Buff on s Theories. 169 



famous for the restrictions which were placed upon 

 men, and the denunciations with which new and 

 advanced ideas were received. Thus advanced 

 thinkers found that their theories in many instances, 

 instead of leading them on to fame, but opened the 

 doors of the Bastile. 



It is not improbable that Buffon was in accord 

 with the feeling of the time, as while his great 

 discursive work " Histoire Naturelle," of 1749-1788 

 fully outlines the theory of evolution, in which 

 he was a believer, it is done in an ironical, partly 

 satirical manner, so that he could, if attacked, retreat 

 by claiming that it was a satire on the advanced 

 scientific thought of the time. 



Buffon refers to the fact that animals and plants 

 are not bound to the limitation of certain fixed 

 species, and expresses the belief that, affected by 

 various influences, species may vary from a fixed 

 standard. Even man might have sprung from some 

 original stock, being merely a divergent form or 

 branch. In other words, Buffon claimed that by 

 simply following out the laws of nature the con- 

 sequent variation would result in new species ; and 

 having arrived at this point, he was ready to believe 

 that from a single unit in the beginning might have 

 descended all the various forms of existing animal 

 and plant life. 



It is curious to note that this pioneer evolutionist 

 suddenly corrects himself, and says : " But no ; it is 

 certain from revelation that every species was di- 

 rectly created by a separate fiat." We may suspect 

 that this secession from a position so broadly taken 



