TiiE nn. rin-E .wn its sr(nn 



21 



('r«)us \\ci-t' tlic I'acts lliat he i)r('s('iil('(l, 

 and so caiclul was (lie (•\|)()siti()i» ol 

 liis tlu'ory, (hat in less than twenty 

 yt^ars it IxH-anic the working; liyi)()tlu'sis 

 of nearly ex'ei'y biologist. 



J.on«»; l)el"c)re Darwin's time the re- 

 senil)huu'i^ l)etw(HMi .^ronps of animals 

 had \)vcn r(H'ot2;nized, indeed, even 

 l)y Aristotle and others anionii; the 

 aneient (ireeks, and many new facts 

 made known 1)\- inv{^sti<2;at()rs from 

 \'esalius onward (Mnpliasized the sig- 

 nificance of th(^s(^ resemblances. In 

 1620 Bacon i)nl)lish(Hl ''Novum 

 ()r<2;anum/'' in which he advocated 

 tlie unity of nature. Descartes (born, 

 1596) attempted to explain the uni- 

 verse on natural laws. Leibnitz (born 

 1646) advanced a theory of the con- 

 tinuity of organisms. The term 

 ''evolution'' was introduced by Bonnet 

 as a name of the process by w'hich 

 organisms had become differentiated. 

 He expressed this relationship by in- 

 troducing the idea of a ''scale of 

 beings," which formed the links of a 

 chain. This conception has persisted 

 up to the present time, in the ex- 

 pression ''the missing link.'' 



In 1844 a book called ''Vestiges of 

 Creation" appeared and caused quite 

 a sensation. That this w\as pubUshed 

 anonymously by its author, Robert 

 Chambers, is significant of the atti- 

 tude of the public toward the idea of 

 evolution. 



Naturally the "Origin" met with 

 a storm of opposition, but it w^as 

 vigorously defended by man}' new- 

 won adherents among whom was 

 Huxley. He it w^as who perhaps 

 more than any other scientist secured 

 for the "Origin of Species" a fair and 

 impartial consideration and thus aided 

 the cause of truth. 



Ainonu ihc earhei- champions of 

 l)ar\\ ill's theory, wei'e I.ncII. T\'iidall, 

 liookei- and Si)encer. 



'i'he last decades of the ^real lice"- 

 life \\itiie>se(l astonishing dexclop- 

 ments in all bi-anches of zoology. The 

 number of known s])ecies has increased 

 enormously owing to the enthusiasm 

 of collectors in all ])arts of the world, 

 and esj)(H*ially through the work of 

 ex])e(litions sent out by govermnents 

 and museums, one of the most noted of 

 such expeditions being that of the 

 English vessel, the ' 'Challenger" (1872- 

 1876), which brought back more than 

 8000 species new to sci(^nce. Institu- 

 tions established l)y civilized govern- 

 ments all over the world, like the 

 United States Fish Commission, organ- 

 ized by Professor Spencer F. Baird, 

 as well as the National Museum and 

 Cieological Survey, have made great 

 contributions to pure and applied 

 science. The famous seaside labora- 

 tory founded at Naples by Professor 

 Anton Dohrn in 1870 is a prototype of 

 those at Woods Hole, Plymouth and 

 Roscoff; all of which have materially 

 aided in the advance of biological 

 investigation. 



Palaeontology too has had a rapid 

 growth. Cope, Marsh and Osborn in 

 this country discovered and described 

 more than a thousand new species of 

 vertebrates, many of which are on 

 exhibition in the Hall of Fossil Verte- 

 brates. In invertebrate palaeontology 

 James Hall was one of the leaders, 

 and a large part of the material upon 

 wiiich he did his monumental work 

 is displayed in the Geological Hall. 



Zoo-geography, one of the founda- 

 tions of evolutionary doctrine began 

 with Wallace's pubhcation in 1876 of 

 the "Distribution of Animals," the 



