20 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 
had held back the Lamarckian idea in Europe. For 
the brilliant Cuvier simply laughed before his stu- 
dents at each “new folly” of Buffon and of Lamarck. 
Under this ridicule the influence of both men with- 
ered and died. 
A little later the great poet, Goethe, turned his 
attention to the problem of evolution, giving an in- 
teresting account of the metamorphoses of plants. He 
declared, also, that the human skull is a continuation 
of the backbones of the neck, and that these bones 
have been transformed into the present skull. But 
his great genius as a poet drew his attention into 
other fields. Haeckel points out that if Goethe had 
known Lamarck’s work his genius would have gained 
for the ‘Philosophie Zodlogique” the interest and re- 
spect of the reading world. But Cuvier laughed it 
out of court, and only in comparatively modern times, 
since Darwin’s work has set the world thinking anew, 
is Lamarck’s career recognized at its true value. 
Lamarck should have been the founder of the evolu- 
tion theory. But the time was not quite ripe, and it 
remained for Charles Darwin to announce his idea, 
sustained and fortified by years of careful observation 
and thoughtful reflection. 
