uly opened first notebook on transmutation of species. Had been greatly struck from about the previous March on character of South American fossils, and species of Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (especially latter), origin of all my views. (Vorzimmer, 1970) Therefore, it must have been at this time that Darwins ideas took this turn. Additionally, had the change occurred earlier, it would have shown up in Darwins writing in the Journal, which, more than half completed by March, shows no trace of it. (Vorzimmer, 1970)Overall, with the notable exception of the idea of natural selection, most of what Darwin later wrote in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (henceforth referred to as the Origin), was already sketched in that notebook. (Vorzimmer, 1970) It is important to note that Darwins thinking at this point was still distinctly teleological in character. He still believed that God had instituted the laws governing reproduction to maintain species in a state of perfect adaptation to their environment. Only after his full appreciation of the struggle for existence did he come to believe that a changed environment disturbs growth to produce random variation. Curiously, Darwin asserts that in originating his theory of evolution he was trying to follow Baconian principles, that is collect facts before theorizing. (Lewontin, 1974)Specifically, in his autobiography he states After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first notebook was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale.(Darwin, 1958) However, as his notebooks of the time amply demonstrate, he w...
