The idea of an evolving scale of life has
been around for more than two thousand years -- from the time of
Thales, Anaximander and Empedocles. Yet it was not until the days of
Charles Darwin that the idea began to take on any essence of science.
Men such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Herbert Spencer laid the
groundwork for this theory, but it was Darwin who was given credit for
announcing it to the world.
Until the mid-19th century, practically all men of science...