258 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
animal. This peculiarity was handed down in the generations of the 
race, the offspring of each generation continuing and establishing 
the distinctive character of the breed. Or, in the words of Buffon, 
“ All the essential parts of the animal economy seemed to indicate 
that the Creator had determined to employ only one idea, and 
to vary that idea in every conceivable way, calling us to admire 
at once the magnificence and the simplicity of the design.” This 
theory renders it easy to account for the very varied distribution 
of organs to the members of the animal kingdom. A slightly- 
altered phase of this idea is at the present time agitating the 
scientific world. Mr. Darwin has broached what is called “ The 
fTIENNE GEOFFROY ST. HILAIRE. 
theory of genetic evolution by variation.” Whether St. Hilaire ever 
conceived that not only were the animals made on one plan, but 
that they all came from one stock, and that all diversity which 
we now see around us has been produced in the lapse of ages by the 
necessities of the position in which the animals were perhaps at 
first accidentally thrown; whether he conceived this idea or not, is 
uncertain: he certainly did not venture to bring it into the discus- 
sion. But since his day, theorists have grown bolder. However, the 
world of to-day does not want its Cuviers, men who, by patient 
investigation, and a calm survey of facts, draw conclusions at once 
safe and sound. The mere fact that Darwin’s theory has found many 
great names to lend to it their authority, is a sufficient guarantee 
that many facts and analogies can be cited in its support. 
