RISE OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT 425 



case. He pointed triumphantly to the four branches of the 

 animal kingdom which he had established, maintaining that 

 these four branches represented four distinct types of organi- 

 zation; and, furthermore, that fixity of species and fixity of 

 type were necessary for the existence of a scientific natural 

 history. We can see now that his contention was wrong, 

 but at the time he won the debate. The young men of 

 the period, that is, the rising biologists of France, were 

 nearly all adherents of Cuvier, so that the effect of the de- 

 bate was, as previously stated, to retard the progress of sci- 

 ence. This noteworthy debate occurred in February, 1830. 

 The wide and lively interest with which the debate was 

 followed mav be inferred from the excitement manifested 

 by Goethe. Of the great poet-naturalist, who was then in 

 his eighty-first year, the following incident is told by Soret : 



"Monday, Aug. 2d, 1830. — ^The news of the outbreak of 

 the revolution of July arrived in Weimar to-day, and has 

 caused general excitement. In the course of the afternoon 

 I wTnt to Goethe. 'Well,' he exclaimed as I entered, Svhat 

 do you think of this great event? The volcano has burst 

 forth, all is in flames, and chere are no more negotiations 

 behind closed doors.' *A dreadful affair,^ I answered; 

 *but what else could be expected under the circumstances, 

 and with such a ministry, except that it would end in the 

 expulsion of the present royal family?' * We do not seem 

 to understand each other, my dear friend,' replied Goethe. 

 'I am not speaking of those people at all; I am interested 

 in something very dift'erent. I mean the dispute between 

 Cuvier and Geoft'roy de Saint-Hilaire, which has broken out 

 in the Academy, and which is of such great importance to 

 science.' This remark of Goethe came upon me so unex- 

 pectedly that I did not know what to say, and my thoughts 

 for some minutes seemed to have come to a complete stand- 

 still. 'The affair is of the utmost importance/ he con- 



