DARWIN 313 



nito, when we read in the North British Review: 

 "Prophetic of infidel times, and indicating the 

 unsoundness of our general education, the Ves- 

 tiges has started into public favor with a fair 

 chance of poisoning the fountains of science, and 

 sapping the foundations of religion." The great 

 sensation which this book caused and its rapid 

 sale through ten editions in nine years (1844- 

 1853) are proof that the truth of Evolution was 

 ready to burst forth like a volcano and that the 

 times were ripe for Darwin. The volume was the 

 strongest presentation of the scientific evidences 

 for Cosmic Evolution versus Special Creation 

 which had appeared; it was even stronger and 

 broader than the Philosophie Zoologique of La- 

 marck. We find that the author begins with the 

 solar system; his middle point is the origin of 

 life from inorganic matter, and his final point is 

 man as the highest development of the animal 

 kingdom. Of man's origin he says:^ 



The idea that any of the lower animals were con- 

 cerned in the origin of Man, is usually scouted by re- 

 flecting persons as derogatory to human dignity. 

 . . . Our children, it may be said, are the represen- 

 tatives of the first simple and impulsive men of the 

 earth; the lower animals represent the earlier pre- 

 human stages of life. The right conception of the 

 case is, that in these stages we are not to look for 



^Vestiges of Creation, 1884, pp. 234-6. 



