An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16077 entries, 14165 authors and 1948 subjects. Updated: March 4, 2025

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  • 14344

The action of natural selection in producing old age, decay, and death. In Essays upon heredity and kindred biological problems by August Weismann; authorized translation edited by Edward B. Poulton, Selmar Schönland and Arthur E. Shipley, Chapter 1, "The duration of life," page 23.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889.

Wallace proposed the first evolutionary theory of aging. He stated that if too many people lived for a long time they would compete for resources needed for other members of the species that were of reproduction age.

Wallace's paragraph briefly expressing this idea was published by the editor of the translation, Edward B. Poulton, as a footnote on p. 23 with this comment: "After reading these proofs Dr. A.R. Wallace kindly sent me an unpublished note upon the production of death by means of natural selection, written by him some time between 1865 and 1870. The note contains some ideas on the subject which were jotted down for further elaboration, and were then forgotten until recalled by the argument of this Essay. The note is of great interest in relation to Dr. Weismann's suggestions, and with Dr. Wallace's permission I print it in full below."

(Thanks to Tim Opler for this reference.)



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Evolution, GERIATRICS / Gerontology / Aging
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