16 EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 
that time the question of the origin of species was con- 
sidered transcendental, not a subject for inquiry. It seems 
proper now to mention the influence of the * Principles of 
Geology," by Sir Charles Lyell, published in 1832. The 
doctrine of Catastrophes, or the supposition that at different 
times all life had been destroyed by the convulsions through 
which the earth had passed, and that a new life had been 
created from time to time, was supported by the high 
authority of Cuvier. Lyell,in the work just mentioned, 
put forward the view that these catastrophes had been only 
local,and that they had been brought about by the same 
forces that are now modifying the earth; that life has 
always existed,—new forms appearing, old forms passing 
away; that disturbances have taken place at different 
times in different places, just as at present we have earth- 
quakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. This view is at present 
accepted by most Geologists, very few believing any longer 
in the Cuvierian theory of the * Revolutions of the Globe." 
The effect of the “ Principles of Geology" on the progress 
of the Development theory was very great, since one of the 
objections to it, of life having been often extinct all over 
the globe, was therein shown to be groundless. Although 
the doctrine of Development was opposed by naturalists, 
nevertheless from time to time it was advocated, as in 1837 
by Dean Herbert, in 1844 by the anonymous author of the 
Vestiges of Creation, in 1846 by D'Omalius d'Halloy, in 
1852 by Naudin, in 1855 by the Rev. Baden Powell and by 
Büchner, and from 1852 to 1858 by Mr. Herbert Spencer. 
Remembering the vast discoveries that had been made 
since the days of Lamarck in Zoology, Botany, Geology, 
that the study of Embryology had been raised to a science, 
that of the Geographical Distribution of plants and animals 
more was known, etc., let us now call attention to the famous 
book on the Origin of Species, by Mr. Darwin. The two 
great merits of this work are its bringing together in a con- 
