Darwinism
An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection, with some of its Applications

A robust defence of the theory of evolution published in 1889 by its co-discoverer, Alfred Russel Wallace.

Alfred Russel Wallace (Author)

9781108001328, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

524 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.66 kg

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) is regarded as the co-discoverer with Darwin of the theory of evolution. It was an essay which Wallace sent in 1858 to Darwin (whom he greatly admired and to whom he dedicated his most famous book, The Malay Archipelago) which impelled Darwin to publish an article on his own long-pondered theory simultaneously with that of Wallace. As a travelling naturalist and collector in the Far East and South America, Wallace already inclined towards the Lamarckian theory of transmutation of species, and his own researches convinced him of the reality of evolution. On the publication of On the Origin of Species, Wallace became one of its most prominent advocates, and Darwinism, published in 1889, supports the theory and counters many of the arguments put forward by scientists and others who opposed it.

1. What are the 'species' and what is meant by their 'origin'
2. The struggle for existence
3. The variability of species in a state of nature
4. Variation of domesticated animals and cultivated plants
5. Natural selection by variation and survival of the fittest
6. Difficulties and objections
7. On the infertility of crosses between distinct species and the usual sterility of their hybrid offspring
8. The origin and uses of colour in animals
9. Warning coloration and mimicry
10. Colours and ornaments characteristic of sex
11. The special colour of plants: their origin and purpose
12. The geographical distribution of organisms
13. The geological evidences of evolution
14. Fundamental problems in relation to variation and heredity
15. Darwinism applied to man.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]