Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamctrck. 19 



was not of such a kind as to enable him to advance many new 

 views ; it may even be said that the general distribution of these 

 animals into apathetic^ sensible, and intelligent, which he at last 

 introduced into his method, was neither founded on their or- 

 ganization, nor exact observation of their faculties. But what 

 was peculiarly his own, and will continue to be of fundamental 

 importance in all ulterior researches on these subjects, are his 

 observations on shells and polypi, whether of a stony or flexible 

 nature. The sagacity with which he circumscribed and charac- 

 terized the genera, according to the circumstances of form, pro- 

 portion, surface, and structure, judiciously selected and easily 

 recognised ; the perseverance he displayed in comparing and 

 distinguishing the species, fixing the synonyms, and furnishing 

 clear and detailed descriptions, have rendered each of his suc- 

 cessive works the regulator of this department of natural history. 



sacs of spiders. In 1812, in his Researches on the Organization of Living 

 Bodies,^ he admits the class of Annelides, established, as he acknowledges in 

 the 24th page, on my observations respecting their circulating organs, and the 

 colour of their blood. In 1809, in his Philosophical Zoology,^ he creates two 

 classes in addition, viz. the infusoria disjoined from the polypi, and the cen- 

 tripedes separated from the molluscs. In this work, also, he for the first 

 time presented animals in the inverse ratio of their organization, beginning 

 with the most simple. — He preserves this order and arrangement in the 

 EMract from his Course, published in 1812 ;3 and besides, he separates in that 

 work the classes of animals into the grand divisions Apathiques, Sensibles, and 

 IntelHgents.— It is on this plan that he drew up his grand history of inver- 

 tebrate animals, begun in 1815.* 



1 See Supp. p. 36. 



* Zoological Philosophy, or exposition of considerations relating to the natural his- 

 tory of animals ; of the diversity of their organization, and faculties resulting there- 

 from ; of the physical causes which support life in them, and give rise to the move- 

 ments which they execute ; and those which produce, sometimes feeling and at other 

 times intelligence, on such as are so endowed. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1809. 



' Extract from the Zoological Course in the Museum of Natural History, on the 

 invertebrate animals ; presenting the arrangement of animals, the characters and prin- 

 cipal divisions, together with a simple list of genera. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1812. 



* Natural History of Invertebrate Animals, presenting the generic and particular 

 characters of these animals, their distribution, their classes, their families, their ge- 

 nera, and the principal species ; preceded by an introduction, determining the essential 

 characters of an animal, and its distinction from vegetables and other natural bodies ; 

 and finally, an exposition of the fundamental principles of zoology. 7 vols. 8vo. 

 Paris, 1816 to 1822. This is M. de Lamarck's capital work. A part of the 6th, and 

 the whole of the 7th, volumes were drawn up by his daughter from his papers. In 

 the 6th, the Mytilac^, the Malleaces, the Pectinides, and the Ostrac^, are by M. Valen- 

 ciennes. The first five are written by M. de Lamarck himself, assisted in the part re 

 lating to insects by the advice of M. LatrelUe. 



b2 



