EVOLUTION SEEN IN PERSPECTIVE 5 



to man. Nor did his tree contain any prehistoric animals; unhke Xenoph- 

 anes. Aristotle failed to appreciate the true significance of fossils. More 

 accurate diagrams of relationship were far in the future. The first tree of 

 life to possess branches and to be influenced by appreciation of the im- 

 portance of fossils was published by Lamarck in a.d. 1809 (in his 

 Philosophic Zoologique ) . 



One is tempted to remark at this point that thinking on evolution stood 

 still during the more than 2000 years which separated Aristotle from La- 

 marck. Such a statement would be extreme, yet true in the main. In this 

 long interim what of real significance for evolution was occurring? During 

 this time science, in the modern meaning of the term, came into existence 

 and developed. Little by little there was accumulated that body of facts 

 which, as we have seen, Aristotle recognized as essential foundation on 

 which to establish general principles. Without such a foundation thinking 

 on evolution must have remained forever mere speculation. Accordingly, 

 we can recognize the importance to evolution of developments occurring 

 during these twenty centuries, while at the same time realizing that we 

 lose but little when we omit discussion of evolutionary ideas prevalent 

 during them. The foundations v*'ere not ready to receive the superstructure 

 until the nineteenth century a.d. 



No complete survey of the history of evolutionary thought is possible 

 within the confines of this volume. Interested readers are referred to books 

 listed at the end of this chapter. Our present aim has been to demonstrate 

 that thinking about evolution is as old as human thought, and to mention 

 a few of the first contributions to the subject. The contributions of La- 

 marck and Darwin receive further discussion in Chapter 15. 



Evolution and the Church 



The idea of evolution shares with various other scientific advances, 

 such as the idea that the earth revolves, the distinction of having been op- 

 posed in times past by religious leaders. The latter were, of course, pri- 

 marily interested in the application of evolution to man, or rather in mak- 

 ing certain that evolution did not apply to man. It was felt that in some 

 way man was degraded if one admitted any connection between him and 

 the lower animals. Admittedly, also, the story of man's origin through evo- 

 lution does not agree in detail with the story of his origin through special 

 creation contained in the first chapters of Genesis. Wise churchmen hke 

 St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas early recognized that these chap- 



