He believes, like Dean Herbert, that species, when nascent, were
more plastic than at present. He lays weight on what he calls the
principle of finality, "puissance mysterieuse, indeterminee; fatalite pour
les uns; pour les autres volonte providentielle, dont l'action incessante
sur les etres vivantes determine, a toutes les epoques de l'existence du
monde, la forme, le volume, et la duree de chacun d'eux, en raison de sa
destinee dans l'ordre de choses dont il fait partie. C'est cette puissance
qui harmonise chaque membre a l'ensemble, en l'appropriant a la fonction
qu'il doit remplir dans l'organisme general de la nature, fonction qui est
pour lui sa raison d'etre." (From references in Bronn's "Untersuchungen
uber die Entwickelungs-Gesetze", it appears that the celebrated botanist
and palaeontologist Unger published, in 1852, his belief that species
undergo development and modification. Dalton, likewise, in Pander and
Dalton's work on Fossil Sloths, expressed, in 1821, a similar belief.
Similar views have, as is well known, been maintained by Oken in his
mystical "Natur-Philosophie". From other references in Godron's work "Sur
l'Espece", it seems that Bory St. Vincent, Burdach, Poiret and Fries, have
all admitted that new species are continually being produced. I may add,
that of the thirty-four authors named in this Historical Sketch, who
believe in the modification of species, or at least disbelieve in separate
acts of creation, twenty-seven have written on special branches of natural
history or geology.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33