HOW IS ORGANIC EVOLUTION CAUSED? 491 



descended from one, or a few, primordial germs; and along 

 with some observable causes of modification, which he points 

 out as aiding the developmental process, he apparently 

 ascribes it, in part, to a tendency given to such germ or 

 germs when created. He suggests the possibility &quot; that all 

 warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, 

 which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with 

 the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new pro 

 pensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and 

 associations; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing 

 to improve by its own inherent activity.&quot; In this passage 

 we see the idea to be, that evolution is pre-determined 

 by some intrinsic proclivity. &quot; It is curious,&quot; says 



Mr. Charles Darwin, &quot; how largely my grandfather, Dr. 

 Erasmus Darwin, anticipated the erroneous grounds of 

 opinion, and the views of Lamarck.&quot; One of the anticipa 

 tions was this ascription of development to some inherent 

 tendency. To the &quot; plan general de la nature, et sa marche 

 uniforme dans ses operations,&quot; Lamarck attributes &quot; la 

 progression evidente qui existe dans la composition de 

 Torganisation des animaux ; &quot; and &quot; la gradation reguliere 

 qu ils devroient offrir dans la composition de leur organ 

 isation,&quot; he thinks is rendered irregular by secondary 

 causes. Essentially the same in kind, though some 



what different in form, is the conception put forth in the 

 Vestiges of Creation; the author of which contends &quot; that 

 the several series of animated beings, from the simplest and 

 oldest up to the highest and most recent, are, under the pro 

 vidence of God, the results, first, of an impulse which has 

 been imparted to the forms of life, advancing them, in defi 

 nite times, by generation, through grades of organization 

 terminating in the highest dicotyledons and vertebrata;&quot; 

 and that the progression resulting from these impulses, is 

 modified by certain other causes. The broad contrasts be 

 tween lower and higher forms of life, are regarded by him 

 as implying an innate aptitude to give birth to forms of 



