356 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



dation stone of his entire theory of Adaptation, 

 and Laplace, who supported Lamarck in his con- 

 ception. Herbert Spencer, too, erected the trans- 

 mission of individual adaptations into a really 

 central position in his philosophy. With this is 

 associated closely the concept of adaptation to 

 new conditions arising from the wants and needs 

 of animals, first expressed by Aristotle (p. 78) 

 and erected by Cope into the theory of Archges- 

 thetism. 



Whereas the early Greeks conceived of the 

 sudden abiogenetic origin of man, the idea of 

 human ascent with modification gradually fol- 

 lowed. In Aristotle's Physics the adaptations of 

 the human teeth are discussed as if they had a 

 natural and gradual rather than sudden origin. 

 Since the interest of the Greeks centered around 

 man, Greek research was early directed to the 

 comparison of adaptations in man and the lower 

 animals. Aristotle discussed the resemblances 

 and differences between man and the apes of the 

 Mediterranean region as they were known in his 

 period. Partly due to the influence of Greek 

 speculation is the recognition of man's relation 

 to other primates, as developed by Bruno, Leib- 

 nitz, Buifon, Kant, Herder. Bruno perceives the 

 importance of the tool-bearing hands, and most 

 interesting is the suggestion by Buffon, Helve- 

 tius and Erasmus Darwin that the exceptional 



