Charles Darwin I: The Origin of Species

On the Origin of Species was written in what decade?

• a.1830s
• b.1850s
• c.1870s
• d.1890s

Which of the following was NOT an important theme of Origins?

• a.phylogenetic relationships
• b.natural selection
• c.recapitulation
• d.adaptation

Darwin’s great work of 1871 about the origins of humans was called

• a.Evidence of Man’s Place in Nature
• b.Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man
• c.Origins of the Human Species
• d.On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

Nineteenth-century creationists interpreted the individuals of species as exact replicas, whereas Darwin saw them as having variability.

• a.true
• b.false

One key feature of Darwin's theory of natural selection was that

• a.members of the same species show variability within a population.
• b.only some species are able to change over time.
• c.the structure of every species is based on a model, ideal form.
• d.there is no possibility that species change over time.

Why was Darwin's contribution to the theory of evolution so important?

• a.Darwin was able to prove to the public that the Fixity of Species concept was not correct.
• b.Darwin was able to put his research and observations into a basic model that the public would understand.
• c.Darwin was able to travel to places no one had ever seen before and document the organisms that lived there.
• d.Darwin was the first person to propose the idea of evolution and the first to publish a paper on the topic.

Which statement best explains why Darwin avoided discussing human beings in Origins?

• a.He believed that Fixity of Species explained how humans came to exist.
• b.He had not completed his explanation on how humans had evolved.
• c.He understood that natural selection does not apply to human beings.
• d.He was afraid of the response he would get from religious groups.