AMONG THE GREEKS 87 



(i. e. according to law) that germs should have 

 been first jiroduced, and not ivimediately ani- 

 mals; and that soft mass which first subsisted 

 was the germ. In plants, also, there is purpose, 

 but it is less distinct ; and this shows that plants 

 were produced in the same manner as animals, 

 not by chance, as by the union of olives upon 

 grape-vines. Similarly, it may be argued, that 

 there should be an accidental generation (or pro- 

 duction) of the germs of things, but he who as- 

 serts this subverts Nature herself, for Nature 

 produces those things which, being continually 

 moved by a certain principle contained in them- 

 selves, arrive at a certain end. 



These passages seem to contain absolute evi- 

 dence that Aristotle had substantially the mod- 

 ern conception of the progressive ascent of life 

 from a primordial, soft mass of living matter to 

 the most perfect forms, and that even these he 

 beheved were progressing to higher forms. His 

 argument of the analogy between the operation 

 of secondary natural law, rather than of chance, 

 both in the lifeless and in the living world, is a 

 perfectly logical one, and his consequent rejec- 

 tion of the hypothesis of the survival of the fittest 

 is a sound induction from his own limited knowl- 

 edge of Nature. It seems perfectly clear that he 

 placed all under secondary natural laws. If he 



