The Origin of Species by Darwin?

Question

Hey I just recently started reading "The Origin of Species" by evolutionist Charles Darwin and he refers to the term "variety" a lot. what does he mean by this? I'm not quite sure, but does it mean a singular specimen in a species and/or a population in a species?

Peace

Answer 1

Ernst Mayr's "What Evolution Is" is a good recommendation. Richard Dawkins' "Blind Watchmaker" is also helpful.

Answer 2

Well the Bible and Holy Qumran say that God created life from water, life came from water and water is in the vast of the universe and water is also symbolic as knowledge or nation, life, all came existing through water question is who created the waters and the species, Darwin theory was never proving we came from sea life "then the sea is our god" we fish and swim on the sea, boat riding and sea contains life different species, sea don't involve like human beings minds, even though human babies develop in a woman (womb) that contain water as well, as the planets, stars, came from out of a dark womb of space and the universe is material and essence of universe is spiritual, thats why holy Quran says God created man and woman out of tripple darkness. We have to be careful what we study?" the Most question to ask Who is God ? or intellegent force that created the planets and spind by a unseen force" Man and Woman is highest form of life ,their no apes or monkeys past 6,000 years ago thats evidence, man been on this earth for trillions of years. We all came from single essence which is nature of God himself which we are the image of God and image has a form, their is no form in universe better than human form, God always convey his Spirit in human form, he design this form. We do go through evolution process of change or,condition, perfection, advancing the mind thats true of meaning of the word. thousand years people worship they own ideas of God other than a man , but still they can not explain what it is, But they say Hears, talks, King ,Ruler , merciful ,beneficent sits on a throne ,Judge waiting on his (coming) these are attributes of a man, but the Spirit of God is in a form of a man, God created differrent types species in this vast universe and all species follow a law they act on in their nature God has created for a purpose as well human being become reflection of God , But humans is the Highest all creation in universe" Scriptures says "God breathe his spirit in Adam or man generally, not animal soul, but he gave man his own spirit which means knowledge,Wisdom,Understanding and Power to rule his creation that includes the animals or lower forms of species even though scriptures use the word animal metaphorically describing human beings chararistics of low development, savage ways or not civilize,lost of knowledge self ,low desires or cardinal mind, human has capacity or reasoning and human mind has power to will thing into existence look at structure human civilizations.

Answer 3

Shortgilly is right Darwin is referring to a poorly defined "type" of individuals within a species defined by artificial selection.  In the beginning of the book, Darwin is familiarizing the reader with the variation produced by man in artificially selecting members of a species so he can later draw a link between these artificially selected organisms and naturally selected organisms.

Are you a professional evolutionary biologist or training to be one? Just asking, because I wouldn't recommend reading "Origin" without first reading a more modern, concise, and clear book about evolution. "What Evolution Is" by Ernst Mayr is a good intro to Evolutionary Theory.  Darwin's Origin is amazingly contemporary, but he does get a few processes wrong and also has more antiquated references.  I was just wondering because I am going to school for Evolutionaruy Biology and found the Origin extremely BORING.

Answer 4

From dictionary.com

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/v...

The reference in Darwin's writing would be definition #6 and 7.