Charles Darwin; his life and work / by Charles Frederick Holder.

  • Charles Frederick Holder
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Charles Darwin; his life and work / by Charles Frederick Holder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    299/370 (page 221)
    Evolution. 22 1 osophy run back into the infinite past; that the con- sequences of all of the phenomena which we may now observe in the universe will run on into the in- finite future. This is evolution. The statement now given of the three great sys- tems of philosophy is, perhaps, sufficient for our purposes this evening, and it remains for us to point out the part contributed to scientific philosophy by Darwin, whom we mourn to-night. When Darwin rose as a light in the scientific world, scientific philosophers had already discovered that the philosophic method of research should in- clude the discernment, discriminatton, and classifica- tion of facts. At that time the scientific men of the world were engaged chiefly in the collection and arrangement of facts. To some extent they were engaged in discovering their relations of sequence. Important and interesting sequences had been dis- covered in the vast realm of astronomy ; other inter- esting sequences of facts had been discovered in the realm of geology ; some interesting sequences of facts had been discovered in the realm of human history. In the realm of biology, in plant and ani- mal hfe, the order of succession of facts, the method of evolution, had not been discovered ; yet many men were thinking on the subject, many men search- ing for the method and course of biologic evolution. The facts relating thereto were partly known, and the course and laws of biologic evolution were dimly discerned. It remained for Darwin to demonstrate-the laws of biologic evolution, and the course of the progress