On_the_Origin_of_Species

context: On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.
qas: answers: 24 November 1859
question: When was the Origin of Species published?

answers: Charles Darwin
question: Who wrote The Origin of Species?

answers: evolutionary biology
question: What branch of biology was The Origin of Species founded on?

answers: Beagle expedition
question: What was the expedition called that Charles Darwin discovered some of his evidence?

answers: through a process of natural selection
question: How do populations evolve according to Charles Darwin's theory?

context: Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream.
qas: answers: dissident anatomists
question: Which group of scientists began to support evolutionary ideas?

answers: the Church of England
question: Which powerful religious institution was a big part of scientific study in the 19th century?

answers: Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial
question: What was the general opinion about transmutation of species in the 19th century?

answers: that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals.
question: How did the majority of science see humanity in relation to animals in the 19th century?

answers: natural theology
question: Which theology did everyone agree science was a part of in the 19th century?

context: The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. As Darwin was an eminent scientist, his findings were taken seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion. The debate over the book contributed to the campaign by T. H. Huxley and his fellow members of the X Club to secularise science by promoting scientific naturalism. Within two decades there was widespread scientific agreement that evolution, with a branching pattern of common descent, had occurred, but scientists were slow to give natural selection the significance that Darwin thought appropriate. During "the eclipse of Darwinism" from the 1880s to the 1930s, various other mechanisms of evolution were given more credit. With the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s, Darwin's concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection became central to modern evolutionary theory, and it has now become the unifying concept of the life sciences.
qas: answers: non-specialist readers
question: What section of the population was Darwin's book written for?

answers: T. H. Huxley
question: Who attempted to secularize science during the debate over Darwin's book?

answers: scientific naturalism
question: What was T.H. Huxley promoting?

answers: "the eclipse of Darwinism"
question: What was the growing change in opinion about evolution called?

answers: in the 1930s and 1940s
question: When did Darwin's concept of evolution become widely believed and central to the modern theory of evolution?

context: In later editions of the book, Darwin traced evolutionary ideas as far back as Aristotle; the text he cites is a summary by Aristotle of the ideas of the earlier Greek philosopher Empedocles. Early Christian Church Fathers and Medieval European scholars interpreted the Genesis creation narrative allegorically rather than as a literal historical account; organisms were described by their mythological and heraldic significance as well as by their physical form. Nature was widely believed to be unstable and capricious, with monstrous births from union between species, and spontaneous generation of life.
qas: answers: Aristotle
question: To what ancient philosopher did Darwin trace some of his evolutionary ideas?

answers: Greek philosopher Empedocles
question: Whose ideas were summarized by Aristotle in the work Darwin studied?

answers: allegorically
question: How did medieval scholars view the Genesis creation story?

answers: monstrous births from union between species, and spontaneous generation of life.
question: What kind of births did the Christian Church fathers believe occurred in nature?

context: The Protestant Reformation inspired a literal interpretation of the Bible, with concepts of creation that conflicted with the findings of an emerging science seeking explanations congruent with the mechanical philosophy of René Descartes and the empiricism of the Baconian method. After the turmoil of the English Civil War, the Royal Society wanted to show that science did not threaten religious and political stability. John Ray developed an influential natural theology of rational order; in his taxonomy, species were static and fixed, their adaptation and complexity designed by God, and varieties showed minor differences caused by local conditions. In God's benevolent design, carnivores caused mercifully swift death, but the suffering caused by parasitism was a puzzling problem. The biological classification introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 also viewed species as fixed according to the divine plan. In 1766, Georges Buffon suggested that some similar species, such as horses and asses, or lions, tigers, and leopards, might be varieties descended from a common ancestor. The Ussher chronology of the 1650s had calculated creation at 4004 BC, but by the 1780s geologists assumed a much older world. Wernerians thought strata were deposits from shrinking seas, but James Hutton proposed a self-maintaining infinite cycle, anticipating uniformitarianism.
qas: answers: the Royal Society
question: Which group wanted to assuage fears that science was a threat to religious stability?

answers: John Ray
question: Whose theory claimed that species were unchanging and designed by God?

answers: Carl Linnaeus
question: Who created a biological classification in 1735?

answers: 4004 BC
question: When did the Ussher chronology state that creation began?

answers: James Hutton
question: Who proposed that life is a self-maintaining, infinite cycle?

context: Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin outlined a hypothesis of transmutation of species in the 1790s, and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published a more developed theory in 1809. Both envisaged that spontaneous generation produced simple forms of life that progressively developed greater complexity, adapting to the environment by inheriting changes in adults caused by use or disuse. This process was later called Lamarckism. Lamarck thought there was an inherent progressive tendency driving organisms continuously towards greater complexity, in parallel but separate lineages with no extinction. Geoffroy contended that embryonic development recapitulated transformations of organisms in past eras when the environment acted on embryos, and that animal structures were determined by a constant plan as demonstrated by homologies. Georges Cuvier strongly disputed such ideas, holding that unrelated, fixed species showed similarities that reflected a design for functional needs. His palæontological work in the 1790s had established the reality of extinction, which he explained by local catastrophes, followed by repopulation of the affected areas by other species.
qas: answers: Erasmus Darwin
question: What was the name of Charles Darwin's grandfather?

answers: hypothesis of transmutation of species
question: What theory did Erasmus Darwin outline in the 1790s?

answers: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
question: What was the name of the scientist who developed and published a more complex version of Erasmus Darwin's theory in 1809?

answers: Lamarckism
question: What is the process of adapting to the environment and inheriting changes through use or disuse called?

answers: Georges Cuvier
question: Whose paleontology work in the 1790s established the reality of extinction?

context: In Britain, William Paley's Natural Theology saw adaptation as evidence of beneficial "design" by the Creator acting through natural laws. All naturalists in the two English universities (Oxford and Cambridge) were Church of England clergymen, and science became a search for these laws. Geologists adapted catastrophism to show repeated worldwide annihilation and creation of new fixed species adapted to a changed environment, initially identifying the most recent catastrophe as the biblical flood. Some anatomists such as Robert Grant were influenced by Lamarck and Geoffroy, but most naturalists regarded their ideas of transmutation as a threat to divinely appointed social order.
qas: answers: William Paley's
question: Whose work considered adaptation to be evidence of God's design?

answers: Natural Theology
question: What was the name of William Paley's book claiming divine beneficial design? 

answers: Church of England
question: What religion were all naturalists working at the two English universities?

answers: a threat to divinely appointed social order.
question: How did most naturalists view the concept of transmutation of species?

answers: adapted catastrophism to show repeated worldwide annihilation and creation of new fixed species adapted to a changed environment
question: How did geologists explain the creation of new species in keeping with their belief in divine creation?

context: Darwin went to Edinburgh University in 1825 to study medicine. In his second year he neglected his medical studies for natural history and spent four months assisting Robert Grant's research into marine invertebrates. Grant revealed his enthusiasm for the transmutation of species, but Darwin rejected it. Starting in 1827, at Cambridge University, Darwin learnt science as natural theology from botanist John Stevens Henslow, and read Paley, John Herschel and Alexander von Humboldt. Filled with zeal for science, he studied catastrophist geology with Adam Sedgwick.
qas: answers: 1825
question: When did Darwin begin attending university?

answers: Edinburgh University
question: What university did Darwin attend?

answers: medicine
question: What was Darwin originally studying at university?

answers: Robert Grant
question: Who did Darwin assist in researching marine invertebrates?

answers: Adam Sedgwick
question: With whom did Darwin study about catastrophic geology?

context: In December 1831, he joined the Beagle expedition as a gentleman naturalist and geologist. He read Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology and from the first stop ashore, at St. Jago, found Lyell's uniformitarianism a key to the geological history of landscapes. Darwin discovered fossils resembling huge armadillos, and noted the geographical distribution of modern species in hope of finding their "centre of creation". The three Fuegian missionaries the expedition returned to Tierra del Fuego were friendly and civilised, yet to Darwin their relatives on the island seemed "miserable, degraded savages", and he no longer saw an unbridgeable gap between humans and animals. As the Beagle neared England in 1836, he noted that species might not be fixed.
qas: answers: Beagle expedition
question: What expedition did Darwin join in 1831?

answers: Charles Lyell
question: Who wrote The Principles of Geology?

answers: St. Jago
question: Where was the first stop of the Beagle Expedition?

answers: huge armadillos
question: What did some of the fossils Darwin found on St. Jago resemble?

answers: their relatives on the island seemed "miserable, degraded savages"
question: What caused Darwin to change his mind about the unbridgeable gap between animals and humans?

context: Richard Owen showed that fossils of extinct species Darwin found in South America were allied to living species on the same continent. In March 1837, ornithologist John Gould announced that Darwin's rhea was a separate species from the previously described rhea (though their territories overlapped), that mockingbirds collected on the Galápagos Islands represented three separate species each unique to a particular island, and that several distinct birds from those islands were all classified as finches. Darwin began speculating, in a series of notebooks, on the possibility that "one species does change into another" to explain these findings, and around July sketched a genealogical branching of a single evolutionary tree, discarding Lamarck's independent lineages progressing to higher forms. Unconventionally, Darwin asked questions of fancy pigeon and animal breeders as well as established scientists. At the zoo he had his first sight of an ape, and was profoundly impressed by how human the orangutan seemed.
qas: answers: Richard Owen
question: Who showed that extinct South American fossils were related to living species?

answers: Darwin's rhea was a separate species from the previously described rhea
question: What did John Gould announce in 1837?

answers: three separate species
question: How many species of mockingbirds were found to be present on the Galapagos Islands?

answers: ornithologist
question: What type of scientist was John Gould?

answers: an ape
question: Which animal did Darwin see at a zoo that made him further consider evolution?

context: In late September 1838, he started reading Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population with its statistical argument that human populations, if unrestrained, breed beyond their means and struggle to survive. Darwin related this to the struggle for existence among wildlife and botanist de Candolle's "warring of the species" in plants; he immediately envisioned "a force like a hundred thousand wedges" pushing well-adapted variations into "gaps in the economy of nature", so that the survivors would pass on their form and abilities, and unfavourable variations would be destroyed. By December 1838, he had noted a similarity between the act of breeders selecting traits and a Malthusian Nature selecting among variants thrown up by "chance" so that "every part of newly acquired structure is fully practical and perfected".
qas: answers: An Essay on the Principle of Population
question: Which book did Darwin begin reading in 1838?

answers: breed beyond their means and struggle to survive
question: What did Thomas Malthus' book theorize would happen to human populations if they were unrestrained?

answers: plants
question: Which species did Darwin compare with the human struggle to survive?

answers: "warring of the species"
question: What concept was de Candolle considering as he studied plants?

context: Darwin continued to research and extensively revise his theory while focusing on his main work of publishing the scientific results of the Beagle voyage. He tentatively wrote of his ideas to Lyell in January 1842; then in June he roughed out a 35-page "Pencil Sketch" of his theory. Darwin began correspondence about his theorising with the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in January 1844, and by July had rounded out his "sketch" into a 230-page "Essay", to be expanded with his research results and published if he died prematurely.
qas: answers: Lyell
question: Who did Darwin write his ideas to in 1842?

answers: "Pencil Sketch"
question: What was the name of Darwin's 35-page writing of his theory?

answers: Joseph Dalton Hooker
question: Which botanist did Darwin begin a correspondence with about his theories?

answers: scientific results of the Beagle voyage
question: What information was Darwin's essay based on?

answers: 230-page
question: How many pages had Darwin's sketch grown to in 1844?

context: In November 1844, the anonymously published popular science book Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, written by Scottish journalist Robert Chambers, widened public interest in the concept of transmutation of species. Vestiges used evidence from the fossil record and embryology to support the claim that living things had progressed from the simple to the more complex over time. But it proposed a linear progression rather than the branching common descent theory behind Darwin's work in progress, and it ignored adaptation. Darwin read it soon after publication, and scorned its amateurish geology and zoology, but he carefully reviewed his own arguments after leading scientists, including Adam Sedgwick, attacked its morality and scientific errors. Vestiges had significant influence on public opinion, and the intense debate helped to pave the way for the acceptance of the more scientifically sophisticated Origin by moving evolutionary speculation into the mainstream. While few naturalists were willing to consider transmutation, Herbert Spencer became an active proponent of Lamarckism and progressive development in the 1850s.
qas: answers: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
question: What was the name of the anonymously published science book?

answers: a linear progression
question: What kind of progression did Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation propose?

answers: Robert Chambers
question: Who wrote Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation?

answers: that living things had progressed from the simple to the more complex over time.
question: What was the evidence in Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation used to support?

answers: Herbert Spencer
question: Which scientist was in favor of Lamarckism in the 1850s?

context: Darwin's barnacle studies convinced him that variation arose constantly and not just in response to changed circumstances. In 1854, he completed the last part of his Beagle-related writing and began working full-time on evolution. His thinking changed from the view that species formed in isolated populations only, as on islands, to an emphasis on speciation without isolation; that is, he saw increasing specialisation within large stable populations as continuously exploiting new ecological niches. He conducted empirical research focusing on difficulties with his theory. He studied the developmental and anatomical differences between different breeds of many domestic animals, became actively involved in fancy pigeon breeding, and experimented (with the help of his son Francis) on ways that plant seeds and animals might disperse across oceans to colonise distant islands. By 1856, his theory was much more sophisticated, with a mass of supporting evidence.
qas: answers: barnacle
question: What creatures did Darwin study that made him believe variation arose constantly?

answers: 1854
question: In what year did Darwin begin to work on his evolution theory full-time?

answers: 1856
question: By which year had Darwin's theory become more complex and supported by a lot of evidence?

answers: fancy pigeon
question: Which bird species did Darwin become extremely interested in studying?

answers: plant seeds and animals
question: What species did Darwin study for dispersal across oceans>

context: An 1855 paper on the "introduction" of species, written by Alfred Russel Wallace, claimed that patterns in the geographical distribution of living and fossil species could be explained if every new species always came into existence near an already existing, closely related species. Charles Lyell recognised the implications of Wallace's paper and its possible connection to Darwin's work, although Darwin did not, and in a letter written on 1–2 May 1856 Lyell urged Darwin to publish his theory to establish priority. Darwin was torn between the desire to set out a full and convincing account and the pressure to quickly produce a short paper. He met Lyell, and in correspondence with Joseph Dalton Hooker affirmed that he did not want to expose his ideas to review by an editor as would have been required to publish in an academic journal. He began a "sketch" account on 14 May 1856, and by July had decided to produce a full technical treatise on species. His theory including the principle of divergence was complete by 5 September 1857 when he sent Asa Gray a brief but detailed abstract of his ideas.
qas: answers: 1855
question: When was the "Introduction of Species" paper written?

answers: Alfred Russel Wallace
question: Who wrote the "Introduction of Species" paper?

answers: if every new species always came into existence near an already existing, closely related species
question: How did Wallace claim that patterns in the distribution of species could be explained?

answers: Charles Lyell
question: Which scientist recognized the possible validity and implications of Wallace's paper?

answers: 1–2 May 1856
question: When did Lyell ask Darwin to publish his theory to give it priority?

context: Darwin was hard at work on his "big book" on Natural Selection, when on 18 June 1858 he received a parcel from Wallace, who stayed on the Maluku Islands (Ternate and Gilolo). It enclosed twenty pages describing an evolutionary mechanism, a response to Darwin's recent encouragement, with a request to send it on to Lyell if Darwin thought it worthwhile. The mechanism was similar to Darwin's own theory. Darwin wrote to Lyell that "your words have come true with a vengeance, ... forestalled" and he would "of course, at once write and offer to send [it] to any journal" that Wallace chose, adding that "all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed". Lyell and Hooker agreed that a joint publication putting together Wallace's pages with extracts from Darwin's 1844 Essay and his 1857 letter to Gray should be presented at the Linnean Society, and on 1 July 1858, the papers entitled On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, by Wallace and Darwin respectively, were read out but drew little reaction. While Darwin considered Wallace's idea to be identical to his concept of natural selection, historians have pointed out differences. Darwin described natural selection as being analogous to the artificial selection practised by animal breeders, and emphasised competition between individuals; Wallace drew no comparison to selective breeding, and focused on ecological pressures that kept different varieties adapted to local conditions. Some historians have suggested that Wallace was actually discussing group selection rather than selection acting on individual variation.
qas: answers: "big book" on Natural Selection,
question: Which book was Darwin working on when he received a package from Wallace?

answers: twenty pages describing an evolutionary mechanism
question: What was in the packages Darwin received from Wallace?

answers: Wallace
question: Who wrote the paper, On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties?

answers: Darwin
question: Who wrote the paper, On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties?

answers: Some historians have suggested that Wallace was actually discussing group selection rather than selection acting on individual variation.
question: What do some historians think made Wallace's concept of natural selection different from Darwin's?

context: After the meeting, Darwin decided to write "an abstract of my whole work". He started work on 20 July 1858, while on holiday at Sandown, and wrote parts of it from memory. Lyell discussed arrangements with publisher John Murray III, of the publishing house John Murray, who responded immediately to Darwin's letter of 31 March 1859 with an agreement to publish the book without even seeing the manuscript, and an offer to Darwin of 2⁄3 of the profits. (eventually Murray paid £180 to Darwin for the 1st edition and by Darwin's death in 1882 the book was in its 6th edition, earning Darwin nearly £3000.)
qas: answers: "an abstract of my whole work".
question: What did Darwin decide to write in July, 1858?

answers: John Murray III
question: Which publisher did Lyell convince to arrange publication of Darwin's work?

answers: 2⁄3 of the profits
question: What did the publisher offer Darwin in payment for the book?

answers: 6th edition
question: What edition was the book in by the time of Darwin's death?

answers: nearly £3000
question: How much had the book earned Darwin by the time he died?

context: Darwin had initially decided to call his book An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through natural selection, but with Murray's persuasion it was eventually changed to the snappier title: On the Origin of Species, with the title page adding by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Here the term "races" is used as an alternative for "varieties" and does not carry the modern connotation of human races—the first use in the book refers to "the several races, for instance, of the cabbage" and proceeds to a discussion of "the hereditary varieties or races of our domestic animals and plants".
qas: answers: On the Origin of Species
question: What title did Darwin's book ultimately have?

answers: An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through natural selection
question: What had Darwin wanted to name his book?

answers: Murray
question: Who convinced Darwin that his book needed a shorter, more compelling title?

answers: an alternative for "varieties" and does not carry the modern connotation of human races
question: What does the word "races" mean as referenced in Darwin's book?

answers: by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
question: What is the extended name of The Origin of Species that is written on the title page?

context: Darwin had his basic theory of natural selection "by which to work" by December 1838, yet almost twenty years later, when Wallace's letter arrived on 18 June 1858, Darwin was still not ready to publish his theory. It was long thought that Darwin avoided or delayed making his ideas public for personal reasons. Reasons suggested have included fear of religious persecution or social disgrace if his views were revealed, and concern about upsetting his clergymen naturalist friends or his pious wife Emma. Charles Darwin's illness caused repeated delays. His paper on Glen Roy had proved embarrassingly wrong, and he may have wanted to be sure he was correct. David Quammen has suggested all these factors may have contributed, and notes Darwin's large output of books and busy family life during that time.
qas: answers: 1838
question: By which year did Darwin have the basic premise of his natural selection theory?

answers: fear of religious persecution or social disgrace
question: Why might Darwin have postponed publishing his theory of evolution for over 20 years?

answers: Glen Roy
question: Which paper did Darwin write that was incorrect?

answers: his clergymen naturalist friends or his pious wife Emma.
question: Who might Darwin have feared upsetting by publishing his work?

context: A more recent study by science historian John van Wyhe has determined that the idea that Darwin delayed publication only dates back to the 1940s, and Darwin's contemporaries thought the time he took was reasonable. Darwin always finished one book before starting another. While he was researching, he told many people about his interest in transmutation without causing outrage. He firmly intended to publish, but it was not until September 1854 that he could work on it full-time. His estimate that writing his "big book" would take five years was optimistic.
qas: answers: Darwin's contemporaries thought the time he took was reasonable
question: What did Darwin's contemporaries think of the long delays on his publishing?

answers: Darwin always finished one book before starting another
question: What was Darwin's process on writing his books?

answers: five years
question: What was Darwin's original estimate for the amount of time his book would take to write?

answers: John van Wyhe
question: Which scientist's study theorized that the idea of Darwin's work being delayed dates to the 1940s?

context: On the Origin of Species was first published on Thursday 24 November 1859, priced at fifteen shillings with a first printing of 1250 copies. The book had been offered to booksellers at Murray's autumn sale on Tuesday 22 November, and all available copies had been taken up immediately. In total, 1,250 copies were printed but after deducting presentation and review copies, and five for Stationers' Hall copyright, around 1,170 copies were available for sale. Significantly, 500 were taken by Mudie's Library, ensuring that the book promptly reached a large number of subscribers to the library. The second edition of 3,000 copies was quickly brought out on 7 January 1860, and incorporated numerous corrections as well as a response to religious objections by the addition of a new epigraph on page ii, a quotation from Charles Kingsley, and the phrase "by the Creator" added to the closing sentence. During Darwin's lifetime the book went through six editions, with cumulative changes and revisions to deal with counter-arguments raised. The third edition came out in 1861, with a number of sentences rewritten or added and an introductory appendix, An Historical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species, while the fourth in 1866 had further revisions. The fifth edition, published on 10 February 1869, incorporated more changes and for the first time included the phrase "survival of the fittest", which had been coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology (1864).
qas: answers: fifteen shillings
question: What was the cost for the first published copies of On the Origin of Species?

answers: 1250 copies
question: How many copies of On the Origin of Species were created in the first printing?

answers: Murray's autumn sale
question: Where was the book, On the Origin of Species first offered for sale?

answers: six editions
question: How many editions did On the Origin of Species go through during Darwin's lifetime?

answers: Mudie's Library
question: Which institution bought 500 copies of the book, ensuring that a large number of people would have access to it?

context: In January 1871, George Jackson Mivart's On the Genesis of Species listed detailed arguments against natural selection, and claimed it included false metaphysics. Darwin made extensive revisions to the sixth edition of the Origin (this was the first edition in which he used the word "evolution" which had commonly been associated with embryological development, though all editions concluded with the word "evolved"), and added a new chapter VII, Miscellaneous objections, to address Mivart's arguments.
qas: answers: claimed it included false metaphysics
question: What did On the Genesis of Species argue against natural selection?

answers: George Jackson Mivart
question: Who wrote On the Genesis of Species?

answers: the sixth edition
question: When did Charles Darwin first use the word "evolution" in On the Origin of Species?

answers: added a new chapter VII,
question: What did Charles Darwin do to address Mivart's arguments?

answers: Miscellaneous objections
question: What was chapter VII entitled?

context: In the United States, botanist Asa Gray an American colleague of Darwin negotiated with a Boston publisher for publication of an authorised American version, but learnt that two New York publishing firms were already planning to exploit the absence of international copyright to print Origin. Darwin was delighted by the popularity of the book, and asked Gray to keep any profits. Gray managed to negotiate a 5% royalty with Appleton's of New York, who got their edition out in mid January 1860, and the other two withdrew. In a May letter, Darwin mentioned a print run of 2,500 copies, but it is not clear if this referred to the first printing only as there were four that year.
qas: answers: two New York publishing firms were already planning to exploit the absence of international copyright to print Origin
question: Why couldn't Asa Gray use a Boston publisher for an American version of On the Origin of Species?

answers: a 5% royalty
question: How much of a royalty was Gray able to negotiate with a New York publisher for On the Origin of Species?

answers: mid January 1860
question: When was the first American edition of On the Origin of Species published?

answers: asked Gray to keep any profits
question: What did Darwin decide to do with the profits of the American version of On the Origin of Species?

answers: 2,500 copies
question: What was the print run that Darwin mentioned for On the Origin of Species?

context: The book was widely translated in Darwin's lifetime, but problems arose with translating concepts and metaphors, and some translations were biased by the translator's own agenda. Darwin distributed presentation copies in France and Germany, hoping that suitable applicants would come forward, as translators were expected to make their own arrangements with a local publisher. He welcomed the distinguished elderly naturalist and geologist Heinrich Georg Bronn, but the German translation published in 1860 imposed Bronn's own ideas, adding controversial themes that Darwin had deliberately omitted. Bronn translated "favoured races" as "perfected races", and added essays on issues including the origin of life, as well as a final chapter on religious implications partly inspired by Bronn's adherence to Naturphilosophie. In 1862, Bronn produced a second edition based on the third English edition and Darwin's suggested additions, but then died of a heart attack. Darwin corresponded closely with Julius Victor Carus, who published an improved translation in 1867. Darwin's attempts to find a translator in France fell through, and the translation by Clémence Royer published in 1862 added an introduction praising Darwin's ideas as an alternative to religious revelation and promoting ideas anticipating social Darwinism and eugenics, as well as numerous explanatory notes giving her own answers to doubts that Darwin expressed. Darwin corresponded with Royer about a second edition published in 1866 and a third in 1870, but he had difficulty getting her to remove her notes and was troubled by these editions. He remained unsatisfied until a translation by Edmond Barbier was published in 1876. A Dutch translation by Tiberius Cornelis Winkler was published in 1860. By 1864, additional translations had appeared in Italian and Russian. In Darwin's lifetime, Origin was published in Swedish in 1871, Danish in 1872, Polish in 1873, Hungarian in 1873–1874, Spanish in 1877 and Serbian in 1878. By 1977, it had appeared in an additional 18 languages.
qas: answers: Heinrich Georg Bronn,
question: Who was the German translator that Darwin welcomed for On the Origin of Species?

answers: the German translation published in 1860 imposed Bronn's own ideas, adding controversial themes that Darwin had deliberately omitted.
question: What did Bronn do in his translation that went completely against what Darwin wanted in On the Origin of Species?

answers: "perfected races"
question: What did Bronn change "Favoured Races" to in his translated edition of On the Origin of Species?

answers: Julius Victor Carus
question: Who published an improved translation of On the Origin of Species in 1867?

answers: numerous explanatory notes giving her own answers to doubts that Darwin expressed
question: Why was Darwin unhappy with the first French translation of On the Origins of Species?

context: Page ii contains quotations by William Whewell and Francis Bacon on the theology of natural laws, harmonising science and religion in accordance with Isaac Newton's belief in a rational God who established a law-abiding cosmos. In the second edition, Darwin added an epigraph from Joseph Butler affirming that God could work through scientific laws as much as through miracles, in a nod to the religious concerns of his oldest friends. The Introduction establishes Darwin's credentials as a naturalist and author, then refers to John Herschel's letter suggesting that the origin of species "would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process":
qas: answers: a rational God who established a law-abiding cosmos
question: What was Isaac Newton's belief about God  on the theory of natural law?

answers: Joseph Butler
question: Whose epigraph did Darwin add to On the Origin of Species harmonizing God with science and miracles together?

answers: John Herschel
question: Whose letter does the introduction to On the Origin of Species refer?

answers: the second edition
question: In which edition of On the Origin of Species was the epigraph from Joseph Butler added?

context: Chapter I covers animal husbandry and plant breeding, going back to ancient Egypt. Darwin discusses contemporary opinions on the origins of different breeds under cultivation to argue that many have been produced from common ancestors by selective breeding. As an illustration of artificial selection, he describes fancy pigeon breeding, noting that "[t]he diversity of the breeds is something astonishing", yet all were descended from one species of rock pigeon. Darwin saw two distinct kinds of variation: (1) rare abrupt changes he called "sports" or "monstrosities" (example: ancon sheep with short legs), and (2) ubiquitous small differences (example: slightly shorter or longer bill of pigeons). Both types of hereditary changes can be used by breeders. However, for Darwin the small changes were most important in evolution.
qas: answers: ancient Egypt
question: How far back does Chapter One of On the Origin of Species go in its coverage of animal and plant species?

answers: fancy pigeon breeding
question: What does Darwin use to illustrate the effects of artificial selection?

answers: one species of rock pigeon
question: From what does Darwin assert all pigeons are descended?

answers: the small changes
question: Which evolutionary changes were the most important to Darwin?

context: In Chapter II, Darwin specifies that the distinction between species and varieties is arbitrary, with experts disagreeing and changing their decisions when new forms were found. He concludes that "a well-marked variety may be justly called an incipient species" and that "species are only strongly marked and permanent varieties". He argues for the ubiquity of variation in nature. Historians have noted that naturalists had long been aware that the individuals of a species differed from one another, but had generally considered such variations to be limited and unimportant deviations from the archetype of each species, that archetype being a fixed ideal in the mind of God. Darwin and Wallace made variation among individuals of the same species central to understanding the natural world.
qas: answers: is arbitrary
question: What does Darwin believe about the differences between species and varieties?

answers: "species are only strongly marked and permanent varieties"
question: What does Darwin theorize about different species with regard to variety?

answers: variation among individuals of the same species
question: What did Darwin and Wallace make central to understanding the natural world?

answers: incipient species"
question: What did Darwin say that a "well marked variety" could be called?

answers: generally considered such variations to be limited and unimportant deviations from the archetype of each species
question: What did historians say that naturalists generally thought about the differences in variations in a species?

context: He notes that both A. P. de Candolle and Charles Lyell had stated that all organisms are exposed to severe competition. Darwin emphasizes that he used the phrase "struggle for existence" in "a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another"; he gives examples ranging from plants struggling against drought to plants competing for birds to eat their fruit and disseminate their seeds. He describes the struggle resulting from population growth: "It is the doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms." He discusses checks to such increase including complex ecological interdependencies, and notes that competition is most severe between closely related forms "which fill nearly the same place in the economy of nature".
qas: answers: doctrine of Malthus
question: What is the struggle that Darwin describes about population likened to?

answers: "a large and metaphorical sense
question: Within what frame of reference does Darwin use the phrase "Struggle for Existence?"

answers: all organisms are exposed to severe competition
question: What was Charles Lyell's perception of what organisms are exposed to in their struggle for survival?

answers: competition is most severe between closely related forms
question: When is competition strongest in the natural world?

answers: fill nearly the same place in the economy of nature".
question: Why is competition so fierce between related species?

context: Chapter IV details natural selection under the "infinitely complex and close-fitting ... mutual relations of all organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life". Darwin takes as an example a country where a change in conditions led to extinction of some species, immigration of others and, where suitable variations occurred, descendants of some species became adapted to new conditions. He remarks that the artificial selection practised by animal breeders frequently produced sharp divergence in character between breeds, and suggests that natural selection might do the same, saying:
qas: answers: sharp divergence in character between breeds,
question: What did Darwin say that artificial selection by animal breeders often causes?

answers: extinction of some species
question: What did Darwin say could happen somewhere if there is a change in conditions?

answers: descendants of some species became adapted to new conditions
question: What can happen if species immigrate to a new location?

context: Darwin proposes sexual selection, driven by competition between males for mates, to explain sexually dimorphic features such as lion manes, deer antlers, peacock tails, bird songs, and the bright plumage of some male birds. He analysed sexual selection more fully in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Natural selection was expected to work very slowly in forming new species, but given the effectiveness of artificial selection, he could "see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's power of selection". Using a tree diagram and calculations, he indicates the "divergence of character" from original species into new species and genera. He describes branches falling off as extinction occurred, while new branches formed in "the great Tree of life ... with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications".
qas: answers: sexual selection, driven by competition between males for mates
question: What does Darwin say can explain diverse feature such as antlers on deer and bright feathers on certain male birds?

answers: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
question: Which of Darwin's written works has more in depth information about sexual selection?

answers: no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings
question: What did Darwin expect to see between species with the addition of artificial selection?

answers: a tree diagram and calculations
question: What did Darwin use to illustrate the way that original species change and adapt into new ones?

context: In Darwin's time there was no agreed-upon model of heredity; in Chapter I Darwin admitted, "The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown." He accepted a version of the inheritance of acquired characteristics (which after Darwin's death came to be called Lamarckism), and Chapter V discusses what he called the effects of use and disuse; he wrote that he thought "there can be little doubt that use in our domestic animals strengthens and enlarges certain parts, and disuse diminishes them; and that such modifications are inherited", and that this also applied in nature. Darwin stated that some changes that were commonly attributed to use and disuse, such as the loss of functional wings in some island dwelling insects, might be produced by natural selection. In later editions of Origin, Darwin expanded the role attributed to the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Darwin also admitted ignorance of the source of inheritable variations, but speculated they might be produced by environmental factors. However, one thing was clear: whatever the exact nature and causes of new variations, Darwin knew from observation and experiment that breeders were able to select such variations and produce huge differences in many generations of selection. The observation that selection works in domestic animals is not destroyed by lack of understanding of the underlying hereditary mechanism.
qas: answers: Lamarckism
question: What is the theory that is based on acquired characteristics within a species?

answers: use in our domestic animals strengthens and enlarges certain parts, and disuse diminishes them
question: What did Darwin learn about about the characteristics of domestic animals?

answers: environmental factors
question: What did Darwin speculate might be how inheritable variations might come about in a species?

answers: "The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown."
question: What did Darwin admit about acquired characteristics in chapter one of On the Origin of Species?

answers: breeders were able to select such variations and produce huge differences in many generations of selection
question: What did Darwin learn about variations by observing breeders?

context: More detail was given in Darwin's 1868 book on The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, which tried to explain heredity through his hypothesis of pangenesis. Although Darwin had privately questioned blending inheritance, he struggled with the theoretical difficulty that novel individual variations would tend to blend into a population. However, inherited variation could be seen, and Darwin's concept of selection working on a population with a range of small variations was workable. It was not until the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s that a model of heredity became completely integrated with a model of variation. This modern evolutionary synthesis had been dubbed Neo Darwinian Evolution because it encompasses Charles Darwin's theories of evolution with Gregor Mendel's theories of genetic inheritance.
qas: answers: 1868
question: When was The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication by Charles Darwin published?

answers: hypothesis of pangenesis.
question: What was the hypothesis that attempted to explain heredity?

answers: Darwin's concept of selection working on a population with a range of small variations was workable
question: While Darwin wasn't sure about blending inherited traits, what was his opinion about utilizing inherited variation?

answers: in the 1930s and 1940s
question: When did a model of heredity begin to be integrated with that of variation?

answers: Neo Darwinian Evolution
question: What was the modern evolutionary synthesis named?

context: Chapter VI begins by saying the next three chapters will address possible objections to the theory, the first being that often no intermediate forms between closely related species are found, though the theory implies such forms must have existed. As Darwin noted, "Firstly, why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion, instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?" Darwin attributed this to the competition between different forms, combined with the small number of individuals of intermediate forms, often leading to extinction of such forms. This difficulty can be referred to as the absence or rarity of transitional varieties in habitat space.
qas: answers: often no intermediate forms between closely related species are found
question: What is one possible objection to the theory of integrated variation?

answers: why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms?
question: Why did Darwin wonder why all of nature isn't chaotic and random?

answers: the competition between different forms, combined with the small number of individuals of intermediate forms, often leading to extinction of such forms.
question: What did Darwin ultimately decide was the reason that nature is not a chaos of variation?

context: His answer was that in many cases animals exist with intermediate structures that are functional. He presented flying squirrels, and flying lemurs as examples of how bats might have evolved from non-flying ancestors. He discussed various simple eyes found in invertebrates, starting with nothing more than an optic nerve coated with pigment, as examples of how the vertebrate eye could have evolved. Darwin concludes: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case."
qas: answers: flying squirrels, and flying lemurs
question: What are some flying animals that Darwin thought might have evolved from bats?

answers: simple eyes found in invertebrates, starting with nothing more than an optic nerve coated with pigment
question: What example did Darwin give of eyes evolving?

answers: any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.
question: How did Darwin justify his theory not breaking down?

context: Chapter VII (of the first edition) addresses the evolution of instincts. His examples included two he had investigated experimentally: slave-making ants and the construction of hexagonal cells by honey bees. Darwin noted that some species of slave-making ants were more dependent on slaves than others, and he observed that many ant species will collect and store the pupae of other species as food. He thought it reasonable that species with an extreme dependency on slave workers had evolved in incremental steps. He suggested that bees that make hexagonal cells evolved in steps from bees that made round cells, under pressure from natural selection to economise wax. Darwin concluded:
qas: answers: He thought it reasonable that species with an extreme dependency on slave workers had evolved in incremental steps.
question: How does Darwin theorize that instincts have evolved in slave-making ants?

answers: He suggested that bees that make hexagonal cells evolved in steps from bees that made round cells, under pressure from natural selection to economise wax
question: How does Darwin theorize that instincts have evolved in bees?

answers: some species of slave-making ants were more dependent on slaves than others
question: What did Darwin notice specifically about slave-making ants?

context: Chapter VIII addresses the idea that species had special characteristics that prevented hybrids from being fertile in order to preserve separately created species. Darwin said that, far from being constant, the difficulty in producing hybrids of related species, and the viability and fertility of the hybrids, varied greatly, especially among plants. Sometimes what were widely considered to be separate species produced fertile hybrid offspring freely, and in other cases what were considered to be mere varieties of the same species could only be crossed with difficulty. Darwin concluded: "Finally, then, the facts briefly given in this chapter do not seem to me opposed to, but even rather to support the view, that there is no fundamental distinction between species and varieties."
qas: answers: in order to preserve separately created species
question: Why would hybrids have characteristics that keep them from being fertile?

answers: the viability and fertility of the hybrids, varied greatly, especially among plants
question: What are Darwin's thoughts on producing hybrids of related species?

answers: support the view, that there is no fundamental distinction between species and varieties
question: What conclusion did Darwin come to after realizing that some diverse species were able to create variations easily, while other species thought to be closely related had difficulty?

context: In the sixth edition Darwin inserted a new chapter VII (renumbering the subsequent chapters) to respond to criticisms of earlier editions, including the objection that many features of organisms were not adaptive and could not have been produced by natural selection. He said some such features could have been by-products of adaptive changes to other features, and that often features seemed non-adaptive because their function was unknown, as shown by his book on Fertilisation of Orchids that explained how their elaborate structures facilitated pollination by insects. Much of the chapter responds to George Jackson Mivart's criticisms, including his claim that features such as baleen filters in whales, flatfish with both eyes on one side and the camouflage of stick insects could not have evolved through natural selection because intermediate stages would not have been adaptive. Darwin proposed scenarios for the incremental evolution of each feature.
qas: answers: to respond to criticisms of earlier editions
question: Why did Darwin introduce a new chapter in On the Origin of Species in the sixth edition?

answers: that many features of organisms were not adaptive and could not have been produced by natural selection
question: What was one of the objections that Darwin addressed in his new chapter in On the Origin of Species?

answers: Fertilisation of Orchids
question: Which of Darwin's books featured a plant whose elaborate structure aided with fertilization by insects?

answers: George Jackson Mivart
question: Which scientist was addressed the most often in the new chapter of On the Origin of Species?

answers: Darwin proposed scenarios for the incremental evolution of each feature.
question: What was Darwin's response to the claims that certain animals could not have evolved through natural selection?

context: Chapter IX deals with the fact that the geologic record appears to show forms of life suddenly arising, without the innumerable transitional fossils expected from gradual changes. Darwin borrowed Charles Lyell's argument in Principles of Geology that the record is extremely imperfect as fossilisation is a very rare occurrence, spread over vast periods of time; since few areas had been geologically explored, there could only be fragmentary knowledge of geological formations, and fossil collections were very poor. Evolved local varieties which migrated into a wider area would seem to be the sudden appearance of a new species. Darwin did not expect to be able to reconstruct evolutionary history, but continuing discoveries gave him well founded hope that new finds would occasionally reveal transitional forms. To show that there had been enough time for natural selection to work slowly, he again cited Principles of Geology and other observations based on sedimentation and erosion, including an estimate that erosion of The Weald had taken 300 million years. The initial appearance of entire groups of well developed organisms in the oldest fossil-bearing layers, now known as the Cambrian explosion, posed a problem. Darwin had no doubt that earlier seas had swarmed with living creatures, but stated that he had no satisfactory explanation for the lack of fossils. Fossil evidence of pre-Cambrian life has since been found, extending the history of life back for billions of years.
qas: answers: Charles Lyell
question: Whose argument did Darwin borrow that geological record is very imperfect, because fossilization is rare?

answers: Principles of Geology
question: Which book written by Charles Lyell contains the argument that fossils are too rare to be used as proof of life suddenly arising?

answers: that new finds would occasionally reveal transitional forms
question: What did Darwin hope to find as he continued to explore new geologic discoveries?

answers: 300 million years
question: How long did Darwin estimate the erosion of the Weald to be?

answers: the Cambrian explosion
question: What is the name of the group of well-developed organisms that were discovered within fossil-bearing layers?

context: Chapter X examines whether patterns in the fossil record are better explained by common descent and branching evolution through natural selection, than by the individual creation of fixed species. Darwin expected species to change slowly, but not at the same rate – some organisms such as Lingula were unchanged since the earliest fossils. The pace of natural selection would depend on variability and change in the environment. This distanced his theory from Lamarckian laws of inevitable progress. It has been argued that this anticipated the punctuated equilibrium hypothesis, but other scholars have preferred to emphasise Darwin's commitment to gradualism. He cited Richard Owen's findings that the earliest members of a class were a few simple and generalised species with characteristics intermediate between modern forms, and were followed by increasingly diverse and specialised forms, matching the branching of common descent from an ancestor. Patterns of extinction matched his theory, with related groups of species having a continued existence until extinction, then not reappearing. Recently extinct species were more similar to living species than those from earlier eras, and as he had seen in South America, and William Clift had shown in Australia, fossils from recent geological periods resembled species still living in the same area.
qas: answers: slowly, but not at the same rate
question: How did Darwin expect species to change and evolve?

answers: variability and change in the environment
question: What did Darwin believe were the key things needed for variation of species to form?

answers: Richard Owen
question: Which scientist theorized that the earliest members of a class in a species were simple and generalized?

answers: Recently extinct species were more similar to living species than those from earlier eras
question: What did Darwin discover about more recently extinct species?

context: Chapter XI deals with evidence from biogeography, starting with the observation that differences in flora and fauna from separate regions cannot be explained by environmental differences alone; South America, Africa, and Australia all have regions with similar climates at similar latitudes, but those regions have very different plants and animals. The species found in one area of a continent are more closely allied with species found in other regions of that same continent than to species found on other continents. Darwin noted that barriers to migration played an important role in the differences between the species of different regions. The coastal sea life of the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Central America had almost no species in common even though the Isthmus of Panama was only a few miles wide. His explanation was a combination of migration and descent with modification. He went on to say: "On this principle of inheritance with modification, we can understand how it is that sections of genera, whole genera, and even families are confined to the same areas, as is so commonly and notoriously the case." Darwin explained how a volcanic island formed a few hundred miles from a continent might be colonised by a few species from that continent. These species would become modified over time, but would still be related to species found on the continent, and Darwin observed that this was a common pattern. Darwin discussed ways that species could be dispersed across oceans to colonise islands, many of which he had investigated experimentally.
qas: answers: South America, Africa, and Australia all have regions with similar climates at similar latitudes, but those regions have very different plants and animals
question: Why couldn't differences in flora and fauna be explained by differences in regions alone?

answers: barriers to migration played an important role in the differences between the species of different regions.
question: What did Darwin consider that could explain why different regions could have such different species when they are close together?

answers: His explanation was a combination of migration and descent with modification.
question: What was the combination of effects that Darwin considered the most important in determining the differences in species that evolved separately in similar environments?

context: Darwin discusses morphology, including the importance of homologous structures. He says, "What can be more curious than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern, and should include the same bones, in the same relative positions?" He notes that animals of the same class often have extremely similar embryos. Darwin discusses rudimentary organs, such as the wings of flightless birds and the rudiments of pelvis and leg bones found in some snakes. He remarks that some rudimentary organs, such as teeth in baleen whales, are found only in embryonic stages.
qas: answers: morphology
question: What theory does Darwin discuss that is related to the importance of homologous structures?

answers: the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat
question: What are some examples that Darwin gives of species whose basic form of limbs is similar, but who have vastly different uses for them?

answers: animals of the same class often have extremely similar embryos
question: What does Darwin note about the embryos of many different species in the same class?

answers: e wings of flightless birds and the rudiments of pelvis and leg bones found in some snakes
question: What are some examples of rudimentary organs that Darwin discusses in the chapter?

context: The final chapter reviews points from earlier chapters, and Darwin concludes by hoping that his theory might produce revolutionary changes in many fields of natural history. Although he avoids the controversial topic of human origins in the rest of the book so as not to prejudice readers against his theory, here he ventures a cautious hint that psychology would be put on a new foundation and that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man". Darwin ends with a passage that became well known and much quoted:
qas: answers: that his theory might produce revolutionary changes
question: What hopes does Darwin have for his theory in the natural history fields?

answers: so as not to prejudice readers against his theory
question: Why did Darwin avoid the topic of the origins of humans in most of his book?

answers: that psychology would be put on a new foundation and that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man"
question: What does Darwin allude to hoping in the final chapter of On the Origin of Species about humans?

context: Darwin's aims were twofold: to show that species had not been separately created, and to show that natural selection had been the chief agent of change. He knew that his readers were already familiar with the concept of transmutation of species from Vestiges, and his introduction ridicules that work as failing to provide a viable mechanism. Therefore, the first four chapters lay out his case that selection in nature, caused by the struggle for existence, is analogous to the selection of variations under domestication, and that the accumulation of adaptive variations provides a scientifically testable mechanism for evolutionary speciation.
qas: answers: to show that species had not been separately created, and to show that natural selection had been the chief agent of change
question: What were Darwin's two important aims about evolution?

answers: the concept of transmutation of species
question: What did heknow his readers were already familiar with from Vestiges?

answers: his introduction ridicules that work as failing to provide a viable mechanism.
question: How did Darwin view Vestiges in the introduction to On the Origin of Species?

answers: the accumulation of adaptive variations provides a scientifically testable mechanism for evolutionary speciation.
question: What is Darwin's belief about the accumulation of adaptive variations?

context: Later chapters provide evidence that evolution has occurred, supporting the idea of branching, adaptive evolution without directly proving that selection is the mechanism. Darwin presents supporting facts drawn from many disciplines, showing that his theory could explain a myriad of observations from many fields of natural history that were inexplicable under the alternate concept that species had been individually created. The structure of Darwin's argument showed the influence of John Herschel, whose philosophy of science maintained that a mechanism could be called a vera causa (true cause) if three things could be demonstrated: its existence in nature, its ability to produce the effects of interest, and its ability to explain a wide range of observations.
qas: answers: Darwin presents supporting facts drawn from many disciplines
question: What does Darwin do to show that his theory can support many theories that could not be explained by individual creation of species?

answers: John Herschel
question: Whose scientific philosophy argued that a mechanism could be called a vera causa if three things could be shown as true?

answers: its existence in nature, its ability to produce the effects of interest, and its ability to explain a wide range of observations
question: What are the three things John Herschel maintains need to be shown to allow for a mechanism be called a true cause?

context: While the book was readable enough to sell, its dryness ensured that it was seen as aimed at specialist scientists and could not be dismissed as mere journalism or imaginative fiction. Unlike the still-popular Vestiges, it avoided the narrative style of the historical novel and cosmological speculation, though the closing sentence clearly hinted at cosmic progression. Darwin had long been immersed in the literary forms and practices of specialist science, and made effective use of his skills in structuring arguments. David Quammen has described the book as written in everyday language for a wide audience, but noted that Darwin's literary style was uneven: in some places he used convoluted sentences that are difficult to read, while in other places his writing was beautiful. Quammen advised that later editions were weakened by Darwin making concessions and adding details to address his critics, and recommended the first edition. James T. Costa said that because the book was an abstract produced in haste in response to Wallace's essay, it was more approachable than the big book on natural selection Darwin had been working on, which would have been encumbered by scholarly footnotes and much more technical detail. He added that some parts of Origin are dense, but other parts are almost lyrical, and the case studies and observations are presented in a narrative style unusual in serious scientific books, which broadened its audience.
qas: answers: Darwin making concessions and adding details to address his critics
question: What reason did David Quammen believe that On the Origin of Species was weakened in later editions?

answers: because the book was an abstract produced in haste in response to Wallace's essay
question: Why did James T. Costa think that On the Origin of Species was more likely to draw interest than a larger book that Darwin had been working on?

answers: it avoided the narrative style of the historical novel and cosmological speculation
question: What did On Origin of Species avoid in order to raise its chance of being taken seriously?

answers: its dryness ensured that it was seen as aimed at specialist scientists and could not be dismissed as mere journalism or imaginative fiction.
question: What element of On the Origin of Species ensured that the book would be taken seriously by scientists?

answers: would have been encumbered by scholarly footnotes and much more technical detail
question: Why did James T. Costa think the larger, abandoned book would not have been as successful?

context: The book aroused international interest and a widespread debate, with no sharp line between scientific issues and ideological, social and religious implications. Much of the initial reaction was hostile, but Darwin had to be taken seriously as a prominent and respected name in science. There was much less controversy than had greeted the 1844 publication Vestiges of Creation, which had been rejected by scientists, but had influenced a wide public readership into believing that nature and human society were governed by natural laws. The Origin of Species as a book of wide general interest became associated with ideas of social reform. Its proponents made full use of a surge in the publication of review journals, and it was given more popular attention than almost any other scientific work, though it failed to match the continuing sales of Vestiges. Darwin's book legitimised scientific discussion of evolutionary mechanisms, and the newly coined term Darwinism was used to cover the whole range of evolutionism, not just his own ideas. By the mid-1870s, evolutionism was triumphant.
qas: answers: no sharp line between scientific issues and ideological, social and religious implications
question: Why did On the Origin of Species likely raise so much interest and debate?

answers: Darwin had to be taken seriously as a prominent and respected name in science
question: Why was the book taken seriously even though much of the response was hostile?

answers: social reform
question: What field of ideas latched onto On the Origin of Species when it became a widespread success?

answers: Darwin's book legitimised scientific discussion of evolutionary mechanisms
question: What did Darwin's book do for the field of scientific study of evolution?

answers: Darwinism
question: What was the term used to not only describe Darwin's theories, but the whole spectrum of evolution-ism after his book met with success?

context: Scientific readers were already aware of arguments that species changed through processes that were subject to laws of nature, but the transmutational ideas of Lamarck and the vague "law of development" of Vestiges had not found scientific favour. Darwin presented natural selection as a scientifically testable mechanism while accepting that other mechanisms such as inheritance of acquired characters were possible. His strategy established that evolution through natural laws was worthy of scientific study, and by 1875, most scientists accepted that evolution occurred but few thought natural selection was significant. Darwin's scientific method was also disputed, with his proponents favouring the empiricism of John Stuart Mill's A System of Logic, while opponents held to the idealist school of William Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, in which investigation could begin with the intuitive truth that species were fixed objects created by design. Early support for Darwin's ideas came from the findings of field naturalists studying biogeography and ecology, including Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1860, and Asa Gray in 1862. Henry Walter Bates presented research in 1861 that explained insect mimicry using natural selection. Alfred Russel Wallace discussed evidence from his Malay archipelago research, including an 1864 paper with an evolutionary explanation for the Wallace line.
qas: answers: the transmutational ideas of Lamarck and the vague "law of development" of Vestiges had not found scientific favour
question: What was the general response from scientific readers to Lamarck's written work?

answers: natural selection as a scientifically testable mechanism while accepting that other mechanisms such as inheritance of acquired characters were possible.
question: What was the likely reason that Darwin's ideas were accepted more readily than Lamarck's?

answers: the idealist school of William Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences
question: Which school did opponents to Darwin's method support?

answers: the findings of field naturalists studying biogeography and ecology, including Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1860, and Asa Gray in 1862
question: Where did early support for Darwin's findings come from?

answers: Henry Walter Bates
question: Who authored research supporting insect mimicry  using natural selection?

context: Evolution had less obvious applications to anatomy and morphology, and at first had little impact on the research of the anatomist Thomas Henry Huxley. Despite this, Huxley strongly supported Darwin on evolution; though he called for experiments to show whether natural selection could form new species, and questioned if Darwin's gradualism was sufficient without sudden leaps to cause speciation. Huxley wanted science to be secular, without religious interference, and his article in the April 1860 Westminster Review promoted scientific naturalism over natural theology, praising Darwin for "extending the domination of Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly penetrated" and coining the term "Darwinism" as part of his efforts to secularise and professionalise science. Huxley gained influence, and initiated the X Club, which used the journal Nature to promote evolution and naturalism, shaping much of late Victorian science. Later, the German morphologist Ernst Haeckel would convince Huxley that comparative anatomy and palaeontology could be used to reconstruct evolutionary genealogies.
qas: answers: Thomas Henry Huxley
question: Who supported Darwin's theories on evolution despite it having little impact on his own research?

answers: scientific naturalism over natural theology
question: What did Huxley's 1860 article in the Westminster Review promote?

answers: as part of his efforts to secularise and professionalise science
question: Why did Huxley coin the name "Darwinism?"

answers: that comparative anatomy and palaeontology could be used to reconstruct evolutionary genealogies
question: What did the morphologist Ernst Haeckel convince Huxley of about comparative anatomy and paleontology?

context: The leading naturalist in Britain was the anatomist Richard Owen, an idealist who had shifted to the view in the 1850s that the history of life was the gradual unfolding of a divine plan. Owen's review of the Origin in the April 1860 Edinburgh Review bitterly attacked Huxley, Hooker and Darwin, but also signalled acceptance of a kind of evolution as a teleological plan in a continuous "ordained becoming", with new species appearing by natural birth. Others that rejected natural selection, but supported "creation by birth", included the Duke of Argyll who explained beauty in plumage by design. Since 1858, Huxley had emphasised anatomical similarities between apes and humans, contesting Owen's view that humans were a separate sub-class. Their disagreement over human origins came to the fore at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting featuring the legendary 1860 Oxford evolution debate. In two years of acrimonious public dispute that Charles Kingsley satirised as the "Great Hippocampus Question" and parodied in The Water-Babies as the "great hippopotamus test", Huxley showed that Owen was incorrect in asserting that ape brains lacked a structure present in human brains. Others, including Charles Lyell and Alfred Russel Wallace, thought that humans shared a common ancestor with apes, but higher mental faculties could not have evolved through a purely material process. Darwin published his own explanation in the Descent of Man (1871).
qas: answers: Richard Owen,
question: Who was the leading naturalist in Britain?

answers: bitterly attacked Huxley, Hooker and Darwin, but also signalled acceptance of a kind of evolution as a teleological plan in a continuous "ordained becoming"
question: How did Owen respond to On the Origin of Species with his review?

answers: Huxley had emphasised anatomical similarities between apes and humans, contesting Owen's view that humans were a separate sub-class
question: What was the debate between Huxley and Owen concerning humans and apes?

answers: legendary 1860 Oxford evolution debate
question: What was the primary debate at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting of 1860?

answers: Darwin published his own explanation in the Descent of Man (1871)
question: When did Darwin publish his own explanation of the question of the evolution of man and ape?

context: Evolutionary ideas, although not natural selection, were accepted by German biologists accustomed to ideas of homology in morphology from Goethe's Metamorphosis of Plants and from their long tradition of comparative anatomy. Bronn's alterations in his German translation added to the misgivings of conservatives, but enthused political radicals. Ernst Haeckel was particularly ardent, aiming to synthesise Darwin's ideas with those of Lamarck and Goethe while still reflecting the spirit of Naturphilosophie. Their ambitious programme to reconstruct the evolutionary history of life was joined by Huxley and supported by discoveries in palaeontology. Haeckel used embryology extensively in his recapitulation theory, which embodied a progressive, almost linear model of evolution. Darwin was cautious about such histories, and had already noted that von Baer's laws of embryology supported his idea of complex branching.
qas: answers: natural selection
question: While evolutionary ideas were accepted by German biologists, what was not?

answers: Bronn's alterations in his German translation added to the misgivings of conservatives
question: What led to more misgivings of conservative scientists when Bronn's German translation of On the Origin of Species was published?

answers: political radicals
question: Which group of people was excited by the German translation of On the Origin of Species?

answers: aiming to synthesise Darwin's ideas with those of Lamarck and Goethe while still reflecting the spirit of Naturphilosophie
question: Why were political radicals such as Ernst Haekel so interested in On the Origin of Species?

context: French-speaking naturalists in several countries showed appreciation of the much modified French translation by Clémence Royer, but Darwin's ideas had little impact in France, where any scientists supporting evolutionary ideas opted for a form of Lamarckism. The intelligentsia in Russia had accepted the general phenomenon of evolution for several years before Darwin had published his theory, and scientists were quick to take it into account, although the Malthusian aspects were felt to be relatively unimportant. The political economy of struggle was criticised as a British stereotype by Karl Marx and by Leo Tolstoy, who had the character Levin in his novel Anna Karenina voice sharp criticism of the morality of Darwin's views.
qas: answers: Darwin's ideas had little impact in France, where any scientists supporting evolutionary ideas opted for a form of Lamarckism
question: What was the general feeling toward Darwin's ideas in France?

answers: The intelligentsia in Russia
question: What people in what country had embraced the idea of evolution for many years before Darwin published his theory?

answers: the Malthusian aspects
question: Which aspects of evolution theory were thought to be unimportant by many who read Darwin's work?

answers: Leo Tolstoy
question: Which author voiced his displeasure of the morality of Darwin's views in a novel?

context: There were serious scientific objections to the process of natural selection as the key mechanism of evolution, including Karl von Nägeli's insistence that a trivial characteristic with no adaptive advantage could not be developed by selection. Darwin conceded that these could be linked to adaptive characteristics. His estimate that the age of the Earth allowed gradual evolution was disputed by William Thomson (later awarded the title Lord Kelvin), who calculated that it had cooled in less than 100 million years. Darwin accepted blending inheritance, but Fleeming Jenkin calculated that as it mixed traits, natural selection could not accumulate useful traits. Darwin tried to meet these objections in the 5th edition. Mivart supported directed evolution, and compiled scientific and religious objections to natural selection. In response, Darwin made considerable changes to the sixth edition. The problems of the age of the Earth and heredity were only resolved in the 20th century.
qas: answers: insistence that a trivial characteristic with no adaptive advantage could not be developed by selection
question: What justification for his objections to the process of natural selection did Karl von Nägel give?

answers: Darwin conceded that these could be linked to adaptive characteristics
question: What was Darwin's concession to Karl von Nägel's objections?

answers: William Thomson
question: Who disputed Darwin's estimate that the age of the earth allowed gradual evolution of species?

answers: calculated that it had cooled in less than 100 million years
question: What were William Thomson's reasons for disputing Darwin's estimate?

answers: in the 20th century
question: When were the problems of the earth and heredity resolved?

context: By the mid-1870s, most scientists accepted evolution, but relegated natural selection to a minor role as they believed evolution was purposeful and progressive. The range of evolutionary theories during "the eclipse of Darwinism" included forms of "saltationism" in which new species were thought to arise through "jumps" rather than gradual adaptation, forms of orthogenesis claiming that species had an inherent tendency to change in a particular direction, and forms of neo-Lamarckism in which inheritance of acquired characteristics led to progress. The minority view of August Weismann, that natural selection was the only mechanism, was called neo-Darwinism. It was thought that the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance invalidated Darwin's views.
qas: answers: they believed evolution was purposeful and progressive.
question: Why did most scientists accept the validity of evolution by the 1870s, but considered natural selection a minor part of it?

answers: new species were thought to arise through "jumps" rather than gradual adaptation
question: What was meant by the term saltationism?

answers: orthogenesis
question: What is the term for the belief that species have a tendency to change and adapt in a certain direction?

answers: neo-Darwinism
question: What was the minority view on evolution that was believed by August Weismann?

answers: Mendelian inheritance
question: What rediscovered inheritance was thought to invalidate Darwin's views on evolution?

context: While some, like Spencer, used analogy from natural selection as an argument against government intervention in the economy to benefit the poor, others, including Alfred Russel Wallace, argued that action was needed to correct social and economic inequities to level the playing field before natural selection could improve humanity further. Some political commentaries, including Walter Bagehot's Physics and Politics (1872), attempted to extend the idea of natural selection to competition between nations and between human races. Such ideas were incorporated into what was already an ongoing effort by some working in anthropology to provide scientific evidence for the superiority of Caucasians over non white races and justify European imperialism. Historians write that most such political and economic commentators had only a superficial understanding of Darwin's scientific theory, and were as strongly influenced by other concepts about social progress and evolution, such as the Lamarckian ideas of Spencer and Haeckel, as they were by Darwin's work. Darwin objected to his ideas being used to justify military aggression and unethical business practices as he believed morality was part of fitness in humans, and he opposed polygenism, the idea that human races were fundamentally distinct and did not share a recent common ancestry.
qas: answers: Alfred Russel Wallace
question: Who believed that action needed to be taken to level out the social and economic playing field before natural selection could occur to improve humanity?

answers: Walter Bagehot's Physics and Politics (1872)
question: Which political commentary attempted to widen the idea of natural selection to include competition between different races of people and countries?

answers: to provide scientific evidence for the superiority of Caucasians over non white races and justify European imperialism
question: Why were some political commentaries attempting to attach natural selection to human races?

answers: to justify military aggression and unethical business practices
question: What uses of his ideology did Darwin object to being used?

answers: he opposed polygenism, the idea that human races were fundamentally distinct and did not share a recent common ancestry.
question: What theory about humanity did Darwin oppose?

context: Natural theology was not a unified doctrine, and while some such as Louis Agassiz were strongly opposed to the ideas in the book, others sought a reconciliation in which evolution was seen as purposeful. In the Church of England, some liberal clergymen interpreted natural selection as an instrument of God's design, with the cleric Charles Kingsley seeing it as "just as noble a conception of Deity". In the second edition of January 1860, Darwin quoted Kingsley as "a celebrated cleric", and added the phrase "by the Creator" to the closing sentence, which from then on read "life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one". While some commentators have taken this as a concession to religion that Darwin later regretted, Darwin's view at the time was of God creating life through the laws of nature, and even in the first edition there are several references to "creation".
qas: answers: strongly opposed to the ideas in the book
question: What view did Louis Agassiz have of On the Origin of Species?

answers: interpreted natural selection as an instrument of God's design
question: What view did some clergymen in the Church of England take of the theory of natural selection?

answers: Darwin quoted Kingsley as "a celebrated cleric", and added the phrase "by the Creator" to the closing sentence,
question: What did Darwin do to show that he admired the cleric Charles Kingsley? 

answers: some commentators have taken this as a concession to religion that Darwin later regretted
question: What did some commentators think about Darwin changing the phrasing in his book?

answers: Darwin's view at the time was of God creating life through the laws of nature
question: What were Darwin's views on the part of God in his theory?

context: Baden Powell praised "Mr Darwin's masterly volume [supporting] the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature". In America, Asa Gray argued that evolution is the secondary effect, or modus operandi, of the first cause, design, and published a pamphlet defending the book in terms of theistic evolution, Natural Selection is not inconsistent with Natural Theology. Theistic evolution became a popular compromise, and St. George Jackson Mivart was among those accepting evolution but attacking Darwin's naturalistic mechanism. Eventually it was realised that supernatural intervention could not be a scientific explanation, and naturalistic mechanisms such as neo-Lamarckism were favoured over natural selection as being more compatible with purpose.
qas: answers: Baden Powell praised "Mr Darwin's masterly volume [supporting] the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature"
question: What was Baden Powell's opinion of On the Origin of Species?

answers: defending the book in terms of theistic evolution, Natural Selection is not inconsistent with Natural Theology.
question: What did the pamphlet that Asa Gray published defend?

answers: Theistic evolution became a popular compromise
question: What was a way that theologians compromised with the information in Darwin's book?

answers: supernatural intervention could not be a scientific explanation
question: What was later realized that caused naturalistic mechanisms such as neo-Lamarckism to be embraced?

context: Even though the book had barely hinted at human evolution, it quickly became central to the debate as mental and moral qualities were seen as spiritual aspects of the immaterial soul, and it was believed that animals did not have spiritual qualities. This conflict could be reconciled by supposing there was some supernatural intervention on the path leading to humans, or viewing evolution as a purposeful and progressive ascent to mankind's position at the head of nature. While many conservative theologians accepted evolution, Charles Hodge argued in his 1874 critique "What is Darwinism?" that "Darwinism", defined narrowly as including rejection of design, was atheism though he accepted that Asa Gray did not reject design. Asa Gray responded that this charge misrepresented Darwin's text. By the early 20th century, four noted authors of The Fundamentals were explicitly open to the possibility that God created through evolution, but fundamentalism inspired the American creation–evolution controversy that began in the 1920s. Some conservative Roman Catholic writers and influential Jesuits opposed evolution in the late 19th and early 20th century, but other Catholic writers, starting with Mivart, pointed out that early Church Fathers had not interpreted Genesis literally in this area. The Vatican stated its official position in a 1950 papal encyclical, which held that evolution was not inconsistent with Catholic teaching.
qas: answers: by supposing there was some supernatural intervention on the path leading to humans
question: How did people attempt to rationalize or reconcile the concept of natural selection?

answers: Charles Hodge
question: Which scientist argued that Darwinism was atheism?

answers: the American creation–evolution controversy
question: What controversy around Darwin's book began in the 1920s?

answers: The Vatican stated its official position in a 1950 papal encyclical, which held that evolution was not inconsistent with Catholic teaching.
question: What official position did the Vatican take on the subject of evolution in 1950?

context: Modern evolutionary theory continues to develop. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, with its tree-like model of branching common descent, has become the unifying theory of the life sciences. The theory explains the diversity of living organisms and their adaptation to the environment. It makes sense of the geologic record, biogeography, parallels in embryonic development, biological homologies, vestigiality, cladistics, phylogenetics and other fields, with unrivalled explanatory power; it has also become essential to applied sciences such as medicine and agriculture. Despite the scientific consensus, a religion-based political controversy has developed over how evolution is taught in schools, especially in the United States.
qas: answers: Darwin's theory of evolution
question: What branching common descent theory has become the most unifying one of the life sciences?

answers: The theory explains the diversity of living organisms and their adaptation to the environment.
question: What does the theory of evolution explain about living organisms?

answers: medicine and agriculture
question: In what fields has Darwin's theory of evolution become particularly essential?

answers: a religion-based political controversy
question: What kind of controversy has begun within school systems about Darwin's theory?

context: Interest in Darwin's writings continues, and scholars have generated an extensive literature, the Darwin Industry, about his life and work. The text of Origin itself has been subject to much analysis including a variorum, detailing the changes made in every edition, first published in 1959, and a concordance, an exhaustive external index published in 1981. Worldwide commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and the bicentenary of Darwin's birth were scheduled for 2009. They celebrated the ideas which "over the last 150 years have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it".
qas: answers: scholars have generated an extensive literature, the Darwin Industry, about his life and work.
question: What kinds of things have been done by scholars interested in Darwin's work?

answers: a variorum
question: What has been created in 1959 and filled with information about changes in every edition of On the Origin of Species?

answers: Worldwide commemorations
question: What was done on the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species?

answers: They celebrated the ideas which "over the last 150 years have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it".
question: What were the celebrants honoring with their commemorations?