Ancient Audacity---did Sages Past Subconsciously Speak of Cellular Dust?

Abstract

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 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! Erasmus
Darwin (12 December 1731-18 April 1802) Grandfather of
Charles Darwin.