ABSTRACT
Modern critics have often asked themselves how it is that a hypothesis like Darwin's, based on such weak foundations, could all at once win over to its side the greater part of contemporary scientific opinion. If the defenders of the theory refer with this end in view to its intrinsic value, it may be answered that the theory has long ago been rejected in its most vital points by subsequent research. It has also been pointed out, for instance by Rádl, that the objections made against the theory on its first appearance very largely agree with those which far later brought about its fall. The factors governing the victory of Darwinism thus represent a problem of the greatest importance, not only in the history of biology, but also in that of culture in general — a problem that would require far more exhaustive treatment than can be given to it here. In this work we can only endeavour to throw light on some of the circumstances that appear to be specially remarkable surrounding this important episode, the history of which it will largely be the duty of future generations to write.
