may answer the
double purpose of bearing me out in the view of Buffon's work which I
have taken in the foregoing pages, and of inducing the reader to turn to
Buffon himself.

I have already said that from the very commencement of his work Buffon
showed a proclivity towards considerations which were certain to lead
him to a theory of evolution, even though he had not, as I believe he
had, already taken a more comprehensive view of the subject than he
thought fit to proclaim unreservedly.

In 1749, at the beginning of his first volume he writes:--

"The first truth that makes itself apparent on serious study of Nature,
is one that man may perhaps find humiliating; it is this--that he, too,
must take his place in the ranks of animals, being, as he is, an animal
in every material point. It is possible also that the instinct of the
lower animals will strike him as more unerring, and their industry more
marvellous than his own. Then, running his eye over the different
objects of which the universe is composed, he will observe with
astonishment that we can descend by almost imperceptible degrees from
the most perfect creature to the most formless matter--from the most
highly organized animal to the most entirely inorganic substance. He
will recognize this gradation as the great work of Nature; and he will
observe it not only as regards size and form, but also in respect of
movements, and in the successive generations of every species.[65]

"Hence," he continues, "arises the difficulty of arriving at any perfect
system or method in dealing either with Nature as a whole or even with
any single one of her subdivisions. The gradations are so subtle that we
are often obliged to make arbitrary divisions. Nature knows nothing
about our classifications, and does not choose to lend herself to them
without reserve. We therefore see a number of intermediate species and
objects which it is very hard to classify, and which of necessity
derange our system whatever it may be."[66]

"The attempt to form perfect systems has led to such disastrous results
that it is now more easy to learn botany than the terminology which has
been adopted as its language."[67]

After saying that "_la marche de la Nature_" has been misunderstood, and
that her progress has ever been by a succession of slow steps, he
maintains that the only proper course is to class together whatever
objects resemble one another, and to separate those which are unlike. If