CHAPTER II 



ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF EVOLUTION 



IN all ages, and in all parts of the world, we find 

 that primitive man has delighted in speculating on 

 the birth of the world in which he lives, on the origin 

 of the living things that surround him, and especially 

 on the beginnings of the race of beings to which he 

 himself belongs. In a recent very interesting essay 2 , 

 the author of The Golden Bough has collected, from 

 the records of tradition, history and travel, a valuable 

 mass of evidence concerning the legends which have 

 grown out of these speculations. Myths of this kind 

 would appear to fall into two categories, each of 

 which may not improbably be associated with the 

 different pursuits followed by the uncivilised races 

 of mankind. 



Tillers of the soil, impressed as they must have 

 been by the great annual miracle of the outburst of 

 vegetable life as spring returns, naturally adopted 

 one of these lines of speculation. From the dead, 



