THE STORY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY SCIENCE 



ing Darwin's citations, felt able to drop his own crass 

 explanation of the introduction of species, and adopt 

 the transmutation hypothesis, thus rounding out the 

 doctrine of uniformitarianism to the full proportions in 

 which Lamarck had conceived it half a century before. 

 Not all paleontologists could follow him at once, of 

 course ; the proof was not yet sufficiently demonstative 

 for that; but all were shaken in the seeming security 

 of their former position, which is always a necessary 

 stage in the progress of thought. And popular inter- 

 est in the matter was raised to white heat in a twin- 

 kling. 



So, for the third time in this first century of its ex- 

 istence, paleontology was called upon to play a leading 

 role in a controversy whose interest extended far be- 

 yond the bounds of staid truth-seeking science. And 

 the controversy waged over the age of the earth had 

 not been more bitter, that over catastrophism not more 

 acrimonious, than that which now raged over the ques- 

 tion of the transmutation of species. The question had 

 implications far beyond the bounds of paleontology, of 

 course. The main evidence yet presented had been 

 drawn from quite other fields, but by common consent 

 the record in the rocks might furnish a crucial test of 

 the truth or falsity of the hypothesis. " He who rejects 

 this view of the imperfections of the geological rec- 

 ord," said Darwin, "will rightly reject the whole 

 theory." 



With something more than mere scientific zeal, there- 

 fore, paleontologists turned anew to the records in the 

 rocks, to inquire what evidence in proof or refutation 

 might be found in unread pages of the " great stone 

 book." And as might have been expected, many minds 



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