CHAPTER XIII 



EVOLUTION AND SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 



By many biologists, even at the present day, the origin and 

 evolution of living beings is considered to be outside the 

 domain of natural phenomena, and hence beyond the reach of 

 experimental research. The change in our views on this 

 subject is due to a Frenchman. Jean Lamarck, who was the 

 true originator of the scientific doctrine of evolution. At a 

 time when the miraculous origin of every living being was 

 regarded as an unchangeable verity, and was defended like a 

 sacred dogma. Lamarck boldly formulated his theory of 

 evolution, with all its attendent consequences, from spontaneous 

 generation to the genealogy of man. 



In his Philosophie Zoohgique, which appeared in 1809, 

 Lamarck put forth his claim to regard all the phenomena of 

 life, of living beings, and of man himself as pertaining to the 

 domain of natural phenomena. According to him, all bodies 

 which are met witli in nature, organic and inorganic alike, are 

 subject to the same laws. Life is a physical phenomenon, and 

 all the proces>es of life are due to mechanical causes, either 

 physical or chemical. He writes: "A leur source le physique 

 et le moral ne sont sans doute qu'une seule et meme chose. II 

 faut rechercher dans la consideration de ['organisation les 

 causes memes de la vie." 



In the intellectual evolution of the human mind perhaps 

 no advance has been more important than that of Lamarck — 

 the conquest of the domain of life bv human intelligence. In 

 conformity with the hue scientific method, he founds his 

 doctrine on the facts and phenomena of nature. "I confine 

 myself," he says, " within the bounds of a simple contemplation 



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