THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



fossils. All these methods we rely on now; our ad- 

 vance has been in accuracy of details and not in 

 method. 



It is very difficult to determine Buffon's positive 

 contribution to the mutability of species, but there is 

 no doubt as to his indirect influence on both Erasmus 

 Darwin and on Lamarck. He is generally supposed 

 to have passed through three phases of thought ; first, 

 of accepting the special creation of fixed species, 

 of then changing to the advanced position of advo- 

 cating a thorough theory of evolution, and of finally 

 retreating to the more conservative view of variation 

 within the species only. 



Buffon's study of the classifications of Linnaeus 

 and Cuvier, and his own attempts to find a satisfac- 

 tory system, deeply impressed him with the hopeless- 

 ness of forming a definite and adequate classification 

 of fauna and flora. As soon as a method is proposed, 

 new types are found which lie between two classes 

 so that, in the end, any one species merges into other 

 species by imperceptible gradations. He even goes so 

 far as to lament the waste of time and effort spent on 

 devising new systems and inventing elaborate nomen- 

 clatures until it is more difficult to learn them than 

 it is to know botany and zoology. While under the 

 influence of this idea of the fluidity of species, he 

 comes nearest to the doctrine of evolution. His most 

 unreserved statement is probably the following: "We 

 see that there is no absolute and essential difference 



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