INTRODUCTION 



1 8. With chapter viii. of Part II. of the 

 " Cosmic Philosophy," Fiske begins the dis- 

 cussion of the topics most characteristic of the 

 conception of evolution as that conception first 

 became known to the general public. The 

 questions of the next few chapters are : First, 

 in chapter viii., the problem of the origin of 

 life ; second, in chapter ix., the issue as between 

 the hypotheses of Special Creation and of Deri- 

 vation ; third, in chapter x. (with which the sec- 

 ond volume of the original edition opens), the 

 case for the Darwinian theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion ; fourth, in chapter xi., the discussion of the 

 objections to the Darwinian theory which had 

 been founded upon the absence of " missing 

 links," and upon the " infertility of hybrids." In 

 dealing with all these matters, Fiske is at once 

 the child of his time and the able advocate, 

 stating the case for the theory of the transfor- 

 mation of species, and of the evolution of living 

 forms, in presence of the controversial ten- 

 dencies then prevalent. Of course had Fiske 

 rewritten these chapters at a later time, there 

 would have been many details to modify ; 

 and not a few of the controversial matters 

 which he made prominent would have lost in 

 his eyes the importance that the state of dis- 

 cussion then gave them. We have to remem- 

 ber that when Fiske prepared his Harvard 

 Ixi 



