That's right. Darwin did not have the wherewithal that we have today - the knowledge of genetics and biochemistry to help him to put the complete jigsaw puzzle together. I also agree with you that Dawkins is a great modern source for explanation of evolutionary theory in the modern context and I wouldn't be without him. Of course, we don't want anti-evolutionists busting blood vessels, do we! The reason I keep telling Pete et al. to read Darwin is twofold. First, Darwin writes about his ideas in a clear and elegant manner, and second, he is honest almost to a fault, the best kind of scientist, fully addressing his own doubts at every juncture. Reading "Origin" would be an object lesson to anyone who's been taken in by the charlatans who push the creationist story. Note, charlatans, Pete, with not a scrap of honesty in sight, not "creationist scientists."

But Darwin's big idea, the role of natural selection, remains at the heart of evolutionary theory, no matter what has been discovered since to modify the theory. He was the man!