Talk:On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection

Title

Must we have the whole of this tediously long title as the title of the article? It doesn't seem likely that anyone would write it in the search box. Of course, the question is, what should the title be? I offer The announcement of natural selection. Rest stays as is. Macdonald-ross (talk) 16:54, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Wallace's Centrifugal Governor Metaphor is being misread

I think interpreting Wallace's "centrifugal governor" metaphor (CGM) as a model for natural selection (NS) generally is a misreading of the full passage in context:

We have also here an acting cause to account for that balance so often observed in nature,—a deficiency in one set of organs always being compensated by an increased development of some others—powerful wings accompanying weak [62] feet, or great velocity making up for the absence of defensive weapons; for it has been shown that all varieties in which an unbalanced deficiency occurred could not long continue their existence. The action of this principle is exactly like that of the centrifugal governor of the steam engine, which checks and corrects any irregularities almost before they become evident; and in like manner no unbalanced deficiency in the animal kingdom can ever reach any conspicuous magnitude, because it would make itself felt at the very first step, by rendering existence difficult and extinction almost sure soon to follow.

He's applying the CGM to a very specific phenomenon--a supposed balance between highly vs deficiently developed--not NS generally.

I googled ["a deficiency in one set of organs always being compensated by an increased development of some others"] and there is virtually no discussion of this 'balance of organ development' hypothesis (BoODH) by Wallace. I think the CGM has been ignored because the BoODH simply not true.

Virtually all of those who reference the CGM part of the passage OMIT the BoODH part. They (including Bateson and CH Smith) misread Wallace as claiming the CGM as applying generally to NS instead of specifically to the BoODH.

This blog post makes the same point--that the CGM applies only to the BoODH, not NS generally: https://www.science20.com/genomicron/blog/frustrating_press_release_or_adaptation_not_random

So the claim in the Wikipedia entry, "In a largely overlooked passage from Wallace's essay, he says of the evolutionary principle" (emphasis added) is incorrect. He is not applying the CGM to the evolutionary principle generally, he is only applying it to the BoODH. Nick (talk) 18:38, 20 June 2022 (UTC)