EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



which many of the foremost minds in the world 

 are busy in thinking about. It was so with the 

 discovery of the differential calculus, and again 

 with the discovery of the planet Neptune. It 

 was so with the interpretation of the Egyptian 

 hieroglyphics, and with the establishment of the 

 undulatory theory of light. It was so, to a con- 

 siderable extent, with the introduction of the 

 new chemistry, with the discovery of the me- 

 chanical equivalent of heat, and the whole doc- 

 trine of the correlation of forces. It was so 

 with the invention of the electric telegraph and 

 with the discovery of spectrum analysis. And 

 it is not at all strange that it should have been 

 so with the doctrine of the origin of species 

 through natural selection. The belief that all 

 species have originated through derivation from 

 other species, and not through special creation, 

 had been held by part of the scientific world 

 ever since the time of Mr. Darwin's grandfather, 

 who was one of its earliest and most eminent 

 advocates. Even those naturalists who did not 

 hold this belief can hardly be said to have held 

 any antagonistic belief, inasmuch as the so-called 

 " doctrine of special creations " is not a positive 

 doctrine at all, but a mere confession of igno- 

 rance, and was so regarded by scientific natural- 

 ists, such as Owen, for example, before 1859. 

 The truth is that before the publication of the 

 " Origin of Species " there was no opinion what- 

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