# Mr. Mivart — The Origin of Species character guide

> Mr. Mivart in The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Mivart, Mr. St. George Mivart, himself

**First appearance:** 0056-vii-miscellaneous-objections-to-the-theory-of-natural-selection

## Snapshot

A biologist whose detailed objections to natural selection Darwin takes seriously enough to answer at length, treating criticism as a necessary test.

## Who they are

Mivart is the critic Darwin cannot ignore, the one whose questions about the Apteryx and the Red Grouse—how did they first appear in their homes, by what process?—cut to the heart of the theory's explanatory gaps. Darwin responds not with dismissal but with chapter after chapter of rebuttal, and the book's middle sections gain their momentum from this duel. Mivart matters because he forces the argument to become more precise, and because his objections reveal what Darwin himself considers the weakest joints.

## In the story

### [Correlated Variation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/correlated-variation)

Cited for noting exceptions to the rule about abnormal dermal covering and teeth in mammals.

### [Organs of Extreme Perfection and Complication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/organs-of-extreme-perfection-and-complication)

Implied as an objector to the theory, as Darwin addresses objections to simultaneous modifications.

### [Utilitarian Doctrine, How Far True: Beauty, How Acquired](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/utilitarian-doctrine-how-far-true-beauty-how-acquired)

Referenced as one of the naturalists protesting against the utilitarian doctrine.

### [VII: Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/vii-miscellaneous-objections-to-the-theory-of-natural-selection)

Darwin responds to Mivart's collected objections, particularly the claim that natural selection cannot account for incipient stages of useful structures.

### [Instinct](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/viii-instinct)

Critic whose objection that instinct and structure must change simultaneously is addressed; Darwin argues the changes can be gradual.

### [Analogical Resemblances](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/chapters/analogical-resemblances)

Mentioned in context of the resemblance between a mouse and a marsupial, which Darwin explains as adaptive convergence.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/characters/mivart
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_origin_of_species_se/characters