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HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF EVOLUTION THEORY 13 



D emocriiu s (b.450 B.C.), sai d to have been the first comp arative 

 anatom ist, conlrihiiied to the substructure of evolution t he idea of the 

 ''adaptation of single str uctures and organs to certain purpose s. " 



Anaxamra s (^00-428 B.C.) w as the first of the Greeks " to attribu te 

 the adaptations of Nature to Intelligent Design , and was^i.hus Jhe 

 foun der of Teleolo gy," an idea that has played a retarding function in 

 the history of evolution. 



''V ^jX\\ Aristot le (384-322 B.C.) we enter a new world," says Osborn. r 

 "H e towered above his predecesso rs, and by the force of his genius 

 cre ated Natural History ." The evolution idea took a great step 

 for ward with Aristotle and reached a stage beyond which it did not 

 go for many centuries . He covered nearly the whole field, touching 

 upon most of the foundation stones of the complex problem. His 

 ide as, like those of all the Greeks, were often vague and, in the li ght 

 of present knowledge, incoheren t ; but, considering the meager factual 

 background with which he had to work he had a surprising grasp of 

 the whole situation. S ome of his principal ideas wer e: 



I. He had a clear idea of laws of Nature ("Necessity"), and • 

 attr ibuted all evolutiona ry changes to natural caus es. 



~2. He opposed the ideas of Empedocles as to the fortuitous origin ' 

 of adaptive characters, and fav ored the idea of intelligent design i n 

 nature. He was therefore a teleologist. 



3. Hence he rejected the hypothesis of the survival of the fitte st,, 

 beca use it was based on chance . 



4. H£."had substantially the m odem conception o f the Evolution . 

 of life, from a pri mordial soft mass of living matte r. ' 



5. He_h ad an i dea of a linear phylogenetic series, beginn ing ' 

 wit h plants , then plant-animals, such as sponges and sea anemo nes, 

 then anima ls with sensibility, and thence by graded stages up to 

 Man. 



6. " He perceive d the unity of ty pe in certain classes of a nimals. ' 

 and cons idered rudimentary organs as tr >lrpng y^j^p^-phy fsJatnrp «;iigtain<t 

 this unity . " -^ 



7. "He anticipat ed- Ha rvey's doctrine of E ^igjenealsJlumbryonic 

 devplopmPDt. " 



8. ' ' H g^f ully p erceived the forces of h eredi tar y tra nsmi^ion. of the 

 prepotency of one parent or stock, and of Atavism and Reve/sion." 



9. He is the father of that ancient fallacy called "prenatal milu- 

 ences," and bel ieved in the inheritance of acquired char ac ters, s is 

 shown in the following passage : 



