INTRODUCTION
By Sir Charles Scott Sherrington
Retiring President, Royal Society
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and God-like reason
To rust in us unused.”
Shakespeare.
“Man looks before and after,” and, peering into the darkness of the past, has often sought answer to the question how he came to be. He has felt that knowledge of the process which has underlain his making, of whence he came and by what route he has reached his present station, should set that station in a clearer light for his contemplation and should afford him, possibly, some glimpse of his terrestrial future. His quest for such knowledge grows out of no idle desire, although it is a quest that may often seem impracticable because, perhaps, its object lies beyond the means of a reasoned answer. Answers of various kind have indeed from time to time been offered, but only in the recent past has there emerged such knowledge as in its broad outline satisfies the demands of critical reason and of scientific fact. That answer goes by the name Evolution. It is set forth in this book reliably and simply by eminent authorities who have devoted their lives to a study of the evidence and to the work of making it more complete.
The creation of man is shown to have been a result, in
[ xi ]
