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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: right hand, which diverged at a still earlier period. And all these
genera, descended from (A), form an order distinct from the genera
descended from (I). So that we here have many species descended from a
single progenitor grouped into genera; and the genera are included in, or
subordinate to, sub-families, families, and orders, all united into one
class. Thus, the grand fact in natural history of the subordination of
group under group, which, from its familiarity, does not always
sufficiently strike us, is in my judgment fully explained.
Naturalists try to arrange the species, genera, and families in each class,
on what is called the Natural System. But what is meant by this system?
Some authors look at it merely as a scheme for arranging together those
On the Origin of Species |
