4 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



been believed, that Darwin owes more even to 

 the Greeks than we have ever recognized. 



It is true that until 1858 speculation far out- 

 ran fact, and that the development of the evo- 

 lution idea was at times arrested and even retro- 

 gressive; yet the conviction grows with inquiry 

 that the universal evolution law was reached not 

 by any decided leap, but by the progressive de- 

 velopment of every subordinate idea connected 

 with it, until it was recognized as a whole by La- 

 marck and, later, by Darwin. 



In order to prove this, I endeavor to trace 

 some of these lesser ideas back to their sources, 

 and to bring the comparatively little known 

 early evolutionists into their true relief either as 

 original thinkers and contributors or as mere 

 borrowers and imitators. This is possible only be- 

 cause such search has already been very ably 

 made among certain authors and in certain peri- 

 ods by other writers, to whom I am largely in- 

 debted for whatever success I have attained in 

 this first attempt to cover the whole period and 

 to establish the evidence of continuity. 



Little national bias has been shown in the 

 search for anticipations of Darwin among his 

 precursors; as one instance, the highest praises 

 of Lamarck have been sounded in Germany, and 

 of Goethe in France. The greatest defects I find 

 in the historical literature of this subject are the 



