“If an organised body is not in the situation and circumstances best adapted to its sustenance and propagation, then, in conceiving an indefinite variety among the individuals of that species, we must be assured, that, on the one hand, those which depart most from the best adapted constitution, will be most liable to perish, while, on the other hand, those organised bodies, which most approach to the best constitution for the present circumstances, will be best adapted to continue, in preserving themselves and multiplying the individuals of their race.”

—  James Hutton

This passage suggests that more than than 50 years before the publication of On the Origin of Species, Hutton anticipated Darwin's theory of natural selection.
Source: An Investigation into the Principles of Knowledge (1794)

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Scottish geologist and physician 1726–1797

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