THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE OF ZOOLOGY 379 



writers, and scholars. But with the Origin of Species began 

 a storm of discussion and debate out of which there has 

 arisen a calm and sane acceptance of the gradual develop- 

 ment of the various forms of plant and animal life by a pro- 

 cess of evolution. Darwin gathered such a mass of facts 

 and marshaled his proofs in such a clear, logical manner 

 that the world could not deny the force of his arguments or 

 escape the convincing power of his conclusions. 



From 1850 to the present time, the contributions to the 

 science of zoology have been steadily increasing in number 

 and value and very great additions have been made to our 

 knowledge of the subject. The perfecting of the com- 

 pound microscope, together with the modern methods of 

 research, has given a profound insight into the structure 

 of the animal body, disclosed much concerning the func- 

 tions of the various organs, revealed the process and some- 

 thing of the significance of reproduction, and added vastly 

 to our knowledge of animal life. 



For a fuller knowledge of the history of zoology, one should be- 

 come acquainted with the life work of Wotton, of Vesal, Trevira- 

 nus, Goethe, Wolff, Von Baer, Siebold, Erasmus Darwin, A. R. 

 Wallace, Agassiz, Owen, Haeckel, Huxley, Weismann, and others. 



