INTRODUCTION 



By Sir Charles Scott Sherrington 



Retiring President, Royal Society 



"Since He that made us with such large discourse, 

 Looking before and after, gave us not 

 That capabihty and God-like reason 

 To rust in us unused." 



Shakespeare. 



"Man looks before and after," and, peering into the dark- 

 ness of the past, has often sought answer to the question how 

 he came to be. He has felt that knowledge of the process 

 which has underlain his making, of whence he came and by 

 what route he has reached his present station, should set 

 that station in a clearer light for his contemplation and 

 should afford him, possibly, some glimpse of his terrestrial 

 future. His quest for such knowledge grows out of no idle 

 desire, although it is a quest that may often seem imprac- 

 ticable because, perhaps, its object lies beyond the means of 

 a reasoned answer. Answers of various kind have indeed 

 from time to time been offered, but only in the recent past 

 has there emerged such knowledge as in its broad outline 

 satisfies the demands of critical reason and of scientific fact. 

 That answer goes by the name Evolution. It is set forth in 

 this book reliably and simply by eminent authorities who 

 have devoted their lives to a study of the evidence and to the 

 work of making it more complete. 



The creation of man is shown to have been a result, in 



