CHAPTER I 



WHAT WE OWE TO DARWIN 



Biographical — Darwin's Books — The Naturalist's Prohlems — The 

 first Question : What is This ? — The second Question : How- 

 does This work ? — The third Question : Whence is This ? 

 — The fourth Question : How have Present-day Organisms 

 come to be as they are ? — Manifoldness of Darwin's Services 

 — The Web of Life — The Struggle for Existence — Variability 

 of Living Creatures — Natural Selection — Vindication of the 

 Evolution Idea — The Evolution Theory, a Model Interpreta- 

 tion — Darwin's Argument — Comparison of Evolution Formula 

 and Gravitation Formula — The Descent and the Ascent of 

 Man — Liberation of Intelligence — Ideal of Scientific Mood 

 and Method— Characteristics of Scientific Mood : Passion and 

 Reverence for Facts — Scientifio Caution — Clearness of Vision 

 — Sense of Interrelations — Darwin's Method of Working — 

 Darwin on his own Success — Darwin's Achievements — Co- 

 operating Influences — Particular Reasons for Darwin's Success. 



Biographical. — Charles Darwin, the greatest natu- 

 ralist who has yet lived, was born at Shrewsbury 

 on February 12, 1809, on the same day as Abraham 

 Lincoln. Indeed the year was one of remarkable 

 children, for it saw the birth of Tennyson and 

 Gladstone, of Chopin and Mendelssohn, of Mrs. 

 Browning and Fanny Kemble, of Edgar Allan 

 Poe and John Hill Burton, of Edward Fitzgerald 

 and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and many more. We 

 shall not compare Darwin with any of the 

 illustrious personalities whom we have named, 

 for the comparison of incommensurables is always 

 unprofitable; but without exaggeration, which 



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