THEORIES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



creatures have been developed the fin of the fish, the 

 wing of the bird, the hand of man ; nay, more, the fish 

 itself, the bird, the man, even. Collectively the organs 

 make up the entire organism ; and what is true of the 

 individual organs must be true also of their ensemble, 

 the living being. 



Whatever might bethought of Lamarck's explanation 

 of the cause of transmutation which really was that 

 already suggested by Erasmus Darwin the idea of the 

 evolution for which he contended was but the logical 

 extension of the conception that American animals are 

 the modified and degenerated descendants of European 

 animals. But people as a rule are little prone to follow 

 ideas to their logical conclusions, and in this case the 

 conclusions were so utterly opposed to the proximal 

 bearings of the idea that the whole thinking world 

 repudiated them with acclaim. The very persons who 

 had most eagerly accepted the idea of transmutation of 

 European species into American species, and similar 

 limited variations through changed environment, be- 

 cause of the relief thus given the otherwise overcrowded 

 ark, were now foremost in denouncing such an exten- 

 sion of the doctrine of transmutation as Lamarck pro- 

 posed. 



And, for that matter, the leaders of the scientific world 

 were equally antagonistic to the Lamarckian hypothe- 

 sis. Cuvier in particular, once the pupil of Lamarck, but 

 now his colleague, and in authority more than his peer, 

 stood out against the transmutation doctrine with all 

 his force. He argued for the absolute fixity of species, 

 bringing to bear the resources of a mind which, as a 

 mere repository of facts, perhaps never was excelled. 



