IV. 



THE EVOLUTIONISTS OF THE EIGH- 

 TEENTH CENTURY. 



Die Idee der Metamorphose ist eine hochst ehnvtirdige. aber zugleich hochst 

 gefiihrliche Gabe von oben. Die fiihrt ins Formlose, zerstort das Wissen, lost es 

 auf. — Goethe. 



Beside the philosophers between Bacon and Kant 

 we distinguish two other classes of evolutionists 

 during the latter part of the seventeenth and the 

 whole of the eighteenth century. These are, first, 

 the speculative writers from Duret to Oken, partly 

 philosophers, partly naturalists and of other pro- 

 fessions, who resuscitated some of the crude, as 

 well as some of the valuable scientific hypotheses of 

 the Greeks ; and second, the great naturalists of the 

 eighteenth century, who, with the philosophers, laid 

 the real foundations of the modern Evolution idea. 



The Speculative Evolutionists. 



The lists of speculative writers are not yet com- 

 plete. Among the curiosities of Evolution litera- 

 ture are included the works of Duret, the mayor of 

 a town in France, also of Kircher and Bonnami, 

 two priests. Of real interest are the speculations 

 of Maupertuis, a mathematician and astronomer ; of 

 Diderot, the political writer; of Bonnet, the eminent 

 naturalist; of De Maillet, French consul at Leghorn; 



io6 



/ 



