CHAPTER XXXII 

 DARWINISM 



439. Charles Darwin. — The question of the method of 

 evolution continued to be debated, with no satisfactory solu- 

 tion in sight, until 1859,' when Charles Darwin published 

 the greatest book of the nineteenth century, and one of the 

 greatest in the world's history, the Origin of Species.^ 

 This book was the result of over 20 years of careful 

 observation and thought. It consisted of the elaboration 

 of two principal theories : (i) that evolution is the method 

 of creation; (2) that natural selection is the method of 

 evolution. 



440. Early Antagonism to Evolution. — The conception 

 that evolution (as distinguished from periodic, super- 

 natural interventions of the Deity) is the method of 

 creation was arrived at independently by Darwin, but was 

 not new with him. As we have just seen, it was proposed 

 by Lamarck. Greek philosophers 2,000 years previously 

 had suggested the idea; but it had never won the general 

 acceptance of the educated world, partly because it was 

 feared to be anti-religious, partly because it was never 

 substantiated by sufficiently convincing evidence, and 

 partly because of the antagonism of a few men of great 



' This date should be memorized. It is one of the most important in 

 the whole history of human thought. 



^ The full title of the book was, "The Origin of Species by Natural Selec- 

 tion, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." 



