evolved. To be sure, it didn’t begin with Darwin, nor was it first proposed by scientists working in the field or in the laboratory.2 Nor was Erasmus Darwin alone in his early evolutionism; he was much influenced in his ideas by James Burnett, Lord Monboddo. Monboddo (1714–1799) was a Scottish lawyer. His title was not hereditary, being obtained when he became a member of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords. Monboddo clearly believed in evolution—including a common ancestry for humans and