EVOLUTION BEFORE DARWIN 1 7 



Erasmus Darwin recognized the struggle for exist- 

 ence, but he saw in it only a check against overcrowd- 

 ing, and not an active factor in the development as his 

 grandson Charles came to see it. It is possible the 

 elder Darwin's views might have been taken more 

 seriously had he not clothed them with the form of 

 verse. In these days it seems quite ludicrous to think 

 of giving to the world a new scientific concept or a 

 new phase of philosophy in verse. 



The beginning of the nineteenth century gives us 

 the first really great contribution to the idea of evolu- 

 tion. Under more favorable surroundings, this idea 

 would have budded and become the parent stock of 

 our modern theories. The chill frosts of adverse 

 criticism by those in authority in science nipped the 

 budding idea and so set it back that only of late years 

 have men come to realize its strength and power. 

 The Chevalier de Lamarck, serving in Monaco, was 

 attracted by its rich flora to the study of botany. 

 Coming later to Paris, he became acquainted with 

 Buffon and was led by him to publish a Flora of 

 France, using the Linnaean system of classification. 

 He was appointed to the chair of zoology in the Jar- 

 din des Plantes, and was given especial charge of the 

 invertebrate animals, comprising all the members of 

 the animal kingdom except those with backbones. 

 After seventeen years of work over these forms, dur- 



