The author of this book is the great British biologist Charlie? Darwin, who completed the epoch-making theory of evolution.
65438+At the end of February 2008, a three-masted sailboat sailed out of the English Channel and sailed in the Atlantic Ocean. At the stern stood a handsome young man with a high forehead, thick eyebrows and black hair. He took the captured creatures out of the net laid at the stern, identified them one by one, dissected them and registered them in the book. 22-year-old Charlie. Darwin, as a biologist, embarked on a five-year round-the-world expedition with this naval expedition ship named Beagle. Charlie. Darwin was born into a famous doctor's family in Shrewsbury, southwest England. His grandfather inez Mas? Darwin was not only outstanding in medical skills, but also a biologist and poet. His father Robert? Waring? Darwin was also a famous local doctor.
His father initially hoped that he would follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, and sent him to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. However, Darwin was not interested in studying medicine, but was keen on collecting specimens and looking for minerals. His father sent him to the Christian College of Cambridge University to study theology and hoped that he would become a priest. But Darwin was still fascinated by natural history. He often attends biology and geology classes, makes friends with his teachers, botanist Henslow and geologist sedgwick, and follows them out for scientific investigation. It was Hanslow who recommended him to go with the Beagle.
Darwin took with him a copy of Principles of Geology just published by British geologist Ryle, and read it whenever he had time. The book refreshed him. According to the book, the earth was formed by the slow change of nature, and the land was formed by the gradual rise of the seabed. This is completely different from the view that the earth and everything on it are eternal that he learned in school in the past. Who is right? Darwin mused.
When the Beagle arrived at Santiago Island in Cape Verde Islands, it was immediately attracted by the white stratum formed by the condensation of shells and corals, which is evidence that the land was uplifted by the seabed. The investigation in Patagonia and Andes also proves that Ryle's geological principle is correct and the earth is changing gradually. This gave him great enlightenment.
During the investigation, the animals, plants and their fossils that attracted Darwin most were all kinds of strange animals and plants. They made Darwin full of praise and were often in a "big surprise".
In Cape Verde Islands, exotic flowers and plants are everywhere. In the lush vegetation, there are all kinds of insects, rare birds and animals, including thousands of butterflies. What is the power to dress up nature so beautifully and create such a wide variety of animals and plants? On Chatham Island, there is a huge water storage turtle, which can climb far away to find water, not only to fill the stomach, but also to store water in the bladder and heart sac, so it can live in arid areas with little rainfall. Does this mean that there is some connection between animals and the environment? These questions constantly aroused Darwin's thinking.
1In September, 1998, the ship Beagle came to the Galapagos Islands near Ecuador in South America, which was called Giant Turtle Island because of its abundance of turtles, and visited here for more than a month.
The Galapagos Islands, shrouded in the boundless sea fog in the Pacific Ocean, consists of more than a dozen main islands and dozens of small islands. The crater here shows that the island is not very old. If God really completed his great creation in 4004 BC, then these islands were formed after God created the world.
Darwin collected 26 species of birds, among which finches impressed him the most. There are 65,438+04 ground finches, which look very similar to the ground finches in South America on the surface, but Darwin, who has a keen eye, found that the mouths of these finches vary in size, some are long, some are short, some are large and hard, and some are curved like small hooks.
Why are there different birds on different islands? Is this God's special arrangement? After Darwin's investigation, it was found that all these ground finches migrated from South America. Because they are distributed on relatively isolated islands and feed on different foods such as millet, insects and nuts, their beaks become different and become different species.
The sailing life in 2008 was extremely difficult. Darwin often felt seasick and vomited for several days and nights when the wooden boat, which was less than 100 feet long, bumped in the sea. When they visit a desert island, they often can't drink a mouthful of water for more than ten hours, and they are attacked by poisonous snakes and beasts from time to time ... Darwin overcame all kinds of difficulties with strong perseverance. He not only collected a large number of precious animal, plant and fossil specimens, but also wrote several observation diaries and many papers. More importantly, he abandoned the idea of creationism and came to a scientific conclusion, that is, the theory of biological evolution.
As he himself heard: "The voyage of Beagle is an extremely important event in my life, and it determines my career."
Darwin is a fan of the Origin of Species. He knows that once the view of species change is published, it will be strongly opposed by the church, and people will not easily believe that species has changed. He must use hard evidence to explain why the species has changed.
After returning home, he first collected the facts about the variation of animals and plants in China.
He published many questionnaires, collected information about animal breeders and plant breeders, and widely read books and periodicals, including agricultural books in China.
At that time, there was an upsurge of pigeon breeding in British society, and pigeon exhibitions and competitions were often held. Darwin also joined two pigeon clubs.
Darwin found at least 20 kinds of domestic pigeons, some with huge crops, some with high noses, and some with big tail feathers like fans ... He dissected all kinds of domestic pigeons and found that although they were very different in appearance, their internal structures and bones were very similar. He further investigated the breeding history of these domestic pigeons. It turns out that they all evolved from a wild pigeon-rock pigeon, and it was human intervention that made them evolve into different species.
For example, there is a pigeon with a protruding chest and its crop hanging on its chest like a ball. At first, people found that some pigeons produced more than others, so they deliberately chose pigeons with high yield to mate. After several generations of continuous mating, they finally cultivated this pigeon with prominent breasts.
He also inspected horses all over the world. Horses come in various colors, including white, black, chestnut and variegated colors ... There are also many kinds of horses, including racing horses and pack horses. The original horse is yellow and brown, and it is also very small.
How do wild horses become a wide variety of domestic horses? It is mainly the function of artificial selection. Once the color of the horse has a little variation, people will save it for breeding and train it into a thoroughbred horse.
Darwin also observed goldfish, fine-wool sheep, cows, dogs and all kinds of flowers. He came to the conclusion that it was human beings who changed domestic creatures so perfectly. He wrote: "Animal and plant varieties with different characteristics may have originated from the same ancestor, and under the artificial intervention, people gradually formed new varieties that people needed, which I summarized as artificial selection."
What puzzles him is how new species in nature are formed. This question haunts my mind day and night, even when I take the bus.
/kloc-one day in June of 0/0, in order to amuse himself, he picked up a Malthus's Population Theory and read it. Suddenly, the mystery in his heart was solved.
Malthus wrote that the reproduction speed of any animal is faster than the growth speed of their food, so some creatures will die in the competition for survival, thus bringing about a new balance between animals and their food. For example, there are 50 sika deer in the forest, all of which are very strong. With the increase of deer, the food in the forest became insufficient, so a large number of deer died, and only the strong deer survived.
He thought of insects on Madeira Island in the North Atlantic. Most of their wings have degenerated and they can't fly, and some of them are particularly developed. Darwin understood now that it was often windy in Madeira Island, and most flying insects were drowned in the sea. Only a few insects with particularly developed wings or insects that can't fly when crawling on the ground have been preserved. After many years, only insects with particularly developed wings or flightless insects are left on the island.
This is how the natural environment chooses creatures. Through survival competition, the fittest survive, and organisms continue to evolve. Darwin called it natural selection.
Darwin told his friends, geologist Ryle and botanist Hooke, and began to write his masterpiece "The Origin of Species".
Darwin and Wallace from 1842, Darwin began to draft the abstract of evolution. In 1844, he completed the detailed outline of the Origin of Species, and he continued to write this book until 1858.
His good friends, Ryle and Hook, have been urging him to write down his theory quickly and warning him, otherwise, someone will run ahead of you.
Darwin just laughed it off. He is a very serious scientist. He won't do it until he finds conclusive evidence, and his theory should be as perfect and rigorous as possible.
A young man did surpass him, and that was Wallace.
Wallace is also English. He is 14 years younger than Darwin, and his experience is similar to Darwin's. He loved nature since he was a child and explored all over the world.
Wallace has traveled to tropical areas in South America and the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia. The island of Malay Archipelago is connected with Australia in the south and Asia in the north. Wallace found that there is a dividing line between Bali and Lombok, and the animals and plants on the east and west islands are very different. This dividing line has been called "Wallace Line".
In 2000, when Wallace visited Gary Mann, he found that species were changing. Coincidentally, he also read Malthus' works and came to the conclusion that "the cause of species change is the result of natural selection", which is the so-called "Wallace" route.
Wallace's personality is completely different from Darwin's. Once he had a new idea, he immediately bent over his desk and wrote it in two days.
Wallace sent his paper to a scholar whom he respected and trusted, that is Darwin.
In the summer of 2008, Darwin received Wallace's paper "On the Tendency of Variants Leaving the Original Form Infinitely" from the Malay Archipelago, and explained that it was a paper on the origin of species.
On the Origin of Species? Darwin was shocked. Is Wallace also studying the origin of species? He finished reading the newspaper in one breath. This article is all about the problems I have thought about, even in the same language as myself. Darwin thought that even if Wallace had my first draft written in 1842, he could not have written a better paper on it. Now the terminology in Wallace's paper has become the subtitle of every chapter in my book.
Wallace wrote in the letter: "If you think this article is valuable, please pass it on to Ryle."
As long as Darwin recommends, Wallace will become the founder of this important discovery, which means that he will lose the right to create an important theory that has devoted all his efforts and spent 20 years. Darwin was very depressed and sorry. But he is a very upright scientist, and he pursues the truth, not the monopoly of honor. Darwin immediately wrote a letter to Ryle, enthusiastically recommended this paper and decided to give up his large-scale writing.
Ryle wrote back soon, and both he and Hooke thought it was unfair because they had read the abstract written by Darwin in 1842, which was a complete paper on evolution. At their initiative, Wallace's paper and the paper written by Darwin 13 years ago were published in the Linnaean society in July 1.
When Wallace later learned the truth, he was deeply moved by Darwin's self-sacrifice and modesty, and gave Darwin the status of founder of evolution theory.
Encouraged by Ryle and Hooke, Darwin began to write again. After more than ten months' efforts, at the end of 1859, Darwin's scientific masterpiece "The Origin of Species", which condensed his efforts for more than 20 years, was finally published.
The publication of the theory of evolution is like a boulder falling into the water, which has aroused fierce debate among people, and even some scientists can't accept this revolutionary theory. Sedgwick, a geologist who used to be Darwin's teacher, said to Darwin, "I am not happy to read your book, but miserable. Some of the materials in the book make me feel ridiculous, while others worry me. "
Huxley first applied the theory of evolution to the origin of human beings, speculating that human beings evolved from apes, and that human beings and apes have the same ancestor.
Haeckel first put forward the phylogenetic tree of animals and plants, and pointed out the origin of human beings and the distribution of ethnic groups.
The biggest opponent of the theory of evolution comes from religious circles outside the scientific community. Because the theory of evolution denies God's creation of species and points the finger at the sacred God, it has shaken the foundation of theology, so it has been besieged by religious circles.
On June 28th, 2008, under the planning of the church and some conservative scientists, the British Science Association held a three-day seminar at Oxford University, which was called to discuss Darwinism, but actually attacked evolution. Wilberforce, the Archbishop of Oxford, publicly declared that Darwinism should be shattered.
On March 30th, the seminar reached its climax. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held in the conference hall, but it had to be moved to the reading room because of too many people.
The eloquent Archbishop of wilberforce, known as "the glib Sam", went out in person. He accused Darwin's theory of evolution of violating sacred teachings. He said smartly: "According to Darwin's theory of evolution, all living things originated from some kind of fungi, so humans and mushrooms are related?" He also said defiantly, "Excuse me, Professor Huxley, who is your grandfather or grandmother and what is the relationship with apes?" The archbishop's words were confusing, and Huxley stood up calmly and started the battle with the excitement of the audience. He ignored the archbishop's personal attacks, but strongly refuted the archbishop's nonsense without scientific basis with a large number of facts. Huxley finally ended his long speech with this widely circulated sentence: "A man has no reason to be ashamed because his ancestors were tailless apes. If anyone makes me feel ashamed when I recall him, it is such a person. He has a changeable personality. He was not satisfied with his dubious success, but also had to get involved in scientific problems that he didn't understand. As soon as Huxley's speech was over, it immediately aroused warm applause. Then Hooke spoke and attacked the archbishop's ignorance in science with facts.
The debate ended in the failure of the church and the victory of evolution.
The struggle is not over yet. Darwin often received threatening letters and abusive letters. But Darwin didn't flinch. In his letter to a friend, he wrote: "I have made up my mind to pack my bags and I will bravely meet the arduous and long-term struggle." "In, Darwin published" The Origin and Sexual Selection of Human Beings ",pointing out that human beings are the product of the long-term development of animals, and put people in an appropriate position in the material world, which shattered the myth that human beings are the center of the universe in religion.
Darwin's theory of evolution has finally been accepted by more and more people.
In 2006, Darwin's alma mater, Cambridge University, decided to award Darwin an honorary degree in recognition of his outstanding contribution to mankind. At the celebration, several people held a monkey and insulted Darwin. Darwin remained calm and went on with his speech. Amid the stormy applause of the audience, a handful of troublemakers raised their heads in despair.
Darwin's theory of evolution was highly praised by Marx and Engels, the proletarian revolutionary instructors.
Marx praised: "Darwin's works are very meaningful, and this book can be used as the natural scientific basis for my study of class struggle in history." He presented the title of the first volume of Das Kapital to Darwin, and the page read: "To Charlie? Mr Darwin. Your sincere admirer Carl? Marx. " Engels praised Darwin's theory of evolution as one of the three major natural scientific discoveries in the19th century (cell theory, energy conversion law, evolution theory). When he mourned Marx at his grave, he said, "Just as Darwin discovered the development law of the organic world, Marx also discovered the development law of human history." Evolution in Evolution Darwin's theory of evolution broke the last stubborn fortress occupied by theology in biology, overturned the view that species are irrelevant, accidental, creative and unchangeable, and brought a revolution to the development of biology and even the whole natural science.
However, due to the limitation of the level of scientific and technological development, Darwin's theory of evolution also has shortcomings and limitations. Although he revealed the principles of survival competition, natural selection and survival of the fittest, he did not really understand the reasons for the variation. Darwin himself admitted: "We are deeply ignorant of the law of variation, and I'm afraid we can't explain any reason why this part or that part has mutated." With the development of genetics and molecular biology, people have made it clear that the material basis of variation is genes, and began to understand the influence of a gene on chromosomes, and even the influence of a gene change on organisms. People began to explore the evolution of biology not only from the macro level of biological form, but also from the cellular level and molecular level.
Over the years, Darwin's theory of evolution has withstood all kinds of tests, constantly drawing nutrition from the development of modern science, constantly enriching, developing and perfecting, and the theory of evolution is also constantly developing.