PREFACE. 



THE publication of the series of essays on Evolution, delivered 

 under the auspices of the Brooklyn Ethical Association, is under- 

 taken in response to a general and increasing demand for a correct 

 statement, in popular form, of the leading ideas, inferences and 

 tendencies involved in the acceptance of the Evolution Philosophy, 

 together with a clear statement of the main lines of evidence or 

 proof by which the conception of Evolution is sustained. The 

 plan of the series involves not only the treatment of the physical 

 and biological phases of the subject, but also its ethical, social, 

 religious and philosophical aspects the whole to be introduced 

 by biographical sketches of the two great men of our own time 

 whose names are most intimately associated with the Evolution 

 hypothesis. 



As to the selection and arrangement of topics in the programme 

 of the Ethical Association, Mr. Herbert Spencer says : " The mode 

 of presentation seems to me admirably adapted for popularizing Ev- 

 olution views"; and Mr. John Fiske writes, "I think your 

 schedule attractive and valuable." The essayists have been selected 

 with care, with special reference to the character of the topics to 

 be treated. It is hoped that the publication of these lectures may 

 aid societies and individuals throughout the country, in organiz- 

 ing and conducting classes in the study of Evolution, and thereby 

 prepare many minds for an intelligent and systematic perusal of 

 the more voluminous and scientific works of Darwin, Spencer, and 

 other standard authorities. 



The different phases of the subject are treated in this series in 

 a certain natural order of succession, which the student and reader 

 will do well to follow in the perusal of the lectures. 



L. G. J. 



