal of a school which now bears his name, Lycée Edmond Perrier. In 1864 he was accepted to the École Normale Supérieure, where he was strongly influenced by Louis Pasteur and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After working for three years at a high school in Agen, he obtained a post of naturalist-aid at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (1868), advancing in that institution to Chair of Natural History of Molluscs, Worms and Corals (1876–1903) and then Director of the museum (1900–1919) and Chair of Comparative Anatomy (1903–1921). Previous directors of the museum included many of the scientists he discusses in this book: George Cuvier (1822–1823, 1826–1827, 1830–1831), Isidore Geoffrey St Hilaire (1860– 1861), and Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1891–1900). Perrier’s own research on echinoderms and earthworms took him on several expeditions in 1880-1885, mostly to Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, but also to the Caribbean.

The author presents a comprehensive analysis of the theories of Charles Darwin, along with a chronology and overview of the life of Darwin and important events associated with his ideas about evolution.