This reply confuses me.
What part of it confuses you? I oversimplified, but evolution was widely discused prior to Darwin:
http://www.aboutdarwin.com/literature/Pre_Dar.html
There were lots of theories, but when it became evident that extinction had occurred, modern creatures seemed more complex that extinct forms, the usual explanation was that God had worked his way up to the present forms, and each level was an individual creation.