The Scottish scholar James McCosh (1811 94) was a champion of the Free church, a successful and much-published philosophy professor at Belfast for 16 years, and an energetic and innovative President of Princeton University from 1868 to 1888. The Religious Aspect of Evolution was published in 1888, and this second edition from 1890 took account of A. R. Wallace's latest work, Darwinism (1889, also reissued in this series). McCosh, who already in Ireland had developed a 'theory of the universe conditioned by Christian revelation' was one of very few clergymen in America who defended evolutionary theory. He impressed upon his students that while there seemed to be great truth in Darwin's theory, the work of the coming age must be to separate that truth from the error springing up around it. This would enable scholars to follow and even embrace science while also retaining their faith in the Bible.

What conclusions do the facts of cosmic and organic evolution require or permit on the origin and destiny of the world and the individual? From 1881 to 1925 Thomas Whittaker, an Oxford-trained scientist turned philosopher, grappled with this question, which he tried to answer by metaphysical interpretation of the sciences. The majority of the essays in this volume first appeared in Mind, and a few in other journals, while three had not been previously published. Whittaker ranges widely over some of the most daring theories of the past, from the early centuries of the common era (including Apollonius of Tyana and Origen), to the middle ages (including John Scotus Erigena and Nicholas of Cusa), the renaissance (Giordano Bruno, Shakespeare) and the early modern period. Whittaker's own view is that hypothesis and imagination are legitimate aids in the search for truth in both science and philosophy in a new synthesis.

This 1896 volume by Reverend J. A. Zahm, a professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, considers the Catholic theological tradition as it relates to evolution. The author discusses Darwin's theory of evolution in detail, and traces the debate between theologians and scientists back to the early days of evolutionary theory. He compares late nineteenth-century evolutionary theory and the beliefs of the Catholic church, carefully evaluating the arguments and probing errors and misconceptions in theory and terminology. He also attempts to shed light on the little-understood relations between evolutionism and Christianity as a whole, and discusses whether a person of any Christian denomination can be an evolutionist. Zahm's thoughtful work is considered to be one of the most important volumes on evolution ever written by a Catholic.

In 1817 the Scottish mathematician and churchman Thomas Chalmers (1780 1847), who was later invited to write one of the Bridgewater Treatises (also reissued in this series) published this book, based on weekday sermons preached by him in Glasgow. His main aim is to refute the 'infidel' argument that because the earth and humanity are such insignificant parts of the universe, God - if he existed - would not care about them. However, he is also addressing the 'narrow and intolerant professors' who 'take an alarm' at the idea of philosophy rather than incorporating science into their Christian preaching. Chalmers writes from the viewpoint of an admirer of science and modern astronomy. However, he also argues that wonder at the magnificence of creation and even acknowledging it as God's work is not enough, and that a truly moral Christian life is essential for salvation.

St George Jackson Mivart was an eminent biologist, who was at first an advocate for natural selection and later a passionate opponent. In this beautifully illustrated 1871 text, Mivart raised objections to natural selection as a means for evolution. These included problems in explaining: 'incipient stages' of complex structures (e.g. the mammalian eye); the existence of similar structures of divergent origin; dramatic and rapid changes in form; the absence of transitional forms from the fossil record; and issues in geological distribution. Citing the giraffe's neck, the rattle of the snake and the whale's baleen, Mivart argued for the necessity of an innate power underlying all organic life. Mivart's book did not seriously undermine the concept of natural selection - Darwin and Huxley soon countered his 'formidable array' of arguments - but it helped move the debate forward. Sadly, it also led to a rift between Mivart and Darwin.

The author of this life of Erasmus Darwin, published in 1879, is given as Ernst Krause (1839 1903) a German biologist, but in fact more than half the book is a 'preliminary notice' by Charles Darwin, who explains in the preface that he has written it because of his access to family papers which add 'to the knowledge of Erasmus Darwin's character'. Krause wrote his original article in a German periodical because, in turn, he was intrigued by a reference made by Charles Darwin in the later editions of On the Origin of Species to his grandfather's anticipation in his Zoonomia (also reissued in this series) of Lamarckian theory: 'I thought immediately ... that this ancestor of his must certainly deserve considerable credit in connection with the history of the Darwinian theory.' The German text was translated by W. S. Dallas, who had previously collaborated with Darwin as both indexer and translator.

Essay on the Theory of the Earth was the last work of the scientific writer Robert Kerr who translated it from the introductory essay of George Cuvier's four-volume Recherches sur les ossements fossiles de quadrup des. Before its first publication in 1813, the essay was partly expanded by the geologist and natural historian Robert Jameson who wrote a preface and included extensive notes on mineralogy. Using geological evidence as its principal source of enquiry, Cuvier's essay attempts to address the questions of the origins of the human race, the formation of the earth, and the correlation between incomplete fossil remains and existing species of animals. Extremely influential in its own time, the essay remains a source of considerable insight into the early development of geological research, examining issues of continued significance today.

Joseph Le Conte was the first geologist, natural historian and botanist to be appointed to the University of California in 1869. He founded the successful palaeontology program at Berkeley and acquired important collections of fossils. He also lectured and wrote on evolution, of which he was the leading American proponent. This book, first published in 1888 but revised and expanded in the second edition reissued here, is his attempt to reconcile his evolutionist convictions with his religious faith. Such a synthesis, he felt, was impeded by dogmatism on both sides, and he makes a case for 'a combining, reconciling and rational view.' He considers three questions: What is evolution? Is it true? and What then?, intending to address 'the intelligent general reader' without being superficial or unscientific. Concepts such as 'neo-Darwinism', 'materialism', and 'design' make their appearance in this wide-ranging book, whose concerns remain surprisingly topical today.

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 95) became known as 'Darwin's bulldog' because of his forceful and energetic support for Darwin's theory, most famously at the legendary British Association meeting in Oxford in 1860. In fact, Huxley had some reservations about aspects of the theory, especially the element of gradual, continuous progress, but in public he was unwavering in his allegiance, saying in a letter to Darwin 'As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite'. In his 1892 Essays upon Some Controverted Questions, Huxley collected some of his previously published writings, of which the titles alone give some flavour of his pugnacious stance in debate: 'The interpreters of Genesis and the interpreters of Nature'; 'Science and pseudo-science'; 'Agnosticism and Christianity'. The passion for scientific truth which underlies everything he writes is well demonstrated in this lively and still-relevant collection.

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 95) became known as 'Darwin's bulldog' because of his forceful and energetic support for Darwin's theory, especially at the notorious British Association meeting in Oxford in 1860. In fact, Huxley had some reservations about aspects of the theory, especially the element of gradual, continuous progress, but in public he was unwavering in his allegiance, saying in a letter to Darwin 'As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite'. In his 1870 essay collection Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews, of which the title alone was designed to provoke controversy, he offers a variety of his writings, many of which were originally talks given to a range of audiences from learned societies to a working men's college, and including his own review of On the Origin of Species and a typically passionate response to two other reviews less favourable to Darwin.

Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was published anonymously in 1844. Starting with the genesis of the solar system, it progresses systematically through such topics as the formation of the earth, the origins of marine life, the emergence of reptiles, birds and other life forms, and the evolution of human life. Drawing widely upon contemporary ideas from astronomy, biology, geology, linguistics, and anthropology, it seeks to establish the 'hypothesis of an organic creation by natural law'. Preceding Darwin's Origin of Species by fifteen years, Vestiges ignited a storm of controversy by pitting natural law and its role in what would soon come to be known as 'evolution' against the generally accepted Victorian belief that the universe was created by God. In 1884, it was revealed that the author was the British publisher Robert Chambers. This fifth edition of the work also contains its 1845 sequel, Explanations.

Even before Charles Darwin changed the world with his theory of natural selection, he was recognised as an eminent scientist and natural historian. Published in 1840, his Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle reveals him as a writer of formidable intelligence and a keen observer of natural and human life. Darwin's journal encompasses every observable detail of the animals, birds and plants he encountered on the five-year voyage. It includes minute descriptions and even sketches of the movements and habits of hitherto unfamiliar species. Accompanying the entries are his own conclusions, analyses and classificatory notes that demonstrate his skill and talent as a naturalist. Darwin's entries on natural phenomena are interspersed with anecdotes of the indigenous peoples he encountered, transforming his journal from an impersonal scientific record to a book of true human interest.

For those engaged in research on Darwin or his circle, the Darwin Library is an invaluable resource. Originally donated by Darwin's son Francis to the library of the Botany School and now deposited in Cambridge University Library, it contains handwritten scribbles on book pages, note-filled scraps of paper pinned to back covers and personal inscriptions from mentors such as J. S. Henslow. First published in 1908, this catalogue to the Darwin Library collection, with an introduction by Francis Darwin, provides a gateway into Darwin's thought, research and intellectual context via his personal books and pamphlets. The book lists works in English and other languages, and contains bibliographic information, including the original publisher and date of publication, together with details of translations.

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) is remembered today as much for his profound influence on the young Charles Darwin as for his own work as a geologist: Darwin read the three volumes of his Principles of Geology (1830-3) as they came out, and was greatly interested in Lyell's theory of the huge effects over geological time of an accumulation of tiny, almost unobservable changes. The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man was published in 1863, and went into three editions in that year alone. The work synthesises the then existing evidence for the earliest humans in Europe and North America and - as indicated by its subtitle, With Remarks on Theories of the Origin of Species by Variation - discusses Darwin's theory and 'the bearing of this hypothesis on the different races of mankind and their connection with other parts of the animal kingdom.'

William Bateson (1861-1926) began his academic career working on variation in animals in the light of evolutionary theory. He was inspired by the rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's work on plant hybridisation to pursue further experimental work in what he named 'genetics'. He realised that Mendel's results could help to solve difficult biological questions and controversies which others had glossed over, and to challenge assumptions underlying evolution as it was understood at the time. After two years as Professor of Biology at Cambridge he left in 1910 to become Director of the newly founded John Innes Institute. Bateson's argumentative personality and unorthodox approach did not make him popular, and his reputation declined after his death. Was Bateson misunderstood? Was evolution misunderstood? This 1928 volume - including a substantial memoir by Bateson's wife - gives readers access to selected papers and addresses and allows them to consider him afresh.

These two short monographs, published under the auspices of the Palaeontographical Society in 1851 and 1854, show Charles Darwin as a meticulous research scientist, poring over fossils collected by himself and other enthusiasts in Britain and in Europe. The first volume is devoted to the Lepadidae, and the second to the Balanidae and Verrucidae (all types of barnacle, members of the infraclass Cirripedia). Darwin's interest in barnacles had first arisen in his student days in Edinburgh, under the guidance of Robert Grant, and increased during his detailed work in dissecting and classifying the specimens he had collected on the Beagle voyage. The publication of his findings cemented his reputation as a expert taxonomist and biologist, and his observations over eight years of the minute differences between males, females and an apparent hermaphroditic stage of development lent support to his developing theory of evolution.

Darwin had long been fascinated by insectivorous plants, from the native British sundews and bladderworts to the exotic pinguiculas and nepenthes which he encountered during the Beagle voyage. Growing in environments low in soil nutrients, their highly specialised ways of obtaining enough food, including the capability for fast movement in the case of the Venus flytrap, were evidence of evolutionary adaptation. But he was also interested in what food they needed, and whether they would be selective when offered a varied diet; and how did the flytrap close its trap on its prey? Darwin conducted a range of simple but ingenious experiments on his collection of insectivores and observed and noted the results of each with his customary meticulousness. The results can be seen in this book, which remains of enormous interest to anyone whose imagination has been fired by these strange and beautiful plants.

The development of Charles Darwin's views on evolution by natural selection has fascinated biologists since the 1859 publication of his landmark text On The Origin of Species. His experiences, observations and reflections during and after his pivotal journey on the Beagle during 1831-36 were of critical importance. Darwin was not, however, a man to be rushed. While his autobiography claims that the framework of his theory was laid down by 1839, its first outline sketch did not emerge until 1842. That essay was heavily edited, with many insertions and erasures. It formed the vital kernel of his more expansive but also unpolished and unpublished essay of 1844. Following careful editing by his son Francis, both essays were published in 1909, and are reproduced here. Reading these side by side, and together with the Origin, permits us to scrutinise selection and evolution truly in action.

In his introduction, Darwin reveals that for many years he had no intention of publishing his notes on this topic, 'as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views'. By 1871, he felt that his fellow scientists would show a greater openness of mind to his arguments, even when taken to their logical conclusion and applied to the descent of man from the apes - the aspect of his theory which had been so widely mocked since the notorious question asked by Bishop Wilberforce at the Oxford debate of 1860: was it through his grandmother or his grandfather that Thomas Huxley, Darwin's champion, considered himself descended from a monkey? However, the book's focus on the area of sexual selection and the evolutionary importance of secondary sexual characteristics across the animal kingdom meant that the book was received without the public outrage that Darwin had feared.

In his introduction, Darwin reveals that for many years he had no intention of publishing his notes on this topic, 'as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views'. By 1871, he felt that his fellow scientists would show a greater openness of mind to his arguments, even when taken to their logical conclusion and applied to the descent of man from the apes - the aspect of his theory which had been so widely mocked since the notorious question asked by Bishop Wilberforce at the Oxford debate of 1860: was it through his grandmother or his grandfather that Thomas Huxley, Darwin's champion, considered himself descended from a monkey? However, the book's focus on the area of sexual selection and the evolutionary importance of secondary sexual characteristics across the animal kingdom meant that the book was received without the public outrage that Darwin had feared.

This book, published in 1881, was the result of many years of experimentation and observation by Darwin in the open-air laboratory of his garden at Down House in Kent. As he wrote in his introduction, the subject of soil disturbance by worms 'may appear an insignificant one, but we shall see that it possesses some interest'. He goes on to demonstrate the immensity - in size and over time - of the accumulated tiny movements of soil by earthworms, and their vital role in aerating the soil and breaking down vegetable material to keep the topsoil, the growing medium for all plant life and thus vital to human existence, fertile and healthy. At a time when there is huge interest in growing food organically and without using artificial fertilisers, Darwin's insights are as important, and his descriptions of his experiments as fascinating, as they were in the late nineteenth century.

Mary Somerville (1780 1872) would have been a remarkable woman in any age, but as an acknowledged leading mathematician and astronomer at a time when the education of most women was extremely restricted, her achievement was extraordinary. Laplace famously told her that 'There have been only three women who have understood me. These are yourself, Mrs Somerville, Caroline Herschel and a Mrs Greig of whom I know nothing.' Mary Somerville was in fact Mrs Greig. After (as she herself said) translating Laplace's work 'from algebra into common language', she wrote On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834). Her intention was to demonstrate the remarkable tendency of modern scientific discoveries 'to simplify the laws of nature, and to unite detached branches by general principles.' This and her next book, the two-volume Physical Geography, also reissued in this series, were enormously influential both within the scientific community and beyond.

Mary Somerville (1780 1872) would have been a remarkable woman in any age, but as an acknowledged leading mathematician and astronomer at a time when the education of most women was extremely restricted, her achievement was extraordinary. Laplace famously told her that 'There have been only three women who have understood me. These are yourself, Mrs Somerville, Caroline Herschel and a Mrs Greig of whom I know nothing.' Mary Somerville was in fact Mrs Greig. After (as she herself said) translating Laplace's work 'from algebra into common language', she wrote On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), also reissued in this series. Her next book, the two-volume Physical Geography (1848), was a synthesis of geography, geology, botany, astronomy and zoology, drawing on the most recent discoveries in all these fields to present an overview of current understanding of the natural world and the Earth's place in the universe.

Darwin's impetus for the experiments of which the results are recorded in this book was 'a mere accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable fact that seedlings of self-fertilised parentage are inferior, even in the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of cross-fertilised parentage'. After eleven years of meticulous experimentation and observation, described in this volume, he was ready to publish in 1876 the detailed study which he regarded as a companion volume to his 1862 On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects. His 'first and most important of the conclusions which may be drawn ... is that cross-fertilisation is generally beneficial, and self-fertilisation injurious': this understanding is of course the basis of all modern plant breeding programmes.

John Pringle Nichol (1804-59) was a Scottish polymath whose major interests were economics and astronomy; he did much to popularise the latter by his writings. He became Regius Professor of Astronomy at Glasgow in 1836, and in the following year published Views of the Architecture of the Heavens which was immediately successful. George Eliot wrote in a letter of 1841, 'I have been revelling in Nichol's Architecture of the Heavens and Phenomena of the Solar System, and have been in imagination winging my flight from system to system, and from universe to universe ...' Nichol was a supporter of the nebular hypothesis - that stars form in massive and dense clouds of molecular hydrogen which are gravitationally unstable, and coalesce to smaller denser clumps, which then collapse and form stars - which in modified form is the model most widely accepted today.