THE RENASCENCE OF SCIENCE. ng 



of this one form, all, the lowest as well as the highest, 

 are developed in such a manner that the latter pass 

 through the permanent forms of the former as transi- 

 tory stages " (Osborn's From the Greeks to Darwin, 

 p. 212). In botany Conrad Sprengel, who belongs 

 to the eighteenth century, had shown the work ef- 

 fected by insects in the fertilization of plants. Fol- 

 lowing his researches, Robert Brown made clear the 

 mode of the development of plants, and Sir William 

 Hooker traced their habits and geographical distri- 

 bution. Von Mohl discovered that material basis 

 of both plant and animal which he named " proto- 

 plasm." In 1844, nine years before Von Mohl told 

 the story of the building-up of life from a seemingly 

 structureless jelly, a book appeared which critics of 

 the time charged with " poisoning the fountains of 

 science, and sapping the foundations of religion." 

 This was the once famous Vestiges of Creation, ac- 

 knowledged after his death as the work of Robert 

 Chambers, in which the origin and movements of 

 the solar system were explained as determined by 

 uniform laws, themselves the expression of Divine 

 power. Organisms, "from the simplest and oldest, 

 up to the highest and most recent," were the result 

 of an " inherent impulse imparted by the Almighty 

 both to advance them from the several grades and 

 modify their structure as circumstances required." 

 Although now referred to only as " marking time " 

 in the history of the theory of Evolution, the book 

 created a sensation which died away only some years 



