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On seeing the marsupials in Australia for the first time and comparing them to placental mammals: “An unbeliever . . . might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been at work'”
Charles Darwin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Darwin suggests that the existence of marsupials and placental mammals may imply a complex design in nature.

In this quote, Charles Darwin reflects on the diversity of life he observed, particularly the differences between marsupials and placental mammals in Australia. He implies that such distinct forms of reproductive biology might lead one to believe in multiple creators rather than a single evolutionary process, highlighting the complexity and wonders of natural selection and adaptation.

Themes

DarwinMarsupialsCreatorsNatureEvolution

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture on evolutionary biology, I would quote Darwin to illustrate the complexity of life.

More from Charles Darwin

Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
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The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
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I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts.
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We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity of an organic being; but on the hypothesis here advanced this complexity is much increased. Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm--a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven.
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I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
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we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
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