CHAP. xni. EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTION. 137 



and scientific knowledge, by the late Robert Chambers 

 in 1844, in his anonymous volume, " Vestiges of the 

 Natural History of Creation." He passed in review the 

 stellar and solar systems, adopted the Nebular Hy- 

 pothesis, and sketched out the geological history of the 

 earth, with continuous progression from lower to higher 

 forms of life. After describing the peculiarities of the 

 lower plants and animals, dwelling upon those features 

 which seemed to point to a natural mode of production 

 as opposed to an origin by special creation, the author 

 set forth with much caution the doctrine of progressive 

 development resulting from " an impulse which was im- 

 parted to the forms of life, advancing them in definite 

 lines, by generation, through grades of organization ter- 

 minating in the highest plants and animals." The rea- 

 sonableness of this view was urged through the rest of 

 the work; and it was shown how much better it agreed 

 with the various facts of nature and with the geographi- 

 cal distribution of animals and plants, than the idea of 

 the special creation of each distinct species. 



It will be seen, from this brief outline, that there was 

 no attempt whatever to show how or why the various 

 species of animals and plants acquired their peculiar 

 characters, but merely an argument in favor of the rea- 

 sonableness of the fact of progressive development, from 

 one species to another, through the ordinary processes of 

 generation. The book was what we should now call 

 mild in the extreme. It was serious and even religious 

 in tone, and calculated in this respect to disarm the oppo- 

 sition even of the most orthodox theologists; yet it was 

 met with just the same storm of opposition and indignant 

 abuse which assailed Darwin's work fifteen years later. 



