346 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 
Lamarck in the last years of the eighteenth century, and was 
further molded by others before Darwin touched it. 
Vagueness Regarding Evolution.—Although “evolution” 
is to-day a word in constant use, there is still great vagueness 
in the minds of most people as to what it stands for; and, 
what is more, there is very little general information dissem- 
inated regarding the evidence by which it is supported, and re- 
garding the present status of the doctrine in the scientific world. 
In its broad sense, evolution has come to mean the devel- 
opment of all nature from the past. We may, if we wish, 
think of the long train of events in the formation of the world, 
and in supplying it with life as a story inscribed upon a scroll 
that is being gradually unrolled. Everything which has 
come to pass is on that part so far exposed, and everything 
in the future is still covered, but will appear in due course 
of time; thus the designation of evolution as ‘‘the unrolling 
of the scroll of the universe” becomes picturesquely sug- 
gestive. In its wide meaning, it includes the formation of 
the stars, solar systems, the elements of the inorganic world, 
as well as all living nature—this is general evolution; but 
the word as commonly employed is limited to organic evolu- 
tion, or the formation of life upon our planet. It will be 
used hereafter in this restricted sense. 
The vagueness regarding the theory of organic evolution 
arises chiefly from not understanding the points at issue. 
One of the commonest mistakes is to confuse Darwinism 
with organic evolution. It is known, for illustration, that con- 
troversies are current among scientific workers regarding 
Darwinism and certain phases of evolution, and from this 
circumstance it is assumed that the doctrine of organic 
evolution asa whole is losing ground. The discussions of De 
Vries and others—all believers in organic evolution—at the 
Scientific Congress in St. Louis in 1904, led to the statement 
in the public press that the scientific world was haggling 
