276 BIOLOGY: GENERAL AND MEDICAL 



nor are the chief arguments directed to that point. The 

 object is one to which the idea of an organic creation in 

 the manner of natural law is only subordinate and 

 ministrative, as are likewise the nebular hypothesis and 

 the doctrine of a fixed natural order in mind and morals. 

 The purpose is to show that the whole revelation of the 

 works of God, presented to our senses and reason, is a 

 system based on what we are compelled, for want of a 

 better term, to call Law; by which, however, is not 

 meant a system independent or exclusive of Deity, but 

 one which only proposes a certain mode of his working." 



In 1852, Herbert Spencer, the philosopher of science, 

 deduced cosmical evolution by philosophical speculation, 

 laid the foundation of his future great work, the "Syn- 

 thetic Philosophy/' and revived an interest in the sub- 

 ject, which, now that it was supported by a great array 

 of scientific fact, began to take a firm hold upon the 

 thought of his time. 



But the man whose life and work are most completely 

 identified with organic evolution is Charles Darwin 

 (1809-82), who, having spent the early years of his life in 

 travels, during which he had exceptional opportunities 

 for scientific observation, and many years thereafter in 

 patient study and experimentation, in 1859 published 

 an epoch-making work upon "The Origin of Species by 

 Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of the 

 Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." 



It is extremely interesting to note that at the very 

 time at which Darwin was engaged upon this work 

 and had explained it to his friends, to whom some of the 

 sheets were shown or read, another was working in the 

 same field in much the same way and anticipated him 

 in the publication. This was Alfred Russell Wallace, 

 another English naturalist, who, curiously enough, had 

 traveled over much the same ground that Darwin had 

 covered and described in his book, " Voyage of a Natur- 

 alist in H. M. S. Beagle," and then continued his travels 

 to the East Indies. In September, 1855, he published 



