THE EVOLUTION OF THE WOBLD. 243 



geological periods (the catastrophic theory of Cuvier 

 [1818] and Louis Agassiz [1858]). Palaeontology, 

 which seemed, in its more imperfect stage, to support 

 this theory, has since completely refuted it. 



V. Individual creation. — Every single man — and 

 every individual animal and plant — does not arise by 

 a natural process of growth, but is created by the 

 favour of God. This view of creation is still often 

 met with in journals, especially in the " births " 

 column. The special talents and features of our 

 children are often gratefully acknowledged to be 

 " gifts of God "; their hereditary defects fit into 

 another theory. 



The error of these creation-legends and the cognate 

 belief in miracles must have been apparent to 

 thoughtful minds at an early period ; more than 

 two thousand years ago we find that many attempts 

 were made to replace them by a rational theory, and 

 to explain the origin of the world by natural causes. 

 In the front rank, once more, we must place the 

 leaders of the Ionic school, with Democritus, 

 Heraclitus, Empedocles, Aristotle, Lucretius, and 

 other ancient philosophers. The first imperfect 

 attempts which they made astonish us, in a measure, 

 by the flashes of mental light in which they anticipate 

 modern ideas. It must be remembered that classical 

 antiquity had not that solid groundwork for scientific 

 speculation which has been provided by the countless 

 observations and experiments of modern scientists. 

 During the Middle Ages — especially during the 

 domination of the papacy — scientific work in this 

 direction entirely ceased. The torture and the stake 

 of the Inquisition ensured that an unconditional 

 belief in the Hebrew mythology should be the final 



