PREFACE 



THE object of this work is to examine in a popular 

 manner, and to test by scientific facts and principles, 

 the validity of that multiform and brilliant philosophy 

 of the universe which has taken so deep hold of the 

 science and literature of our time. The task is a 

 somewhat ungracious one, especially in England, 

 whose people are naturally proud of discoveries and 

 generalisations which, originating among themselves, 

 have taken the world by storm. It is also extremely 

 difficult, because of the dazzling and attractive nature 

 of the hypothesis of evolution, the dashing and plau 

 sible character of the arguments by which it is sus 

 tained, and its all-embracing scope, which enables it 

 to account for everything that has previously been 

 mysterious. Besides this, it is of the nature of this 

 protean philosophy that it should itself be in process 

 of evolution from day to day, and thus to be in so 



