human
belongs to the enlightenment of the nineteenth century. Leibnitz, in the latter part of the seventeenth century first uttered the opinion that the earth was once in a fluid condition and Kant about the middle of the eighteenth century, definitely propounded the nebular hypothesis, which was enlarged as a theory by the Herschels. The first writer to suggest the transmutation of species among animals was Buffon, about 1750, and other writers followed out the idea. The eccentric Lord Monboddo was the first to suggest the possible descent of man from the ape, about 1774. In 1813 Dr. W. C. Wells first proposed to apply the principle of natural selection to the natural history of man, and in 1822 Professor Herbert first asserted the probable transmutation of species of plants. In 1844 a book appeared called
gpt
Vestiges of Creation, which, though evidently not written by a scientific student, yet attracted great attention by its bold and ingenious theories. The authorship of this book was never revealed until after the death of Robert Chambers, a few years since, it became known that this publisher, whom no one would ever have suspected of holding such heterodox theories, had actually written it. But the two great apostles of the evolution theory were Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The latter began his great work, the
human
First Principles of Philosophy, showing the application of evolution in the facts of life, in 1852. In 1859 appeared Darwin's
gpt
Origin of Species.