Darwin

Although Darwin often noted in this chapter that most scientists during his time disagreed with his theory of evolution through natural selection he brings up some strong points to back up his theory. One thing he points to on page 491 is the fact that species have been pushing to produce the most off spring and those that have “special weapons or means of defense” are the most likely to ensure those off spring survive. This point that many species have evolved into something successful seems likely as it’s true species with little or no defense struggle to thrive. Also, Darwin points out what I thought was a really good point and that is that species didn’t come from individual beginning species but rather evolved from others. He goes deeper into this on page 502 pointing out similarities that other species have such as that embryos from mammals, birds, fishes and reptiles are all so similar at first.

In this chapter Darwin makes some claims that could make sense for me. Such as that so many species have incredibly close resemblances in some ways. On page 499 he shares how the “hand of a man, wing of a bat, fin of the porpoise and leg of the horse” all share the same bone framework. This is extremely compelling to me along with what he shares right after on the same page that giraffes and elephants have the same number of vertebrae’s in their spine. What made me feel hesitant was that he often stated how many other scientists don’t agree with what he believes or they have a different theory they lean towards. I understand that admitting there are opposing views isn’t the worst thing but it doesn’t make his argument feel any stronger. Also, his claim that Geology may just be wrong or uncertain doesn’t hold much worth in my book either. He should support this with a lot more evidence.