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PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION
FROM THALES TO HUXLEY

WITH AN INTERMEDIATE CHAPTER ON
THE CAUSES OF ARREST OF THE MOVEMENT

BY
EDWARD CLODD

PRESIDENT OF THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
AUTHOR OF THE CHILDHOOD OF THE WORLD,
THE STORY OF CREATION,
THE STORY OF PRIMITIVE MAN, ETC.

WITH PORTRAITS

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1897

Copyright, 1897,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

TO MY BELOVED
A. A. L.
WHOSE FELLOWSHIP AND HELP
HAVE SWEETENED LIFE.

[v]

PREFACE.

This book needs only brief introduction. It attemptsto tell the story of the origin of the Evolutionidea in Ionia, and, after long arrest, of the revivalof that idea in modern times, when its profound andpermanent influence on thought in all directions,and, therefore, on human relations and conduct, isapparent.

Between birth and revival there were the centuriesof suspended animation, when the nepentheof dogma drugged the reason; the Church teaching,and the laity mechanically accepting, the sufficiencyof the Scriptures and of the General Councils to decideon matters which lie outside the domain ofboth. Hence the necessity for particularizing thecauses which actively arrested advance in knowledgefor sixteen hundred years.

In indicating the parts severally played in theRenascence of Evolution by a small group of illustriousmen, the writer, through the courtesy of Mr.[vi]Herbert Spencer, has been permitted to see the originaldocuments which show that the theory of Evolutionas a whole; i. e., as dealing with the non-living,as well as with the living, contents of the Universe,was formulated by Mr. Spencer in the year precedingthe publication of the Origin of Species.

Rosemont, Tufnell Park, London, N.,
14th December, 1896.

[vii]

CONTENTS.