EVOLUTION 



CHAPTER I 



THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION 



THE idea of Evolution is an old one. It is older than the 

 Darwinian hypothesis ; it is older than Lamarck, who published 

 his particular theory in 1809, the year that Darwin was born ; 

 it is older than Buff on or Kant. In a fairly definite form it is 

 as old as Aristotle. The Evolution idea has thus itself evolved, 

 and is the product of many centuries of thought. Yet it was only 

 the last generation that began to give the idea serious considera- 

 tion, and it is perhaps only the present that has granted it any 

 general measure of acceptance ; and it was Darwin who wrought 

 this change, who raised the conception of Evolution from the 

 status of a vague speculative idea to that of a well-grounded 

 theory, w T hich appeals to the majority of educated minds as 

 satisfactory and reasonable. 



We do not here propose to sketch the development of the 

 idea, either before or after Darwin ; but only, in the first place, 

 to state the grounds on which the belief in Evolution is based, 

 and, in the second, to trace roughly the lines along which animal 

 Evolution has proceeded. In the first few pages of this book, 

 then, we shall endeavour to bring forward some of the evidence on 

 which the modern Evolution theory rests. 



As our first witness, we may call the rocks which constitute 

 the outer portion of the earth, and ask them to tell us what they 

 remember of the history of life upon the planet. We cannot hope 



