THE STORY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY SCIENCE 



the idea of transmutation of species, and he reiterated 

 it from time to time from then on till his death in 1788. 

 But the time was not yet ripe for the idea of transmu- 

 tation of species to burst its bonds. 



And yet this idea, in a modified or undeveloped form, 

 had taken strange hold upon the generation that was 

 upon the scene at the close of the eighteenth century. 

 Vast numbers of hitherto unknown species of animals 

 had been recently discovered in previously unexplored 

 regions of the globe, and the wise men were sorely puz- 

 zled to account for the disposal of all of these at the 

 time of the Deluge. It simplified matters greatly to 

 suppose that many existing species had been developed 

 since the episode of the Ark by modification of the 

 original pairs. The remoter bearings of such a theory 

 were overlooked for the time, and the idea that Amer- 

 ican animals and birds, for example, were modified 

 descendants of Old World forms the jaguar of the 

 leopard, the puma of the lion, and so on became a cur- 

 rent belief with that class of humanity who accept al- 

 most any statement as true that harmonizes with their 

 prejudices, without realizing its implications. 



Thus it is recorded with eclat that the discovery of 

 the close proximity of America at the northwest with 

 Asia removes all difficulties as to the origin of the 

 Occidental faunas and floras, since Oriental species 

 might easily have found their way to America on the 

 ice, and have been modified as we find them bv " the 



7 / 



well-known influence of climate." And the persons who 

 gave expression to this idea never dreamed of its real 

 significance. In truth, here was the doctrine of evolu- 

 tion in a nutshell, and, because its ultimate bearings 

 were not clear, it seemed the most natural of doctrines. 



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