37. CHIMPANZEE (TROGLODYTES NIGER)





CHAPTER I

WHAT ARE "SPECIES," AND WHAT IS MEANT BY THEIR "ORIGIN"


Definition of species--Special creation--The early
Transmutationists--Scientific opinion before Darwin--The problem
before Darwin--The change of opinion effected by Darwin--The
Darwinian theory--Proposed mode of treatment of the subject.



The title of Mr. Darwin's great work is--_On the Origin of Species by
means of Natural Selection and the Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life_. In order to appreciate fully the aim and object of
this work, and the change which it has effected not only in natural
history but in many other sciences, it is necessary to form a clear
conception of the meaning of the term "species," to know what was the
general belief regarding them at the time when Mr. Darwin's book first
appeared, and to understand what he meant, and what was generally meant,
by discovering their "origin." It is for want of this preliminary
knowledge that the majority of educated persons who are not naturalists
are so ready to accept the innumerable objections, criticisms, and
difficulties of its opponents as proofs that the Darwinian theory is