FOREWORD 



A MAN now of mature years, who began his reading when 

 the epoch-making works of Charles Robert Darwin were 

 new books, has been privileged to share in a marvellous 

 period of human advancement. 



The new discoveries in those sciences which explore the 

 prehistoric past of the world, and especially those which 

 pertain to the progress of life have promoted that central 

 idea expressed by the word evolution from the status of a 

 theory to that of an established principle — a necessary part 

 of the educational equipment of any thinking man. 



He who does not recogiiize evolution today is in the same 

 class with those who do not believe that the earth is round. 

 These are no longer questions to be argued, they are facts 

 which are established in proofs so convincing that a little 

 reading is all that is needed to make them clear. 



To provide that little reading in regard to evolution is one 

 of the purposes of this book. It is treated last because it is 

 here only accessory to the chief arguments which precede it; 

 but a reader who so desires may go over this explanation of 

 evolution first. It is broad and general rather than of de- 

 tailed completeness. It will not satisfy the biologist any 

 more than a landscape-painter's view of a forest scene would 

 satisfy a botanist ; but it has advantages nevertheless. 



The prime purpose of this work is the consideration of 

 Man as a participant in this great Evolution forward and 

 upward. 



It seems surprising that while so many scientists are 



