Philosophy of Biology

Charles Darwin 17

ungnawed, the planes of intersection between these spheres. It was

really curious to note in cases of difficulty, as when two pieces of comb

met at an angle, how often the bees would pull down and rebuild in

different ways the same cell, sometimes recurring to a shape which they

had at first rejected. (231-232)

Similar kinds of arguments — partly experimental, partly personal observa-
tional, partly general gathering of knowledge from others — occur again and again
in this part of theOrigin. Why do we find a roughly progressive fossil record? Be-
cause organisms have changed through time and they have become more and more
efficient thanks to the battles leading to selection. This is a kind of forerunner
to what today’s evolutionists call “arms races” where lines of organisms compete
against each other — the prey gets faster and then the predator gets faster — as
they refine their adaptations. An addition to a later edition of theOriginmade
the case for humans.

If we take as the standard of high organisation, the amount of differ-

entiation and specialization of the several organs in each being when

adult (and this will include the advancement of the brain for intellec-

tual purposes), natural selection clearly leads towards this standard:

for all physiologists admit that the specialization of organs, inasmuch

as in this state they perform their functions better, is an advantage to

each being; and hence the accumulation of variations tending towards

specialisation is within the scope of natural selection” (Darwin 1959,

222).

Biogeography, naturally brought in the Galapagos and related areas.

Although in oceanic islands the number of kinds of inhabitants is

scanty, the proportion of endemic kinds (i.e., those found nowhere

else in the world) is often extremely large. If we compare, for instance,

the number of the endemic land-shells in Madeira, or of the endemic

birds in the Galapagos Archipelago, with the number found on any

continent, and then compare the area of the islands with that of the

continent, we shall see that this is true. This fact might have been

expected on my theory, for, as already explained, species occasionally

arriving after long intervals in a new and isolated district, and having to

compete with new associates, will be eminently liable to modification,

and will often produce groups of modified descendants. (390)

And again:

The Galapagos archipelago [is] situated under the equator, between

500 and 600 miles from the shores of South America. Here almost

every product of the land and water bears the unmistakeable stamp of

the American continent. There are twenty-six land birds, and twenty-

five of these are ranked by Mr. Gould as distinct species, supposed to