VI EVOLUTION IN BIOLOGY 209 



deductive application to geological phenomena of 

 the principles established inductively by the study 

 of the present course of nature. Somewhat later, 

 Maupertuis 1 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 2 followed out much 

 the same line of thought as De Maillet, but less 

 soberly ; and Bonnet's speculations in the " Paling- 

 (Snesie," which appeared in 1769, have already 

 been mentioned. Buffon (1753 1778), at first a 

 partisan of the absolute immutability of species, 

 subsequently appears to have believed that larger 

 or smaller groups of species have been produced 

 by the modification of a primitive stock ; but he 

 contributed nothing to the general doctrine of 

 evolution. 



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

 zealous 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 ques- 

 tioned whether he supplied the doctrine of evolu- 



1 Systeme dc la Nature, " Essai snr la Formation des Corps 

 Organists," 1751, xiv. 



- Considerations Philosophiques sur la gradation nafurdlc tfrs 

 formes dc I'gtre ; ou Ics cssais dc la nature qui apprend a faire 

 I'Junnmc, 1768. 



