x. INTRODUCTION: AN APOLOGY 



sequence as the writer can manage to work out in the course of 

 the two or three years he has as yet been able to devote to the 

 subject, and in putting them before the public his object is to 

 open up to thought and consideration a new view of evolution 

 that appears to him to be as interesting as it is novel, and to 

 all appearances,, logical, hoping that wiser and better informed 

 minds may be capable of doing more justice to the subject 

 than he is himself. 



His main study has been to avoid as much as possible all 

 technicalities so as to make it as understandable as possible to 

 the untutored mind. But if the comprehensive mind did not 

 sow the seeds of thought there would be no plants for the 

 constructive minds of science to rear and cultivate, nor for the 

 minds poetic to beautify. 



With these words of apology I will now leave the reader 

 to accept or reject as much or as little as he likes, content if 

 I can manage to interest him and cause him to give more 

 thought to a subject, the value of which is but little understood, 

 or if my insignificant efforts may enable him to get a better 

 grasp of the subjects or any of the truths it contains than he 

 could have obtained without my poor help. I may here state 

 that some of the views expressed are even opposed to my own 

 beliefs. But it has been my object to state the case from a 

 purely unbiassed standpoint. To do this it is necessary to 

 smother all your own convictions, lest they warp your 

 judgment. This in many cases I have had to do. 



