4 



76 E VOL UTION A ND DOGMA . 



The theory of emanation is not here considered, it 

 being contrary to the principles of sound philosophy 

 as well as to the teachings of true science. How 

 shall we, then, regard the problem of the origin of 

 species, and what views, expressed not in general 

 terms but carefully formulated, have been enter- 

 tained by the great thinkers of the world on this 

 all-important, and, at present, all-absorbing topic ? 



Dr. Whewell, the learned historian of the " Induct- 

 ive Sciences," in referring to the forms of life of 

 geological times says: " Either we must accept the 

 doctrine of the transmutation of species, and must 

 suppose that the organized species of one geological 

 epoch were transmuted into those of another, by 

 some long-continued agency of natural causes, or 

 else we must believe in many successive acts of 

 creation and extinction of species, out of the com- 

 mon course of nature ; acts which therefore we may 

 properly call miraculous." 



Whewell, in common with the majority of his 

 contemporaries he wrote his masterly work over 

 fifty years ago and in common with the large body 

 of non-scientific people still living, unhesitatingly 

 accepted the doctrine of " many successive acts of 

 creation," as against the theory of the transmutation 

 of species, which he regards as negatived by " an in- 

 disputable preponderance" of evidence against it. 

 The Miltonic Hypothesis. 



But even accepting the creational hypothesis, 

 how are we to picture to ourselves the appearance 



141 History of the Inductive Sciences," vol.11, p. 564. 



