Eighteenth Century Evolution 281 



heresy, or fear and hatred of new ideas, must indicate stupid- 

 ity or malice. Consider for a moment that when Newton 

 promulgated his law of gravity no less an intellect than 

 Leibnitz raised objections on the ground, first, that the law 

 of gravity is nonsense since Newton himself did not pretend 

 to know just what gravity is; and second, that the law is 

 wicked since it is opposed to natural religion. 



The Copernican dislocation of the earth from its ac- 

 customed place in the center of the universe shook men up. 

 They began to resort to facts as possible aids in the solution 

 of the general question. Roughly speaking, this period of 

 observation and inference extended from the last quarter 

 of the Eighteenth Century to the end of the Nineteenth 

 Century. Those who looked at nature for facts rather than 

 symbols never doubted that the transformation of species 

 does actually go on. They were looking for facts to explain 

 how species came to be transformed. 



Eighteenth Century Evolution 



Georges Louis Buff on, who was director of the Royal 

 Gardens in Paris from 1739 to the time of his death in 1788, 

 was a very popular writer on natural history subjects. On 

 account of his official position he was obliged to be very cir- 

 cumspect in expressing views that might displease those in 

 authority. Besides, he liked himself too well to arouse hos- 

 tility. He did, however, note in his voluminous writings 

 many observations on the direct influence of climate and 

 other factors of the environment in modifying the structure 

 of plants and animals. He made many observations on the 

 adaptations of living things. He repeatedly intimated that 

 new varieties of organisms were formed both through hu- 

 man interference and through the natural processes seen to 

 act upon the individual. Buffon's veiled theories did not 

 present a consistent philosophy of evolution. Many of 

 his guesses as to how adaptations are brought about and 

 as to how new types of organisms originate are not today 



