CHAPTERS ON EVOLUTION, 



i. 



THE PROBLEM STATED. 



THE year 1858 may be said to mark a distinct era in the science of 

 biology, or that dealing with the structure, functions, development, 

 and general history of animals and plants. On July i, 1858, two 

 papers were read before the Linnsean Society of London, which were 

 destined to evoke and to direct an amount of criticism and research 

 unparalleled in the annals of scientific history. It was then that 

 Mr. Darwin and Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace laid before the scientific 

 world the results of independent observations and reflections con- 

 cerning the origin of the varied species of animals and plants which 

 form the diverse population of the globe. Considering that the views 

 expressed in the papers referred to had been formed and elaborated 

 in entire independence of thought, and, indeed, in well-nigh opposite 

 regions of the earth's surface, the harmonious nature of the conclusions 

 arrived at by the authors was both interesting and surprising. Mr. 

 Darwin's paper dealt with the Origin of Species ; that of Mr. Wallace 

 bore the title "On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely 

 from the Original Type." The former, as naturalist on board H.M.S. 

 " Beagle," had been " struck with certain facts in the distribution of 

 the organic beings inhabiting South America, and in the geological 

 relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent." 

 Mr. Darwin further tells us that " these facts seemed to throw some 

 light on the origin of species that mystery of mysteries, as it has 

 been called by one of our greatest philosophers." Mr. Wallace, on 

 the other hand, exploring the Malay Archipelago, and interesting 

 himself in the problems which the varied flora and fauna of the 

 East suggested to the mind, formed opinions concerning the origin 

 of species which, as we have seen, practically coincided with those 

 of Darwin. In each case the inspiration, so to speak, came direct 

 from nature, and from the unbiassed observation of the world of life 

 itself an origin this, as suggestive as it was appropriate for specula- 

 tions including in their sweep and extent the entire organic universe. 



