150 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



Buffon does not consider even the differences between 

 sheep and goats to be sufficiently characteristic to war- 

 rant their being classed as different species. 



" I shall never tire," he continues, " of repeating 

 seeing how important the matter is that we must not 

 form our opinions concerning nature, nor differentiate 

 (differencier) her species, by a reference to minor special 

 characteristics. And, again, that systems, far from 

 having illustrated the history of animals, have, on the 

 contrary, served rather to obscure it .... leading, as 

 they do, to the creation of arbitrary species which nature 

 knows nothing about ; perpetually confounding real and 

 hypothetical existences ; giving us false ideas as to the 

 very essence of species; uniting them and separating 

 them without foundation or knowledge, and often without 

 our having seen the animal with which we are dealing." * 



First and Second Views of Nature. 



The twelfth volume begins with a preface, entitled 

 " A First View of Nature," from which I take the fol- 

 lowing : 



" What cannot Nature effect with such means at 

 her disposal? She can do all except either create 

 matter or destroy it. These two extremes of power 

 the deity has reserved for himself only ; creation and de- 

 struction are the attributes of his omnipotence. To alter 

 and undo, to develop and to renew these are powers 

 which he has handed over to the charge of Nature." f 



The thirteenth volume opens with a second view of 

 nature. After describing what a man would have ob- 

 * Tom. xi. p. 370, 1764. f Ibid, xii., preface, iv. 17G4. 



