DAinVIX, r.EFORK AND AFTEIl 161 



on tlie minds of tho niass(^s as diaries Darwin, tlu' 

 pioncMM- intcrpivter of Die varied ])]ienonii'na collectively 

 termed Kvohition. 



Not only was Darwin's work interpretative in the field 

 of strict biological science — zoology, botany and geology 

 — but it touched u])on and illuminated almost every form 

 of human thought. As illustrations, may be mentioned 

 the great influence of Darwin on the study of embryology, 

 the development from the point of view of psychology of 

 the ideas of mental factors in evolution, the influence of 

 the conception of evolution on modern philosophy, reli- 

 gious thought and study, history and sociology. The 

 subject is vast and would require many lectures ; it is my 

 intention to indicate some of these aspects of the influence 

 of Darwin, as well as to deal with a few of the rather- 

 more familiar ones, and I hope thereby to arouse a spirit 

 of more searching analysis and clearer thinking than is 

 expressed in the almost only current opinion regarding 

 Darwin, namely, that he is, but wrongly, reputed to have 

 said that man arose from monkeys. His real opinion 

 was that man and monkey had a common ancestor. 



Among some of the Greek philosophers, Nature was 

 considered to have developed, and still to be undergoing 

 a process of change. Aristotle, who Avas the founder of 

 comparative anatomy, recognised the unity of plan pre- 

 vailing throughout each of the great groups of animals. 

 Biology made little progress during the Middle Ages, 

 and it was not until the 18th century that a glimmering 

 idea of evolution or the doctrine of .descent came into 

 being. Buff on (1707-1788) and Erasmus Darwin (1731- 

 1802), the grandfather of Charles Darwin, clearly stated 

 that species had not been created independently, but had 

 originated from pre-existing species. However, the 

 greatest of the pre-Darwinian evolutionists was Lamarck 

 (174-1-18191, and Haeckel described his " Philosophie 

 zoologique" (1809) as "the first connected and thorough- 

 ly logical exposition of the theory of descent." 



