W Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. de Lamarck. 



It was chiefly according to his views that such as have written 

 on the same subject, have named and arranged their species ; 

 and even at present, we should in vain seek for a more complete 

 account of sponges (for example), of alcyons, and many other 

 kinds of corals, than what is afforded by his Histoire des Ani- 

 maux sans Vertehres. There is one branch of knowledge in 

 particular to which he has given a remarkable impulse, the his- 

 tory, namely, of shells found in the bowels of the earth. These 

 had attracted the attention of geologists from the time that the 

 chimerical notion was exploded, which attributed their origin to 

 the plastic force of a mineral nature. It was perceived that a 

 comparison of such as belong to the different beds, and their 

 approximation to those now living in different seas, could alone 

 throw light on this anomalous phenomenon, — the deepest, per- 

 haps, of all the mysteries which inanimate nature presents to our 

 view. This comparison, however, had scarcely been attempted, 

 or, if it were, it was made in the most superficial manner. The 

 study had been regarded as a trifling object of curiosity. Whence 

 do they come ? Have they lived in our climate, or, have they 

 been transported hither ? Are they still in a living state else- 

 where ? All these important questions could not be answered 

 but by carefully examining them one by one. The prosecution 

 of this inquiry was the more tempting to M. de Lamarck, on ac- 

 count of the basin of Paris being, perhaps, the only spot in the 

 world where such a vast number of these productions are accu- 

 mulated in so small a space. At Grignon, which does not ex- 

 ceed a few square toises in extent, no fewer than 600 diff*erent 

 species of shells have been collected. 



M. de Lamarck entered upon this examination with that pro- 

 found knowledge which he had acquired of living shells, and the 

 excellent figures and careful descriptions which he produced, 

 caused those beings, deprived of life for so many ages, again, as 

 it were, to reappear in the world.* 



• Memoir on the fossils of the neighbourhood of Paris, comprising the de- 

 termination of species which belong to marine invertebrate animals, and of 

 which the greater part are figured in the collection of drawings in the mu- 

 seum. This memoir, begun in the Annals of the Museum, vol. i., and con- 

 tinued in the'subsequent volumes, was never brought to a conclusion. It 

 was accompanied with a collection of plates of fossil shells found near Paris, 

 with their explanation. Vol. i. 4to. Paris, 1823. 



