VI. 



DARWIN. 



E^ ist fur Menschen ungereimt, auch nur einen solchen Anschlag zu fassen, 

 Oder zu hoffen. dass noch etwa dereinst ein Newton auTstehen konne, der auch 

 nur die Erzeugung eines Grashalms nach Naturgesetzen, die keine Absichtgeordnet 

 hat, begreiflich machen werde, sondern man muss diese Einsicht dem Menschen 

 schlechterdings absprechen. — KANT. 



With Bory de St. Vincent and the younger St. 

 Hilaire the original movement in France, which 

 had beeun with Buffon and extended over nearly 

 a hundred years, came to a close. In the mean- 

 time, from the early part of the century, the seed 

 had been scattering. In England, on the Conti- 

 nent, and in America, the Evolution theory found 

 here and there a friend who passingly restated, 

 or slightly expanded, views already expressed by 

 Buffon, Lamarck, Goethe, or Treviranus. Some 

 original ideas also sprang up in out of the way 

 quarters, and have been unearthed from their 

 hiding-places since the theory has been estab- 

 lished; we must place them, as it were, in an 

 alcove of this history, because they certainly had 

 little or no direct connection with the main devel- 

 opment of the Evolution idea; they were not put 

 forth as part of a general system, and exerted no 

 influence upon either Darwin or Wallace. 



V 209 



