40 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



think of this great event ? The volcano has come 

 to an eruption ; everything is in flames, and we have 

 no longer a transaction with closed doors ! ' ' Terri- 

 ble affairs,' said I, ' but what could be expected un- 

 der such outrageous circumstances, and with such a 

 ministry, otherwise than that the whole would end 

 with the expulsion of the royal family ? ' ' My good 

 friend,' gravely returned Goethe, 'we seem not to un- 

 derstand each other. I am not speaking of those crea- 

 tures there, but of something quite different. I am 

 speaking of the contest, so important for science, be- 

 tween Cuvier and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, wMch has 

 just come to an open rupture in the French Acad- 

 emy ! ' ' This individual contest between two giants 

 was the signal for a general outbreak. The first gun 

 was fired and a war ensued, which has continued with 

 almost unabated vigor until the present time. The 

 scientific world was divided into two camps, those who 

 sympathized with the views of Geoffroy regarding 

 Evolution, and those who sided with Cuvier, the ad- 

 vocate of the traditional doctrine of special creations. 

 Much, however, remained to be accomplished be- 

 fore the views of Saint-Hilaire could be considered 

 as anything more than a provisional hypothesis. 

 The evidence of all the sciences had to be weighed, 

 a thorough survey of the vast field of animate nature 

 had to be made, before the new school could reason- 

 ably expect its views to meet with .general accept- 

 ance. Special and systematic investigations were 

 accordingly inaugurated, in all parts of the world, in 

 which representatives of every department of science 

 took an active and interested part. 



