146 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



the two opposed Cartesian attributes, thought and 

 extension, and the absolutely infinite substance whose 

 attributes they are — substance constituted by in- 

 finite attributes — appear here as in the Ethics.^ 



To Pascal (1623-1662) was attributed by 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire a thoroughly evolutionistic 

 view as to the origin of animals and plants; yet 

 diligent search by other authors has failed to lo- 

 cate this in any of his writings. In the close of 

 a treatise upon optics Newton (1642-1727) 

 pointed out the uniformity of structure which 

 pervades all animal types. Hume (1711-1776) 

 also concluded that the world might have been 

 generated rather than created by the activity of 

 its own inherent principles, and Leslie Stephens 

 points out that he also considered the principle 

 of the ^survival of the fittest.' 



But the final and the fullest expression of 

 Evolution in philosophical literature is found in 

 Kant. 



Kant (1724-1804) 



Emmanuel Kant was born seventeen years 

 after Bufi:*on and Linn^us, and therefore thought 

 and wrote after natural history had made very 

 great advances. The ideas of selection, adapta- 



lA. S. Pringle-Pattison : Spinoza. Enc. Brit., vol. 25, p. 689. 



