Bonnet must, therefore, be a preformationist and as far removed as possible from what we understand, since the nineteenth century, by 'evolutionism'; he must suppose that the upheavals or catastrophes of the globe were arranged in advance as so many opportunities for the infinite chain of being to continue its progress in the direction of infinite amelioration: 'These evolutions were foreseen and inscribed in the germs of animals upon the very first day of creation.