NA TURE 



\6i 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1S95. 



///£ HLSTORY OF F.VOLUTION. 

 I'roni the Greeks to Darwin : an Outline of the Develop- 

 ment of the Evolution Idea. By Henry Fairfield 

 Osljom, Sc.D., Da Costa Professor of Biology in 

 Columbia College, &c. (New York ; Macmillan and 

 Co.) 



""T^HE object of this most interesting and useful work is 

 -L to survey the last twenty-four centuries and bring 

 together the thoughts— true and false — upon evolution. 

 ICxamining and comparing the material which he has 

 I oilccted, the author concludes "that the influences of 

 larly upon later thought are greater than has been 

 lielie\ed, that Darwin owes more even to the Greeks 

 than we have ever recognised." In supporting this con- 

 c lusion the author desires to give due credit to the earlier 

 writers, but not to lower in an)- way the transcendant 

 position occupied by Darwin. Indeed, so scrupulously 

 lair is the treatment that the materials are thoroughly 

 .nailable to those who do not altogether follow the author 

 11 his conclusion. And many objections to the conclusion 

 arc most prominently brought forward. Thus the great 

 interval between the beginning and the middle of the 

 present century, when all continuity in evolutionary 

 thought seemed to be broken, is described again and 

 igain. We read on page 12: "Perhaps the sharpest 

 iiaiisitioii was at the close of the third period, in 

 hich a distinct anti-evolution school had sprung up 

 aid succeeded in firmly entrenching itself, so that Darwin 

 and Wallace began the present era with some abruptness." 

 Again, on pages 227 and 228, the strong prejudice against 

 evolution which marks this peiiod is illustrated in many 

 \\ ays, and the section concludes : "... all the progress 

 » hich had been made in the long centuries we have been 

 . onsidering was, for the time, a latent force. The Evolu- 

 tion idea, with the numerous truths which had accumulated 

 il>out it, was again almost wholly subordinate co the 

 Special Creation idea." 



The recognition of this strongly-marked gap in the 

 history of evolutionary thought, and, above all, the details 

 u hich we learn from Darwin's " Life and Letters," tend 

 to throw doubt upon the view that he drew much of his 

 inspiration from the past. The great majority 01 

 naturalists could not entertain the idea of evolution unless 

 some explanation of its cause was forthcoming. Darwin 

 treated the process and the cause as entirely distinct, and 

 was convinced of the one long before he had come to any 

 definite opinion about the other. In accepting evolution 

 as against special creation, we fail to find any evidence 

 that Darwin was influenced by the arguments or con- 

 clusions of an earlier day. He was influenced and finally 

 convinced by his conclusions from his own observations 

 on the lieagle (quoted by Prof. Osborn on p. 233). In 

 looking for the causes of evolution he was equally in- 

 dependent of the past ; for he saw that adaptation was 

 the central fact which required explanation, and which 

 had recei\ed none at the hands of the naturalists u ith 

 whose writings he was acquainted. 



Hut whether the thread be broken or continuous, the 

 history of thought upon this all-important subject is of the I 



NO. 1346, YOI,. 52] 



deepest interest, and Prof Osborn's work will be welcomed 

 by all who take an intelligent interest in evolution. Up to 

 the present, the pre-Darwinian evolutionists have been for 

 the most part considered singly, the claims of particular 

 naturalists being urged often with too warm an enthusiasm. 

 Prof Osborn has undertaken a more comprehensive 

 work, and with well-balanced judgment assigns a place 

 to e\ery writer. 



The histor)' of thought upon e\olution from 640 B.C. to 

 the present day is divided into two main phases, the 

 second of which is further subdivided into three periods. 



The first phase, " The Anticipation of Nature : Greek 

 Evolution, " and its effects on Christian Theology- and 

 Arabic Philosophy, lasted from 640 li.c. to 1600 A.J). 



The second phase, " The Interpretation of Nature : 

 Modern Evolution," opens with the period of " Philoso- 

 phical Evolution," from 1600 to 1800, associated with the 

 names of Bacon, Kant, Herder, Bonnet, Oken, &c. In 

 this period the tueek traditions were largely shaken off, 

 and inductive evolution began. 



The next period, that of the rise and decline of 

 " Modern Inductive Evolution," ^omewhat overlapping 

 the last, is limited by the years 1730 and 1S50, from 

 Buffon to St. Hilaire. It depends upon the writings of 

 Linnaius, Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck, Goethe, Treviranus, 

 &c. At the close of this period, Owen and Herbert 

 Spencer are placed. 



The last period, that of the re-establishment of 

 " Modern Inductive Evolution" upon a firmer foundation, 

 dates from 1858 to the present day. It is associated with 

 the names of Darwin and Wallace, and marked b\- the 

 scientific evidences of evolution, by the theory of natural 

 selection, by observation and speculation upon other 

 factors of evolution. 



The section which deals with the Greeks has been 

 somewhat unfairly criticised. Some people appear to 

 believe that an account of Greek ideas upon evolution 

 can only be attempted with success by an eminent clas- 

 sical scholar. But classical scholars have already done 

 their utmost in the way of translation and of study. It is 

 now of far greater importance to have a critical account, 

 like that in the work vvc arc considering, by a w-riter who 

 is an authority upon evolution. 



In discussing" The Legacy of the (Ireeks " (pp. 64-6S) 

 the author points out that the first element is " scientific 

 curiosity, their desire to find a natural e.xplanation for 

 the origin and existence of things." The complete de- 

 pendence of all investigation upon this spirit is main- 

 tained, and it is truly said that " the ground motive in 

 science is a high order of curiosity, led on by ambition to 

 overcome obstacles." The final conclusion is that " the 

 ( jreeks left the later world face to face with the problem 

 of causation in three forms : first, whether intelligent de- 

 sign is constantly operating in nature ; second, whether 

 nature is under the operation of natural causes originally 

 iinplanted by intelligent design ; and third, whether 

 nature is under the operation of natural causes due from 

 the beginning to the laws of chance, and containing no 

 e\ idences of design, e\en in their origin." 



In this section of the work we find, as we might expect, 

 that the genius of Aristotle completely overshadows that 

 of the other Greek writers who attempted to face the 

 problems of the origin and development of living forms. 



R 



