The Evolution of the Idea of Evolution 9 



year 1842 (the Oracle of Reason) a long and interesting" 

 sketch of the genealogy of the plants and animals by one 

 William Chilton. 



In 1844 an anonymous work (since known to have 

 been written by Robert Chambers) spread the theory 

 throughout Britain. This work, the Vestiges of Creation, 

 had little exact knowledge and much crude speculation ; 

 but its author sought to reconcile the new doctrine with 

 religious teaching, and his work stirred up controversy 

 from one end of the kingdom to the other. In 1852 

 Herbert Spencer began his life-work on evolution with an 

 article in the Leader on " the development hypothesis." 

 By this time both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel 

 Wallace were bringing a wide and exact biological 

 knowledge to bear on the subject, and Darwin had 

 already grasped the principle of natural selection. As 

 early as 1842 he made a manuscript sketch of his theory, 

 and from that time until 1858 he was engaged in building 

 up its structure. In 1858 he was startled to receive from 

 A. R. Wallace a manuscript containing exactly the same 

 theory. A joint paper was read in their names before 

 the Linnaean Society, and the Origin of Species appeared 

 in 1859. 



We need not attempt to summarise either the familiar 

 contents of the Origin of Species or the fiery controversy 

 that followed its publication. In 1863 Huxley boldly 

 applied the principle of evolution to man, in his Man's 

 Place in Nature, and Darwin followed with his Descent of 

 Man in 1871. Haechel was spreading the new gospel in 

 Germany with characteristic vigour, and in England 

 Herbert Spencer's successive articles and volumes were 

 extending it over the whole contents of the universe. 

 But the literature of the subject now grows too volumin- 

 ous to notice. The idea of evolution was fully evolved, 

 and group after group of scholars made it the vital 



