92 EVOLUTION, SOCIAL AND ORGANIC 



thority, that this method of sudden violence 

 had no less a precedent than the methods of 

 the Almighty in suddenly destroying the liv- 

 ing things in his own universe. 



Cuvier's theory however, almost died with 

 him, for the violent desires of the bourgeoisie 

 were short lived. When it realized the com- 

 pleteness of its own victory, and that the next 

 "cataclysm" would mean its own overthrow 

 and the enthronement of some successor, ca- 

 taclysms lost favor and were frowned down. 

 Preachers of sudden and violent changes were 

 now regarded as the enemies of society, and 

 Cuvier's once lauded theory of cataclysms was 

 sneered at as a relic of the dark ages. What 

 the capitalist class wanted now was peace, and 

 long lifcj and above all, no disturbances. 



And it was just at this point that Darwin 

 came forward with a theory that seemed made 

 to order. True this theory spoke of evolution 

 and change, but the change was so slow it 

 was impossible to notice it. A million years 

 was as ten minutes to this theory, and if it 

 took as long for one class in society to dis- 

 place another, or for one social regime to suc- 

 ceed another, as it does for one species to de- 

 velop from another, the capitalists and their 

 heirs had nothing to apprehend for a thousand 

 generations. 



