DARWIN MEMORIAL. 49 



ited the power of Deity, excessive anger was displayed, and its op- 

 ponents called infidels and atheists. But even those who doubted 

 whether the accepted views of creation were tenable, hesitated to 

 take the alternative view. An efficient factor in variation remained 

 to be discovered, and a full presentation of the data had yet to be 

 made. 



It was in 1859 that the desiderata indicated were supplied in 

 " The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection." " Varia- 

 tion under Domestication" was compared and contrasted with 

 "Variation under Nature." The " Struggle for Existence" which 

 is the result of the progres^ve increase of living beings was con- 

 sidered, and " Natural Selection" was designated as the factor which 

 determined the development and existence as ' ' species' ' of forms 

 which had descended, with modifications, from countless antecedent 

 generations. With the successive changes in temperature and other 

 conditions ensuing in the ever-changing world, the animals and 

 plants which peopled it were compelled to keep pace by correspond- 

 ing changes in structure, or to give place to others who could 

 adapt themselves to the new conditions. 



So much were the views thus enunciated opposed to the current 

 ideas that a brief period of astonished silence ensued, and men felt 

 about before they could realize their full purport, or that such opin- 

 ions were broached in sober earnest. Then followed on every hand 

 torrents of detraction and abuse. The naturalists of the old school 

 and the priests of revelation met on common ground, and loud and 

 bitter was the denunciation. Numerous were the arguments against 

 the new theory. 



But why this great turmoil and uproar? Darwin was not the 

 first to believe that species had been derived and not created. So 

 had philosophers believed before; the grandfather of Darwin be- 

 lieved and urged the belief; a great naturalist at the commencement 

 of the century — Lamarck — boldly and wisely formulated a theory of 

 evolution ; the "Vestiges of Creation " took up the view, and gained 

 marked attention in Britain. Even a clergyman of the English 

 4 



