The French naturalist who in 1749 became one of the first scientists to suggest that closely-related species arose from a common ancestor and were changing was Georges Buffon.
<h3>Who is Georges Buffon?</h3>
Georges-Louis Lecrerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) was a French naturalist and cosmologist who influenced the thinking of later naturalists. One idea was that animals of different species could be crossbred. But the offspring of the crossbred animals become infertile. Another of Buffon's ideas was that each species changes over time and this is the starting point for the modern theory of evolution.
I'm not sure what type of people exactly, but definitely not something positive considering they cut the hearts out of their victim (while they were living) to amuse them. Hope this helps