HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF EVOLUTION THEORY 17 



basis. He lived at a time when it was dangerous to express views that 

 might be interpreted as unorthodox, and this may account for the 

 apparent lack of conviction in his own ideas; for he wavered betw een 

 s pecial creation and evolution . His chief con tribution is the idea of 

 th e direct influence of the environment m the modification of t he 

 s t ructure of animals and plants and the conservation of th ese modifi- 

 ca tions through heredit y. ftThis seems to imply that he believed in 

 the inheritance of acquired characters. He expressed himself a s 

 believing that climate has had a direct effect i n the production of 

 v arious races of man ^ tha t new varieties of animals have be en formed 

 th rough human interventio n (an idea implying artificial selection), 

 tha t similar results are produced by geographic migr ation and through 

 isolation^ He expressed the view that_therejs_a_great struggle for 

 existence among animals and pla nts_t_o prevent overcro wding a nd | 

 t o maintain the balance of Nature . This appears to be an anticipation 

 of Malthus' ideas on population, which were so influential in shaping 

 the theories of Charles Darwin and of Wallace. 



While many of his ideas appear to be highly advanced for his time, 

 his special applications are open to serious criticism. He reasons, 

 for example, that the pig as it exists at present could not have been 

 formed on any original complete and perfect plan, but seems to have 

 been formed as a compound from other animals. It has useless parts 

 which could hardly have been a part of a perfect plan as originally 

 conceived. He thought that "the ass is a degenerate horse, and the 

 ape a degenerate man. " 



On the whole Buffon was not a strong advocate of evolution and 

 his influence was far from being as important as some recent writers 

 appear to believe. 



I^ra smus Darw in (173 1-1802) , grandfather of Charles Darwin, 

 was a physician, a naturalist, and a minor poet. Undoubtedly he 

 transmitted to his grandson his thoughtful habit and love of science 

 and was influential in shaping his ideas on evolution. The elder 

 D a rwin's theories as to the causes of evolution closely parall eled 

 t hose of Lamarck, his distingui sh ed contemporary in F fance^ut it 

 is now very generally conceded that the ideas of the two men were 

 independently derived from similar materials. Erasm us Darwin laid 

 little emphasis on the direct action of the environment, which had been 

 Bufion's main dependence, and dwer£~on"the intefhal origin "oTadap-^ 

 tive characters. "All animals, '^he said, "undergo transformations 

 which are in part produced by their own exertions, in response toj 



