On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection

“On the Origin of Species” (fully titled “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”), was published by Charles Darwin in 1859. This book is modern foundation of evolutionary biology. Although the idea of evolution had been discussed widely prior to Darwin, there wasn’t a widely accepted mechanism by which evolution could occur. This mechanism is known as natural selection or the survival of the fittest. Interestingly enough, Alfred Wallace had suggested the same mechanism as Darwin concurrent with Darwin, yet Darwin had been developing his theory for a greater period of time and had also collected more detailed evidence to bolster his claims. Consequently, Darwin is considered by many to be father of evolutionary thought. The book is divided into fifteen chapters dealing with the following topics: variation under domestication, variation under nature, the struggle for existence, natural selection, laws of variation, the difficulties of the theory of descent with modification, objections to the theory of natural selection, instincts, hybridism, the imperfection of the geological record, the geological succession of organic beings, geographical distribution, mutual affinities of organic beings, morphology, embryology, and rudimentary organs. Darwinian theory finds its foundation on the notion of variation. The first method of variation that he discusses is domestic variation. This is caused by changing the conditions of life …show more content…
One of the biggest objections to the theory of evolution is the absence of a common ancestor commonly known as the “missing link.” Darwin responds to this by arguing that the geological record is not perfect and that many fossils have been degraded over time or have yet to be