CHAPTER VII 



TWENTIETH CENTURY EFOLU- 

 TIONISM 



THE curtain had hardly descended on what 

 we have described as the second act of 

 our drama when the stage was already 

 being set for new actors. Darwinism was hence- 

 forth to play a very minor role. Yet the name 

 was still retained as a word to conjure with. 

 Either carelessly or through ignorance it came to 

 be applied to evolution in general, and often, in 

 particular, to materialistic evolution alone. In 

 both instances there was not the slightest reason 

 for such an application, yet the wide ignorance 

 of any true science made possible this usage in 

 our popular literature, in sociology and popular 

 history, and even in the class room where a most 

 unintelligent dogmatism ruled supreme. 



The two famous scientists, Albert Wiegand, 

 botanist, and Louis Agassiz, zoologist and paleon- 

 tologist, had from the first opposed Darwinism, 

 and with it almost every phase of evolution. But 

 Mivart, a vigorous evolutionist, was evidently re- 

 garded by Darwin as his chief opponent. Dar- 

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