THE THEORIA GENERA TIONIS. 



279 



our planet. Both found answers to their respective parts of 

 this problem. Wolff published his answer when he was very- 

 young ; Darwin waited till he was well along in years. Each 

 was confronted by a formidable, clearly formulated theory of 

 special creation. The theory that confronted Wolff was spe- 

 cial creation of all individual organisms by a preadamite fiat. 

 Darwin was confronted by a theory of the special creation of 

 all the species at the same inscrutable time. This view had 

 found favor with such eminent men as Linne, Cuvier, L. 

 Agassiz, Owen, and the numerous systematists who followed 

 in their footsteps, making species Platonic ideas, just as indi- 

 vidual organisms had been made Platonic ideas in Wolff's day. 

 During the closing half of the eighteenth century it became 

 clear to thinking men that individual organisms always have 

 an epigenetic origin from preexisting individuals. The closing 

 half of the present century has been consumed in demonstrat- 

 ing that species always arise from preexisting species. 



Both Wolff and Darwin collided with prevailing theological 

 views. Darwin's experience in this matter is well known, and 

 perhaps the less said about it the better. It is not so generally 

 known that Wolff's failure to establish himself as a professor 

 in Germany, and his departure in 1769 for St. Petersburg, 

 where he spent the remainder of his life, was probably due not 

 only to professional jealousy, but also to a certain antagonism 

 on the part of religious contemporaries. In his letters Haller 

 often warned Wolff of the dangers of his views to religious 

 dogma, and endeavored to persuade him to abandon them "on 

 grounds of utility." ^ Just before leaving for St. Petersburg 

 Wolff wrote the following to Haller : " There is, of course, no 

 reason why a divine being should not exist, even if organic 

 bodies are formed by natural forces and through natural causes ; 

 for these very forces and causes, yes. Nature herself, has as 

 much need of an Originator as organic bodies ; still the evi- 

 dence would be far more cogent and apparent, if we should find 

 from contemplation of Nature that her individual products, the 

 organic bodies, required a Creator, and that nothing organic 

 could be produced through natural causes." Does not this 



1 Kirchhoff, A., I.e. 



