416 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



naturalists upon the distinguishing features of the particular 

 kinds of animals and plants. Are species realities in nature ? 

 The consideration of this apparently simple question soon 

 led to divergent views, and then to warm controversies that 

 extended over several decades of time. 



The view first adopted without much thought and as a 

 matter of course was that species are fixed and constant; i.e., 

 that the existing forms of animals and plants are the descend- 

 ants of entirely similar parents that were originally created 

 in pairs. This idea of the fixity of species was elevated to the 

 position of a dogma in science as well as in theology. The 

 opposing view, that species are changeable, arose in the 

 minds of a few independent observers and thinkers, and, as 

 has already been pointed out, the discussion of this question 

 resulted ultimately in a complete change of view regarding 

 nature and man's relation to it. When the conception of 

 evolution came upon the scene, it was violently combated. 

 It came into conflict with the theory designated special 

 creation. 



Views of Certain Fathers of the Church. — And now it is 

 essential that we should be clear as to the sources of this 

 dogma of special creation. It is perhaps natural to assume 

 that there was a conflict existing between natural science 

 and the views of the theologians from the earliest times; 

 that is, between the scientific method and the method of the 

 theologians, the latter being based on authority, and the 

 former upon observation and experiment. Although there 

 is a conflict between these two methods, there nevertheless 

 was a long period in which many of the leading theological 

 thinkers were in harmony with the men of science with refer- 

 ence to their general conclusions regarding creation. Some 

 of the early Fathers of the Church exhibited a broader and 

 more scientific spirit than their successors. 



St. Augustine (353-430), in the fifth century, was the 



