THEORIES OF LAMARCK AND DARWIN 377 



him to a company; and, being mounted, Lamarck took rank 

 as a sergeant. During his first engagement his company 

 was exposed to the direct fire of the enemy, and the ofiicers 

 one after another were shot until Lamarck by order of suc- 

 cession was in command of the fourteen remaining gren- 

 adiers. Ahhough the French army retreated, Lamarck 

 refused to move with his squad until he received directions 

 from headquarters to retire. In this his first battle he 

 showed the courage and the independence that characterized 

 him in later years. 



Adopts Natural Science. — An injury to the glands of the 

 neck, resulting from being lifted by the head in sport by one 

 of his comrades, unfitted him for military life, and he went to 

 Paris and began the study of medicine, supporting himself 

 in the mean time by working as a bank clerk. It was in his 

 medical course of four years' severe study that Lamarck 

 received the exact training that was needed to convert his 

 enthusiastic love for science into the working powers of an 

 investigator. He became especially interested in botany, 

 and, after a chance interview with Rousseau, he determined 

 to follow the ruling passion of his nature and devote himself 

 to natural science. After about nine years' work he published, 

 in 1778, his Flora of France, and in due course was appointed 

 to a post in botany in the Academy of Sciences. He did not 

 hold this position long, but left it to travel with the sons 

 of Buffon as their instructor. This agreeable occupation 

 extended over two years, and he then returned to Paris, and 

 soon after was made keeper of the herbarium in the Royal 

 Garden, a subordinate position entirely beneath his merits. 

 Lamarck held this poorly paid position for several years, and 

 was finally relieved by being appointed a professor in the 

 newly established Jardin des Plantes. 



He took an active part in the reorganization of the Royal 

 Garden {Jardin du Rot) into the Jardin des Plantes. When, 



