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On the Origin of Species

Charles Darwin

Read On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin free — the complete public-domain text, 154,015 words, 13 chapters, in a word-at-a-time speed reader you set the pace for.

Free Public domain 13 chapters
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How it opens

“But with regard to the material world, we can at least go so far as this—we can perceive that events are brought about not by insulated interpositions of Divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by the establishment of general laws.”…

Details

  • AuthorCharles Darwin
  • SourceProject Gutenberg #1228
  • Length154,015 words
  • Chapters13
  • DictionaryNot yet generated
  • CopyrightPublic domain in the United States
  • Source checked2026-08-03

Contents

13 chapters

Recovered from the original source text, so you can open the book at any of them.

  1. 01CHAPTER I. VARIATION UNDER DOMESTICATION.
  2. 02CHAPTER 2. VARIATION UNDER NATURE.
  3. 03CHAPTER 3. STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.
  4. 04CHAPTER 4. NATURAL SELECTION.
  5. 05CHAPTER 5. LAWS OF VARIATION.
  6. 06CHAPTER 6. DIFFICULTIES ON THEORY.
  7. 07CHAPTER 7. INSTINCT.
  8. 08CHAPTER 8. HYBRIDISM.
  9. 09CHAPTER 9. ON THE IMPERFECTION OF THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD.
  10. 10CHAPTER 10. ON THE GEOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF ORGANIC BEINGS.
  11. 11CHAPTER 11. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.
  12. 12CHAPTER 12. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION—_continued_.
  13. 13CHAPTER 14. RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION.

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