484 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



at the hands of the younger generation; his contribution was added to the 

 records in silence. 



Darwinism was least appreciated in France, where Cuvier's pupils held 

 sway in the realm of zoology and where even representatives of experimen- 

 tal research — Bernard and others — had little sympathy for the specula- 

 tive and hypothetical elements in the new theory. It is striking that Darwin 

 was not elected to the French Academy of Science until after he had pub- 

 lished his works on plant-physiology, and then under reference only to them 

 and not to the descent theory. And when this theory — or " trans fortnisme,' ' 

 as it was called in French — eventually found acceptance in the country of 

 Lamarck, it was with him rather than with Darwin that the followers of 

 the new tendency associated themselves. Of the earlier critics of Darwinism 

 in France the first name is that of Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de 

 Breau (i8io-9x), first a physician and finally professor of anthropology at 

 Paris, and famous as a leading specialist on marine fauna, particularly the 

 Annelida, but foremost as an anthropologist. As this last he carried out 

 valuable investigations into special subjects, all, however, governed by a 

 firm conviction as to the unity of the human race and its independence of 

 other life -forms. He wrote a number of treatises against Darwinism, the 

 chief of which was one entitled Charles Darwin et ses prkurseurs fran^ais, in 

 which he begins by describing several transformistic authors of French na- 

 tionality: de Maillet, Buffon, Lamarck, and others. In regard to Darwin, 

 Quatrefages admits that there is a struggle for existence, but does not be- 

 lieve in its power to create new life-forms. He sharply criticizes Darwin's 

 habit of adducing the probable and the possible — purely personal convic- 

 tion instead of facts proved on conclusive evidence — and he particularly 

 points out that, when it comes to the question of the life-phenomena of 

 past ages, Darwin constantly appeals to "the unknown." And Quatrefages 

 concludes his critical examination with the words: "Let us not dream of 

 what may be; let us instead assume and seek what is!" Among the earlier 

 critics of Darwinism Quatrefages is worthy of respect on account of the con- 

 siderate and objective manner in which he passed judgment on the theory. 

 Eventually, however, the descent theory gained ground even in France, 

 chiefly, as mentioned above, in the Lamarckian form, which at the same time 

 became known in other countries also, and which will be described later on. 



Vast quantites of polemical writings against Darwin and his theory 

 appeared during the period immediately after he first attracted public at- 

 tention; most of these were of practically no scientific value, since they were 

 based on religious arguments, which were the most usual, or else on quasi- 

 scientific or other grounds. Of the really objective contributions to the sub- 

 ject it would be possible to name many others besides those referred to above, 

 but space forbids a more detailed review of them. At the same time there 



