26 THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



definitive solution of this complex and enthralling 

 problem. 



It does not come within the scope of this work 

 to study in detail the physiological aspect of the 

 transformist hypothesis, and we shall only inci- 

 dentally touch upon the discussion of those biological 

 arguments which constitute the fundamental, and 

 often the exclusive part of the works of Lamarck, 

 Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, and Darwin. On the con- 

 trary, we shall examine carefully that which may 

 be called the historical side of the labours of these 

 scholars, that is to say, the synthetical essays sketched 

 out by these illustrious zoologists for the purpose of 

 constructing, from the documents supplied by 

 living and fossil animals, the early pedigrees of the 

 beings which have peopled the earth. These im- 

 portant questions, which should be the definite 

 conclusion, and, so to speak, the proof of the trans- 

 formist hypothesis, have too often been left in the 

 background by the commentators of Lamarck and 

 Darwin. Perhaps many readers of this work will 

 experience some surprise when noting, with precise 

 documents before them, if not an absolute void, at 

 least an extreme weakness in the attempts made 

 on these lines by the illustrious founders of Trans- 

 formism. 



