STELLAR EVOLrXlON IN THE LKrllT OF RECENT 

 RESEARCH. " 



l>v Prof. (tkor(;k E. Halk, 



Dirrclor <if tlie Yci-hf^ Obt^ervnturij, riiirrrxiti/ of ('hicdiji. 



Mai\y attempts ImNc Ix^en inad(^ to sum iq) tho work of tho nine- 

 teenth century and to detine its principal lines of }jros4ress. In esti- 

 mates of the relative importance of the books pul)lis]u>d during- this 

 period there has l)een some diverg-ence of view, but regarding- one of 

 them no element of doul)t seems to have entered the minds of the 

 critics. By unanimous consent Darwin's Origin of Species is accorded 

 a conunanding- position among the works wliich have influenced the 

 intellectual life of the century. It would be difficult to overestimate 

 the effect which the doctrine of evolution has wrought. The principle 

 of orderl}^ and harmonious development which it embodies has found 

 application, not only in explaining the wide diversity of organic 

 species, but in unifying the events of history, in elucidating the 

 origin of language, and in throwing* light on difficult (juestions in 

 every department of human knowledge. The idea of evolution may 

 indeed })e traced back through the writings of many centuries. The 

 early philosophers, though not possessed of the inmiense collection 

 of recorded phenomena by which modern men of science may test 

 their theories, were constantly occupied with great problems demand- 

 ing the wid(>st generalization. In attempting to account for the earth 

 audits inhabitants they made the lirst steps in the direction which 

 Darwin subsequently pursued. 



It would l)e interesting to recall the strange traditions in which 

 primitive peoples have recorded theii' vague imaginings of the origin 

 of things. But the absence of even an attempt at careful reasoning 

 renders such tales of no value for our present ])urpose. The (ireek 

 philosophers were not oblivious to the value of ol)servation as a check 

 on speculation regarding the solar systenu l)ut the instruments then 



"Revised from an address delivered on June 5, 1901, ])efore tlie Minnesota Chap- 

 ter of the Honorary Scientific- Society of Sigma XI, University of Minnesota. lie- 

 printed l)y permission of the author, after revision, from Popular Science Monthly, 

 Fel)niarv, 1902. 



149 



