" I am not sure that I
understand some passages; but it seems that he attributes much influence to
the direct action of the conditions of life. He clearly saw, however, the
full force of the principle of natural selection.
The celebrated geologist and naturalist, Von Buch, in his excellent
"Description Physique des Isles Canaries" (1836, page 147), clearly
expresses his belief that varieties slowly become changed into permanent
species, which are no longer capable of intercrossing.
Rafinesque, in his "New Flora of North America", published in 1836, wrote
(page 6) as follows: "All species might have been varieties once, and many
varieties are gradually becoming species by assuming constant and peculiar
characters;" but further on (page 18) he adds, "except the original types
or ancestors of the genus."
In 1843-44 Professor Haldeman ("Boston Journal of Nat. Hist. U. States",
vol. iv, page 468) has ably given the arguments for and against the
hypothesis of the development and modification of species: he seems to
lean toward the side of change.
The "Vestiges of Creation" appeared in 1844. In the tenth and much
improved edition (1853) the anonymous author says (page 155): "The
proposition determined on after much consideration is, that the several
series of animated beings, from the simplest and oldest up to the highest
and most recent, are, under the providence of God, the results, FIRST, of
an impulse which has been imparted to the forms of life, advancing them, in
definite times, by generation, through grades of organisation terminating
in the highest dicotyledons and vertebrata, these grades being few in
number, and generally marked by intervals of organic character, which we
find to be a practical difficulty in ascertaining affinities; SECOND, of
another impulse connected with the vital forces, tending, in the course of
generations, to modify organic structures in accordance with external
circumstances, as food, the nature of the habitat, and the meteoric
agencies, these being the 'adaptations' of the natural theologian.
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