326 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



Lastly, the fourth hypothesis is that of evolution, according to 

 which the inorganic world as it exists to-day comes from a primordial 

 state quite different from its present condition, and the organic 

 species have been developed by a gradual transformation from in- 

 ferior to superior species. (Among scientists, Laplace is the best 

 known representative of the theory of the evolution of the inorganic 

 world, Lamarck and Darwin, of the evolution of the organic world ; 

 among philosophers, Kant is the most noted representative of the 

 doctrine of inorganic world evolution, and Spencer, Hartman, and 

 Bergson of the idea of the evolution of the organic world.) 



In order to make these four hypotheses more easily understood, I 

 am placing them in a diagram which will show plainly their mutual 

 relationships. 



Diagram. 



Things have < 

 an origin. 



By a supernat- 

 ural agency 



By a natural, 

 agency. 



A. Things have no origin I. Hypothesis of eternity. 



Eternal and unchanging 

 things. 

 II. Hypothesis of creation. 



Things created, but ever 1(a) Unchanging 

 unchanging. things. 



III. Hypothesis of spontaneous 

 general creation. Things 

 are a result of a sudden 

 transformation. 



IV - H C^e° f a •£!»> C S?« 

 gradual development. J & ' 



Before going further, let me name four standard works which may 

 be consulted for more detailed study : 



1. The important article of the celebrated historian of Greek 

 philosophy, Ed Zeller, " Uber die griechischen Vorganger Darwin's," 

 which was published in Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie, 1878. 



2. The work of the American paleontologist, H. F. Osborn, " From 

 the Greeks to Darwin, An Outline of the Development of the Evolu- 

 tion Idea," 1894. 



3. "La philosophic zoologique avant Darwin," 1885, by Edmond 

 Perrier. 



4. The excellent article, " Evolution," which appeared in the last 

 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 



Among the different philosophical systems of India, only three de- 

 serve mention here. There is first, orthodox Brahminism, which pre- 

 sents the idea of emanation, by which is meant the eternality of 

 things ; then we find the system of Sankya, which combines emana- 

 tion with a mechanical and evolutionistic explanation of the world ; 

 and lastly, there is the system of Buddha which is the philosophy of 

 the spontaneous generation of the world. 



Among the Greeks the germs of the evolutionistic idea are found 

 even in the early speculations about the cosmos put forth by Hesiod 



