"Invariability" Quotes from Famous Books
... and absolutely unchangeable. Lyell's discoveries in geology, however, overthrew the argument of the earth's chronology and of the antiquity of man, and Darwin's theory of evolution entirely transformed the accepted beliefs concerning the origin of species and the supposed invariability of animal types. ... — Dogs and All About Them • Robert Leighton
... evening party—nay, it often enhances his reputation. Absolution may even be extended to the calculating individual who ravenously times his arrival by the supper hour; but, for a simple-minded person, unaccustomed to the usages of polite society, to believe in the invariability of fixed appointments and, taking an invitation au pied de la lettre, make his appearance a full hour before any other guest would dare to "turn up," from the fear of being thought unfashionable, is simply monstrous! ... — She and I, Volume 1 • John Conroy Hutcheson
... mind, I will quote a few passages from the writings of Sir Charles Lyell, as representing the opinions of the most advanced thinkers in the period immediately preceding that of Darwin's work. When recapitulating the facts and arguments in favour of the invariability and permanence of species, he says: "The entire variation from the original type which any given kind of change can produce may usually be effected in a brief period of time, after which no further deviation can be obtained by continuing to alter the circumstances, though ever so gradually, ... — Darwinism (1889) • Alfred Russel Wallace
... some chapters of Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer believes in the unchangeableness of innate tendencies in the individual, and in the invariability of the primitive disposition. He refuses to believe in the new man, in any real progress toward perfection, or in any positive improvement in a human being. Only the appearances are refined; there is no change below the surface. Perhaps he confuses temperament, character, and individuality? ... — Amiel's Journal • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... Geoffroy makes, for it is the key to the understanding of many of the far-fetched homologies which he tries to establish. It is, of course, clear that this hypothesis is in formal contradiction with his principal hypothesis of the invariability of connections, and that he, so to speak, gets a hold on his fish to apply his principle of connections only by admitting at the very outset an exception to his primary principle. A further application of the hypothesis of metastasis will be noticed below in connection with the determination ... — Form and Function - A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology • E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell |