RETROSPECT 353 



To the inquiry as to where hfe first appeared 

 we find the answer "in the sea" given by Thales, 

 Anaximander and de Maillet; "between sea and 

 land" is the answer of Anaximenes, Diogenes, 

 Democritus and Oken; "from the earth" is the 

 soHtary reply of Lucretius. Man's origin and de- 

 scent were always of the first interest to the 

 Greeks. The idea of his slow development is sug- 

 gested by the crude observation of Anaximander 

 and takes its more scientific form in Lucretius, 

 Bruno and Leibnitz. 



For the succession of life we have followed the 

 ascending scale of Aristotle, Bruno, Leibnitz and 

 others, until Buffon realized its inadequacy and 

 Lamarck substituted the simile of the branching 

 tree. Of man as the summit of the scale and still 

 in process of becoming more perfect in his en- 

 dowments, we learn from Empedocles, Aristotle, 

 Robinet, Diderot, Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck 

 and Treviranus. 



The struggle for existence we have traced to 

 Anaximander and, more clearly in its bearing 

 upon feeding and propagation, to Empedocles 

 and Lucretius. Buffon and Malthus greatly de- 

 veloped it afresh, while Erasmus Darwin, Tre- 

 viranus, de Candolle and others gave it its mod- 

 ern form. 



Of the greatest moment of all is our pursuit of 

 the eternal problem of Adaptation, first as it 



