THE HISTOEY OF OUR SPECIES. 73 



of phylogeny ; for the slow processes of gradual 

 construction, which effect the rise of new species of 

 animals and plants, go on imperceptibly during 

 thousands and even millions of years. Their direct 

 observation is possible only within very narrow limits ; 

 the vast majority of these historical processes can 

 only be known by indirect inference — by critical 

 reflection, and by a comparative use of empirical 

 sciences which belong to very different fields of 

 thought, palaeontology, ontogeny, and morphology. 

 To this we must add the immense opposition which 

 was everywhere made to biological evolution on 

 account of the close connection between questions 

 of organic creation and supernatural myths and 

 religious dogmas. For these reasons it can easily be 

 understood how it is that the scientific existence 

 of a true theory of origins was only secured, amidst 

 fierce controversy, in the course of the last forty 

 years. 



Every serious attempt that was made, before the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century, to solve the 

 problem of the origin of species lost its way in the 

 mythological labyrinth of the supernatural stories of 

 creation. The efforts of a few distinguished thinkers 

 to emancipate themselves from this tyranny and attain 

 to a naturalistic interpretation proved unavailing. A 

 great variety of creation-myths arose in connection 

 with their religion in all the ancient civilised nations. 

 During the Middle Ages triumphant Christendom 

 naturally arrogated to itself the sole right of pro- 

 nouncing on the question ; and, the Bible being the 

 basis of the structure of the Christian religion, the 

 whole story of creation was taken from the book of 

 Genesis. Even Carl Linne, the famous Swedish 



