132 EVOLUTIONISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



invention of man, and of the laws governing the 

 relations of animals and their environment as the 

 chief end of science. In an early edition of Buf- 

 fon's Histoire Nahirelle, we find him using almost 

 the exact words of Linnaeus : " In animals, species 

 are separated by a gap which Nature cannot bridge 

 over. . . . We see him, the Creator, dictating his 

 simple but beautiful laws and impressing upon each 

 species its immutable characters." 



Krause points out that as early as 1755 {Histoire 

 Naturelle, tome v. pp. 103, 104) Buffon found in 

 comparative anatomy many difficulties in the Spe- 

 cial Creation theory. " The pig," he says, " does not 

 appear to have been formed upon an original, 

 special, and perfect plan, since it is a compound of 

 other animals ; it has evidently useless parts, or 

 rather parts of which it cannot make any use, toes 

 all the bones of which are perfectly formed, and 

 which, nevertheless, are of no service to it. Nature 

 is far from subjecting herself to final causes in the 

 formation of her creatures." In always looking for 

 a purpose or design in every part, he continues, 

 " We fail to see that we thus deprive philosophy 

 of its true character, and misrepresent its object, 

 which consists in the knowledge of the ' how ' of 

 things, the way in which Nature acts. . . ." This 

 thought was reiterated by Goethe. 



In 1 76 1 we find that he had advanced to a belief 

 in the frequent mutability of species : " How many 

 species, being (' denaturees ') perfected or degenerated 



