5IO EVOLUTION, HEREDITY, EUGENICS 



The early Greeks and Romans possessed an inborn inquisitive 

 spirit. They lived on the shores of the Mediterranean where many 

 interesting natural phenomena were visible daily. Their speculative 

 inquiry resulted in the formulation of quite definite although fre- 

 quently erroneous ideas regarding the origin of life, the composition 

 of matter and the reasons for extinction of some animals while 

 others survived. 



Jhales (624-548 B. C.) is credited by Aristotle with the fol- 

 lowing beliefs: 



I. The earth floats on the water. 1. Water is the material 

 cause of all things. 3. All things are full of gods; and the magnet 

 is alive, for it has the power of moving iron. 



Thales was the founder of Ionic physical philosophy and there- 

 fore the founder of Greek philosophy. He discarded the mythical 

 explanation of things and asserted that a physical element, water, 

 was the first principle of all things. He was the first to question 

 the origin of the earth, but believed that God is the mind which 

 formed all things from water. 



Anaximander (611-547 B. C.) suggested the transformation of 

 aquatic species into terrestrial and the especial adaptation of such 

 terrestrial forms. 



Empedocles (495-345 B. C.) is called the " Father of Evolution," 

 because he suggested the possibility of the oj-igtJi of t\\c fittest forms 

 through chance. He thought that there were four kinds of matter, 

 fire, air, earth and water, and that these were acted upon by two 

 opposing forces. Love and Hate. He suggested that the independ- 

 ent parts of horse and man could fuse to make a Centaur. He was 

 one of the earliest students of Embryology. 



Aristotle (384-322 B. C), the most important of the Greek 

 philosophers, believed in an internal perfecting tendency. He 

 postulated a gradation from the mineral to the plant, the plant-like 

 animal, the lower animals and finally man He said, " Nature 

 makes only those fit for a purpose and makes those fit for their 

 several uses." Osborn says,^ " If Aristotle had accepted Empedo- 

 cles' hypothesis of the origin of the fittest through chance rather 

 than through design, he would have been the literal prophet of 

 Darwinism." Aristotle appealed directly to Nature for facts and 

 stimulated inquiry in anatomy and physiology. As instructor of 

 Alexander the Great, he secured a subsidy of 800 talents, sufficient 



6 Osborn, H. F. 1908. From the Greeks to Darwin. The Macmillan Co. 



