NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE, ii 



that every living creature lias a capacity for receiving modifica- 

 tions of its structure from external influences ; and that no spe- 

 cies has become really extinct, but that it has passed into some 

 other species. From Lamarck came about the same time his Re- 

 searches, and a little later his Zoological Philosophy, which intro- 

 duced a new factor into the process of evolution the action of 

 the animal itself in its efforts toward a development to suit new 

 needs and he gave as his principal conclusions the following : 



New wants in animals give rise to new organs. 



The development of these organs is in proportion to their em- 

 ployment. 



New developments may be transmitted to offspring. 



His well-known examples to illustrate these views, such as that 

 of successive generations of giraffes lengthening their necks by 

 stretching them to gather high-growing foliage, and of successive 

 generations of kangaroos lengthening and strengthening their 

 hind legs by the necessity of keeping themselves erect while 

 jumping, provoked laughter, but the very comicality of these 

 illustrations aided to fasten his main conclusion into men's mem- 

 ories. 



In both these statements, imperfect as they were, great truths 

 were embodied truths which were sure to grow. 



Lamarck's declaration, especially that the develo^^ment of or- 

 gans is in ratio to their employment, and his indications of the 

 reproduction in progeny of what is gained or lost in parents by 

 the influence of circumstances, entered as a most effective force 

 into the development of the evolution theory. 



The next great successor in the apostolate of this idea of the 

 universe was Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. As early as 1795 he had be- 

 gun to form a theory that species are various modifications of the 

 same type, and this theory he developed, testing it at various 

 stages as Nature was more and more displayed before him. It fell 

 to his lot to bear the brunt in a struggle against heavy odds 

 which lasted many years. 



For the man who now took up the warfare, avowedly for sci- 

 ence but unconsciously for theology, was the foremost naturalist 

 then living Cuvier. His scientific eminence was deserved ; the 

 highest honors of his own and other countries were given him, 

 and he bore them worthily. An Imperial Councilor under Na- 

 poleon ; President of the Council of Public Instruction and Chan- 

 cellor of the University under the restored Bourbons ; Grand 

 Officer of the Legion of Honor, a Peer of France, Minister of the 

 Interior, and President of the Council of State under Louis Phi- 

 lippe, he was eminent in all these capacities, and yet the dignity 

 given by such high administrative positions was as nothing com- 

 pared to his leadership in natural science. Science throughout 



