Excerpt from Evolution: A General Sketch From Nebula to Man The dimensions of this little Work will sufficiently prepare the reader to appreciate its scope. It gives no more than the broad outlines of the evolution of the earth and its inhabitants. From the great volume which a score of sciences have co-operated in writing on that absorbing subject it selects only the pages that are most interesting and intelligible to the general reader. These pages it joins into a continuous story, which opens with the mighty cloud of matter that was stirred into giving birth to our sun and its planets, and ends with some attempt to forecast their fate in millions of years to come. In so brief an account of so long a story only slight reference can be made to the controversies that divide modern students of evolution in regard to the agencies at work. The aim is chie y to present a panoramic view of the development of the world - especially the world that lies close about us - by a conscientious use of the results of many sciences, and aided by a personal acquaintance during many years with both telescope and microscope. But disputed points will be left open, conjecture plainly stated as conjecture, and the latest theories of importance indicated; so that the reader may be at least slightly informed on the systems Weismannism, Mendelism, etc. - that now occur in all he may read further on the subject. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."