EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EVOLUTIONISTS 191 



and forming conclusions, but the main tendency 

 of his own work was to carry his conclusions only 

 to the point of distinguishing between the sepa- 

 rate forms of life, namely,, genera and species, 

 not to speculate or to theorize as to the causes of 

 these distinctions. Buffon held that the first aim 

 of science was to describe exactly, and to deter- 

 mine particular facts, but that we must devote 

 ourselves to something higher; namely, to com- 

 bine and generalize upon the facts, and to judge 

 particular causes in the light of the more general 

 causes of Nature. 



Thus, Linnaeus and Buffon were the founders 

 of two distinct schools. Linnaeus was upheld by 

 Cuvier and all the systematic writers upon genera 

 and species; Buffon was upheld by Lamarck, 

 Treviranus, Goethe, and St. Hilaire. The influ- 

 ence of Linneeus among his contemporaries was 

 vast^ — far greater than that of Buffon. The two 

 men were compared to the disadvantage of the 

 latter, and Buffon has been charged with jeal- 

 ousy of the great Swede ; certainly Buff on's suc- 

 cessor, Cuvier, was very reluctant to adopt the 

 Linn^ean system of naming species, and as late 

 as the year 1806 used the French vernacular for 

 fossil forms. ^ The reason why the works of Lin- 

 naeus were more influential is obvious, for his 

 genius as an observer and classifier yielded a 



iSee Osborn: Proboscidea Memoir, Chap. V. 



