Contents:

1. Introduction: Charles Darwin
   • Editorial procedure
2. The Structure and distribute of coral reefs (1842)
   • Introduction
     
   • On the depths at which reef-building polypifers live
     
   • Theory of the formation of the different classes of coral-reefs
     
   • Notes
3. The voyage of the Beagle (1845, 1st edn 1839)
   • Galapagos archipelago
     
   • Notes
4. The origin of species (1859)
   • Struggle for existence
     
   • Natural selection
     
   • Recapitulation
     
   • Notes
5. The variation of animals and plants under domestication (1868)
   • Provisional hypothesis of pangenesis
     
   • Part I
     
   • Part II
     
   • Notes
6. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (1871)
   • The evidence of the descent of man from some lower form: rudiments
     
   • On the development of the intellectual and moral faculties during primeval and civilised times
     
   • Principles of sexual selection
     
   • Notes
7. The expression of the emotions in man and animals (1872)
   • General principles of expression
     
   • The principle of serviceable associated habits
     
   • The principle of antithesis
     
   • The principle of the direct action of the nervous system
     
   • Decision or determination
     
   • Anger, indignation
     
   • Sneering, defiance
     
   • Shrugging the shoulders
     
   • Notes
8. The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species (1877)
   • Heterostyled dimorphic plants: primulaceae
     
   • Notes
9. The power of movement in plants (1880)
   • Introduction
     
   • Heliotropism
     
   • Sensitiveness of plants to light
     
   • Localised sensitiveness to light, and its transmitted effects
     
   • Concluding remarks
     
   • Notes
10. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms (1881)
    • Introduction
      
    • The amount of fine earth brought up by worms to the surface
      
    • Burial of ancient buildings
      
    • Conclusion
      
    • Notes

This work contains key extracts from most of Darwin's books (leaving out only some of his numerous geological and botanical writings). I wound up enjoying it greatly, somewhat to my surprise. The selections from The Origin of Species sounded remarkably familiar, probably due to my having read so much Stephen Jay Gould. Darwin was an extremely clear, organized, and above all thorough arguer, covering as many angles and objections to his arguments as he could think of and pulling together copious evidence (thus, writing at book-length instead of papers!) I was interested, too, to find the editor including Darwin's most notable failed theory, that concerning inheritance: pangenesis. I note that Darwin was rather less confident in this than in natural selection; he was trying to derive a hypothesis, recognized by him as less than perfectly satisfactory, from the facts as he knew them about reproduction and inheritance. Unfortunately, the facts that the 19th century "knew" on these subjects were very often wrong -- thus, no chance to derive a good hypothesis. The other extract I'd like to mention is the one about the two types of flowers on primroses: a most remarkable example of the great lengths of ingenuity that the plant went to to ensure cross-fertilization and prevent self-fertilization. No wonder Darwin thought that his figuring out that mechanism was one of his favorite discoveries ever.