92 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION PART 



Malpighi examined minute life-forms and the structure 

 of organs under the microscope ; Ray and Willughby 

 classified plants and animals ; Newton theorised on 

 the nature of light ; and Roemer measured its speed ; 

 Halley estimated the sun's distance, predicted the 

 return of comets, and observed the transits of Venus 

 and Mercury ; Hunter dissected specimens, and 

 laid the foundations of the science of comparative 

 anatomy ; and many another illustrious worker con- 

 tributed to the world's stock of knowledge ' without 

 let or hindrance/ for in all this ' matters of theology 

 were precluded.' 



But the old spirit of resistance was aroused when, 

 after a long lapse of time, enquiry was revived in 

 a branch of science which, it will be noticed, has no 

 distinct place in the subjects dealt with by the Royal 

 Society at the start. That science was Geology ; a 

 science destined, in its ultimate scope, to prove a far 

 more powerful dissolvent of dogma than any of its 

 compeers. 



It seems strange that the discovery of the earth's 

 true shape and movements was not sooner followed 

 by investigation into her contents, but the old ideas 

 of special creation remained unaffected by these 

 and other discoveries, and the more or less detailed 

 account of the process of creation furnished in the 

 book of Genesis sufficed to arrest curiosity. In 

 the various departments of the inorganic universe 

 the earth was the last to become the subject of 

 scientific research ; as in study of the organic uni- 

 verse, man excluded himself till science compelled 

 his inclusion. 



After more than two thousand years, the Ionian 



