@ by Charles Darwin
2017年7月14日开始阅读此书。第一版发表于1859年，距今158年。共292页。
查尔斯·罗伯特·达尔文（Charles Robert Darwin，1809年2月12日—1882年4月19日）[1] ，英国生物学家，进化论的奠基人。
1. Introduction
When on board H.M.S. "Beagle," as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species--that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers.
On my return home, it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it.
After five years' work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable: from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object. I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision.
My work is now nearly finished; but as it will take me two or three more years to complete it, and as my health is far from strong, I have been urged to publish this Abstract. I have more especially been induced to do this, as Mr.Wallace, who is now studying the natural history of the Malay archipelago,has arrived at almost exactly the same general conclusions that I have on the species. Last year he sent to me a memoir on this subject, with a request that I would forward it to Sir Charles Lyell, who sent it to the Linnean Society, and it is published in the thrid volume of the Journal of that Society. Sir C. Lyell and Dr. Hooker, who both knew of my work--the latter having read my sketch of 1844--honoured me by thinking it advisable to publish, with Mr. Wallace's excellent momoir, some brief extracts from my manuscripts.
感慨于达尔文的科学精神！经典著作的诞生同样是历经岁月的磨砺。
本书第一版出版于1859年，达尔文时年50岁。
- 1837年，达尔文28岁，考察归来。
- 1844年，也就是7年之后，35岁，只敢说自己总结出了些框架。
- 1859年，再过了15年后，才出版物种起源。
This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence in my accuracy. No doubt errors will have crept in, though I hope I have always been cautious in trusting to good authorities alone. I can here give only the general conclusions at which I have arrived, with a few facts in illustration, but which, I hope in most cases will suffice. No one can feel more sensible that I do of the necessity of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, with references, on which my conclusions have been grounded; and I hope in a further work to do this. For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done.
I much regret that want of space prevents my having the satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance which I have received from very many naturalists, some of them personally unknown to me. I cannot, however, let this opportunity pass without expressing my deep obligations to Dr. Hooker, who for the last fifteen years has aided me in every possible way by his large stores of knowledge and his excellent judgment.
谨小慎微，充满感激。
步入正题。
In considering the origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species.
Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which most justly excites our admiration.
Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as climate, food, etc., as the only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees. It the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one folower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.
自然选择的力量，造就了 admirably adapted 的啄木鸟。
互联网，是否具有自然的力量。
The author of the "Vestiges of Creation" would, I presume, say that, after a certain unknown number of generations, some bird had given birth to a woodpecker, and some plant to the misseltoe, and that these had been produced perfect as we now see them; but this assumption seemes to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case of the coadaptations of organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of lift, untouched and unexplained.
coadaptations 是个好词，协同共生自适应
It is, therefore, of the highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and coadaptation. At the commencement of my observations it seemed to me probable that a careful study of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants would offer the best chance of making out this obscure problem. Nor have I been disappointed; in this and in all other preplexing cases I have invariably found that our knowledge, imperfect though it be, of variation under domestication, afforded the best and safest clue. I may verture to express my conviction of the high value of such studies, although they have been very commonly neglected by naturalists.
开始介绍本书各章的故事梗概了.
From these considerations, I shall devote the first chapter of this Abstract to Variation under Domestication. We shall thus see that a large amount of hereditary modification is at least possible, and, what is equally or more important, we shall see how great is the power of man in accumulating by his Selection successive slight variations. I will then pass on to the variablility of species in a state of nature; but I shall, unfortunately, be compelled to treat this subject far too briefly, as it can be treated properly only by giving long catalogues of facts. We shall, however, be enabled to discuss what circumstances are most favourable to variation. In the next chapter the Struggle for Existence amongst all organic beings throughout the world, which inevitably follows from their high geometrical powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms.
As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that
any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be NATURALLY SELECTED.
From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.
这几句话，第一次解释了自然选择的要义：
any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be NATURALLY SELECTED.
Struggle for Existence让人想起了余华的《活着》。对于自然界中的动植物来说，Struggle for Existence实在是无可选择的宿命。
然而对于人来说，"活着"一词，怎么都透着一股悲凉。不由 地想到王东岳老师《知鱼之乐》一书中论述的理念：
人类情感的发达代偿了生命体活着的本质，因此人生命本源的东西也就递弱了。
也许从自然的眼中开来，我们人类真的是太“作”了。
This fundamental subject of natual Selection will be treated at some length in the fourth chapter; and we shall then see how Natural Selection almost inevitably causes much Extinction of the less improved forms of life and induces what I have called Divergence of Character.In the next chapter I shall discuss the complex and little known laws of variation and of correlation of growth. In the four succeeding chapters, the most apparent and gravest difficulties on the theory will be given: namely, first, the difficulties of transitions, or in understanding how a simple being or a simple organ can be changed and perfected into a highly delveloped being or elaborately constructed organ; secondly the subject of Instinct, or the mental pwoers of animals, thirdly, Hybridism, or the infertility of species and the fertility of varieties when intercrossed; and fourthly, the imperfection of the Geological Record. In the next chapter I shall consider the geological succession of organic beings throughout time; in the eleventh and twelfth, their geographical distribution throughout space; in the thriteenth, their classification or mutual affinities, both when mature and in an embryonic condition. In the last chapter I shall give a brief recapitulation of the whole work, and a few concluding remarks.
No one ought to feel surprise at much remaining as yet unexplained in regard to the origin of species and varieties, if he makes due allowance for our profound ignorance in regard to the mutual relations of all the beings which live around us. Who can explain why one species ranges widely and is very numerous, and why another allied species has a narrow range and is rare? Yet these relations are of the highest importance, for they determine the present welfare, and as I believe, the future success and modification of every inhabitant of this world. Still less do we know of the mutual relations of the innumerable inhabitants of the world during the many past geological epochs in its history. Although after the most deliberate study and dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained--is erroneous. I am fully convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledgeed varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification.
deliberate study 刻意训练
感觉一个伟人站起来的样子，像是在宣誓一般！
我们这个时代的人看这本书，几乎觉得就是真理。
但可以想象在那个大多数人还在信上帝，宗教势力在社会生活中依然占据强势地位的时代，达尔文发表如此惊世骇俗的言论，所面临的压力。无怪乎历经20多年后才出版此书，也无怪乎他谨小慎微的开场表白。
可以说，达尔文是用一生完成这部巨著，尽管只有292页。
2. Variation Under Domestication
Causes of Variability. Effects of Habit. Correlation of Growth. Inheritance. Character of Domestic Varieties. Difficulty of distinguishing between Varieties and Species. Origin of Domestic Varieties from one or more Species. Domestic Pigeons, their Differences and Origin. Principle of Selection anciently followed, its Effects. Methodical and Unconscious Selection. Unknown Origin of our Domestic Productions. Circumstances favourable to Man's power of Selection.
与普通文章不同，作为一部科学论文集，每一章开头都会给出一个摘要，以提示读者注意这些关键词。这是个很好的习惯。
When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us, is, that they generally differ much more from each other, than do the individuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature.
第一句话就很要命啊。人类栽培或驯养的动植物，个体间的差异更大。
以此推理，随着以DNA技术为基础的现代生命科学的不断发展，人类对生命的主宰将超越自然。
不知是喜是悲。。。
When we reflect on the vast diversity of the plants and animals which have been cultivated, and which have varied during all ages under the most different climates and treatment, I think we are driven to conclude that this greater variablility is simply due to our domestic productions having been raised under conditions of life not so uniform as , and somewhat different from, those to which the parent-species have been exposed under nature.
There is , also, I think, some probability in the view prepounded by Andrew Knight, that this variability may be partly connected with excess of food. It seems pretty clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to the new conditions of life to cause any appreciable amount of variation; and that when the organisation has one beguan to vary, it generally continues to vary for many generations.
No case is on record of a variable being ceasing to be variable under cultivation. Our oldest cultivated plants, such as wheat, still often yield new varieties: our oldest domesticated animals are still capable of rapid improvement or modification.
It has been disputed at what period of life the causes of variability, whatever they may be, generally act; whether during the early or late period of development of the embryo, or at the instant of conception. Geoffroy St. Hilarire's experiments show that unnatural treatment of the embryo causes monstrosities; and monstrosities cannot be separated by any clear line of distinction from mere variations.
But I am strongly inclined to suspect that the most frequent cause of variability may be attributed to the male and female reproductive elements having been affected prior to the act of conception.
达尔文认为，雌雄生殖器官受孕前所受的影响，很大程度上已经决定了物种是否发生变异。换句话说，发不发生变异，十有八九在受孕之前已经决定了。
当然，达尔文说这句话，并不意味着孕后不会变异，而这才是需要注意的。我甚至认为，一个人最终在社会化的发展过程中所产生的人生的结果，即人与人之间的区别，其实也就仅仅体现在对这个问题的认识上了。
在亚里士多德那的四因说里头，这个就是质料因。
由此想到，纯理性的哲学对一个问题本质的探讨，最终都会导向一个悲观的结论，即：很多事情本身命中注定的，其事物本身的质料因，已经决定了事物的走向。而这一点，与达尔文此观点不谋而合。
其实古希腊的先哲圣贤和中国的老祖宗们早就看到了这一点。无怪乎苏格拉底，耶稣，佛陀在面对生死时，早已了然于心，无所畏惧。
明白了这一点，在面对具体问题时，多多少少能减轻一些我们的焦虑感。比如当下孩子的教育问题。
Several reasons make me beleve in this; but the chief one is the remarkable effect which confinement or cultivation has on the functions of the reproductive system; this system appearing to be far more susceptible than any other part of the organisation, to the action of any change in the conditions of life.
Nothing is more easy than to tame an animal, and few things more difficult than to get it to breed freely under confinement, even in the many cases when the male and female unite. How many animals there are which will not breed, though living long under not very close confinement in their native country! This is generally attributed to vitiated instincts; but how many cultivated plants display the utmost vigour, and yet rarely or never seed!
最后一句话好有趣！
其实人就是社会圈养的一种动物，人在认知上的局限性，是由其所处的社会决定的。打破认知局限的关键，在于跳出现有社会的节奏，去感受，体验别人社会的节奏。社会现象中经常看到的地域歧视，种族歧视，国家间歧视，宗教歧视，各种主义之间的歧视，本质上来说，都是由人认知边界的局限性决定的。以非此即彼的判断标准去解决任何问题，往往到头来什么问题也解决不了。
站在实用主义的角度看，人生最大化的价值输出，也无非就在于对于社会的应用程序接口API有多少。
In some few such cases it has been found out that very trifling changes, such as a little more or less water at some particular period of growth, will determine whether or not the plant sets a seed. I cannot here enter on the copious details which I have collected on this curious subject; but to show how singular the laws are which determine the reproductions of animals under confinement, I may just mention that carnivorous animals, ever from the tropics, breed in this country pretty freely under confinement, with the exception of the plantigrades or bear faimily; whereas, carnivorous birds, with the rarest exceptions, hardly ever lay fertile eggs. Many exotic plants have pollen utterly worthless, in the same exact condition as in the most sterile hybrids. When, on the one hand, we see demesticated animals and plants, though often weak and sickly, yet breeding quite freely under confinement; and when, on the other hand, we see individuals, though taken young from a state of nature, perfectly tamed, long-living, and healthy (of which I could give numerous instances), yet having their reproductive system so seriously affected by unperceived causes as to fail in acting, we need not be surprised at this system, when it does act under confinement, acting not quite regularly, and producing offspring not perfectly like their parents or variable.
嗯，说得好。我能(生,繁殖)，不代表你能。
Sterility has been said to be the bane of horticulture; but on this view we owe variabililty to the same cause which produces sterility; and variability is the source of all the choicest productions of the garden. I may add, that as some organisms will breed most freely under the most unnatural conditions ( for instance, the rabbit and ferret kept in hutches), showing that their reproductive system has not been thus affected; so will some animals and plants withstand domestication or cultivation, and vary very slightly--perhaps hardly more than in a state of nature.
A long list could easily be given of "sporting plants;" by this term gardeners mean a single bud or offset, which suddenly assumes a new and sometimes very different character from that of the rest of the plant. Such buds can be propagated by grafting, etc., and sometimes by seed. These "sports" are extremely rare under nature, but far from rare under cultivation; and in this case we see that the treatment of the parent has affected a bud or offset, and not the ovules or pollen. But it is the opinion of most physiologists that there is no essential difference between a bud and an ovule in their eariliest stages of formation; so that, in fact, "sports" support my view, that ++variability may be largely attributed to the ovules or pollen, or to both, having been affected by the treatment of the parent prior to the act of conception. These cases anyhow show that variation is not necessarily connected, as some authors have supposed, with the act of generation++.
sporting plants -- 芽变植物
变异不一定与生殖有关，芽变的主要原因可能是胚珠或花粉在授粉前亲本植物已经被处理过了。
Seedlings from the same fruit,and the young of the same litter, sometimes differ considerably from each other, though both the young and the parents, as Muller has remoarked, have apparently been exposed to exactly the same conditions of life; and this shows how unimportant the direct effects of the conditions of life are in comparision with the laws of reproduction, and of growth, and of inhertitance; for had the action of the conditions been direct, if any of the young had varied, all would probably have varied in the same manner. To judge how much, in the case of any variation, we should attribute to the direct action of heat, moisture, light, food, etc., is most difficult: my impression is, that with animals such agencies have produced very little direct effect, though apparently more in the case of plants. Under this point of view, Mr. Buckman's recent experiments on plants seem extremely valuable. When all or nearly all the individuals exposed to certain conditions are affected in the same way, the change at first appears to be directly due to such conditions; but in some cases it can be shown that quite opposite conditions produce similar changes of structure. Nevertheless some slight amount of change may, I think, be attributed to the direct action of the conditions of life--as, in some cases, increased size from amount of food, colour from particular kinds of food and from light, and perhaps the thickness of fur from climate.
动物因为热，水分，光照，食物等直接作用，而引起的变异，相较于植物来说，微乎其微。
这个论点站在大自然的角度看，不算奇怪，毕竟已经是处于自然进化的末端的人嘛。然而，地球上不同纬度，不同经度生活的人，其差异性还是挺明显的，这种算不上物种间差异的人种间的差异，是造成当今世界国家，种族，宗教，地域冲突与歧视的根源。
人类发展到今天，从社会学的角度出现了以“权"的逻辑为核心的集权式社会和以"商"的逻辑为核心的奴隶制民主自由社会。
社会政治上，中国社会的”官本位“现实，是”权“的逻辑的体现，钱服务于权，是中国社会规则中的隐性逻辑。西方，是中国的反面。“商本位”，权服务于钱，是西方社会规则中的隐形逻辑。
社会文化上，中国人崇尚的是“圣人”文化，讲究“穷则独善其身，达泽兼济天下”的菩萨心，其结果是标准设立的太高，以至于我等众生难以净化掉人性中那份最诡匿的肮脏，在不断升级地社会竞争和摧残中，从儿时的天真无忌走向麻木不仁，最终丢弃掉人这个具有灵性的生命体仅有的那一点点灵魂，异变地只剩下一副可怜的臭皮囊。
西方人崇尚的是“救赎”文化，讲究“Save Lost Soul”,其结果是标准设立的太低，人人都是无可救药的“Lost Soul”。因此，本不对这个世界上的多数人抱有”圣人“的幻想，大家”彼此彼此“，就这么浑浑噩噩的过完一生，倒也简单。 能够在“死”之前，摒弃人性中的异变，获得最终的”救赎“，那就真是人生中最大的圆满。明白了这一点，就能明白，为什么克林顿这样的花花公子，特朗普这样的2B青年，能当然总统，而在中国，即使你是外王内圣的楷模，也会因为一些捕风捉影般的绯闻，被整个社会品头论足，道德审判，走向穷途末路。
说这些，完全没有贬低或抬高谁的意思。遥想我们的先贤圣人们，早在几千年前就看明白的事情，大致本来想通过道理的方式告诉普罗大众，路不要走歪，可惜啊，残化的后代们，可以用各种技术手段代偿了肉体本身，却代偿不了灵魂的异变。
由此想到，西方人讲故事，喜欢从基因讲起，开篇总是罗里吧嗦，从内自外的讲述，凡事都找自己的原因。而东方人讲故事，喜欢说这个是个啥。先从外面描述一下长相，有啥用，然后再层层分解，深入了解。我们在思考的过程中所用的批判性思维，其实和孔夫子说的中庸是一个道理。
作为这一场好戏的旁观者，大自然真是伟大，她一定会嘲笑我们人类的幼稚。也一定知道，人类最终的宿命走向何方。
++Habit also has a decided influence++, as in the period of flowering with plants when transported from one climate to another. In animals it has a more marked effect; for instance, I find in the domestic duck that the bones of the wing weigh less and the bones of the leg more, in proportion to the whole skeleton, than do the same bones in the wild-duck; and I presume that this change may be safely attributed to the domestic duck flying much less, and walking more, than its wild parent. The great and inherited development of the udders in cows and goats in countries where they are habitually milked, in comparison with the state of these organs in other countries, is another instance of the effect of use. Not a single domestic animal can be named which has not in some country droopiong ears; and the view suggested by some authors, that the drooping is due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear, from the animals not being much alarmed by danger, seems probable.
There are many laws regulating variation, some few of which can be dimly seen, and will be hereafter briefly mentioned. I will here only allude to what may be called ++correlation of growth++. Any change in the embryo or larva will almost certainly entail changes in the mature animal. In monstrosities, the corelations between quite distinct parts are very curious; and many instances are given in Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire's great work on this subject. Breeders believe that long limbs are almost always accompanied by an ****elongated**** head. Some instances of correlation are quite whimsical; thus cats with blue eyes are invariably deaf; colour and constitutional peculiarities go together, of which many remarkable cases could be given amongst animals and plants. From the facts collected by Heusinger, it appears that white sheep and pigs are differently affected from coloured individuals by certain vegetable poisons. Hairless dogs have imperfect teeth; long-haired and coarse-haired animals are apt to have, as is asserted, long or many horns;pigeons with feathered feet have skin between their outer toes; pigeons with short beaks have small feet, and those with long beaks large feet. Hence, if man goes on selecting, and thus augmenting, any peculiarity, he will almost certainly unconsciously modify other parts of the structure, owing to the mysterious laws of the corelation of growth.
The result of the various, quite unknown, or dimly seen laws of variation is infinitely complex and diversified. It is well worth while carefully to study the several ****treatises**** published on some of our old cultivated plants, as on the hyacinth, potato, even the dahlia, etc.; and it is really surprising to note the endless points in structure and constitution in which the varieties and su-varieties differ slightly from each other. The whole organisation seems to have become plastic, and tends to depart in some small degree from that of the parental type.
呵呵，
蓝眼睛的猫都是聋子，
长胳膊与长脖子相伴，
动物长毛就会有很多角
好有意思。
最后一句话经典，其实达尔文早就提出了分化的概念。
Any variation which is not inherited is unimportant for us. But the number and diversity of inheritable deviations of structure, both those of slight and those of considerable physiological improtance, is endless. Dr. prosper Lucas's treatise, in two large volumes, is the fullest and the best on this subject. No breeder doubts how strong is the tendency to inheritance: ++like produces like is his fundamental belief++ : doubts have been thrown on this principle by theoretical writers alone. When a deviation appears not unfrequently, and we see it in the father and child, we cannot tell whether it may not be due to the same original cause acting on both; but when amongst individuals, apparently exposed to the same conditions,any very rare deviation, due to some extraordinary combination of circumstances, appears in the parent--say, once amongst several million individuals--and it reappears in the child, the mere doctrine of chances almost compels us to attribute its reappearance to inheritance. Everyone must have heard of cases of albinism, prickly skin, hairy bodies, etc., appearing in several members of the same family. If strange and rare deviations of structure are truly inherited, less strange and commoner deviations may be freely admitted to be inheritable. Perhaps the correct way of viewing the whole subject, would be, to look at the inheritance of every character whatever as the rule, and non-inheritance as the anomaly.