THE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION 



11 



and independence that characterized his later years." He was 

 found physically- unfit for a military life and took up the study of 

 medicine in Paris, later becoming a naturalist. He devoted him- 

 self for years to the study of botany, earning a scanty living by 

 filling various positions as instructor and curator. During his 

 connection with the Koyal Garden in Paris, which was named the 

 Jardin des Plantes at his suggestion, he became associated with 

 Cuvier, who was to have such an important influence on his work. 

 When fifty years of age, in 

 1794, Lamarck turned to the 

 study of invertebrate animals, 

 for which he developed a 

 greatly improved classifica- 

 tion. What effect this work 

 may have had on his philo- 

 sophical conclusions it is diffi- 

 cult to say, but six years after 

 undertaking it he departed 

 from his previous idea of the 

 fixity of species, and in 1809 

 published the Philosophic Zo- 

 ologique which formulated his 

 theory of evolution (Locy). 

 After the publication of his 



views on evolution, which he ^ ^ t, ■ ^ 



, , ,11, 1 Fig. 1. — -Jean Baptiste Lamarck, 



elaborated later, he was 



strongly opposed by Cuvier. Cuvier's position was superior to 

 that of Lamarck and his influence greater; his scientific conclu- 

 sions were, however, much less accurate. The resulting unfair 

 disregard of Lamarck's theories, together with poverty and blind- 

 ness, contributed to the sadness of his declining years, and in 

 1829 he died, his true greatness for the time unrecognized. 



Lamarck's contributions to science include th(^ proposal of the 

 term "biology" and the tree of life, representing the phylogenetic 

 relationships of existing organisms, in addition to his actual theory 

 of evolution. This, when first pubUshed in 1809, consisted of two 

 laws, translated as follows: 



"First Law: In every animal which has not exceeded the term of 

 its development, the mon^ fretjuent and sustained use of any organ 

 gradually strengthens this organ, develops and (mlarges it, and 



