Darwin's Theory Of Artificial Selection

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By the summer of 1837 Darwin was convinced that species undergo evolution by means of natural selection. It was clear to him that species was modifiable and these changes occur by natural processes, but he wasn’t sure how the exact mechanisms of the processes. Darwin began keeping track of these speculations in notebooks. The first four of his notebooks are referred to as B, C, D, E by Darwin and commonly referred to as Notebooks of Transmission. These notebooks allow us to observe Darwin’s meticulous journey of developing his theory of evolution by natural selection over the fifteen-month journey. In a memorable passage, he even states that he remembers the exact date, September 23rd to be exact, that this epiphany occurred. On this day. his …show more content…

Darwin was always aware of the importance of artificial selection, but it was not until after Darwin began reading Malthus that he applied sexual selection to evolution During the year he formed this theory, Darwin read literature on animal breeders. From these animal breeders, Darwin developed some worthy concepts like the importance of diversity among organisms in a herd. Darwin added a key component to his theory on natural selection by studying the practice of artificial selection. This was important in advancing Darwin’s theory because it supplied him of part of the experimental proof that he needed to prove his theory of evolution by natural …show more content…

William Charles Wells was an English doctor who stated that those that live in the tropical areas are better suited to these environments than other individuals. He, like Darwin, related his theory to animal breeding, and believed that these differences were due to human development. Wells proposes a theory of evolution by natural selection, but it is only evolution among the local climates with a species for man only. The next person who was on the same track as Darwin and Wallace was Patrick Matthew. It is evident that Matthews clearly had the right idea with the theory of evolution by natural selection, but he just did not devote the next twenty years to developing a strong enough theory to be supported by the scientific community. From his writings, it is very clear that he had no idea of the writings of either Wells or Matthew at the