INTRODUCTION 



it; and the warriors of the Nietzschean school of the 

 superman justified the attempt of the Germans for 

 world domination by its doctrine. 



We may sum it all up by saying that Darwin's 

 theory came at a psychological moment, but that is, 

 after all, merely a phrase to label a movement of 

 thought after it has occurred. My own opinion is that 

 the abnormally rapid scientific and industrial ad- 

 vance of the nineteenth century had undermined the 

 religious and social life to such a point that a revolu- 

 tion was bound to occur. Skeptical of the teachings 

 of the Church and impatient of domination by the 

 privileged classes, many could find in the doctrine of 

 natural selection proofs that religion was a failure 

 because the mythological statements of the Bible were 

 contrary to the now easily demonstrated facts of ob- 

 servation; others could claim that the rights of prop- 

 erty were but the protection for a privileged class. 

 They were thus ready to grasp at a new and rational 

 doctrine, fortified by the authority of science, if only 

 it could be preached clearly by the properly qualified 

 persons ; and the disciples of Darwin were ready and 

 prepared for the task. The most important was un- 

 doubtedly Huxley, a practical man of science, a bril- 

 liant writer, who could make Darwin's dry treatise 

 appeal to men of affairs, — and one who dearly loved 

 a fight. He soon gathered a brilliant band of young 

 men about him, of whom William Kingdon Clifford 

 was probably the premier, and he went out to do bat- 



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