Erasmus Darwin 7 



(1609) Dr Henry de Varigny^ gives us a glimpse, to Lorenz Oken 

 (1779 — 1851) whose writings are such mixtures of sense and nonsense 

 that some regard liim as a far-seeing prophet and others as a fatuous 

 follower of intellectual will-o'-the-wisps. Similarly, for De Maillet, 

 Maupertuis, Diderot, Bonnet, and others, we must agree with Pro- 

 fessor Osborn that they were not actually in the main Evolution 

 movement. Some have been included in the roll of honour on very 

 slender evidence, Robinet for instance, whose evolutionism seems to us 

 extremely dubious'^. 



The first naturalist to give a broad and concrete expression to 

 the evolutionist doctrine of descent was Buffon (1707 — 1788), but it is 

 interesting to recall the fact that his contemporary Linnaeus (1707 — 

 1778), protagonist of the counter-doctrine of the fixity of species^, 

 went the length of admitting (in 1762) that new species might 

 arise by intercrossing. Buffon's position among the pioneers of the 

 evolution-doctrine is weakened by his habit of vacillating between 

 his own conclusions and the orthodoxy of the Sorbonne, but there is 

 no doubt that he had a firm grasp of the general idea of " I'enchaine- 

 ment des etres." 



Erasmus Darwin (1731—1802), probably influenced by Bufibn, 

 was another firm evolutionist, and the outline of his argument in the 

 Zoonomia* might serve in part at least to-day. " ^\lien we revolve in 

 our minds the metamorphoses of animals, as from the tadpole to the 

 frog ; secondly, the changes produced by artificial cultivation, as in 

 the breeds of horses, dogs, and sheep ; thirdly, the changes produced 

 by conditions of climate and of season, as in the sheep of warm 

 climates being covered with hair instead of wool, and the hares and 

 partridges of northern climates becoming white in winter : when, 

 further, we observe the changes of structure produced by habit, as 

 seen especially in men of diftbrent occupations ; or the changes pro- 

 duced by artificial mutilation and prenatal influences, as in the 

 crossing of species and production of monsters ; fourth, when we 

 observe the essential unity of plan in all warm-blooded animals, — we 

 are led to conclude that they have been alike produced from a similar 

 living filament "...." From thus meditating upon the minute portion 

 of time in which many of the above changes have been produced, 

 would it be too bold to imagine, in the great length of time since the 

 earth began to exist, perhaps millions of years before the commcuce- 



* Exprrimental Evolution. London, 1892. Chap. i. p. 14. 



* See J. Arthur Thomson, The Science of Life. London, 1899. Chap. xvi. "Evolution 

 of Evolution Theory." 



' See Caru.q Sterne (Ernst Krauao), Die allgemeine Weltnmchanung in ihrer hintorinchen 

 Eutwickelung. Stuttgart, ISS'J. Chapter entitled "Beatandigkeit oder Veranderlichkeit 

 der Natorwesen." 



* Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, 2 vols. London, 1794 ; Osborn, op. eit. p. 145. 



