CHAP TERY 
THE VIEWS OF ERASMUS DARWIN 
ERASMUS DARWIN, the grandfather of Charles 
Darwin, was born in 1731, or twenty-four years after 
Buffon. He was an English country physician with 
a large practice, and not only interested in philosophy, 
mechanics, and natural science, but given to didactic 
rhyming, as evinced by Zhe Botanical Garden and 
The Loves of the Plants, the latter of which was 
translated into French in 1800, and into Italian in 
1805. His “shrewd and homely mind,” his powers 
of keen observation and strong common sense were 
revealed in his celebrated work Zoonomta, which was 
published in two volumes in 1794, and translated 
into German in 1795-99. He was not a zodlogist, 
published no separate scientific articles, and his strik- 
ing and original views on evolution, which were so 
far in advance of his time, appear mostly in the sec- 
tion on “ Generation,’ comprising 173 pages of his 
Zoonomtia, * which was mainly a medical work. The 
book was widely read, excited much discussion, and 
his views decided opposition. Samuel Butler in his 
Evolution, Old and New (1879) remarks: ‘“ Paley’s 
Natural Theology is written throughout at the Zoo- 
* Vol. ii., 3d edition. Our references are to this edition. 
