rks which have been consulted.

CONTENTS

I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE UNIVERSE
II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE
III. THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF WORLDS
IV. THE PREPARATION OF THE EARTH
V. THE BEGINNING OF LIFE
VI. THE INFANCY OF THE EARTH
VII. THE PASSAGE TO THE LAND
VIII. THE COAL-FOREST
IX. THE ANIMALS OF THE COAL-FOREST
X. THE PERMIAN REVOLUTION
XI. THE MIDDLE AGES OF THE EARTH
XII. THE AGE OF REPTILES
XIII. THE BIRD AND THE MAMMAL
XIV. IN THE DAYS OF THE CHALK
XV. THE TERTIARY ERA
XVI. THE FLOWER AND THE INSECT
XVII. THE ORIGIN OF OUR MAMMALS
XVIII. THE EVOLUTION OF MAN
XIX. MAN AND THE GREAT ICE-AGE
XX. THE DAWN OF CIVILISATION
XXI. EVOLUTION IN HISTORY INDEX

THE STORY OF EVOLUTION

CHAPTER I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE UNIVERSE

The beginning of the victorious career of modern science was very
largely due to the making of two stimulating discoveries at the close
of the Middle Ages. One was the discovery of the earth: the other the
discovery of the universe. Men were confined, like molluscs in their
shells, by a belief that they occupied the centre of a comparatively
small disk--some ventured to say a globe--which was poised in a
mysterious way in the middle of a small system of heavenly bodies. The
general feeling was that these heavenly bodies were lamps hung on a not
too remote ceiling for the purpose of lighting their ways. Then certain
enterprising sailors--Vasco da Gama, Maghalaes, Columbus--brought home
the news that the known world was only one side of an enormous globe,
and that there were vast lands and great peoples thousands of miles
across the ocean. The minds of men in Europe had hardly strained
their shells sufficiently to embrace this larger earth when the second
discovery was reported. The roof of the world, with its useful little
system of heavenly bodies, began to crack and disclose a profound
and mysterious universe surrounding them on every side. One cannot
understand the solidity of the modern doctrine of the formation of the
heavens and the earth until one appreciates this revolution.

Before the law of gravitation had been discovered it was almost
impossible to regard the universe as other than a small and compact
system. We shall see that a few daring minds pierced the veil, and
peered out wonderingly into the real univ