Public-domain ebook
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
Language: en8,052 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Botany·Animals-Domestic·Biology
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #3332.
About this book
The work is a scientific treatise by Charles Darwin that expands the ideas first sketched in On the Origin of Species. Opening with a candid reflection on the long gestation of his evolutionary theory, Darwin explains how the 1868 publication, later revised in 1875, was intended to supply the detailed evidence that his earlier, more concise “abstract” lacked. He frames the book around the phenomenon of artificial selection, using familiar examples such as prize‑winning pigeons, cultivated cabbages and the myriad breeds of dogs to argue that the power of natural selection must be even greater. The introduction therefore sets up a systematic survey of domestic animals and plants, a catalogue of their variations, and a discussion of how those traits are inherited, culminating in Darwin’s speculative mechanism of “pangenesis.”
Written in the measured, exhaustive prose of mid‑Victorian natural history, the volume combines meticulous observation with a persuasive, if occasionally speculative, argument. Readers who relish dense, data‑rich explorations of biology, particularly those interested in the history of evolutionary thought, the origins of genetics, or the cultural context of 19th‑century science, will find the book rewarding. Its blend of detailed breed descriptions, comparative analysis, and philosophical commentary appeals to scholars, historians of science, and curious laypersons willing to engage with a classic work that bridges empirical study and grand theory.
Who appears in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
- Charles DarwinVictorian gentleman, mid‑1800s, dark hair, full beard, waistcoat, cravat, thoughtful expression
The opening · free to read
DOMESTIC RABBITS DESCENDED FROM THE COMMON WILD RABBIT—ANCIENT DOMESTICATION—ANCIENT SELECTION—LARGE LOP-EARED RABBITS—VARIOUS BREEDS—FLUCTUATING CHARACTERS—ORIGIN OF THE HIMALAYAN BREED—CURIOUS CASE OF INHERITANCE—FERAL RABBITS IN JAMAICA AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS—PORTO SANTO FERAL RABBITS—OSTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS—SKULL—SKULL OF HALF-LOP RABBITS—VARIATIONS IN THE SKULL ANALOGOUS TO DIFFERENCES IN DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HARES—VERtebræ—STERNUM—SCAPULA—EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON THE PROPORTIONS OF THE LIMBS AND BODY—CAPACITY OF THE SKULL AND REDUCED SIZE OF THE BRAIN—SUMMARY ON THE MODIFICATIONS OF DOMESTICATED RABBITS.
CHAPTER V.—DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
ENUMERATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL BREEDS—INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY—VARIATIONS OF A REMARKABLE NATURE—OSTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS: SKULL, LOWER JAW, NUMBER OF vertebræ—CORRELATION OF GROWTH: TONGUE WITH BEAK; EYELIDS AND NOSTRILS WITH WATTLED SKIN—NUMBER OF WING-FEATHERS, AND LENGTH OF WING—COLOUR AND DOWN—WEBBED AND FEATHERED FEET—ON THE EFFECTS OF DISUSE—LENGTH OF FEET IN CORRELATION WITH LENGTH OF BEAK—LENGTH OF STERNUM, SCAPULA, AND FURCULUM—LENGTH OF WINGS—SUMMARY ON THE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE IN THE SEVERAL BREEDS.
—PIGEONS—_continued._
ON THE ABORIGINAL PARENT-STOCK OF THE SEVERAL DOMESTIC RACES—HABITS OF LIFE—WILD RACES OF THE ROCK-PIGEON—Dovecot-PIGEONS—PROOFS OF THE DESCENT OF THE SEVERAL RACES FROM COLUMBA LIVIA—FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN CROSSED—REVERSION TO THE PLUMAGE OF THE WILD ROCK-PIGEON—CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO THE FORMATION OF THE RACES—ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES—MANNER OF THEIR FORMATION—SELECTION—UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION—CARE TAKEN BY FANCIERS IN SELECTING THEIR BIRDS—SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT STRAINS GRADUALLY CHANGE INTO WELL-MARKED BREEDS—EXTINCTION OF INTERMEDIATE FORMS—CERTAIN BREEDS REMAIN PERMANENT, WHILST OTHERS CHANGE—SUMMARY.
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