Sketch' of
the _Origin of Species_--"it is curious how largely my grandfather,
Dr. Erasmus Darwin, anticipated the views and erroneous grounds of
opinion of Lamarck in his _Zoonomia_ (vol. i., pp. 500-510), published
in 1794." It seems a little strange that Charles Darwin did not devote a
few lines to stating just what his ancestor's views were, for certain of
them, as we shall see, are anticipations of his own.

The views of Erasmus Darwin may thus be summarily stated:

1. All animals have originated "from a single living filament" (p. 230),
or, stated in other words, referring to the warm-blooded animals alone,
"one is led to conclude that they have alike been produced from a
similar living filament" (p. 236); and again he expresses the conjecture
that one and the same kind of living filament is and has been the cause
of all organic life (p. 244). It does not follow that he was a
"spermist," since he strongly argued against the incasement or
"evolution" theory of Bonnet.

2. Changes produced by differences of climate and even seasons. Thus
"the sheep of warm climates are covered with hair instead of wool, and
the hares and partridges of the latitudes which are long buried in snow
become white during the winter months" (p. 234). Only a passing
reference is made to this factor, and the effects of domestication are
but cursorily referred to. In this respect Darwin's views differed much
from Buffon's, with whom they were the primary causes in the
modification of animals.

The other factors or agencies are not referred to by Buffon, showing
that Darwin was not indebted to Buffon, but thought out the matter in
his own independent way.

3. "Fifthly, from their first rudiment or primordium to the termination
of their lives, all animals undergo perpetual transformations, which are
in part produced by their own exertions in consequence of their desires
and aversions, of their pleasures and their pains, or of irritations or
of associations; and many of these acquired forms or propensities are
transmitted to their posterity" (p. 237). The three great objects of
desire are, he says, "lust, hunger, and security" (p. 237).

4. Contests of the males for the possession of the females, or law of
battle. Under the head of desire he dwells on the desire of the male for
the exclusive possession of the female; and "these have acquired weapons
to combat each other for this purpose," as the very thick, shield-like
horny skin on the s