Review Questions
[Foreword]. 1. What is the purpose of this book?
[Chapter I]. 1. What were some of the theories of the Greek philosophers, and what shadowing of truth was there in their beliefs? 2. What was Lucretius's idea? 3. What were the explanations of Genesis given by St. Augustine and by Thomas Aquinas? 4. What were theories of Descartes, Leibnitz, and Kant? 5. How is the delay of the thought of evolution accounted for? 6. What were the contributions of Linnæus, Buffon, Erasmus, Darwin, Lamarck? 7. What check to progress was made by Cuvier and Agassiz? 8. What phases of evolution were studied by Goethe?
[Chapter II]. 1. Sketch the life of Charles Darwin. 2. What advantages did he derive from the "Beagle" expedition? 3. What is the theory of Natural Selection, and how did Darwin arrive at it? 4. Describe the Wallace and Wilberforce incidents. 5. What has been the progressive attitude toward the Darwinian idea?
[Chapter III]. 1. Explain Heredity as the conservative force of nature. 2. Explain Variation as the progressive tendency in nature. 3. In what ratio is the Multiplication of animals? 4. How does the process of Selection make for the survival of the fittest? 5. What three possibilities are open to animals under a change of environment? 6. What is the history of the English Sparrow in this country, and how is his increase accounted for by his powers of adaptation?
[Chapter IV]. 1. Show how the struggle for existence as affecting food, results in adaptations in the individual. Give illustrations. 2. Do the same for the results of struggle for shelter. 3. What are some of the adjustments resulting from the need of protection from foes?
[Chapter V]. 1. Discuss coloration. 2. How is sound used as an attraction? 3. What are some of the other methods of attracting mates? 4. What are some of the specializations produced by polygamy? 5. Describe some of the protections and provisions for the young.
[Chapter VI]. 1. What is La Place's Nebular Hypothesis? 2. What is the Planetesimal Theory? 3. What bases have been used for calculation of the age of the earth? 4. Reproduce the [Table of Geological Times]. 5. What is the Theory of Spontaneous Generation? 6. What is the theory of life development from organic dust in space? 7. Discuss protoplasm. 8. What was the probable growth of the North American continent? 9. What is the nature of the fossils in the earliest layers of stratified rock? 10. Describe the life of each of the three periods of the Palæozoic era. 11. Do the same for the Mesozoic era. 12. What was the effect upon life of the development of seasons and of climates? 13. What physical characteristics of the earth helped in the development of new animal forms in the Cenozoic era? 14. What has been the ascent of man?
[Chapter VII]. 1. Illustrate the asexual method of reproduction. 2. Trace the two-parent method of reproduction upward from the simplest forms. 3. What has been the development of the milk glands? 4. How does the prolonged care of the young by the mother indicate the higher development of the animal?
[Chapter VIII]. 1. Describe the earliest known ancestor of the horse? 2. What changes took place in the second stage of development? 3. What is the form by the middle of the Tertiary period? 4. What was the size of the late Tertiary horse, and how was the grinding power of the teeth increased? 5. How was the early Quaternary horse adapted for speed and for eating? 6. How is the extermination of the horse in North and South America accounted for, and how was he introduced again?
[Chapter IX]. 1. How extensive has the belief in evolution become since Darwin's day? 2. How does the theory of Natural Selection fail in accounting for Variation; how did Darwin try to amend his original theory; and what is Weissmann's belief. 3. What second objection has been brought against the theory of Natural Selection, and what have been the contributions of Wagner, Jordan, and Romanes to the discussion? 4. What is the third objection to Darwinism, and what is the bearing upon it of the theory of Orthogenesis? 5. What is the American and French tendency toward the belief that use is the cause of the persisting of organs? 6. How did DeVries discover the principle of mutation, and how does it apply to the discussion of evolution?
[Chapter X]. 1. What was the cause of the passing of the civilization of Athens, of Judea, of Sparta? 2. What promise of uniform development is evident to-day, and what are some of the hindrances? 3. What has been the changing emphasis in the evolution of man? 4. How is man the arbiter of his own destiny? 5. What is the task of the eugenist; how is he trying to accomplish it, and what are some of the possibilities suggested. 6. What is the promise for the future?
[Chapter XI]. 1. What is the duty of the fair-minded person toward the essential truths of religion and of science? 2. What two difficulties lie in the path of reconciliation, and why should each century restate its truths? 3. What three steps are desirable in studying the Bible? Illustrate. 4. What is the essential truth of the early chapters of Genesis, and what its glory? 5. Interpret the meaning of "creation of man in God's image." 6. What is our duty to ourselves and our children?