44 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



forward to show that Linne himself had doubts 

 as to the immutability of species ; but the 

 exact meaning of these passages is somewhat 

 uncertain. Towards the close of the last cen- 

 tury, Goethe, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and Erasmus 

 Darwin simultaneously began to express doubts 

 respecting the correctness of the current opinions 

 as to the immutability of species. Their views 

 were subsequently stated more fully by Lamarck, 

 and were popularised by Eobert Chambers, and 

 similar opinions have been advocated from 

 time to time by later authors. 



But the writings of the earlier Evolutionists 

 were far from satisfactory, owing to the want 

 of sufficient materials upon which to base a 

 tenable scientific theory, which sometimes led 

 them into vague speculations likely to create a 

 prejudice against their views. Some thought 

 that the combined action and volition of an 

 animal would gradually develop limbs which it 

 did not previously possess, as if any animal 

 could conceive the idea of powers absolutely 

 beyond its experience, and foreign to its nature.* 



* Bree (" Exposition of Fallacies in the Hypothesis of Mr. 

 Darwin," p. 21 1) erroneously credits Wallace with teaching similar 

 absurdities- 



