LAMARCK 



with Darwin's natural selection. In contrast with the 

 abundant literature dealing with Darwin's life and 

 work, it is amazing to find that our knowledge of La- 

 marck, who in his life-time enjoyed the highest repu- 

 tation as a scientist, is excessively meagre. With the 

 exception of the eulogies pronounced at his death, 

 there was not even a biography or a book dealing 

 with his work until Professor Packard of Brown Uni- 

 versity undertook to do justice to the memory of so 

 great a man. 



Lamarck, born in 1 744, was educated to be a Jesuit 

 priest, but, on the death of his father, he entered the 

 army. An accident cut short his career as a soldier 

 and he then pursued the study of medicine for four 

 years. During this period he became intimate with 

 Rousseau and, through his influence, gave up medi- 

 cine in order to devote himself exclusively to botany. 

 At the age of twenty-four he enrolled as a student 

 under the distinguished botanist Jussieu and gave his 

 unremitting attention to this subject for ten years. 

 He published the results of his work under the title 

 of the Flore Francalse. The work brought him im- 

 mediate fame and placed him in the first rank as a 

 botanist; it received the approval of Cuvier and ce- 

 mented a friendship with Buffon, as it opposed the 

 artificial classification of Linnaeus. As a result, he 

 was elected to the Academy of Sciences the following 

 year, in 1779, and became royal botanist. During this 

 period of two years he travelled extensively in 



n 1693 



