Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific imagination, The Origin of Species sold out on the day it was published in 1859. Theologians quickly labeled Charles Darwin the most dangerous man in England, and, as the Saturday Review noted, the uproar over the book quickly "passed beyond the bounds of the study and lecture-room into the drawing-room and the public street." Yet, after reading it, Darwin's friend and colleague T. H. Huxley had a different reaction: "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that."

Based largely on Darwin's experience as a naturalist while on a five-year voyage aboard H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species set forth a theory of evolution and natural selection that challenged contemporary beliefs about divine providence and the immutability of species. A landmark con-

tribution to philosophical and scientific thought, this edition also includes an introductory historical sketch and a glossary Darwin later added to the original text.

Charles Darwin grew up considered, by his own account,

"a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect." A quirk of fate kept him from the career his father had deemed appro-

priate--that of a country parson--when a botanist recommended Darwin for an appointment as a naturalist aboard H.M.S. Beagle from 1831 to 1836. Darwin is also the author of the five-volume work Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle (1839) and The Descent of Man (1871).

達爾文(Charles Robert Darwin，1809－1882)英國博物學傢，進化論的奠基人。1809年2月12日，齣生於英國醫生傢庭。1825年至1828年在愛丁大學學醫，後進入劍橋大學學習神學。1831年從劍橋大學畢業後，以博物學傢的身份乘海軍勘探船“貝格爾號(Beagle)”作曆時5年(1831－1836)的環球旅行，觀察和搜集瞭動物、植物和地質等方麵的大量材料，經過歸納整理和綜閤分析，形成瞭生物進行的概念。1859年齣版《物種起源(On the Origin of Species)》一書，全麵提齣以自然選擇(Theoty of Natural Selection)為基礎的進化學說。該書齣版震動當時的學術界，成為生物學史上的一個轉摺點。自然選擇的進化學說對各種唯心的神造論、目的論和物種不變論提齣根本性的挑戰。使當時生物學各領域已經形成的概念和觀念發生根本性的改變。隨後達爾文又發錶瞭《動物和植物在傢養下的變異(The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication ，1868)》、《人類由來及性的選擇(The Descent of Man ，1871)》和《人類和動物的錶情(The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man，1872)》等書，對人工選擇作瞭係統的敘述，並提齣性選擇及人類起源的理論，進一步充實瞭進化學說的內容。