164 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



their journeys to Rome, and that petrified fishes 

 were the remains of their unfinished repasts. 



It was probably his readings among the 

 Greeks, as well as his own pal^ontological and 

 geological studies, which gave de Maillet his cen- 

 tral hyphothesis that all terrestrial animals had 

 their origin in marine forms by direct descent; 

 that birds were derived from flying fishes, lions 

 from sea-lions, and man from Vhomme marin, the 

 husband of the mermaid ! De Maillet soberly col- 

 lected all the mythical narratives of the mermaid, 

 which were abundant in the literature of that 

 period, then, reasoning that the mermaid must 

 have espoused, he derived man from the meta- 

 morphosis of her husband. 



These extravagant ideas are mingled with the 

 rudiments of a biological principle, for de 

 Maillet, in every case, endeavors to explain this 

 metamorphosis or transformation by the influ- 

 ences of environment and habit. The aquatic 

 organism finds its way upon land; there its new 

 surroundings of air and herbage and its efforts 

 to accommodate itself are followed by a series of 

 modifications. In modern terms, 'it acquires new 

 characters.' The rash proto-Lamarckian feature 

 of de Maillet's views is, that he believes these 

 modifications take place within the short period 

 of a single life ; they are then transmitted to the 

 descendants, which do not revert to the aquatic 



