EVOLUTIONARY VIEWS OF BUFFON 2II 



of direct creation, and that the first pair of every 

 species issued fully formed from the hands of the 

 Creator " (tome iv., p. 383). 



In which of these views did Buffon really believe ? 

 Yet they appear in the same volume, and not at dif- 

 ferent periods of his Hfe. 



He actually does say in the same volume (iv., p. 

 358): "It is not impossible that all species maybe 

 derivations {issues)." In the same volume also (p. 

 215) he remarks: 



"There is in nature a general prototype in each 

 species on which each individual is modelled, but 

 which seems, in bein^ realized, to change or become 

 perfected by circumstances ; so that, relatively to cer- 

 tain qualities, there is a singular {bizarre) variation 

 in appearance in the succession of individuals, and at 

 the same time a constancy in the entire species which 

 appears to be admirable." 



And yet we find him saying at the same period of 

 his life, in the previous volume, that species " are the 

 only beings in nature, beings perpetual, as ancient, as 

 permanent as she." * A few pages farther on in the 

 same volume of the same work, apparently written at 

 the same time, he is strongly and stoutly anti-evolu- 

 tional, affirming : " The imprint of each species is a 

 type whose principal features are graven in characters 

 forever ineffaceable and permanent. "f 



In this volume (iv., p. 55) he remarks that the 

 senses, whether in man or in animals, may be greatly 

 developed by exercise. 



* Tome xiii., p. i. f Tome xiii., p. ix. 



