EVOLUTION BEFORE DARWIN 17 
Erasmus Darwin recognized the struggle for exist- 
ence, but he saw in it only a check against overcrowd- 
ing, and not an active factor in the development as his 
grandson Charles came to see it. It is possible the 
elder Darwin’s views might have been taken more 
seriously had he not clothed them with the form of 
verse. In these days it seems quite ludicrous to think 
of giving to the world a new scientific concept or a 
new phase of philosophy in verse. 
The beginning of the nineteenth century gives us 
the first really great contribution to the idea of evolu- 
tion. Under more favorable surroundings, this idea 
would have budded and become the parent stock of 
our modern theories. The chill frosts of adverse 
criticism by those in authority in science nipped the 
budding idea and so set it back that only of late years 
have men come to realize its strength and power. 
The Chevalier de Lamarck, serving in Monaco, was 
attracted by its rich flora to the study of botany. 
Coming later to Paris, he became acquainted with 
Buffon and was led by him to publish a Flora of 
France, using the Linnzan system of classification. 
He was appointed to the chair of zodlogy in the Jar- 
din des Plantes, and was given especial charge of the 
invertebrate animals, comprising all the members of 
the animal kingdom except those with backbones. 
After seventeen years of work over these forms, dur- 
