Re: Question on Natural selection

David Campbell (bivalve@mailserv0.isis.unc.edu)
Fri, 29 May 1998 15:52:40 -0400

>>I've heard more than once before that the idea of natural selection was
>>already widely circulated prior to Origins of the Species, but then it
>>was understood as a stabilizing force. Darwin combined that with Adam
>>Smith's ideas to develop our modern concept of NS. Is this accurate?

I've been told that one of Steve Gould's essays mentions a relatively full
proposal of evolution by natural selection prior to Darwin. It was fully
theistic but relatively obscure. I've not tracked down the Gould reference
nor the original.