Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution | Page 2

to be
the primary and efficient causes of organic change, and thus to account
for the origin of variations, which Darwin himself assumed as the
starting point or basis of his selection theory. It is not lessening the
value of Darwin's labors, to recognize the originality of Lamarck's
views, the vigor with which he asserted their truth, and the heroic
manner in which, against adverse and contemptuous criticism, to his
dying day he clung to them.
During a residence in Paris in the spring and summer of 1899, I spent
my leisure hours in gathering material for this biography. I visited the
place of his birth--the little hamlet of Bazentin, near Amiens--and,
thanks to the kindness of the schoolmaster of that village, M. Duval,
was shown the house where Lamarck was born, the records in the old
parish register at the mairie of the birth of the father of Lamarck and of
Lamarck himself. The Jesuit Seminary at Amiens was also visited, in
order to obtain traces of his student life there, though the search was
unsuccessful.
My thanks are due to Professor A. Giard of Paris for kind assistance in
the loan of rare books, for copies of his own essays, especially his
Leçon d'Ouverture des Cours de l'Évolution des Êtres organisés, 1888,
and in facilitating the work of collecting data. Introduced by him to
Professor Hamy, the learned anthropologist and archivist of the
Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, I was given by him the freest access to
the archives in the Maison de Buffon, which, among other papers,
contained the MS. Archives du Muséum; i.e., the Procès verbaux des
Séances tenues par les Officiers du Jardin des Plantes, from 1790 to

1830, bound in vellum, in thirty-four volumes. These were all looked
through, though found to contain but little of biographical interest
relating to Lamarck, beyond proving that he lived in that ancient edifice
from 1793 until his death in 1829. Dr. Hamy's elaborate history of the
last years of the Royal Garden and of the foundation of the Muséum
d'Histoire Naturelle, in the volume commemorating the centennial of
the foundation of the Museum, has been of essential service.
My warmest thanks are due to M. Adrien de Mortillet, formerly
secretary of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, for most essential aid.
He kindly gave me a copy of a very rare pamphlet, entitled Lamarck.
Par un Groupe de Transformistes, ses Disciples. He also referred me to
notices bearing on the genealogy of Lamarck and his family in the
Revue de Gascogne for 1876. To him also I am indebted for the
privilege of having electrotypes made of the five illustrations in the
Lamarck, for copies of the composite portrait of Lamarck by
Dr. Gachet, and also for a photograph of the Acte de Naissance
reproduced by the late M. Salmon.
I have also to acknowledge the kindness shown me by Dr. J. Deniker,
the librarian of the Bibliothèque du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle.
I had begun in the museum library, which contains nearly if not every
one of Lamarck's publications, to prepare a bibliography of all of
Lamarck's writings, when, to my surprise and pleasure, I was presented
with a very full and elaborate one by the assistant-librarian,
M. Godefroy Malloisel.
To Professor Edmond Perrier I am indebted for a copy of his valuable
Lamarck et le Transformisme Actuel, reprinted from the noble volume
commemorative of the centennial of the foundation of the Muséum
d'Histoire Naturelle, which has proved of much use.
Other sources from which biographical details have been taken are
Cuvier's éloge, and the notice of Lamarck, with a list of many of his
writings, in the Revue biographique de la Société malacologique de
France, 1886. This notice, which is illustrated by three portraits of
Lamarck, one of which has been reproduced, I was informed by

M. Paul Kleinsieck was prepared by the late J. R. Bourguignat, the
eminent malacologist and anthropologist. The notices by Professor
Mathias Duval and by L. A. Bourguin have been of essential service.
As regards the account of Lamarck's speculative and theoretical views,
I have, so far as possible, preferred, by abstracts and translations, to let
him tell his own story, rather than to comment at much length myself
on points about which the ablest thinkers and students differ so much.
It is hoped that Lamarck's writings referring to the evolution theory
may, at no distant date, be reprinted in the original, as they are not
bulky and could be comprised in a single volume.
This life is offered with much diffidence, though the pleasure of
collecting the materials and of putting them together has been very
great.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I., October, 1901.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BIRTH, FAMILY, YOUTH, AND MILITARY CAREER 1
II. STUDENT LIFE AND BOTANICAL CAREER 15
III.