RETROSPECT. 



249 



Anatomy and Embryology, as pursued by Buffon, 

 Kant, Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck, Goethe, Trevi- 

 ranus, St. Hilaire, and Serres. The significance of 

 ' degeneration ' and of ' vestigial structures ' mean- 

 while grew clear in the interpretations of Sylvius, 

 Buffon, Kant, Goethe, and Lamarck. 



' Environment' as a transforming factor was ap- 

 parently observed late, for we have seen it first de- 

 velop in the writings of Bacon, Maillet, Buffon, Kant, 

 Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck, Treviranus, St. Hilaire, 

 St. Vincent, Buch, and others. The 'struggle for 

 existence ' we have traced to Anaximander, and 

 more clearly in its bearing upon feeding and propa- 

 gation, to Empedocles and Lucretius. Buffon and 

 Malthus greatly developed it afresh, while Erasmus 

 Darwin, Treviranus, De Candolle, and others gave 

 it its modern form. ' Variation ' is of seventeenth 

 century origin, at least when considered partly as 

 evidence of, partly as a factor in. Evolution ; we 

 have seen it treated by Bacon, Leibnitz, Maupertuis, 

 Lamarck, and St. Hilaire, terminating with its full 

 exposition in the first half of the century as a link 

 of Darwinism. 



The broad conception of fortuitous combinations 

 and of accidental variations in relation to Survival 

 and hence to Adaptation, is found to be one of the 

 most ancient scientific ideas of which we have record 

 in history. It is seen to follow two lines. The first 

 is the survival of the fittest forms or types of life, 

 considered as a whole, as a collection of similar 



