CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Preface, iii 



Herbert Spencer, 6 



His life and personal characteristics ; his views on ed- 

 ucation ; his religious opinions ; his earlier writin(::s ; 

 the relation of his work to Darwinism and the evolu- 

 tion philosoijhy. 



By Daniel Greexleaf Thompson. 



Charles Egbert Darwix, 25 



His ancestry, life, and personal characteristics ; the 

 voyage of the Beagle ; discovery of natural selection ; 

 the two f actoi's of the Darwinian theory ; Darwin and 

 Wallace : Louis Agassiz and evolution ; influence of 

 Darwin' s studies on his religious opinions. Evolution 

 before Darwin ; views of Goethe and Lamaick. 



By Rev. .Tonx W. Chadwick. 



Solar and Planetary Evolution, 55 



How suns and worlds come into being ; the nebular 

 hypothesis of Laplace and Faye ; Creation or Evolu- 

 tion ? Did the material universe ever have a begin- 

 ning ? 



By Garrett P. Serviss. 



Evolution of the Earth, 79 



The story of geology ; how the world grew ; the order 

 of stratification ; the action of lire and water ; prep- 

 aration of the earth for vegetable and animal life. 



By Dr. Lewis G. .Taxes. 



Evolution of Vegetal Life, Ill 



How does life begin '? The problem of spontaneous 

 generation ; morphology — the forms of leaves and 

 riowers ; the geographical distribution of plants ; 

 methods of fertilization ; distinctions and likenesses 

 between plants and animals. 



By WiLLiAii Potts. 



(V) 



