X OBITUARY 255 



acquaintance with natural phenomena was set 

 forth ; but in a still greater degree, probably, to 

 the boldness of the speculative views, always 

 ingenious and sometimes fantastic, in which he 

 indulged. The conception of evolution set afoot 

 by De Maillet and others, in the early part of the 

 century, not only found a vigorous champion in 

 Erasmus Darwin, but he propounded an hypo- 

 thesis as to the manner in which the species of 

 animals and plants have acquired their characters, 

 which is identical in principle with that subse- 

 quently rendered famous by Lamarck. 



That Charles Darwin's chief intellectual in- 

 heritance came to him from the paternal side, 

 then, is hardly doubtful. But there is nothing to 

 show that he was, to any sensible extent, directly 

 influenced by his grandfather's biological work. 

 He tells us that a perusal of the " Zoonomia " in 

 early life produced no effect upon him, although 

 he greatly admired it ; and that, on reading it again, 

 ten or fifteen years afterwards, he was much disap- 

 pointed, "the proportion of speculation being so 

 large to the facts given." But with his usual 

 anxious candour he adds, " Nevertheless, it is proba- 

 ble that the hearing, rather early in life, such views 

 maintained and praised, may have favoured my 

 upholding them, in a different form, in my ' Origin 

 of Species/ " (I., p. 38.) Erasmus Darwin was in 

 fact an anticipator of Lamarck, and not of Charles 

 Darwin ; there is no trace in his works of the 



