EVOLUTION IN BIOLOGY. 301 



modification of their predecessors ; but he clearly appre- 

 hends the cardinal maxim of modern geological science, 

 that the explanation of the structure of the globe is to 

 be sought in the deductive application to geological phe- 

 nomena of the principles established inductively by the 

 study of the present course of nature. Somewhat later, 

 Maupertuis* suggested a curious hypothesis as to the 

 causes of variation, which he thinks may be sufficient to 

 account for the origin of all animals from a single pair. 

 Robinet f followed out much the same line of thought as 

 De Maillet, but less soberly ; and Bonnet's speculations 

 in the " Palingenesie," which appeared in 1769, have 

 already been mentioned. Buff on (1753-1778), at first a 

 partisan of the absolute immutability of species, subse- 

 quently appears to have believed that larger or smaller 

 groups of species have been produced by the modifica- 

 tion of a primitive stock ; but he contributed nothing to 

 the general doctrine of evolution. 



Erasmus Darwin (" Zoonomia," 1794), though a zeal- 

 ous evolutionist, can hardly be said to have made any 

 real advance on his predecessors ; and, notwithstanding 

 that Goethe (1791-4) had the advantage of a wide 

 knowledge of morphological facts, and a true insight 

 into their signification, while he threw all the power of 

 a great 'poet into the expression of his conceptions, it 

 may be questioned whether he supplied the doctrine of 



* " Systeme de la Nature." " Essai sur la Formation dcs Corps Orga- 

 nists," 1751, xiv. 



f " Considerations Philosophiques sur la gradation naturelle des formes 

 de 1'Stre ; ou les essais de la nature qui apprend a faire 1'homme," 1768. 



