CHAPTER XXXII 

 DARWINISM 



439. Charles Darwin. The question of the method of 

 evolution continued to be debated, with no satisfactory solu- 

 tion in sight, until 1859, 1 when Charles Darwin published 

 the greatest book of the nineteenth century, and one of the 

 greatest in the world's history, the Origin of Species. 2 

 This book was the result of over 20 years of careful 

 observation and thought. It consisted of the elaboration 

 of two principal theories: (i) that evolution is the method 

 of creation; (2) that natural selection is the method of 

 evolution. 



440. Early Antagonism to Evolution. The conception 

 that evolution (as distinguished from periodic, super- 

 natural interventions of the Deity) is the method of 

 creation was arrived at independently by Darwin, but was 

 not new with him. As we have just seen,- it was proposed 

 by Lamarck. Greek philosophers 2,000 years previously 

 had suggested the idea; but it had never won the general 

 acceptance of the educated world, partly because it was 

 feared to be anti-religious, partly because it was never 

 substantiated by sufficiently convincing evidence, and 

 partly because of the antagonism of a few men of great 



1 This date should be memorized. It is one of the most important in 

 the whole history of human thought. 



* The full title of the book was, "The Origin of Species by Natural Selec- 

 tion, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." 



