The essence of his views is contained in the following passage , which he follows up with the conclusion that one and the same kind of living filament is and has been the cause of all organic life : Would it be too bold to imagine , that in the great length of time , since the earth began to exist , perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind , would it be too bold to imagine , that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament , which endued with animality , with the power of acquiring new parts , attended with new propensities , directed by irritations , sensations , volitions , and associations ; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity , and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity , world without end !
Would it be too bold to imagine that , in the great length of time since the earth began to exist , perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind , would it be too bold to imagine that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament , which the great First Cause endued ( invested ) with animality , with the power of acquiring new parts , attended with new propensities , directed by irritations , sensations , volitions and associations , and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity , and of delivering down these improvements by generation to its posterity , world without end !