On the Origin of Species the second edition, Darwin added an epigraph from Joseph Butler affirming that God could work through scientific laws as much as through miracles, in a nod to the religious concerns of his oldest friends. The "Introduction" establishes Darwin's credentials as a naturalist and author, then refers to John Herschel's letter suggesting that the origin of species "would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process": WHEN on board HMS "Beagle", as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present
Genetics and the Origin of Species revive the Jesup lectures, a series that had involved some notable lecturers in the past. It was back-dated so that Dobzhansky's lectures became the first in the series. The Columbia University Biological Series was also revived, and when "Genetics and the Origin of Species" was published in October 1937 it became the 11th volume in that series. Three main editions were published, in 1937, 1941 and 1951, each with significant changes. Dobzhansky considered "Genetics of the Evolutionary Process" (1970) a fourth edition, but one so much changed that it needed a new title. "Genetics and the Origin of Species" has