No one is more conscious
than the writer that this account is extremely imperfect. The
limits of the volume have permitted me to use only a part of the
material which modern science affords, but if the whole of our
discoveries were described the sketch would still remain very
imperfect. The evolutionary conception of the world is itself
undergoing evolution in the mind of man. Age by age the bits of
fresh discovery are fitted into the great mosaic. Large areas are
still left for the scientific artist of the future to fill. Yet
even in its imperfect state the evolutionary picture of the world
is most illuminating. The questions that have been on the lips of
thoughtful men since they first looked out with adult eyes on the
panorama of nature are partly answered. Whence and Why are no
longer sheer riddles of the sphinx.
It remains to be seen if evolutionary principles will throw at
least an equal light on the progress of humanity in the
historical period. Here again the questions, Whence and Why, have
been asked in vain for countless ages. If man is a progressive
animal, why has the progress been confined to some of the race?
If humanity shared at first a common patrimony, why have the
savages remained savages, and the barbarians barbaric? Why has
progress been incarnated so exceptionally in the white section of
the race, the Europeans? We approach these questions more
confidently after surveying the story of terrestrial life in the
light of evolutionary principles.
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