FROM LAIVIARCK TO ST. HILAIRE 263 



living forms of today have descended by a suc- 

 cession of generations, and without break, from 

 the extinct forms of the antedihivian period." He 

 looked for, and found, within his own reach, 

 proofs and evidence, in embryology, in the his- 

 tory of metamorphoses and in teratology. Not 

 even in speculation did he trace back all forms 

 of life to a simple prototype ; in filiation, or what 

 is now known as phylogeny, he thus narrowed 

 Lamarck's wide field of conjecture. 



Discussion betaveen Cuvier and 

 St. Hilaire^ 



Into the higher region of generalization, which 

 Goethe took up only to abandon, few naturahsts 

 dared to stir. The followers of Linnaeus showed 

 themselves weakest w^here they attempted deduc- 

 tion, and we have contrasted the soundness of 

 Cuvier's comparative anatomy with the worth- 

 lessness of his speculation. The Buffon school 

 came into ridicule because of some of the wild 

 hypotheses in their earlier books, for neither 

 Buffon nor Lamarck knew when to apply the 

 curb. Excessive speculation brought a reaction. 

 After Kielmeyer, SchelHng, and Goethe, there 



iPor a full account of this famous discussion see Perrier's 

 Philosophie Zoologique avant Darwin. It is also frequently al- 

 luded to in the Histoire Naturelle G&n^rale by the younger St. 

 Hilaire. It was immediately hailed by Goethe as a triumph of 

 principles to which he had devoted his life. 



