“It is desirable to examine the great domain of organized beings by means of a methodical comparative anatomy, or order to discover whether we may not find in them something resembling a system, and that too in connection with their mode of generation, so that we may not be compelled to stope short with a mere consideration of forms as they are ... and need not despair of gaining a full insight into this department of nature. The agreement of so many kinds of animals in a certain common plan of structure, which seems to be visible not only in their skeletons, but also in the arrangement of the other parts ... gives us a ray of hope, though feeble, that here perhaps some results may be obtained by the application of the principle of the mechanism of Nature, without which, in fact, no science can exist. This analogy of forms strengthens the supposition that they have an actual blood relationship, due to derivation from a common parent; a supposition which is arrived at by observation of the graduated approximation of one class of animals to another.” He goes on to say that there is an unbroken chain extending from man to the lowest animals, from animals to plants, and from plants to the inorganic matter of which the earth is composed. And yet the man who, in 1790, could give so clear an outline of the basic facts of evolution, was unable to believe that the sequence which he perceived would ever be understood! For in another passage he says: “It is quite certain that we cannot become sufficiently acquainted with organized creatures and their hidden potentialities by aid of purely mechanical natural principles, much less can we explain them; and this is so certain, that we may boldly assert that it is absurd for man even to conceive such an idea, or to hope that a Newton may one day arise to make even the production of a blade of grass comprehensible, according to natural laws ordained by no intention; such an insight we must absolutely deny to man[5].” Perhaps the production of a blade of grass is not yet thoroughly comprehensible to us, but certainly the essential steps leading to that production are now well known. Even at the time Kant wrote there lived a man who did much to render the explanation possible, and another who, though disbelieving in evolution of any sort, perfected the means by which evolutionists were to arrange and label the members of the animal and plant kingdoms in order to make the study of them orderly and comprehensible. The great philosopher’s passion for accuracy, although an unusual and most creditable character in an age noted for its loose thought and wild speculation, prevented him from seeing the great significance of his own work. When man is able to comprehend a problem, and to state it in clear, accurate language, the solution of that problem is almost assured. The final triumph may be years, or even centuries away, but its eventual coming need hardly be questioned.