1899] LAMARCK'S THEORIES 293. 



ously maintained in the circumstances of each race of animals, may 

 effect in it a real change in the methods of satisfying their needs, and 

 hence new uses of parts hitherto used in a different way. 



(2) That every such change in the methods of satisfying their needs 

 necessitates other actions on their part, and in consequence new habits 

 involving new uses of parts. 



(3) That since every new method of satisfying their needs requires 

 new actions, it demands of the animal which experiences it either the 

 more frequent use of such a part as was formerly less used, so that it 

 becomes considerably developed and enlarged, or the use of new parts,, 

 which gradually arise in response to the desire or need. And so to arrive 

 at the true cause of so many different forms, and so many various- 

 habits, as are given in the animal world, one must recognise that the- 

 infinitely diversified and slowly changing circumstances in which the 

 animals of each race have successively been placed have brought about, 

 in each race, new methods of satisfying their functions, and consequently 

 new habits, including the new uses of all correlated parts affected 

 thereby, etc. 



As regards the two laws of Lamarck, they are correctly stated, and 

 their truth can be perceived by paying attention to the above cor- 

 rections. 



A careful study of the above conclusions as corrected, and compari- 

 son with Lamarck's own statement, must put their signification in a 

 somewhat different light from that suggested by his language. 



From what has been already stated, it must be understood that 

 what Lamarck meant by need or desire was not, as is usually under- 

 stood, an indefinite need or desire, but those needs or desires of animals 

 which lead to the satisfying of their most important functions to ensure 

 their existence and propagation. I myself did not at first understand 

 Lamarck, but on reading of the reversion of the tame pig to the wild 

 boar in the New World, the true meaning suddenly flashed on me in 

 this way : One of the most significant changes in the wild boar from 

 the tame pig is as regards the ear, which in the former is small and 

 erect, and in the latter large and pendent. On reading this statement, 

 my mind instantly saw the analogy between the ear so modified in 

 freedom, and the semi-erect ears of half-tame pigs in the West Indies. 

 I had frequently seen on such pigs the effect of a noise : they would at 

 once erect their ears and scamper off; and I soon saw that the tame 

 pig, escaping from the Spanish settlements in America, would, in order 

 to avoid danger, have more and more frequently to erect their ears to 

 catch the earliest signs of danger, and that this frequent erection, in 

 order to protect themselves, would gradually cause the ears to lose the 

 superfluous fat and develop muscle, with a corresponding decrease in 

 size, until the ear became like that of the wild boar, and thus efficient 

 for the purpose it served in the catching of the earliest sign or sound of 

 danger ; and as the modification of character was an innate one — that 



