ANTICIPATION AND INTERPRETATION 5 



lack of sense of proportion as to the original 

 merits of different writers and the non-apprecia- 

 tion of the continuity of evolution thought. In 

 general, we need more critical and thorough 

 work than has yet been given us. Many heralded 

 anticipations are not anticipations at all, if we 

 speak of Darwinism in the restricted biological 

 sense and not as all-embracing. Others are gen- 

 uine, yet they consist of speculative ideas w^hich 

 had been retold or rediscovered several times 

 over, as in the case of the principle of survival of 

 the fittest. 



The estimates I have reached as to several of 

 the founders of the idea are therefore different 

 from those advanced by others. By considering 

 together all the historic stages of the develop- 

 ment even in a brief manner, we can trace the 

 continuity, the increasing momentum of the evo- 

 lution idea, and consequently the increasing in- 

 debtedness to previous suggestion. We can see 

 how many of the prophecies were themselves 

 foretold. Most obvious is the fact that Greek 

 speculations and suggestions were borrowed and 

 used over and over again in Europe as if origi- 

 nal, continuity in the lesser ideas which cluster 

 around Evolution being quite as marked as in 

 the main idea. To fully follow out all such ge- 

 netic threads would, however, require a far more 

 exhaustive research than this aims to be. 



