lievieiv of Recent Geologienl Liternfure. 185 
which all life arose and out of whicli it exists. Anaximaiider ((il 1-041 
V>. C.) resjai'tled the earth as liaviiiy first existed iiia fluid coiiditioii. and 
from its soiidifioalion all living' ci-eal ures. fieirinninj:' wilh mm, ap- 
pi'ared. He was tlie first to teacli tiie docti'ine of abiogenesis. His 
|ui|iil, Aiia.\imenes.tlioiii;ht that plants and animalswere produced from 
terrestrial slime through the aijeney of the sun's heat. Emix-docles 
(49.5-43.5 1>. ('.) made a ,i:reat advance over his predecessors. To him be- 
longs the credit of having made the first ol)servations on emf)ryology. 
The f<nir elements, fire, water, earth, and air, combined with Ionc and 
hate, occupied a prominent place in his theories. From the budding of 
])lants, came animals: though th(> latterdid not at first appear ascompleti^ 
beings, but in parts, — shoulders without- arms, heads witlioul necks, etc. 
When lose triumphed o\er hate, the ])arls began to unite. l)ut in a 
wholly jiccideiital manner. Thus appeared monstrous forms,- animals 
with the heads of men and the reverse. These monsters being unable to 
reproduce soon disappeared, and wei'e succeeded by more natural forms. 
In these crude views api)ears file germ of the doctrine of tlie survival of 
the fittest. He did not believe, however, that the less ])erfect were suc- 
ceeded by the more i)erfect, but that the less perfect were replaced by 
the more jierfect. Ana.xagoras (.500-428 B. ('.) used for the first time the 
doctrine of intelligent design in explaining the origin of organisTus. 
The appearance of .\ristotle (I584-322) marked another great ad\ance 
in the e\dlul ion idea. His home Ijeing on the sea shore, his (i])piirl uni- 
ties for obser\ation were good, and coi)se(piently he early noticed the 
gradations l)etween animals and |)lants. "He was the tirsi to conceive 
of a genetic si'ries, and his conceijtion of a single chain of esdhil ion I'lom 
the]K)lyps to man was never fully replaced until the iteginning of this 
century," Ijike his pi'edecessors, he believed in the spontaneous gen- 
eration of organisms. He believed in the inheritance of accpiired char- 
.-iclers. undersiood the principle of compensation of growl h, delected 
the dilferences between organic and inorganic beings and heiwcen ani- 
mals and plants. Higher forms, he claimed, were produced from lower 
ones through an internal perfecting principle. It is astonishing lo find 
him, twenty-two centuries ago, stating l>ut rejecting the doeirine ofihe 
survival of the fittest. 
With the death of Aristotle came .-i, rapid decline in the slud,\ of phi- 
losophy. His doctrines were later taken uj) i\v the .\rabs and carrii'il 
into Spain: but the doctrines were jjlaced under the ban of the church 
early in the thirteenth century, ami hence the further study of .\ris- 
lotle in I'hirope was checked. 
With t he awakening of science the nal ural jihilosophers again canu' 
to the front. iJacon (1.5(il-l()2()) was perhaps the lirst to raise ihe (pies- 
tion of the niutal)ility of species. Descartes, a contemporary of r>acon, 
expressed the opinion that the universe is a mechanism whicli could be 
explained on a physical basis. Jjeibnilz in ]mrt revived Aristotle, and 
directed investigati(jn to tlie gradations between s])ecies. The celebra- 
ted (ierman i)hilosopher, Kant, traced back all higher forms id' life io 
simple organisms: referr'ed lo man's former <pnidrupedal attitude: ap- 
