In order to show the view Darwin took of his own work, and what it was
that he alone claimed to have done, the concluding passage of the
introduction to the _Origin of_ _Species_ should be carefully
considered. It is as follows: "Although much remains obscure, and will
long remain obscure, I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate
and dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which
most naturalists until recently entertained and which I formerly
entertained--namely, that each species has been independently
created--is erroneous. I am fully convinced that species are not
immutable; but that those belonging to what are called the same genera
are lineal descendants of some other and generally extinct species, in
the same manner as the acknowledged varieties of any one species are the
descendants of that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural
Selection has been the most important, but not the exclusive, means of
modification."
It should be especially noted that all which is here claimed is now
almost universally admitted, while the criticisms of Darwin's works
refer almost exclusively to those numerous questions which, as he
himself says, "will long remain obscure.
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