man. He conceived these changes to be brought about
by what he called the favors and disfavors of nature. He varied much
in his opinions in various parts of his career and occasionally is
smitten either with conscience or with fear of authority. Then he goes
back and says it is all a mistake and each animal is the product of a
special act on the part of the Creator.

A little later, in England, Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles
Darwin, who was subsequently to establish the evolution theory, wrote
a long and elaborate poem called the "Temple of Nature." In this we
find a remarkable prevision of many of the principles which were
afterward to be warmly advocated and disputed during the growth of the
idea of evolution.

"Hence without parents by spontaneous growth,
Rise the first specks of animated life.

* * * * * * *

Thus as successive generations bloom
New powers acquire and larger limbs assume."

Erasmus Darwin recognized the struggle for existence, but he saw in it
only a check against overcrowding, and not an active factor in the
development as his grandson Charles came to see it. It is possible the
elder Darwin's views might have been taken more seriously had he not
clothed them with the form of verse. In these days it seems quite
ludicrous to think of giving to the world a new scientific concept or
a new phase of philosophy in verse.

The beginning of the nineteenth century gives us the first really
great contribution to the idea of evolution. Under more favorable
surroundings, this idea would have budded and become the parent stock
of our modern theories. The chill frosts of adverse criticism by those
in authority in science nipped the budding idea and so set it back
that only of late years have men come to realize its strength and
power. The Chevalier de Lamarck, serving in Monaco, was attracted by
its rich flora to the study of botany. Coming later to Paris, he
became acquainted with Buffon and was led by him to publish a Flora of
France, using the Linnaean system of classification. He was appointed
to the chair of zooelogy in the Jardin des Plantes, and was given
especial charge of the invertebrate animals, comprising all the
members of the animal kingdom except those with backbones. After
seventeen years of work over these forms, during which he wrote
several books describing them, he finally published the great work on
which his fame depends. This was