370 OUTLINES OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY 



Buffon's inability to reconcile the logical consequences of bis 

 own inductions with his religious convictions is perhaps nowhere 

 better illustrated than in the attitude which he adopted with 

 regard to the position of man in the animal kingdom. Such an 

 experienced observer as he was could not fail to realize the close 

 agreement in structure between man and the higher apes : 



" We shall see, in the history of the orang utan that, were we to 

 pay attention only to the form, we might equally well look upon 

 this animal either as the highest of the apes or as the lowest 

 of mankind ; because, with the exception of the soul, he lacks 

 nothing of all that we possess, and because he differs less from 

 man in bodily structure than he differs from other animals to 

 which the name of ape has been given." l 



" I admit that, if one should judge only by form, the ape species 

 might be taken for a variety of the human species : the Creator 

 did not think fit to make for the human body a model absolutely 

 different from that of the animal ; He has included his form, like 

 that of all the animals, in one general plan ; but at the same 

 time that He bestowed upon him this ape-like material form, He 

 penetrated this animal body with His divine breath." 2 



The ape, on the other hand, is a mere animal, and 



" in spite of his resemblance to man, far from being the second 

 in our species, he is not the first in the order of animals, since 

 he is not the most intelligent." 3 



There can be no doubt that the views of Erasmus Darwin 

 (1731 1802) were largely influenced by the writings of Buffon, to 

 which he repeatedly refers. Darwin's " Zoonomia" was published 

 in 1794, 4 but, perhaps because it was mainly a medical work, it 

 received but little attention from professional naturalists. The 

 section dealing with " Generation " contains his views on evolu- 

 tion. A few quotations will suffice to illustrate these : 



" Owing to the imperfection of language the offspring is termed 

 a new animal, but is in truth a branch or elongation of the 

 parent ; since a part of the embryon-animal is, or was, a part of 

 the parent ; and therefore in strict language it cannot be said to 



1 " Histoire Naturelle," Tom. XIV, p. 30. The name "orang utan " was applied 

 by Buffon to the chimpanzee. 



2 IMd., p. 32. 

 s Ibid., p. 37. 



4 My quotations are taken from an edition published by B. Dugdale at Dublin 

 iu 18UU. 



