Il6 EVOLUTIONISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



It 



impels them to constantly change their position 

 in search for the most favourable position, — a 

 form of the attraction and repulsion doctrine of 

 Empedocles applied to organic particles : " The 

 animal," he says, " is a system of different organic 

 molecules, which, impelled by dim sensations simi- 

 lar to those of obtuse and vague touch, — sensations 

 which have been imparted to them by Him who 

 created matter in general, — have combined, until 

 each has found the position most suitable to its 

 form and to its repose. This position may be 

 changed by the innumerable disturbances caused 

 by an access of new particles which have not yet 

 obtained their repose." 



He proceeds by asking the question, whether 

 plants and animals have always been what they 

 now are, then continuing in a spirit similar to that 

 of Descartes, he revives the Anaxagorean doctrine 

 of pre-existent germs in a modified form : — 



" Even if Revelation teaches us that species left the hands of 

 the Creator as they now are, the philosopher who gives himself 

 up to conjecture comes to the conclusion that life has always had 

 its elements scattered in the mass of inorganic matter ; that it 

 finally came about that these elements united ; that the embryo 

 formed of this union has passed through an infinitude of organi- 

 zation and development ; that it has acquired, in succession, move- 

 ment, sensation, ideas, thought, reflection, conscience, emotions, 

 signs, gestures, articulation, language, laws, and finally the sciences 

 and arts ; that millions of years have elapsed during each of these 

 phases of development, and that there are still new developments 

 to be taken which are as yet unknown to us." 



