CHAPTER IX 
EvoLUTIONARY THEORIES SINCE DARWIN 
In considering the value of Charles Darwin’s work 
and its permanent effect upon the thought of man- 
kind, we must be careful to distinguish between two 
phases of his effort. It was his aim to prove two 
propositions: first, that there is such a process as evo- 
lution; second, that he had discovered the method 
by which evolution is accomplished. Before his time 
there was no general agreement as to the fact of evo- 
lution. People generally thought the idea absurd, as 
well as irreligious. All previous efforts on the part of 
advanced thinkers to persuade mankind of the truth 
of evolution had been nearly without effect. Among 
the early philosophers the whole idea was purely spec- 
ulative. They made no attempt to prove it, and the 
conception was without influence upon the thinking 
of the ordinary man. This remains true until the 
time of Lamarck. This French genius succeeded in 
persuading not a few people of the validity of the 
idea of evolution. He probably could have convinced 
many more had it not been for the hostility of Cuvier. 
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