CHAPTER XV.

RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION.

Recapitulation of the objections to the theory of Natural Selection --
Recapitulation of the general and special circumstances in its favour --
Causes of the general belief in the immutability of species -- How far the
theory of Natural Selection may be extended -- Effects of its adoption on
the study of Natural history -- Concluding remarks.


GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS.


INDEX.




ORIGIN OF SPECIES.


INTRODUCTION.

When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain
facts in the distribution of the organic beings inhabiting South America,
and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of
that continent. These facts, as will be seen in the latter chapters of
this volume, seemed to throw some light on the origin of species--that