On Sun, 14 Nov 1999 17:23:14 EST, Bertvan@aol.com wrote:
BV>Kevin O'brian sent me (privately) an excellent, extensive definition of
>Darwinism, which
>he said I could respond to publicly if I printed the whole thing first.
[...]
BV>First of all, Darwin's contribution was two-fold: he established that
>evolution was a fact of natural history and he proposed natural selection
>as the explanation for this fact. Secondly, Darwin did not coin the word
>mutation; in fact, the index of _Origin of Species_ does not contain that
>word at all. The term was not invented until the early 1900's, well after
>Darwin's death, and was based on the then knowledge of Mendelian genetics,
>genes and chromosomes. So, Darwin could not have spoken of mutation;
>instead, what he referred to was variation.
I have found that the index to Darwin's Origin of Species is inadequate. In
fact it does contain at least seven passages where the word "mutation" (and
its cognates) occur, although of course Darwin may not have meant by that
term what it means today in Neo-Darwinism:
"Nor can organic beings, even if they were at any one time perfectly
adapted to their conditions of life, have remained so, when their conditions
changed, unless they themselves likewise changed; and no one will dispute
that the physical conditions of each country, as well as the numbers and
kinds of its inhabitants, have undergone many mutations." (Darwin C.R.,
"The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection", [1872],
Everyman's Library, J.M. Dent & Sons: London, 6th Edition, 1928, reprint,
p192).
"Mr. Croll estimates that about 60 million years have elapsed since the
Cambrian period, but this, judging from the small amount of organic
change since the commencement of the Glacial epoch, appears a very short
time for the many and great mutations of life which have certainly occurred
since the Cambrian formation; and the previous 140 million years can
hardly be considered as sufficient for the development of the varied forms
of life which already existed during the Cambrian period. It is, however,
probable, as Sir William Thompson [Lord Kelvin] insists, that the world at
a very early period was subjected to more rapid and violent changes in its
physical conditions than those now occurring; and such changes would
have tended to induce changes at a corresponding rate in the organisms
which then existed." (Darwin C.R., [1872], p315).
"It is, indeed, quite futile to look to changes of currents, climate, or other
physical conditions, as the cause of these great mutations in the forms of
life throughout the world, under the most different climates." (Darwin
C.R., [1872], p328).
"We find, in short, such evidence of the slow and scarcely sensible
mutations of specific forms, as we have the right to expect." (Darwin C.R.,
[1872], p336)
"No geologist disputes that great mutations of level have occurred within
the period of existing organisms." (Darwin C.R., [1872], p353)
"On this doctrine of the extermination of an infinitude of connecting links,
between the living and extinct inhabitants of the world, and at each
successive period between the extinct and still older species, why is not
every geological formation charged with such links? Why does not every
collection of fossil remains afford plain evidence of the gradation and
mutation of the forms of life?" (Darwin C.R., [1872], p441)
"The belief that species were immutable productions was almost
unavoidable as long as the history of the world was thought to be of short
duration; and now that we have acquired some idea of the lapse of time, we
are too apt to assume, without proof, that the geological record is so
perfect that it would have afforded us plain evidence of the mutation of
species, if they had undergone mutation." (Darwin C.R., [1872], pp455-
456).
Steve
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mr. Bird is concerned with origins and the evidence relevant thereto. He is
basically correct that evidence, or proof, of origins-of the universe, of life,
of all of the major groups of life, of all of the minor groups of life, indeed
of all of the species-is weak or nonexistent when measured on an absolute
scale, as it always was and will always be." (Nelson G.J., "Preface," in Bird
W. R., "The Origin of Species Revisited", Regency: Nashville TN, 1991,
Vol. I, p.xii)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
--------------------------------------------------------------------