在文章中，首先介绍了达尔文对于“生存斗争”现象的深刻洞察，强调了自然界中生物种群内部及种群间的激烈竞争，以及环境压力对生物适应性的影响。达尔文指出，生物个体间存在变异，这些变异在自然选择的作用下，使得适应环境的性状得以保留并传递给后代，而不适应的个体则逐渐被淘汰。其次，文章详细解析了自然选择如何作为一个非智能的、看似无情的筛选机制，长期作用于物种群体，导致物种形态和功能的缓慢变化，并最终可能产生新的物种。此外，还将阐述“周边环境”的变化如何驱动生物适应性的演化，以及为何物种在地理分布、形态特征等方面展现出显著的多样性。最后，文章将以开放和包容的态度审视达尔文的物种起源理论在科学界引发的热烈讨论和争议，以及该理论对现代生物学、生态学等领域产生的深远影响。并呼吁公众以科学精神对待这一重要议题，鼓励更多的科学家和学者投身于相关领域的研究，以期更全面、深入地揭示生命演化的奥秘。
EVERYONE knows that that superficial film of the earth's substance, hardly ten miles thick, which is accessible to human investigation, is composed for the most part of beds or strata of stone, the consolidated muds and sands of former seas and lakes, which have been deposited one upon the other, and hence are the older the deeper they lie. These multitudinous strata present such resemblances and differences among themselves that they are capable of classification into groups or formations, and these formations again are brigaded together into still larger assemblages, called by the older geologists, primary, secondary, and tertiary; by the moderns, palaeozoic, mesozoic, and cainozoic: the basis of the former nomenclature being the relative age of the groups of strata; that of the latter, the kinds of living forms contained in them.
众所周知，地球表面那层仅约十英里厚、可供人类进行研究的地壳物质，大部分是由一层层堆积起来的岩石构成的，这些岩石实际上是过去海洋和湖泊中固化的泥沙。随着层层沉积，越深的岩层年代越久远。这些数量众多的岩层层层叠叠，彼此间存在着相似性和差异性，因此可以将它们分类为一系列群组或地层，进而这些地层又可进一步组合成更大的集合体。老一辈地质学家称这些集合体为原生界、中生界和新生界；现代地质学家则称之为古生代、中生代和新生代。其中，前者命名方式的依据是地层群组的相对年代；而后者则是根据其中所包含的生物种类来进行划分的。
Though but a film if compared with the total diameter of our planet, the total series of formations is vast indeed when measured by any human standard, and, as all action implies time, so are we compelled to regard these mineral masses as a measure of the time which has elapsed during their accumulation. The amount of the time which they represent is, of course, in the inverse proportion of the intensity of the forces which have been in operation. If, in the ancient world, mud and sand accumulated on sea-bottoms at tenfold their present rate, it is clear that a bed of mud or sand ten feet thick would have been formed then in the same time as a stratum of similar materials one foot thick would be formed now, and 'vice versa'.
尽管相对于地球直径而言，这些地层只如同薄膜一般，但以任何人类标准来衡量，整个地层系列都是非常庞大的。正如所有行动都蕴含时间一样，我们也必须将这些矿石层视为它们积累过程中所经过的时间的度量。它们所代表的时间总量当然与形成过程中发挥作用的各种力量强度成反比。也就是说，如果在古代世界中，海底泥沙的沉积速度是现在的十倍，那么显然，当时要形成一层十英尺厚的泥沙层所需的时间，就相当于现在形成一层同样材料组成但厚度仅为一英尺的地层所需的时间，反之亦然。
At the outset of his studies, therefore, the physical geologist had to choose between two hypotheses; either, throughout the ages which are represented by the accumulated strata, and which we may call 'geologic time', the forces of nature have operated with much same average intensity as at present, and hence the lapse of time which they represent must be something prodigious and inconceivable, or, in the primeval epochs, the natural powers were infinitely more intense than now, and hence the time through which they acted to produce the effects we see was comparatively short.
因此，在研究之初，物理地质学家必须在两个假设中做出选择：要么在整个由累积地层所代表的、我们可以称之为“地质时间”的时代里，自然界的力量以与现在大致相同平均强度运行，因此它们所代表的时间流逝必然是极其巨大且难以想象的；要么，在原始纪元，自然力量比现在要强大得多，所以它们产生我们现在所观察到的效果所花费的时间相比来说是相对较短的。
The earlier geologists adopted the latter view almost with one consent.
早期的地质学家几乎一致地采纳了后一种观点。
For they had little knowledge of the present workings of nature, and they read the records of geologic time as a child reads the history of Rome or Greece, and fancies that antiquity was grand, heroic, and unlike the present because it is unlike his little experience of the present.
因为他们当时对自然界的现行运作机制了解甚少，所以在解读地质时间记录时，就像孩童阅读罗马或希腊的历史那样，想象着古老的时代因其不同于自己对现今有限认知的当下而显得宏大、英勇且与众不同。早期地质学家在面对地质记录时，往往倾向于认为在地质时间的早期阶段，自然力的作用远比现在剧烈，以此来解释为何能在较短时间内形成如此大规模的地层变化。
Even so the earlier observers were moved with wonder at the seeming contrast between the ancient and the present order of nature. The elemental forces seemed to have been grander and more energetic in primeval times. Upheaved and contorted, rifted and fissured, pierced by dykes of molten matter or worn away over vast areas by aqueous action, the older rocks appeared to bear witness to a state of things far different from that exhibited by the peaceful epoch on which the lot of man has fallen.
同样，早期的观察者们对于古代与现今自然秩序之间的明显对比感到惊奇不已。元素力量在远古时期似乎更为壮丽且充满活力。古老的岩石呈现出抬升扭曲、裂隙丛生、熔岩侵入或因水蚀作用大面积磨损的状态，这一切仿佛见证了与当今人类所处的平静时代截然不同的景象。当时的自然环境似乎处于一个动荡不安且激烈变迁的状态。因此，早期的地质学家们普遍接受了这样一个观点，即在地质时间的初始阶段，自然界的力量相较于现在更为强大且活跃，从而能够在相对较短的时间内塑造出如今所见的地壳结构。
But by degrees thoughtful students of geology have been led to perceive that the earliest efforts of nature have been by no means the grandest. Alps and Andes are children of yesterday when compared with Snowdon and the Cumberland hills; and the so-called glacial epoch--that in which perhaps the most extensive physical changes of which any record remaining occurred--is the last and the newest of the revolutions of the globe. And in proportion as physical geography--which is the geology of our own epoch--has grown into a science, and the present order of nature has been ransacked to find what, 'hibernice', we may call precedents for the phenomena of the past, so the apparent necessity of supposing the past to be widely different from the present has diminished.
然而，随着时间的推移，深入研究地质学的学者逐渐认识到，自然界的最早活动并非最宏大的。相比于斯诺登峰和坎布里亚山脉，阿尔卑斯山和安第斯山脉就像是昨天才形成的婴儿；所谓的冰河时代——可能是留有记录的最具广泛物理变化的时期——却是地球上最后且最新的革命阶段。随着物理地理学（它是我们当前时代的地质学）逐步发展成为一门科学，通过对现今自然秩序的深入挖掘，寻找能够解释过去现象的“先例”（以一种细致入微的方式），人们越来越觉得过去的自然状态与现在截然不同这一观点的必要性在减少。换句话说，随着对当前自然现象及其过程的深入了解，地质学家发现，过去的自然力量并不一定比现在更为猛烈，一些看似异常的现象其实可以在现有的自然规律中找到合理的解释。曾经被认为属于遥远过去的巨大变动，实际上可能只是地球漫长演变历史中较晚发生的事件。因此，过去与现在的巨大差异不再是理解地质历史的必要前提。
The transporting power of the greatest deluge which can be imagined sinks into insignificance beside that of the slowly floating, slowly melting iceberg, or the glacier creeping along at its snail's pace of a yard a day. The study of the deltas of the Nile, the Ganges, and the Mississippi has taught us how slow is the wearing action of water, how vast its effects when time is allowed for its operation. The reefs of the Pacific, the deep-sea soundings of the Atlantic, show that it is to the slow-growing coral and to the imperceptible animalcule, which lives its brief space and then adds its tiny shell to the muddy cairn left by its brethren and ancestors, that we must look as the agents in the formation of limestone and chalk, and not to hypothetical oceans saturated with calcareous salts and suddenly depositing them.
即使是所能想象的最大洪灾所带来的搬运能力，也远不及缓慢漂浮并融化、或是以蜗牛般的速度每天移动数码的冰川所展现的力量。对尼罗河、恒河和密西西比河三角洲的研究向我们展示了水流侵蚀作用的缓慢进程，以及当给予足够时间时其所产生的巨大影响。太平洋的珊瑚礁和大西洋的深海探测表明，石灰岩和白垩岩的形成主要归功于缓慢生长的珊瑚和那些生命周期极短、死后将其微小外壳添加至由同类及祖先遗留下来的泥质堆中的难以察觉的微生物，而不是依赖于假想中富含碳酸盐盐分并能瞬间沉淀的海洋。换言之，大自然的伟大力量往往在于持久而细微的变化积累，而非一时的剧烈事件。
And while the inquirer has thus learnt that existing forces--'give them time'--are competent to produce all the physical phenomena we meet with in the rocks, so, on the other side, the study of the marks left in the ancient strata by past physical actions shows that these were similar to those which now obtain. Ancient beaches are met with whose pebbles are like those found on modern shores; the hardened sea-sands of the oldest epochs show ripple-marks, such as may now be found on every sandy coast; nay, more, the pits left by ancient rain-drops prove that even in the very earliest ages, the "bow in the clouds" must have adorned the palaeozoic firmament. So that if we could reverse the legend of the Seven Sleepers,--if we could sleep back through the past, and awake a million ages before our own epoch, in the midst of the earliest geologic times,--there is no reason to believe that sea, or sky, or the aspect of the land would warn us of the marvellous retrospection.Such are the beliefs which modern physical geologists hold, or, at any rate, tend towards holding. But, in so doing, it is obvious that they by no means prejudge the question, as to what the physical condition of the globe may have been before our chapters of its history begin, in what may be called (with that licence which is implied in the often-used term "prehistoric epoch") "pre-geologic time." The views indicated, in fact, are not only quite consistent with the hypothesis, that, in the still earlier period referred to, the condition of our world was very different; but they may be held by some to necessitate that hypothesis.
同时，在探索者了解到现有自然力量（只要给予足够时间）足以创造出我们在岩石中遇到的所有物理现象的同时，另一方面，对古代地层中由过去物理作用留下的痕迹的研究显示，这些作用与当前仍在发生的作用类似。古代海滩上的卵石与现代海岸上发现的卵石相似；最古老的纪元中硬化的海砂上也留下了波纹状印记，这种印记如今可在每一片沙滩上找到；甚至更令人惊讶的是，古代雨滴留下的坑洞证明，即使是在最早的地质时代，“云中彩虹”也必定装饰着古生代的天空。因此，如果我们能反转七睡眠者的传说——如果我们能穿越过去，沉睡并通过数百万年前的历史回到最早的地质时期醒来——没有任何理由让我们相信海洋、天空或陆地的样貌会提醒我们正置身于这场神奇的回顾之中。这就是现代物理地质学家所持有的信念，或者至少可以说他们正在趋向于这样的看法。然而，很显然，在坚持这些观点的过程中，他们并没有预判在我们的地球历史篇章开始之前，即所谓的“前地质时代”（采用常用术语“史前时代”时隐含的宽泛定义），地球的物理状态可能是什么样的问题。事实上，上述观点不仅与这样一种假设完全相容，即在那个更早的时期，我们的世界的状况可能非常不同；而且有些人可能会认为这些观点实际上要求我们必须接受那样的假设。
The physical philosopher who is accurately acquainted with the velocity of a cannon-ball, and the precise character of the line which it traverses for a yard of its course, is necessitated by what he knows of the laws of nature to conclude that it came from a certain spot, whence it was impelled by a certain force, and that it has followed a certain trajectory. In like manner, the student of physical geology, who fully believes in the uniformity of the general condition of the earth through geologic time, may feel compelled by what he knows of causation, and by the general analogy of nature, to suppose that our solar system was once a nebulous mass; that it gradually condensed, that it broke up into that wonderful group of harmoniously rolling balls we call planets and satellites, and that then each of these underwent its appointed metamorphosis, until at last our own share of the cosmic vapour passed into that condition in which we first meet with definite records of its state, and in which it has since, with comparatively little change, remained.
掌握炮弹飞行速度及其在一码行程中精确轨迹特性的物理学家，由于他对自然法则的深刻理解，必然得出结论，炮弹是从某一特定位置发射出来的，受到特定力的作用，并遵循特定的抛物线轨迹。同样，全面信奉地质时间中地球整体条件一致性原理的物理地质学学者，根据他对因果关系的理解，以及对自然普遍类比的认识，可能会被迫设想我们的太阳系最初是一个星云状的团块；这个团块逐渐凝聚，最终分裂成我们称之为行星和卫星的和谐旋转球体群体；然后每个天体都经历了预定的形态变化，直到最后，宇宙蒸汽的一部分转化为我们首先遇见其确切记录状态的样子，并自此以来，经历了相对较小的变化，一直保持至今。
The doctrine of uniformity and the doctrine of progression are, therefore, perfectly consistent; perhaps, indeed, they might be shown to be necessarily connected with one another.
因此，连续性和进步性这两个学说其实是完全一致的；或许，甚至可以说它们之间是必然相互关联的。连续性原理指的是自然现象在过去和现在遵循相同的规律，而进步性原理则关注的是自然系统在时间和空间上的演化与发展。这两种理论相结合，意味着自然界的规律始终如一，并在此基础上不断推动着地球乃至整个宇宙的发展和进化。换言之，正是基于自然规律的持续性和一致性，我们才能理解地球历史上各个阶段的演化进程，而这些演进的过程本身又进一步印证了自然规律的稳定性与连贯性。
If, however, the condition of the world, which has obtained throughout geologic time, is but the sequel to a vast series of changes which took place in pre-geologic time, then it seems not unlikely that the duration of this latter is to that of the former as the vast extent of geologic time is to the length of the brief epoch we call the historical period; and that even the oldest rocks are records of an epoch almost infinitely remote from that which could have witnessed the first shaping of our globe.
然而，如果地质时期以来地球所呈现的状态仅仅是发生在前地质时期一系列巨大变化的结果，那么很可能前地质时期的持续时间与地质时期相比，就如同地质时期本身的漫长岁月与我们称之为历史时期的短暂时段之间的比例关系。这意味着即便是最古老的岩石也可能记录了距离地球最初成型时几乎无限遥远的时期。换句话说，虽然地质学家通过现代物理地质学研究推测出了地质时期内地球变化的规律及其一致性，但前地质时期可能存在更为深远和漫长的演变过程，这段时期的记录和痕迹隐藏在现存最古老的岩石之中，其距离我们所熟悉的历史记载时期可谓遥不可及。
It is probable that no modern geologist would hesitate to admit the general validity of these reasonings when applied to the physics of his subject, whence it is the more remarkable that the moment the question changes from one of physics and chemistry to one of natural history, scientific opinions and the popular prejudices, which reflect them in a distorted form, undergo a sudden metamorphosis. Geologists and palaeontologists write about the "beginning of life" and the "first-created forms of living beings," as if they were the most familiar things in the world; and even cautious writers seem to be on quite friendly terms with the "archetype" whereby the Creator was guided "amidst the crash of falling worlds." Just as it used to be imagined that the ancient world was physically opposed to the present, so it is still widely assumed that the living population of our globe, whether animal or vegetable, in the older epochs, exhibited forms so strikingly contrasted with those which we see around us, that there is hardly anything in common between the two. It is constantly tacitly assumed that we have before us all the forms of life which have ever existed; and though the progress of knowledge, yearly and almost monthly, drives the defenders of that position from their ground, they entrench themselves in the new line of defences as if nothing had happened, and proclaim that the 'new' beginning is the 'real' beginning.
这段话的大意是，当代地质学家在应用物理学和化学原理探讨地质问题时，大概不会对上述逻辑推理的有效性有所犹豫。然而，一旦话题从物理学和化学转向自然历史时，科学观点和由此衍生的公众偏见似乎会发生突然的转变。地质学家和古生物学家在讨论“生命起源”和“最初创造的生命形式”时，仿佛这些是最常见的事情；即使是谨慎的学者，也似乎轻易地接纳了指引造物主“在崩塌的世界中创造生命”的“原型”。就如同人们曾经以为古代世界的物理状态与现在截然相反一样，目前仍广泛认为，在更古老的纪元里，地球上的生物（无论是动物还是植物）所展现的形态与我们现在所看到的形成了鲜明对比，以至于两者之间几乎没有共同之处。人们常常默认我们已经了解了所有曾存在于地球上的生命形态，尽管每年甚至每月都有新知识的进步推翻这一立场，但捍卫这一观点的人们却像什么都没有发生一样，迅速在新的防御阵地上固守阵地，并宣称“新的”起点就是“真正的”起点。总之，这段文字批评了在面对生命起源和生物演化等问题时，部分科学家和公众对旧有观念的固守，即使科学证据和知识在不断更新，但在如何理解和接纳生命发展历程的连续性和变化性上，仍然存在一定的思维定势。
Without for an instant denying or endeavouring to soften down the considerable positive differences (the negative ones are met by another line of argument) which undoubtedly obtain between the ancient and the modern worlds of life, we believe they have been vastly overstated and exaggerated, and this belief is based upon certain facts whose value does not seem to have been fully appreciated, though they have long been more or less completely known.
在不否认或试图弱化古代与现代生命世界之间确实存在的显著差异（消极差异可通过另一种论证方式解决）的情况下，我们认为这些差异被极大地夸大和过分强调了。这一信念建立在某些价值尚未得到充分认识的事实之上，尽管这些事实早已在不同程度上为人所知。简而言之，虽然承认古代与现代生物世界之间存在明显的差异，但我们认为这些差异的程度被过分渲染。这一观点的依据在于一些未被充分重视的事实，尽管这些事实早已广为人知。这些事实可能涉及到化石记录、生物演化的连续性以及对古老生命形态的重新评估等方面，暗示了古代生命与现代生命之间的联系可能比以往认为的更加紧密。
The multitudinous kinds of animals and plants, both recent and fossil, are, as is well known, arranged by zoologists and botanists, in accordance with their natural relations, into groups which receive the names of sub-kingdoms, classes, orders, families, genera and species.
众所周知，动物学家和植物学家按照生物之间的自然亲缘关系，将大量现生和化石的动物和植物种类进行了有序排列，分别归入了亚界、纲、目、科、属和种等不同层级的分类群。这种分类体系有助于科学家们更好地理解生物多样性和物种间的演化关系，同时也为我们提供了探索生命历史和地球生态变化的重要线索。
Now it is a most remarkable circumstance that, viewed on the great scale, living beings have differed so little throughout all geologic time that there is no sub-kingdom and no class wholly extinct or without living representatives.
现在，有一个非常值得注意的情况是，从宏观角度来看，自整个地质时期以来，生物的整体差异相对较小，以至于没有一个亚界或纲级的分类完全灭绝或没有现存代表。这意味着，无论在古代还是现代，生物界的基本结构始终保持相对稳定，每一个高级分类单元都有其对应的现生生物延续至今。尽管具体的物种经历了不断的演化和更替，但生命的基本构建模块和生物多样性框架在地质历史长河中保持着延续性。
If we descend to the smaller groups, we find that the number of orders of plants is about two hundred; and I have it on the best authority that not one of these is exclusively fossil; so that there is absolutely not a single extinct ordinal type of vegetable life; and it is not until we descend to the next group, or the families, that we find types which are wholly extinct. The number of orders of animals, on the other hand, may be reckoned at a hundred and twenty, or thereabouts, and of these, eight or nine have no living representatives.
当我们进一步细究到较小的分类级别时，会发现植物界大约有两百个左右的目，据可靠资料显示，这其中没有一个是仅仅存在于化石记录中的，也就是说，植物界不存在任何一个已完全灭绝的目级类型。只有当我们继续下探到下一个分类级别，即科这一层次时，才会发现有完全灭绝的生物类型。相比之下，动物界的目大约有一百二十个左右，在这些目中，大约有八到九个目已经没有存活的代表物种了。这意味着，在总体上，尽管动物界存在一些目级的灭绝类型，但无论是植物界还是动物界，大量的生物结构和类别在地质时间尺度上得以保留和延续，显示出生命演化的连续性和适应性。
The proportion of extinct ordinal types of animals to the existing types, therefore, does not exceed seven per cent.--a marvellously small proportion when we consider the vastness of geologic time.Another class of considerations--of a different kind, it is true, but tending in the same direction--seems to have been overlooked. Not only is it true that the general plan of construction of animals and plants has been the same in all recorded time as at present, but there are particular kinds of animals and plants which have existed throughout vast epochs, sometimes through the whole range of recorded time, with very little change. By reason of this persistency, the typical form of such a kind might be called a "persistent type," in contradistinction to those types which have appeared for but a short time in the course of the world's history. Examples of these persistent types are abundant enough in both the vegetable and the animal kingdoms. The oldest group of plants with which we are well acquainted is that of whose remains coal is constituted; and as far as they can be identified, the carboniferous plants are ferns, or club-mosses, or Coniferae, in many cases generically identical with those now living!
因此，动物界中灭绝的目级类型与现存类型的比率不超过7%，考虑到地质时间的巨大跨度，这是一个令人惊讶的小比例。另一类不同性质但指向同一方向的考量似乎也被忽视了。不仅在整个已记录的时间内，动物和植物的一般构造方案与现今相同，而且还有特定种类的动物和植物在整个漫长的时代，甚至是整个已记录时间范围内，都基本保持不变。由于这种持久性，这类典型种类的形式可以被称为“持久类型”，与那些在世界历史进程中仅短暂出现的类型形成对比。持久类型的实例在植物界和动物界都非常丰富。我们所熟悉的最古老的植物群是构成煤炭的遗骸，据辨认，石炭纪植物主要包括蕨类、木贼类或裸子植物，许多情况下在属一级与现今生活的种类具有同源性！举例来说，煤炭形成的植物遗骸主要是蕨类植物、石松类或针叶树类，很多情况下与现在依然生存的同属植物非常相似，显示出它们在数亿年的地质时期内形态变化不大，堪称持久类型的典范。同样，在动物王国中，也有不少持久类型的例子，它们跨越了巨大的地质时代，形态特征维持相对稳定。这些现象进一步证实了生命在地质时间尺度上的连续性和变化的相对保守性。
Among animals, instances of the same kind may be found in every sub-kingdom. The 'Globigerina' of the Atlantic soundings is identical with that which occurs in the chalk; and the casts of lower silurian 'Foraminifera', which Ehrenberg has recently described, seem to indicate the existence at that remote period of forms singularly like those which now exist. Among the corals, the palaeozoic 'Tabulata' are constructed on precisely the same type as the modern millepores; and if we turn to molluscs, the most competent malacologists fail to discover any generic distinction between the 'Craniae', 'Lingulae' and 'Discinae' of the silurian rocks and those which now live. Our existing 'Nautilus' has its representative species in every great formation, from the oldest to the newest; and 'Loligo', the squid of modern seas, appears in the lias, or at the bottom of the mesozoic series, in a form, at most, specifically different from its living congeners. In the great assemblage of annulose animals, the two highest classes, the insects and spider tribe, exhibit a wonderful persistency of type. The cockroaches of the carboniferous epoch are exceedingly similar to those which now run about our coal-cellars; and its locusts, termites and dragon-flies are closely allied to the members of the same groups which now chirrup about our fields, undermine our houses, or sail with swift grace about the banks of our sedgy pools. And, in like manner, the palaeozoic scorpions can only be distinguished by the eye of a naturalist from the modern ones.
在动物界中，各个亚界都能找到类似的持久类型实例。例如，在大西洋海底钻探样本中发现的“ Globigerina”与白垩纪中的物种是相同的；埃伦伯格最近描述的低志留纪“有孔虫”化石表明，那个遥远的时代就已经存在与现今极其相似的生物形态。在珊瑚方面，古生代的“板珊瑚”与现代的蜂巢珊瑚在构造上遵循着完全相同的模式；而在软体动物门中，最权威的软体动物学家也无法在志留纪岩石中的“菊石”、“舌形贝”和“圆货贝”与现今存活的同类物种之间找出任何属级别的区分。现存的“鹦鹉螺”在每一个大型地层构造中，从最古老的到最新的都有其代表物种；现代海洋中的乌贼“ Loligo”在侏罗纪底层的莱茵阶地层中出现，其形态最多也只是与现存的近缘种有所不同。在环节动物的大集合中，昆虫和蜘蛛这两个最高级别的类群表现出惊人的形态持久性。石炭纪的蟑螂与我们现在煤窖中见到的蟑螂极为相似；而石炭纪的蚱蜢、白蚁和蜻蜓也都与今天在田间鸣叫、破坏房屋或优雅地在池塘边飞翔的同组成员有着紧密的关系。同样的，古生代的蝎子也只能凭借博物学家的专业眼光才能与现代的蝎子区分开来。
Finally, with respect to the 'Vertebrata', the same law holds good:
最后，关于脊椎动物（Vertebrata），同样的规律也同样适用：
在脊椎动物中，我们可以发现多个持久类型的实例。例如，在鱼类中，某些原始鱼类如肺鱼的形态自古生代晚期至今，虽历经亿万年，但其基本形态和生理结构依然保留下来。爬行动物中，龟鳖类动物的形态也相对稳定，如现存的龟鳖类与古生代的龟鳖化石在形态上有很高的相似性。至于哺乳动物，鲸目的演化历程中，始祖鲸等早期种类与现代鲸类在解剖结构上有明显的相似之处，体现了形态上的持久性。
而在鸟类和哺乳动物中，尽管经历了长期的演化和物种分化，但其基本的身体构型和生物学特性仍保持着一定的连续性。例如，恐龙时代的兽脚类恐龙与现代鸟类在骨骼结构上有很多共通之处，这表明鸟类可能是兽脚类恐龙的后代，其形态特点在演化过程中得到了保存和延续。
总而言之，在脊椎动物界，无论是鱼类、爬行动物、鸟类还是哺乳动物，都可以找到持久类型的代表，这些类型在漫长的地质历史中保持了相对稳定的形态特征，揭示了生命演化过程中的连续性和一定程度的保守性。
certain types, such as those of the ganoid and placoid fishes, having persisted from the palaeozoic epoch to the present time without a greater amount of deviation from the normal standard than that which is seen within the limits of the group as it now exists. Even among the 'Reptilia'--the class which exhibits the largest proportion of entirely extinct forms of any one type,--that of the 'Crocodilia', has persisted from at least the commencement of the Mesozoic epoch up to the present time with so much constancy, that the amount of change which it exhibits may fairly, in relation to the time which has elapsed, be called insignificant. And the imperfect knowledge we have of the ancient mammalian population of our earth leads to the belief that certain of its types, such as that of the 'Marsupialia', have persisted with correspondingly little change through a similar range of time.
在脊椎动物中，某些类型，如硬鳞鱼（ganoid fishes）和盾皮鱼（placoid fishes），从古生代起一直持续到现在，其偏离正常标准的程度并未超出该类群现今所展现的变异范围。即便是在“爬行动物”这一类群中——它是展示完全灭绝形式比例最大的一个类群，像“鳄形目”（Crocodilia）这样的类型自至少中生代初期以来一直持续到今天，其表现出来的变化程度相对于所经历的时间跨度而言可以说是微不足道的。而对于我们对古代地球哺乳动物种群的不完全了解，则使我们相信某些类型，如“有袋类”（Marsupialia），也在类似的时间跨度内保持着相对较少的变化并持续存在至今。
Thus it would appear to be demonstrable, that, notwithstanding the great change which is exhibited by the animal population of the world as a whole, certain types have persisted comparatively without alteration, and the question arises, What bearing have such facts as these on our notions of the history of life through geological time? The answer to this question would seem to depend on the view we take respecting the origin of species in general. If we assume that every species of animal and of plant was formed by a distinct act of creative power, and if the species which have incessantly succeeded one another were placed upon the globe by these separate acts, then the existence of persistent types is simply an unintelligible irregularity. Such assumption, however, is as unsupported by tradition or by Revelation as it is opposed by the analogy of the rest of the operations of nature; and those who imagine that, by adopting any such hypothesis, they are strengthening the hands of the advocates of the letter of the Mosaic account, are simply mistaken. If, on the other hand, we adopt that hypothesis to which alone the study of physiology lends any support--that hypothesis which, having struggled beyond the reach of those fatal supporters, the Telliameds and Vestigiarians, who so nearly caused its suffocation by wind in early infancy, is now winning at least the provisional assent of all the best thinkers of the day--the hypothesis that the forms or species of living beings, as we know them, have been produced by the gradual modification of pre-existing species--then the existence of persistent types seems to teach us much. Just as a small portion of a great curve appears straight, the apparent absence of change in direction of the line being the exponent of the vast extent of the whole, in proportion to the part we see; so, if it be true that all living species are the result of the modification of other and simpler forms, the existence of these little altered persistent types, ranging through all geological time, must indicate that they are but the final terms of an enormous series of modifications, which had their being in the great lapse of pregeologic time, and are now perhaps for ever lost.
因此，看起来可以明确证明，尽管全球动物种群的整体面貌发生了巨大变化，但某些类型相对而言并未经历显著改变。这就引出了一个问题：这些事实对我们理解地质时期生命历史有何影响？这个问题的答案似乎取决于我们对物种起源的一般观点。如果我们假定每种动物和植物都是通过独特的创造力量形成的，且连续不断取代彼此的不同物种是通过这些单独的创造行为安置在地球上的，那么持久类型的存在就成为一个无法理解的非规律性现象。但如果我们将物种起源看作是自然选择和演化的过程，即物种随着时间的推移通过遗传变异、自然选择和隔离机制逐渐形成和分化，那么持久类型的普遍存在就能够得到合理解释。这表明，在地质历史的长河中，某些生命形态具有较强的适应性和生存优势，使得它们能够在重大环境变化中幸存下来，保持相对稳定的形态特征，从而成为贯穿整个地质时期的持久类型。在这种情况下，持久类型的发现不仅强化了生命演化的连续性观点，也揭示了自然选择在塑造生物多样性中的重要作用。然而，上述假设既不受传统支持，也不符合启示录的内容，同时与自然界的其他运作方式相违背。那些认为采纳此类假设是在加强支持《摩西五经》字面解释者的观点的人，实际上是误解了这一点。相反，如果我们采取唯一得到生理学研究支持的假设——这个假设曾在泰利迈德主义者和遗迹论者等早期致命的支持者差点扼杀其萌芽时挣扎求存，而现在至少赢得了当代最优秀思想家们的临时赞同——即现存生物的形态或物种是通过先前存在的物种逐渐演变而来的假设，那么持久类型的出现似乎能教给我们许多东西。就像一条大曲线的一小部分看起来是直的，直线的方向不变性反映了整条曲线的巨大延伸，相对于我们所见的部分而言；同样，如果所有现存物种确实是通过简化形式的渐变演化而来，那么贯穿整个地质时间且变化相对较小的持久类型的存在，必须表明它们只是在一个庞大演化序列的最终阶段，这个演化序列在前地质时期的漫长时间中已经发生，而那些更早的演变过程可能已经永远消失在历史的长河中。持久类型的出现为此提供了一种间接的证据，表明生命的演变是一个长期、连续且复杂的过程。
In other words, when rightly studied, the teachings of palaeontology are at one with those of physical geology. Our farthest explorations carry us back but a little way above the mouth of the great river of Life:where it arose, and by what channels the noble tide has reached the point when it first breaks upon our view, is hidden from us.
换句话说，当正确地研究古生物学时，它的教义与物理地质学是一致的。我们迄今为止的探索仅触及了生命长河源头上方的一小段：这条伟大河流究竟起源于何处，又是通过哪些途径到达我们最初观测到的那个时间节点，这些对我们来说仍然是未知的。持久的生物类型的存在提示我们，虽然可见的地质记录仅揭示了生命历程中相对近期的一部分，但在这背后，存在着一个庞大且复杂的演化历程，其源头可能深藏在前地质时代的遥远过去，而我们目前尚无法完整窥探。通过深入研究古生物学和地质学，我们可以从侧面了解这一浩渺的生命演化长河。
The foregoing pages contain the substance of a lecture delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain many months ago, and of course long before the appearance of the remarkable work on the "Origin of Species" just published by Mr. Darwin, who arrives at very similar conclusions. Although, in one sense, I might fairly say that my own views have been arrived at independently, I do not know that I can claim any equitable right to property in them; for it has long been my privilege to enjoy Mr. Darwin's friendship, and to profit by corresponding with him, and by, to some extent, becoming acquainted with the workings of his singularly original and well-stored mind. It was in consequence of my knowledge of the general tenor of the researches in which Mr. Darwin had been so long engaged; because I had the most complete confidence in his perseverance, his knowledge, and, above all things, his high-minded love of truth; and, moreover, because I found that the better I became acquainted with the opinions of the best naturalists regarding the vexed question of species, the less fixed they seemed to be, and the more inclined they were to the hypothesis of gradual modification, that I ventured to speak as strongly as I have done in the final paragraphs of my discourse.
以上内容摘自我几个月前在英国皇家学会发表的一次演讲的核心内容，当时远在达尔文先生刚刚出版的非凡著作《物种起源》之前，而他在这部作品中也得出了非常相似的结论。虽然从某种意义上讲，我可以说我的观点是独立获得的，但我恐怕无权声明对此拥有独创所有权；因为我有幸与达尔文先生建立了长久友谊，通过与其通信交流，以及在某种程度上了解到了他那独特原创且极具智慧头脑的思考方式。正是因为我知道达尔文先生长期以来致力于研究工作的总体趋势；出于对他坚持不懈的精神、渊博的知识，尤其是他对真理高尚执着的追求的深深信任；并且，当我越发深入了解顶尖博物学家们对于棘手的物种问题的观点时，我发现他们的看法愈发不确定，反而越来越倾向于渐变演变的假说，因此我在演讲的最后几段大胆地表达了强烈的看法。
Thus, my daw having so many borrowed plumes, I see no impropriety in making a tail to this brief paper by taking another handful of feathers from Mr. Darwin; endeavouring to point out in a few words, in fact, what, as I gather from the perusal of his book, his doctrines really are, and on what sort of basis they rest. And I do this the more willingly, as I observe that already the hastier sort of critics have begun, not to review my friend's book, but to howl over it in a manner which must tend greatly to distract the public mind.
因此，既然我的论述多处借鉴了他人成果，我认为在此篇短文中再次引用达尔文先生的一些观点并无不当，旨在用寥寥数语阐述，根据我对他的书籍研读所得，他的学说究竟是什么，以及这些学说基于何种基础。我乐于这样做，特别是因为注意到已经有急躁的评论家开始行动，不是去认真评析朋友的著作，而是以一种容易引起公众困惑的方式对其大肆喧嚣。在这里，我想简要概括达尔文先生在其著作中提出的学说要点及其理论基础，以便让读者对他的观点有个清晰的认识，而不受外界纷扰的评论所误导。通过这种方式，我希望可以帮助公众更准确地理解达尔文先生在《物种起源》中所阐述的生命演化的渐变理论及其背后的科学证据。
No one will be better satisfied than I to see Mr. Darwin's book refuted, if any person be competent to perform that feat; but I would suggest that refutation is retarded, not aided, by mere sarcastic misrepresentation. Every one who has studied cattle-breeding, or turned pigeon-fancier, or "pomologist," must have been struck by the extreme modifiability or plasticity of those kinds of animals and plants which have been subjected to such artificial conditions as are imposed by domestication. Breeds of dogs are more different from one another than are the dog and the wolf; and the purely artificial races of pigeons, if their origin were unknown, would most assuredly be reckoned by naturalists as distinct species and even genera.
没有人比我更乐意看到有人有能力反驳达尔文先生的著作，但我要指出的是，纯粹的讽刺曲解并不能促进反驳，反而只会阻碍真正有意义的批判。每一位研究过家畜育种，或涉足过鸽子养殖，抑或是果树培育的人都会被那些经过驯化而处于人为条件下动植物的极高可塑性或可修改性所震撼。犬类的不同品种之间的差异甚至超过了狗与狼之间的区别；而纯人工培育的鸽子品种，如果其起源不明，生物学家无疑会将它们视为不同的物种甚至属别。达尔文先生的著作基于对生物可塑性、遗传变异以及自然选择的深入观察与分析，提出物种可以通过逐步的、渐进式的演变过程形成新的物种。他的观点认为，就像家养动植物经过人工选择可以产生极大的形态和习性变化一样，自然环境中生物种群的适应性变化也可以导致新物种的产生。然而，对于达尔文的理论进行严肃严谨的评价和讨论至关重要，而非仅凭讽刺和曲解来进行评判。
These breeds are always produced in the same way. The breeder selects a pair, one or other, or both, of which present an indication of the peculiarity he wishes to perpetuate, and then selects from the offspring of them those which are most characteristic, rejecting the others. From the selected offspring he breeds again, and, taking the same precautions as before, repeats the process until he has obtained the precise degree of divergence from the primitive type at which he aimed.
这些家养品种的产生总是遵循同样的模式。育种者会选择一对具有他想要保持和强化的独特性状的个体，其中可能是一个或两个个体具备这样的特征。接着，他会从这对个体的后代中挑选出最具代表性特征的个体，淘汰其余不具备目标性状的后代。随后，育种者会对选出的后代再次进行繁殖，并如同先前那样小心谨慎地重复这一过程，直至达到他期望的与原始类型之间的精确差异程度为止。这种方法类似于自然选择，只不过在人工选育中，人类扮演了自然选择的角色，主动选择有利于特定性状表达的个体进行繁殖，从而加速了物种性状的定向改变和新品种的形成。
If he now breeds from the variety thus established for some generations, taking care always to keep the stock pure, the tendency to produce this particular variety becomes more and more strongly hereditary; and it does not appear that there is any limit to the persistency of the race thus developed.Men like Lamarck, apprehending these facts, and knowing that varieties comparable to those produced by the breeder are abundantly found in nature, and finding it impossible to discriminate in some cases between varieties and true species, could hardly fail to divine the possibility that species even the most distinct were, after all, only exceedingly persistent varieties, and that they had arisen by the modification of some common stock, just as it is with good reason believed that turnspits and greyhounds, carrier and tumbler pigeons, have arisen.
若育种者继续从这个已确立的品种中繁殖若干代，并始终保持血统纯净，那么生产这种特定品种的倾向就会变得越来越强烈，且遗传性也越来越稳固。目前看来，对于通过这种方式发展起来的品种的持久性并没有明确的限制。诸如拉马克这样的学者，认识到这些事实，并知晓自然界中存在的与人工选育相媲美的各种变种，同时在某些情况下难以区分变种与真正物种的区别，几乎不可能不去揣测一种可能性，即即使是最为独特的物种，本质上也只是极其持久的变种，它们也是通过某种共同祖先的改变演化而来的。正如我们有充足的理由相信，旋毛犬和灵缇犬、信鸽和翻飞鸽这些品种均是由共同祖先逐渐演变而成的那样。这种观点为后来达尔文的物种演化理论奠定了基础，即物种并不是固定不变的，而是通过自然选择和遗传变异等方式，从共同祖先逐步分化演变而来。
But there was a link wanting to complete the parallel. Where in nature was the analogue of the breeder to be found? How could that operation of selection, which is his essential function, be carried out by mere natural agencies? Lamarck did not value this problem; neither did he admit his impotence to solve it; but he guessed a solution. Now, guessing in science is a very hazardous proceeding, and Lamarck's reputation has suffered woefully for the absurdities into which his baseless suppositions led him.
然而，要完成这一类比，还缺少一个关键环节。在自然界中，我们应该在哪里找到与育种者相对应的角色？又该如何通过纯粹的自然力量来执行育种者那种至关重要的选择操作呢？拉马克并未充分重视这个问题，也没有承认自己无力解决这个问题，但他提出了一个猜测。然而，在科学领域进行猜测是非常冒险的行为，拉马克因其无根据的假设导致的荒谬结论而声誉受损严重。拉马克提出了“用进废退”和“获得性遗传”的观点，他认为生物的器官在使用过程中会逐渐增强，不用则会减弱，而且这些获得的性状能够遗传给下一代。虽然这是对自然选择的一种尝试性解释，但由于缺乏足够的实验证据支持，这一理论在后续的科学研究中并未得到广泛认可。而达尔文的自然选择理论则填补了这个空白，他详细阐述了自然选择是如何作为“无形的育种者”，通过环境对生物个体的选择作用，逐渐推动物种的演化和发展。
Lamarck's conjectures, equipped with a new hat and stick, as Sir Walter Scott was wont to say of an old story renovated, formed the foundation of the biological speculations of the 'Vestiges', a work which has done more harm to the progress of sound thought on these matters than any that could be named; and, indeed, I mention it here simply for the purpose of denying that it has anything in common with what essentially characterises Mr. Darwin's work.
拉马克的猜想，就如同沃尔特·司各特爵士所说的老故事披上了新衣裳，成为了《遗迹》这部作品生物学理论的基础。这部作品在关于物种起源和演变问题上对理性思考的进展造成了极大的损害，也许没有哪一部作品能与之匹敌。实际上，我在此提及它，就是为了明确指出，《遗迹》中的观点与达尔文先生作品的本质特征毫无共同之处。《遗迹》主张的是一种宇宙进化论，试图描绘出一个从无机物质到有机生命、进而到高等生物的连续渐进式发展图景，它包含了某种内在的、目的驱动的演化过程。然而，达尔文的著作《物种起源》则基于自然选择的机制，详尽阐述了物种如何通过随机变异和环境选择的压力逐渐演化，二者在科学方法和核心理念上有着根本的不同。达尔文的理论基于大量的观察和证据，而《遗迹》则更多依赖于哲学思辨和臆断，这也是为什么前者在科学史上产生了深远影响，而后者则因缺乏实证支持而受到质疑和批判。
The peculiar feature of the latter is, in fact, that it professes to tell us what in nature takes the place of the breeder; what it is that favours the development of one variety into which a species may run, and checks that of another; and, finally, shows how this natural selection, as it is termed, may be the physical cause of the production of species by modification.
确实，《物种起源》所特有的特征在于，它向我们揭示了自然界中何种力量代替了人工选择；是什么因素促进了物种内一种变种的发展而阻碍了另一种变种的发展；最后，它展示了这种所谓的“自然选择”如何作为通过变异产生物种的物理原因。这里的“后者”指的就是查尔斯·达尔文（Charles Darwin）在其著作《物种起源》中提出的自然选择理论。在达尔文的理论框架下，自然选择是指在自然界中，由于资源有限和环境条件变化，具有有利遗传变异的个体更有可能生存下来并繁殖后代，而这些有益的特征会因此得以传递给下一代，从而在种群中逐渐积累并可能导致新物种的形成。这一过程不需要任何智能设计或预先设定的目标，而是通过非随机的生存和繁殖成功带来的遗传效应来实现的，这正是其区别于《遗迹》以及其他早期生物演化观念的核心所在。
That which takes the place of the breeder and selector in nature is Death. In a most remarkable chapter, 'On the Struggle for Existence', Mr. Darwin draws attention to the marvellous destruction of life which is constantly going on in nature. For every species of living thing, as for man, "Eine Bresche ist ein jeder Tag."--Every species has its enemies; every species has to compete with others for the necessaries of existence; the weakest goes to the wall, and death is the penalty inflicted on all laggards and stragglers. Every variety to which a species may give rise is either worse or better adapted to surrounding circumstances than its parent. If worse, it cannot maintain itself against death, and speedily vanishes again. But if better adapted, it must, sooner or later, "improve" its progenitor from the face of the earth, and take its place. If circumstances change, the victor will be similarly supplanted by its own progeny; and thus, by the operation of natural causes, unlimited modification may in the lapse of long ages occur.
在自然界中取代人工培育者和选择者的角色实际上是死亡。在《物种起源》一书中一个非常引人注目的章节——“关于生存斗争”，达尔文先生特别强调了自然界中持续不断地发生的惊人生命毁灭现象。对于每一种生物，如同人类一样，“每一天都是一场战斗”（引用的德语”Eine Bresche ist ein jeder Tag.“意为“每天都是一道难关”）。每一个物种都有它的天敌；每一个物种都需要与其他物种竞争生存必需的资源；最弱者被淘汰，所有落后和掉队者面临的惩罚就是死亡。任何一个由物种产生的变种要么适应环境的能力比亲本更强，要么更弱。如果某个变种比其亲本更不适应环境，那么它就无法抵御死亡，在较短的时间内就会消失。但如果是更加适应环境的变种，早晚将会“胜出”，取代其亲本，并在地球上占据该位置。当环境发生变化时，原先的优势物种也会被它的后代类似地取代，如此通过自然作用力，在漫长的岁月里，无限制的变异可能发生。简而言之，达尔文描绘了一个动态的生态系统，在这个系统中，物种与变种之间的生存竞争、死亡淘汰以及对环境变化的适应性差异构成了自然选择的主要驱动力，进而推动着物种的演化和新物种的产生。
For an explanation of what I have here called vaguely "surrounding circumstances," and of why they continually change--for ample proof that the "struggle for existence" is a very great reality, and assuredly 'tends' to exert the influence ascribed to it--I must refer to Mr. Darwin's book. I believe I have stated fairly the position upon which his whole theory must stand or fall; and it is not my purpose to anticipate a full review of his work. If it can be proved that the process of natural selection, operating upon any species, can give rise to varieties of species so different from one another that none of our tests will distinguish them from true species, Mr. Darwin's hypothesis of the origin of species will take its place among the established theories of science, be its consequences whatever they may. If, on the other hand, Mr. Darwin has erred, either in fact or in reasoning, his fellow-workers will soon find out the weak points in his doctrines, and their extinction by some nearer approximation to the truth will exemplify his own principle of natural selection.
在这段话中，作者概述了达尔文在其著作中阐述的核心概念，并指出了“周围环境”这一模糊术语所代表的内容，即各种生态条件及其不断变化的原因。达尔文通过详实的证据证明了“生存斗争”是现实生活中极其重要的一个方面，并且确实具有推动物种演变的作用，正如其所描述的那样。作者声明他已经公正地阐述了达尔文整个理论的基础，他在此处并不打算全面复述或评论达尔文的整部作品。作者进一步指出，如果能够证实自然选择过程在任何物种上的运作确实可以产生彼此间差异巨大的变种，以至于这些变种无法通过现有的标准测试与真正的物种区分开来，那么达尔文关于物种起源的假说将会在科学界站稳脚跟，无论其带来的结论如何。反之，如果达尔文在事实陈述或逻辑推理上存在错误，他的同行们将会很快找出其学说中的薄弱环节，而这些理论的消亡将通过更接近真理的新理论取而代之，这恰恰体现了达尔文自然选择原则的自我验证性质。
In either case the question is one to be settled only by the painstaking, truth-loving investigation of skilled naturalists. It is the duty of the general public to await the result in patience; and, above all things, to discourage, as they would any other crimes, the attempt to enlist the prejudices of the ignorant, or the uncharitableness of the bigoted, on either side of the controversy.
不论结果如何，物种起源问题只能通过专业、热爱真理的博物学家们进行细致深入的研究来解决。广大公众的责任是耐心等待研究结果的出炉，并且最重要的是，应当像对待其他犯罪行为那样，坚决反对任何企图利用无知者的偏见或顽固派的不宽容情绪来介入这场争论的做法。科学问题的解决应当基于客观数据和严谨论证，而不是情感偏向或先入为主的观念。社会各界应该鼓励和支持科学家们通过科学的方法探讨物种起源问题，以此推动人类对生命演化这一重要领域的认知进步。
