86 theologians and natural philosophers. 



The Awakening of Science. 



Before speaking of the philosophers who now 

 became the custodians of the Evolution idea and 

 of the speculative writers of the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, let us glance for a moment 

 at the general advance of knowledge. 



Universities in Europe were founded at the 

 beginning of the twelfth century, following those 

 established by the Arabs ; Oxford was founded at 

 the beginning of the thirteenth century.' During a 

 long period all naturalists were simply compilers. 

 Among these compilers were Clusius, Rondelet, 

 Bel on ; finally we find Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) 

 writing a complete bibliography of Zoology, and 

 leading the naturalists of the sixteenth century. 

 About this time Cesalpin (15 19-1603) wrote of 

 Vegetable Anatomy, and there sprang up in Padua 

 the School of Anatomy of Vesalius (15 14-1564), 

 Fallopius, and his pupil Fabricius, who in turn 

 taught the immortal Harvey. In 1619 Harvey 

 discovered the circulation of the blood and founded 

 Embryology. The systematic classification of ani- 

 mals and plants then arose as a distinct branch in 

 the writings of Ray (1628-1704), Tournefort, and 

 Magnol. Ray was the precursor of Linnaeus. In 

 the second half of the seventeenth century and 

 beafinninc: of the eiarhteenth, the studv of the 

 smaller orsfanisms beoran with Leeuwenhoek, Mai- 

 pighi, and Swammerdam. " We owe to this period," 



