Étienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), the zoologist on the Egyptian expedition, interpreted the results differently, and was one of the most brilliant supporters of Lamarck. In 1828 he published his convictions that the same forms have not been perpetuated since the origin of all things, though he did not believe that existing species were undergoing modification. Cuvier returned to the charge, and in 1856 propounded his doctrine of the periodical revolutions of the earth, of the renewal each time of the flora and fauna, and of the incessant and miraculous intervention of a creative Will. And for a time, owing to his position and authority, he held the field. [Sidenote: =Robert Chambers.=] In 1844 appeared a book which had an enormous influence on the pre-Darwinian history of Evolution. This was an anonymous work entitled _Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation_, the authorship of which was not revealed until the publication of the twelfth edition in 1884. It was the production of Robert Chambers (1802-1871), co-editor with his brother William of _Chambers’s Journal_, and author of many books on Scotland and a few on science. He traced the action of general laws throughout the universe as a system of growth and development, and held that the various species of animals and plants had been produced in orderly succession from each other by the action of unknown laws and the influence of external conditions. The _Vestiges_ became at once the centre of scientific discussion, denounced by the orthodox, and held “not proven” by most of the men of science of the time. Its supporters were called “Vestigiarian,” a term which implied also “unscientific,” “sentimental,” and “absurd.” The curious point is that in the _Vestiges_ we find much of what was subsequently called the Darwinian theory already enunciated. According to Wallace, it clearly formulated the conception of evolution through natural laws, and yet it was denounced by those who soon after were to become the champions of Darwinism. This was partly due to the way in which the doctrine was treated and expressed, partly also to the “needless savagery” of Professor Huxley. Huxley wrote in 1887: “I must have read the _Vestiges_ ... before 1846; but, if I did, the book made very little impression on me.... I confess the book simply irritated me by the prodigious ignorance and thoroughly unscientific habit of mind manifested by the writer.” Professor Lovejoy[40] explains the reasons for Huxley’s attitude:— Footnote 40: _Loc. cit._