12 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 



Aquinas. Referring especially to the authority of his 

 master, St. Augustine, he says that it would be easy 

 mistakenly to believe that the author of Genesis meant 

 to convey the idea that on each of the six days cer- 

 tain acts of creation were performed. It is quite evi- 

 dent, thinks Aquinas, that in those early times God 

 only created the germs of things and put into the 

 earth powers which should later become active. Af- 

 ter the Creator had thus endowed the earth he rested 

 from the work, which proceeded to develop under 

 the influence of these first germs. 



Nearly four hundred years later, when Europe had 

 finally awakened out of the deep and refreshing sleep 

 in which it had fortunately forgotten much of the 

 past, a new era dawned and modern thought began. 

 Immediately men commenced to busy their minds with 

 broader problems than they had been discussing since 

 the time of the Greek philosophers. The hand of 

 tradition, however, was heavy on them still. They 

 dreaded to run counter to authority, and did not dare 

 think unrestrainedly. Descartes shows us how we can 

 understand things better if we will imagine a few 

 principles by which it will be easy to account for 

 things as they are. Then he carefully elaborates these 

 principles as they occur to him; but he has no sooner 

 done so than he takes care to add, "Of course, we 

 know the earth was not made in this way." 



