2 EVOLUTION OF TO-DAY. 



is, largely at least, the outcome of the theories first 

 advanced and discussed by Darwin. 



It is impossible that twenty-five years of mental 

 activity could have passed without adding much to 

 the evidence both in favor of and against the views of 

 Darwin. Evolution, using the term in a general 

 sense, has been applied to every possible notion ; 

 its meaning has been expanded and contracted ; 

 every realm of science has been searched both for 

 proof and disproof of the idea ; facts have been col- 

 lected from all sources both relevant and irrelevant, 

 until the amount of matter which has been written 

 bearing upon some of the numerous phases of the 

 question is so great as to make it hopeless for any 

 one to attempt to fathom it all. The amount of 

 evidence which various investigators have brought 

 forward is so great, and the facts are so varied, that 

 no one with the slightest bias of opinion has any 

 difficulty in finding arguments for almost any view. 

 This is well shown by the numerous secondary 

 theories which have been advanced in connection 

 with the general one, some of which are contradic- 

 tory, but all well supported by facts. Even on the 

 general theory of evolution itself, so varied are the 

 data collected, that neither friends nor foes have the 

 slightest difficulty in selecting from the large stores 

 of facts many which support their views. Quite 

 frequently indeed, the same set of facts is made to 

 serve on both sides, as an argument for and against 

 evolution. If one desires to do so it is easy to make 

 out a case on either side. By confining the atten- 

 tion to favorable arguments alone, evolution can be 



