98 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



conclusions " upon the subject of descent with modifica 

 tion,* to which he refers with approval on the second 

 page of his historical sketch.t 



Turning, then, to Isidore GeoflFroy's work, I find that 

 in like manner he too has been following the one half 

 of what Buffon actually said. But even so, he awards 

 Buffon very high praise. 



" Buffon," he writes, " is to the doctrine of the muta- 

 bility of species what Linnaeus is to that of its fixity. 

 It is only since the appearance of Buffon's 'Natural 

 History,' and in consequence thereof, that the mutability 

 of species has taken rank among scientific questions. "% 



« « 4t « « 



" Buffon, who comes next in chronological order after 

 Bacon, follows him in no other respect than that of 

 time. He is entirely original in arriving at the doctrine 

 of the variability of organic types, and in enouncing it 

 after long hesitation, during which one can watch the 

 labour of a great intelligence freeing itself little by 

 little from the yoke of orthodoxy. 



"But from this source come difiSculties in the in- 

 terpretation of Buffon's work which have misled many 

 writers. Buffon expresses absolutely different opinions 

 in different parts of his natural history — so much so 

 that partisans and opponents of the doctrine of the 

 fixity of species have alike believed and still believe 

 themselves at liberty to claim Buffon as one of the 

 great authorities upon their side." 



* 'Hist. Nat. Gto.,' torn. ii. p. 405, 1859. 

 t ' Origin of Species,' p. xiv. 1876. 

 X ' Hist. Nat. G^n.,' torn. ii. p. 383. 



