I. FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EVOLUTION IDEA. 



BY 



HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, Sc.D. Princeton, 



Da Costa Professor of Biology in Columbia College. 



Ready in September. 



This opening volume, " From the Greeks to Darwin/' is an 

 outline of the development from the earliest times of the idea of 

 the origin of life by evolution. It brings together in a continu- 

 ous treatment the progress of this idea from the Greek philoso- 

 pher Thales (640 B.C.) to Darwin and Wallace. It is based 

 partly upon critical studies of the original authorities, partly 

 upon the studies of Zeller, Perrier, Quatrefages, Martin, and 

 other writers less known to English readers. 



This history differs from the outlines which have been pre- 

 viously published, in attempting to establish a complete conti- 

 nuity of thought in the growth of the various elements in the 

 Evolution idea, and especially in the more critical and exact 

 study of the pre-Darwinian writers, such as Buffon, Goethe, 

 Erasmus Darwin, Treviranus, Lamarck, and St. Hilaire, about 

 whose actual share in the establishment of the Evolution theory 

 vague ideas are still current. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

 I. The Anticipation and Interpretation of Nature. 

 II. Among the Greeks. 



III. The Theologians and Natural Philosophers. 



IV. The Evolutionists of the Eighteenth Century. 

 V. From Lamarck to St. Hilaire. 



VI. The First Half-century and Darwin. 



In the opening chapter the elements and environment of the 

 Evolution idea are discussed, and in the second chapter the re- 

 markable parallelism between the growth of this idea in Greece 

 and in modern times is pointed out. In the succeeding chap- 

 ters the various periods of European thought on the subject are 

 covered, concluding with the first half of the present century, 

 especially with the development of the Evolution idea in the 

 mind of Darwin. 



