On the Origin of Species On the Origin of Species On the Origin of Species (or more completely, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life), published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin
On the Origin of Species only the last chapter still to write. In September the main title still included ""An essay on the origin of species and varieties"", but Darwin now proposed dropping "varieties". With Murray's persuasion, the title was eventually agreed as "On the Origin of Species", with the title page adding "by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". In this extended title (and elsewhere in the book) Darwin used the biological term ""races"" interchangeably with ""varieties"", meaning varieties within a species. He used the term broadly, and as well as discussions of "the several