he critical insight and temper will give rise to
further reactions from the academic theory as we have come to know it.(30)
On the other hand, it may be assumed with even greater certainty that the
general evolutionist point of view and the great arguments for descent in
some form or other will ultimately be victorious if they are not so
already, and that, sooner or later, we shall take the Theory of Descent in
its most general form as a matter of course, just as we now do the
Kant-Laplace theory.

CHAPTER V. RELIGION AND THE THEORY OF DESCENT.

In seeking to define our position in regard to the theory of descent it is
most important that we should recognise that, when it is looked into
closely, the true problem at issue is not a special zoological one, but is
quite general, and also that it is not a new growth which has sprung up
suddenly and found us unprepared, but that it is very ancient and has long
existed in our midst. In the whole theory the question of "descent" is
after all a mere accessory. Even if it fell through and were seen to be
scientifically undemonstrable, "evolution in the realm of life" would
remain an indisputable fact, and with it there would arise precisely the
same difficulties for the religious interpretation of the world which are
usually attributed to the Theory of Descent.

Evolution or development has been a prominent idea in the history of
thought since the time of Aristotle, but descent is, so to speak, a modern
upstart. According to long-established modes of thought, to _evolve_ means
to pass from {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} to {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, from _potentia_ to _actus_, from
the existence of the rudiment as in the seed to full realisation as in the
tree. In the course of its development the organism passes through many
successive phases, which are related to one another like steps, each
rising directly from the one beneath, and prep