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Abstract
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Darwin, C. (1859)
The Origin of Species
Excerpt from CHAPTER II - VARIATION UNDER NATURE, regarding the differences between varieties, species, and genera:
"[...] what are varieties but groups of forms, unequally related to each other, and clustered round certain forms -- that is, round their parent-species. Undoubtedly there is one most important point of difference between varieties and species, namely, that the amount of difference between varieties, when compared with each other or with their parent-species, is much less than that between the species of the same genus. But when we come to discuss the principle, as I call it, of divergence of character, we shall see how this may be explained, and how the lesser differences between varieties tend to increase into the greater differences between species." |