Darwinian gradualism and its limits: The development of Darwin's views on the rate and pattern of evolutionary change
- 132 Downloads
- 6 Citations
Conclusion
The major tenets of the recent hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium are explicit in Darwin's writing. His notes from 1837–1838 contain references to stasis and rapid change. In the first edition of the Origin (1859), Darwin described the importance of isolation of local varieties in the process of speciation. His views on the tempo of speciation were influenced by Hugh Falconer and also, perhaps, by Edward Suess (1831–1914). It is paradoxical that, although both topics were recorded in his unpublished notes of 1837–1838, the second was not explicitly and fully discussed until the fourth edition of the Origin (1866). While no wholly satisfactory explanation of this paradox suggests itself, it seems probable that Falconer's work on the persistence of fossil species of elephant helped Darwin to see the wider significance of the tempo of evolution for his general theory.
Keywords
General Theory Local Variety Rapid Change Evolutionary Change Fourth EditionPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
- 1.S. J., Gould and N., Eldredge, “Punctuated Equilibria: The Tempo and Mode of Evolution Reconsidered,” Paleobiology, 3 (1977), 115–155.Google Scholar
- 2.P. D., Gingerich, “Darwin's Gradualism and Empiricism,” Nature, 309 (1984), 116.Google Scholar
- 3.Frank H. T., Rhodes, “Gradualism, Punctuated Equilibrium and the Origin of Species,” Nature, 305 (1983), 269–272; Frank H. T. Rhodes, “Darwin's Gradualism and Empiricism,” Nature, 309 (1984), 116.Google Scholar
- 4.David, Kohn, “Theoriesto Work By: Rejected Theories, Reproduction, and Darwin's Path to Natural Selection,” in Studies in the History of Biology, 4th ed., ed. William, Coleman and Camille, Limoges (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), pp. 67–170; Camille Limoges, La selection naturelle (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1970); Sandra Herbert, “The Place of Man in the Development of Darwin's Theory of Transmutation: Part I. To July 1837,” J. Hist. Biol., 7 (1974), 217–258; George Grinnell, “The Rise and Fall of Darwin's First Theory of Transmutation,” J. Hist. Biol., 7 (1974), 259–273; Sir Gavin deBeer, M. J. Rowlands, and B. Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks on Transmutation of Species,” Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Hist. Ser., 2 (1960), 23–73 (see p. 35), 75–113, 119–150, 151–183, 185–200; 3 (1967), 129–176; Frank J. Sulloway, “Geographic Isolation in Darwin's Thinking: The Vicissitudes of a Crucial Idea,” in Studies in the History of Biology, 3rd., ed. William Coleman and Camille Limoges (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), pp. 23–65.Google Scholar
- 5.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1st ed. (1859); facsimile ed., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964), p. 103.Google Scholar
- 6.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 7.Loren, Eiseley, Darwin's Century (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1961), p. 102; deBeer, Rowlands, and Stramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks,”. 34 (see also pp. 42, 46).Google Scholar
- 8.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, (1859), 1st ed., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 463, 488.Google Scholar
- 9.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, (1859), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, p. 298.Google Scholar
- 10.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, (1859) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, p. 342.Google Scholar
- 11.Gould and Eldredge, “Punctuated Equilibria,” p. 118.Google Scholar
- 12.Leonard, Huxley, Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley (New York: D. Appleton, 1900), pp. 189, 186.Google Scholar
- 13.R. C., Stauffer, Charles Darwin's Natural Selection: Being the Second Part of His Big Species Book Written from 1856 to 1858 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 227–261 (emphasis added); see also p. 354.Google Scholar
- 14.R. C., Stauffer, Charles Darwin's Natural Selection: Being the Second Part of His Big Species Book Written from 1856 to 1858 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 374 (emphasis added).Google Scholar
- 15.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 4th ed. (London: John Murray, 1866), p. 232 (emphasis added).Google Scholar
- 16.DeBeer, Rowlands, and Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks,” p. 73. For an earlier, provisional hypothesis of saltation considered by Darwin, see Kohn, “Theories to Work By,” pp. 74–81.Google Scholar
- 17.Gould and Eldredge, “Punctuated Equilibria,” p. 118.Google Scholar
- 18.Kohn, “Theories to Work By.”Google Scholar
- 19.R. C., Stauffer, Charles Darwin's Natural Selection: Being the Second Part of His Big Species Book Written from 1856 to 1858 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 216.Google Scholar
- 20.Gould and Eldredge, “Punctuated Equilibria.” Rhodes, “Gradualism.” Rhodes, “Darwin's Gradualism.”Google Scholar
- 21.Charles, Darwin and Alfred Russel, Wallace, Evolution by Natural Selection (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), pp. 196–198, 242.Google Scholar
- 22.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed. (London: John Murray, 1837). Darwin's annotated copy is in the Darwin Collection in the Cambridge University Library.Google Scholar
- 23.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed. (London: John Murray, 1837). II, 369–370.Google Scholar
- 24.Charles, Darwin and Alfred Russel, Wallace, Evolution by Natural Selection (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), p. 113 (emphasisdadded).Google Scholar
- 25.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed. (London: John Murray, 1837). II, 395 (emphasis added).Google Scholar
- 26.Darwin, “First” Notebook, p. 6. See also deBeer, Rowlands, and Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks,”, p. 42.Google Scholar
- 27.Gavin, deBeer, M. J., Rowlands, and B. M., Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks on Transmutation of Species, Part VI. Pages Excised by Darwin,” Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Hist. Ser., 3 (1967), 162.Google Scholar
- 28.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed. (London: John Murray, 1837). II, 407.Google Scholar
- 29.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 6th ed. (London: John Murray, 1840,, I, 287, 295, 297.Google Scholar
- 30.Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed., (London: John Murray, 1840), II, 376.Google Scholar
- 31.Charles Darwin, “Fourth” (E) Notebook (unpublished, Oct. 1838–July 10, 1839), p. 6. See also de Beer, Rowlands, and Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks... Pages Excised,” p. 166.Google Scholar
- 32.Darwin, “Fourth” Notebook, p. 119. See also deBeer Rowlands, and Skramovsky, “Darwin Notebooks... Pages Excised,” p. 172.Google Scholar
- 33.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 4th ed., (1859); Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 359–360.Google Scholar
- 34.Francis, Darwin and A. C., Seward, More Letters of Charles Darwin (London: John Murray, 1903), I, 455.Google Scholar
- 35.Hugh Falconer, unpub. letter to Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Library Collection, DAR 164 F, Part I), July 9, 1860.Google Scholar
- 36.Falconer, unpub. letter to Charles Darwin, Sept. 24–27, 1862.Google Scholar
- 37.Francis, Darwin and A. C., Seward, More Letters of Charles Darwin (London: John Murray, 1903), I, 207.Google Scholar
- 38.Hugh Falconer, “On the American Fossil Elephant of the Regions Bordering the Gulf of Mexico,” Nat. Hist. Rev, (1863), 78, 123, 79.Google Scholar
- 39.Ibid., pp. 80–81.Google Scholar
- 40.Edward Suess, “Über die Verschiedenheit und die Aufeinanderfolge der tertiaren Landfaunen in der Niederung von Wien,” in Sitz. kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. 47 (1863), 306–331.Google Scholar
- 41.Not December 26 as interpreted by Darwin and Seward (More Letters, I, 244).Google Scholar
- 42.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 6th ed. (London: John Murray, 1840), 296–297.Google Scholar
- 43.Suess, “Über die Verschiedenheit.”Google Scholar
- 44.Charles, Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 4st ed. (1859); Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964), p. 359.Google Scholar
- 45.Charles, Lyell, Principles of Geology, 5th ed. (London: John Murray, 1840), II, 376.Google Scholar
- 46.Francis, Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 3 vols. (London: John Murray, 1888), II, 389.Google Scholar
- 47.DeBeer, Rowlands, and Skramovsky, “Darwin's Notebooks,” p. 37.Google Scholar