CHAPTER VIII 



EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE DOCTRINE 

 OF EVOLUTION FOR THE ORGANIC WORLD 



IN studying the history of Evolutionary ideas, it 

 is necessary to keep in mind that there are two 

 perfectly distinct lines of thought, the origin and 

 development of which have to be considered. 



First. The conviction that species are not im- 

 mutable, but that, by some means or other, new 

 forms of life are derived from pre-existing ones. 



Secondly. The conception of some process or 

 processes, by which this change of old forms into 

 new ones may be explained. 



Buffon, Kant, Goethe, and many other philosophic 

 thinkers, have been more or less firmly persuaded of 

 the truth of the first of these propositions ; and even 

 Linnaeus himself was ready to make admissions in 

 this direction. It was impossible for anyone who was 

 convinced of the truth of the doctrine of continuity 

 or evolution in the inorganic world, to avoid the 

 speculation that the same arguments by which the 



