One hundred and fifty years ago on Tuesday, 24th November, (1859) Charles Darwin published his most celebrated book, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.” Even though Darwin studied the “struggle for life” of many species, he didn’t lose that wonder he had for the natural world. Unfortunately, some adults lose that sense of wonder which all children seem to be born with. But we can still have a sense of wonder whether or not we believe in an ultimate purpose or in an ultimate Being; or whether or not we accept that species evolve and have evolved from a single organism.
This is the last sentence of Darwin’s book (the words in brackets were added by Darwin for the second edition to make his point clearer):
“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed [by the Creator] into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
Charles Darwin (1809-1882; naturalist, geologist, biologist and author).
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