and, ironically, it's first exhaustive refutation....
'Notes on flora and fauna recorded on H.M.S. Beagle'. He came to his senses after witnessing the evidence of numerous mass extinctions that could in no way be ascribed to the gradual, attritive effects of 'natural selection'. By that time, of course, his 'first exhaustive proof'(!)---with its *easy answer* for a complex, dynamic biosphere---had snowballed beyond his ability to contain it with his further investigation. It was too convenient a cudgel for various societal agendas to relinquish in light of further, contradictory evidence. The verdict was too popular for anyone to have a future in re-opening the case on subsequently-discovered facts---not even Darwin himself. His observations (mostly of Patagonia and down the eastern coast of South America) while sailing with the Beagle are a fascinating read; his consternation grows as direct evidence flies in the face of his work (and the many assumptions that devolve therefrom).
