CHAPTER VIII. 



RETROSPECT, REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSION. 

 Evolution Not a New Theory. 



WE may now, before concluding this protracted 

 study, take a brief survey of the ground 

 over which we have traveled and make a few reflec- 

 tions which are naturally suggested by the discus- 

 sions which precede. 



First of all, then, the evolutionary idea is not, as 

 we have learned, the late development it is some- 

 times imagined to be. On the contrary, it is an 

 idea that had its origin in the speculations of the 

 earliest philosophers, and an idea which has been 

 slowly developed by the studies and observations of 

 twenty-five centuries of earnest seekers after truth. 



In reading over the history of Greek philosophy, 

 we are often surprised to see how the sages of old 

 Hellas anticipated many of the views which are 

 nowadays so frequently considered as the result of 

 nineteenth century research. With limited means 

 for penetrating the arcana of Nature, they frequently 

 accomplished what we should deem impossible 

 without the aid of microscope and telescope. They 

 are often reproached with being simple, a priori 

 reasoners, fanciful speculators and fortunate guessers 

 at the truth ; but they were far more than this. They 

 did not, it is true, have at hand the wonderful in- 

 (378) 



