About this book
A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution by Carl von Nägeli offers a provocative 19th-century alternative to Darwinian natural selection, reframing evolution as a product of mechanical and physiological laws. In this nonfiction scientific treatise, Nägeli traces life from unorganized matter to micellar substances and onward to increasingly complex organisms, arguing that internal structural tendencies and physico-chemical processes shape form and variation as much as external selection. The book lays out a synthesis-style argument: how micellae arise, how cellular and tissue properties influence development, and how intrinsic regularities can produce the patterns of life observed by botanists and naturalists.
Written in the context of late 1800s debates over Darwinism and orthogenesis, Nägeli’s work is both a historical document and a technical exploration of morphology, plant physiology, and the limits of natural selection. It illuminates how early scientists wrestled with heredity, variation, and the mechanisms behind organic change.
Ideal for students of the history of biology, evolutionary theory enthusiasts, botanists, and curious listeners who want to hear an original scientific perspective that challenged mainstream ideas, this audiobook brings an important, often overlooked voice in the development of evolutionary thought to life.
