Project Gutenberg #1228
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin
1859Darwin's argument for descent with modification and natural selection, prepared chapter by chapter from Project Gutenberg HTML.
Project Gutenberg #1228 Public domain in the United States Cover source Local typographic cover created for MojiMori from public-domain source metadata
20
words at B2 or above
A1
A2
B1
B2
C1
C2
C2+
highlighted
at or above your level
Keyboard: focus a highlighted word and press ↓ for its actions. Esc closes; Enter opens the word page.
AI Summary
Chapter 4 — Struggle for Existence Central question Why is there pressure on living things for every slight advantage? Main argument Darwin applies Malthus's population logic to all organisms: more are born than...
we should have to modify it in a different way to what we should have done in its native country; for we should have to give it some advantage over a different set of competitors or enemies.
It is good thus to try in our imagination to give any form some advantage over another. Probably in no single instance should we know what to do, so as to succeed. It will convince us of our ignorance on the mutual relations of all organic beings; a conviction as necessary, as it seems to be difficult to acquire. All that we can do, is to keep steadily in mind that each organic being is striving to increase at a geometrical ratio; that each at some period of its life, during some season of the year, during each generation or at intervals, has to struggle for life, and to suffer great destruction. When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves with the full belief, that the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.