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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