Of what observation, hypothesis, and verified prediction are the following statements?
"What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful blundering, low and horribly cruel works of nature""If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection."
"the fact that instincts are not always absolutely perfect and are liable to mistakes;—that no instinct can be shown to have been produced for the good of other animals, though animals take advantage of the instincts of others;—that the canon in natural history, of "Natura non facit saltum," is applicable to instincts as well as to corporeal structure, and is plainly explicable on the foregoing views, but is otherwise inexplicable,—all tend to corroborate the theory of natural selection."
"My theory agrees with unequal distances between species some fine & some wide which is strange if creator had so created them. — "
"When I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was deposited, they seem to me to become ennobled."
"Did He (God) ordain that crop and tail-feathers of the pigeon should vary, in order that the fancier might make his grotesque pouter and fan-tail breeds? Did He cause the frame and mental qualities of the dog to vary, in order that a breed might be formed of indomitable ferocity, with jaws fitted to pin down the bull, for man's brutal sport? But if we give up the principle in one case; if we do not admit that the variations of the primeval dog were intentionally guided in order, for instance, that the greyhound, that perfect image of symmetry and vigor, might be formed; no shadow of reason can be assigned for the belief that variations, alike in nature and the results of the same general laws, which have been the groundwork through natural selection of the most perfectly adapted animals in the world, man included, were intentionally and specially guided. However much we may wish it, we can hardly follow Professor Asa Gray, in his belief 'that variations have been led along certain beneficial lines, as a stream is led along useful lines of irrigation.'"
[The doctrine of everlasting punishment is] "a damnable doctrine"
"As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities."
[Special creation is] "a curious illustration of the blindness of preconceived opinion"
"no shadow of reason can be assigned for the belief that variations... were intentionally and specially guided."
[With regard to General and Special Revelation] "the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect.... The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us"
"The believe that many structures have been created for the sake of beauty, to delight man or the Creator (but this latter point is beyond the scope of scientific discussion), or for the sake of mere variety, a view already discussed. Such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory. "
Cordially,
"Of what observation, hypothesis, and verified prediction are the following statements?"
"Cordially,"
Is it perpetually your purpose to answer a question with a question?
Incidentally, those statements appear to come from the sixth chapter of Origin of Species, wherein Darwin himself points out places where his theory could be shown to be weak. However, even with such hints, the theory has held up well.
Even so, this statement in particular should warm your cockles:
"If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection."For clearly there are indeed countless examples of evolution for mutual benefit in the complex ecologies of tropical rainforests. Of course, "mutual benefit" and "exclusive good" are not identical concepts.