278 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



CuviER (1769-1832) 



Georges Cuvier, the junior of Lamarck by a 

 quarter of a century, the successor of Linnaeus 

 and of Buff on, was the greatest zoologist of his 

 day and exerted an unparalleled influence upon 

 European thought. Although the leading op- 

 ponent of the doctrines of Lamarck and of 

 Geoffroy in particular, and of the methods of 

 thought which were surely leading to the demon- 

 stration of the mutability versus fixity of species, 

 he nevertheless demands a place in this history 

 because the new science of palaeontology which he 

 founded was destined to overthrow all the prin- 

 ciples to which he devoted his great talents. 



It is interesting to note that in forming his 

 personal philosophy Cuvier reversed the order 

 taken by Linnaeus, Lamarck, and Geoffroy St. 

 Hilaire; for, starting with views very similar to 

 the most advanced held by Buffon upon the 

 mutability of species, he arrived at a point as 

 conservative as the early position of Linnaeus, 

 insisting upon the fixity, not only of species, but 

 of varieties. His definition of a species was of the 

 kind destined to prevail until 1858: ''All the be- 

 ings belonging to one of these forms {perpet- 

 uated since the beginning of all things [that is, 

 the Creation] ) constitute what we call species'^ 

 [Italics my own.] 



