WHAT EVOLUTION IS 13 



human beings in the beginning must 

 have been very different from what 

 they are at present. He is even be- 

 lieved to have assumed for them an 

 aquatic ancestry, perhaps fish-Hke 

 in character. Anaximander's views 

 were often quoted, and thus classical 

 antiquity must have had some idea of 

 the evolutionary doctrine. 



But the serious advances in this 

 body of opinion date from the last 

 two centuries. Throughout the early 

 part of this period uncertain rumors 

 of an evolutionary kind were contin- 

 ually heard; and as time went on, 

 these rumors became more and more 

 distinct. With this growth in defi- 

 niteness opposition took on a more 

 final shape. Thus Linnaeus (1707- 

 1778), who may be said to have es- 

 tablished systematics by publishing 

 in his " Systema Naturae '^ a classifi- 

 cation and description of all plants 



