THE THEORY OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION 159 



as a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber," "the 

 windows of heaven," and many others are not mere figures 

 of speech. They are indications of a picture of the universe 

 which existed in the minds of the writers of the Old Testa- 

 ment. These phrases are thought-fossils which tell us the 

 nature of the Hebrew concept of the world. 3 



The creation myths of the early Greeks were mainly of 

 Nordic origin and, therefore, unlike those of their eastern 

 neighbors. 4 But Greek mythology agreed with that of the 

 Hebrew-Chaldeans, in its creation of man by gods who were 

 magnified human beings. If these Greek traditions are less 

 exalted, they exhibit a human quality that finds a sym- 

 pathetic response in the western mind. The Greeks were 

 the first among the European-Mediterranean peoples to 

 engage in critical speculation regarding the origin of the 

 cosmos. Observing that all nature was in a state of flux, 

 the Ionic philosophers sought for a permanent element 

 beneath the visible change. The claim that Greek thinkers 

 formulated a theory of organic evolution can hardly be sub- 

 stantiated. Their evolutionary hypotheses were vague 

 theories of a cosmic character with such elements as water, 

 air, earth, and fire as the underlying realities from which 

 other visible forms came into being. Ideas of organic 

 development were incidentally expressed as a part of this 

 philosophical concept of the evolution of the visible world. 

 The recognition of fossils, as the remains of animals and 

 plants which had formerly lived, is an example of the direct- 

 ness of the Greek mind with its sense for natural explana- 

 tions. The fossil seems to have meant nothing which implied 

 a grasp of its significance as evidence for a general process 

 of organic evolution. Xenophanes (c. 570-480) recognized 

 fossils as "proofs that the seas formerly covered the earth." 



3 White, A. D., "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in 

 Christendom," Vol. I, p. 90. 



4 C/. "The White Man's Magic in Homer," Wright, J., Scientific Monthly, 

 Dec, 1919. 



