Chapter Seven 



The Origin of Species 



As EVERYONE knows, Darwin's Origin of 

 k. Species (1859) constitutes the great landmark 

 in the history of the concept of the evolution of 

 species. In an address delivered at the University of 

 Freiburg, on the occasion of the centenary of Darwin 

 (1909), August Weismann said that Darwin's Origin 

 of Species "raised a conflagration like lightning in a 

 full barn." 



The concept of the evolution of species had been 

 a prolific idea long before Darwin; indeed, the con- 

 cept was a familiar one to the ancient Greeks. Weis- 

 mann reminded his hearers : "You know that Darwin 

 was not the only one, and was not even the first, to 

 whom the idea of evolution occurred." A writer in 

 the Biologisches Zentralblatty J. H. F. Kohlbruegge, 

 asked: "Was Darwin an original genius?" and 

 adduced about two hundred names to prove a nega- 

 tive answer correct.^ 



' Biologisches Zentralblatt, XXXV, Februar, 1915. 



198 



