LITMIR.BIZ

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066174804

Table of Contents

       PLATES

       CHAPTER I

       INTRODUCTORY

       CHAPTER II

       ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF EVOLUTION

       CHAPTER III

       THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF EVOLUTION TO THE INORGANIC WORLD

       CHAPTER IV

       THE TRIUMPH OF CATASTROPHISM OVER EVOLUTION

       CHAPTER V

       THE REVOLT OF SCROPE AND LYELL AGAINST CATASTROPHISM

       CHAPTER VI

       'THE PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY'

       CHAPTER VII

       THE INFLUENCE OF LYELL'S WORKS

       CHAPTER VIII

       EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION FOR THE ORGANIC WORLD

       CHAPTER IX

       DARWIN AND WALLACE: THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION

       CHAPTER X

       THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

       CHAPTER XI

       THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN'S WORKS

       CHAPTER XII

       THE PLACE OF LYELL AND DARWIN IN HISTORY

       NOTES

       INDEX

PLATES

       Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

       Table of Contents

INTRODUCTORY

       Table of Contents

      When the history of the Nineteenth Century—'the Wonderful Century,' as it has, not inaptly, been called—comes to be written, a foremost place must be assigned to that great movement by which evolution has become the dominant factor in scientific progress, while its influence has been felt in every sphere of human speculation and effort. At the beginning of the Century, the few who ventured to entertain evolutionary ideas were regarded by their scientific contemporaries, as wild visionaries or harmless 'cranks'—by the world at large, as ignorant 'quacks' or 'designing atheists.' At the end of the Century, evolution had not only become the guiding principle of naturalists, but had profoundly influenced every branch of physical science; at the same time, suggesting new trains of thought and permeating the language of philologists, historians, sociologists, politicians—and even of theologians.

      How has this revolution in thought—the greatest which has occurred in modern times—been brought about? What manner of men were they who were the leaders in this great movement? What the influences that led them to discard the old views and adopt new ones? And, under what circumstances were they able to produce the works which so profoundly affected the opinions of the day? These are the questions with which I propose to deal in the following pages.

      It has been my own rare good fortune to have enjoyed the friendship of all the great leaders in this important movement—of Huxley, Hooker, Scrope, Wallace, Lyell and Darwin—and, with some of them, I was long on terms of affectionate intimacy. From their own lips I have learned of incidents, and listened to anecdotes, bearing on the events of a memorable past. Would that I could hope to bring before my readers, in all their nobility, a vivid picture of the characteristics of the men to whom science and the world owe so much!

      For it is not only by their intellectual greatness that we are impressed. Every man of science is proud, and justly proud, of the grandeur of character, the unexampled generosity, the modesty and simplicity which distinguished these pioneers in a great cause. It is unfortunately true, that the votaries of science—like the cultivators of art and literature—have sometimes so far forgotten their high vocation, as to have been more careful about the priority of their personal

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