ANTICIPATION AND INTERPRETATION 7 



equal respect; they are really found to be most 

 unequal when tested by their approach to the 

 modern conception of Evolution. We must in- 

 quire into the sources or grounds of the conclu- 

 sions advanced by each writer, how far derived 

 from others, how far from personal observation 

 of Nature, and consider the soundness of each as 

 well as his suggestiveness and originality, before 

 we can judge fairly what permanent links he 

 may have added or welded into the chain of evo- 

 lutionary thought. 



Outlines of the Whole Development 



The history, as a whole, before Darwin, at 

 first sight appears to have been mainly the an- 

 ticipation of Nature; but closer examination re- 

 veals much genuine interpretation of Nature, 

 especially among the highly gifted Greeks, in 

 whom evolutionary speculation centered chiefly 

 around man/ As observed by Singer," the begin- 

 nings of scientific observation and generaliza- 

 tion are lost in antiquity: 



. . . Where does the science of biology begin? 

 Again we cannot say, but we can watch its evolution 

 and its progress. Among the Greeks the accurate ob- 

 servation of living forms, which is at least one of the 



^Compare Singer: Biology, and Thompson: Natural Science, 

 in The Legacy of Greece. 



^Charles Singer: Biology. Pp. 163-4 of The Legacy of Greece. 



