Democritus

While these notions do not precisely reflect the evolutionary process described by Darwin and Wallace, they are anticipations of it - as are the views of Democritus, Empedocles and other early Man does not actually produce variability; he only unintentionally exposes organic beings to new conditions of life, and then Nature acts on the organisation, and causes variability. But man can and does select the variations given to him by Nature, and thus accumulate them in any desired manner. He thus adapts animals and plants for his own benefit or pleasure. He may do this methodically, or he may do it unconsciously by preserving the individuals most useful to him at the time,without any thought of altering the breed.