1909] The Ottawa Naturalist. 87 



Suarez' time in the middle of the 16th century no progress was 

 made in the evolution idea. 



In the latter part of the seventeenth centurv and in the 

 early part of the eighteenth there were three main classes of 

 writers, viz.: The Naturalists, the Speculative Evolutionists 

 and the Natural Philosophers. To the latter class belong such 

 eminent writers as Bacon, Descartes, Leibnitz and, belonging to 

 the German School, Kant, Herder, Lessing and Schelling. 



Bacon (1561-1626) was the most active of the early writers 

 in pointing out the evidences of the mutability of species and in 

 attempting to show the bearing which variation has upon organic 

 progression. There was also shown at this time the analogy 

 between artificial selection and natural selection. It is interesting 

 to know that at this early period (beginning of 17th centurv) 

 mutability of species was recognized and looked upon as a live 

 question. 



SCIEXTISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES. 



In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, we find 

 many writers of note propounding theories as to the manner in 

 which species have originated. De Maillet (1656-1738) tried to 

 show the influence exerted by habit and environment in inducing 

 changes in the nature and form of a plant, but, unfortunately 

 he went to extremes by claiming that modifications acquired 

 during a single life were transmitted in toto. 



Maupertuis (1698-1759) advanced a theroy of generation 

 resembling closeh'that of Darwin, and which anticipated to some 

 extent the modern idea as to the causes of fortuitous variations. 



Linnaeus, a Swede, (1707-1778) the great father of botany, 

 marked the beginning of zoology and botany as now understood. 

 The binary system of nomenclature proposed in his great work 

 Systema Naturae enabled him to show the relation of animals and 

 plants to each other. At first, Linnaeus looked upon species as 

 having been created directly by the Creator and he believed in 

 the absolute fixity of species. Later, however, he was compelled 

 to alter his views somewhat owing to the multiplication of species 

 which he observed everywhere in nature. We therefore see in 

 the revision of Systema Naturae, which he made in 1760, a 

 pronounced change, the mutability of species being more clearly 

 recognized. 



Buffon (1707-1788) took more radical views re the mut- 

 ability of species than did Linnaeus, and laid the foundation of 

 modern evolution in zoology and botany. He w^as the first to 

 point out clearly the relationship between mutability of species 

 and environment. He is thus the first to indicate some of the 

 causes of mutabilitv. 



