Studies Scientific & Social, Volume 1Macmillan and Company, limited, 1900 - Science |
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abundant adapted Africa allied alluvium Alpine America animals appear apterous argument Asia Australians Azores beautiful BIRD OF PARADISE birds causes characteristic characters coast colour considerable continuous crust curious Darwin denudation distinct Eastern equally erosion erratics Europe European evidence existence extensive fact families favourable feet flora flowers forests genera genus geological geologists glacial glacier gorge groups Guinea hair ice age ice-sheet important individual inhabit insects islands Lake Zurich lakes land larvæ lemurs less Madeira Mahoris Malay miles Miocene modification monkeys moraine mountain native natural selection naturalists Nearctic nearly North occur ocean organic origin origin of species Palearctic Papuans peculiar phenomena plants Polynesians portion probably produced Professor race regions remarkable Rhone glacier river rock rocky slopes South species streams supposed surface tail theory thickness tion trees tribes tropical valley valley-lakes variation varied whole winged writers Yosemite YOSEMITE VALLEY
Popular passages
Page 281 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
Page 363 - Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficult— at least I have found it so— than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of nature, with every fact on distribution, rarity, abundance, extinction, and variation, will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood.
Page 334 - In my opinion, the greatest error which I have committed has been not allowing sufficient weight to the direct action of the environments, ie, food, climate, &c., independently of natural selection . . . When I wrote the 'Origin,' and for some years afterwards, I could find little good evidence of the direct action of the environment; now there is a large body of evidence, and your case of the Saturnia is one of the most remarkable of which I have heard.
Page 6 - We conceive that, during the process of upheaval of the Sierra, or, possibly, at some time after that had taken place, there was at the Yosemite a subsidence of a limited area, marked by lines of ' fault ' or fissures crossing each other somewhat nearly at right angles. In other and more simple language, the bottom of the Valley sank down to an unknown depth, owing to its support being withdrawn from underneath during some of those convulsive movements which must have attended the upheaval of so...
Page 8 - ... vertical displacement for the small area implicated which makes this a peculiar case; but it would not be easy to give any good reason why such an exceptional result should not be brought about, amid the complicated play of forces which the elevation of a great mountain chain must set in motion. By the adoption of the subsidence theory for the formation of the Yosemite, we are able to get over one difficulty which appears insurmountable with any other. This is, the very small amount of debris...
Page 10 - To descend into some of these valleys, it is necessary to go round twenty miles; and into others, the surveyors have only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not yet been able to drive in their cattle. But the most remarkable feature in their structure is, that although several miles wide at their heads, they generally contract towards their mouths to such a degree as to become impassable.
Page 342 - At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.
Page 47 - There unquestionably exists within and below volcanic vents, a body of lava of unknown dimensions, permanently liquid at an intense temperature, and continually traversed by successive volumes of some aeriform fluid, which escape from its surface — thus presenting all the appearance of a liquid in constant ebullition.
Page 289 - By JA Allen. (Bulletin of the Mntevm of Comparafire Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., vol. ii. No. 3.) in proportions ; in the length of the head, feet, wings, and tail ; in the length of particular feathers, thus altering the shape of the wing or tail ; in the length of the tarsi and of the separate toes ; and in the length, width, thickness, and curvature of the bill. These variations are by no means small in amount or requiring very accurate measurements for their detection, since...
Page 444 - Verifying testimonies have, however, since come to hand. Concerning the New Guinea people we read : One of the most curious features noticed by Dr. Miklucho Maclay was the apparent absence of trade or barter among the people of Astrolabe Bay. They exchange presents, however, when different tribes visit each other, somewhat as among the New Zealanders, each party giving the other what they have to spare; but no one article seems ever to be exchanged for another of supposed equivalent value.