THE SEQUOIA 
he advocated the unity of nature. Descartes (born, 1596) 
attempted to explain the universe on natural laws. Leibnitz 
(born, 1646) advanced a theory of the continuity of organisms. 
The term ‘‘evolution’’ was introduced by Bonnet as a name of 
the process by which organisms had become differentiated. He 
expressed this relationship by introducing 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 expression “the 
missing link.” 
It was Lamarck (1809), the contemporary and fellow-country- 
man of Cuvier, who was the first to express the blood-relation- 
ship of organisms, as is done to-day, namely, by means of the 
genealogical tree. This eminent anatomist and investigator held 
views much in advance of his time. He rejected entirely the 
fixity of species, and believed that all animals now existing had 
been derived from a common stock by a process of gradual 
change. In one place he affirms that “‘ Nature needs only mat- 
ter, time and space to produce all changes.’ The two factors 
which he believed most important in producing these modifica- 
tions were the reaction of the organisms to their environment 
and the inheritance of the modifications resulting from this reac- 
tion and of the effects of use and disuse of organs. 
Lamarck’s theory was partially smothered in the ridicule 
which Cuvier heaped upon it. Cuvier was a firm believer in the 
immutability of species and his great authority in biological sub- 
jects made him a powerful dictator of public opinion. 
From Lamarck to Darwin there were few philosophers of 
note. Erasmus Darwin (1794) and Oken (1805) embodied in 
their writings the idea of the continuity of life. 
In 1844 a book called ‘“‘ Vestiges of Creation” appeared and 
caused quite a sensation. That this was published anonymously 
is significant of the attitude of the public toward the idea of 
evolution. 
Naturally the “‘Origin”’ met with a storm of opposition, but 
it was vigorously defended by Huxley. He it was who perhaps 
more than any other scientist secured for the “‘ Origin of Species” 
a fair and impartial treatment and thus aided the cause of truth. 
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