MEMOIR OF M. ISIDORE GEOFFROY SAINT IIILAIEE. 6Qd 



General Natural History, he repeated the same criticism, and coutcnded strongly 

 for the admission of the human Idngdom, first proposed by a Frenchman, the 

 Marquis de BerbenQois,* and since adopted by a number of eminent men in 

 Germany and France. ■■ 



Is this kingdom, like the others, divided into groups distinct and, to a certain 

 degree, independent of each other? Does it contain a great number of species 

 which may be compared to the animal and vegetable species, or else does it 

 include but one, namely, man ?t We know that this question is still agitated, 

 and even Avith redoubled ardor. The answer of Isidore Geoffrey is that of 

 Buffon, Cuvier, Etienne Geoffrey Saint Ililaire, Miiller, Humboldt, and others. 

 He pronounces in favor of the unity of the human species.^: 



The General Natural Hi story of the Organic Kingdoms stops at the funda- 

 mental principles of biology. The author proposed to present, in the third part, 

 the general facts relatioe to organized hciugs, considered in themselves or in their 

 organs ; the fourth was to be devoted to the general facts relative to the instincts, 

 the habits, and, more generally, to the exterior vital manifestations of organized 

 beings ; the fifth, to the general facts relative to the successive and present dis- 

 tribi. ion of organized beings on the surface of .the terrestrial globe; in short, 

 the sixth was to comprise the expositions of what the author calls natural phi- 

 lowply. There he was to show the convergence of all science towards philo- 

 sophic unity ; to explain his i-v'et^;,? 0?? the totality of organic nature; to show 

 in the perpetual changes of the details and the permanence of general laws, 

 whence results unity through variety ; the harmonic succession of individual 

 and general phenomena, which '^xq^w.q.q, progressive harmony. \ Certainly no one 

 can glance over this magnificent programme without a feeling of bitter regret. 

 The History of the Organic Kingdoms will remain like one of those unfinished 

 edifices Avhose factitious ruins sadden the mind by merely giving a glimpse of 

 what the edifice would have been, by revealing the grandeur of the plan and 

 the genius of him by whom it was conceived. 



There is an additional proof of the intellectual worth of Isidore Geoffrey. 

 Profoundly devoted by sentiment and conviction to the doctrines of Etienne 

 Geoffrey, he had to guard against a very natural inclination to tread too closely 

 in the steps of this venerated guide. While he retained his filial regard and 

 erected monuments of it|| to his father, no one can mistake him. Isidore 

 Geoft^roy was like one of those eminent artists who, after having been a docile 

 pupil of a great master, after having copied his manner, have created one 

 in their turn; have conceived and executed works stamped with their own 



^Journal de Physique, 1816. M. de Barbencjois bad called it tbe moral khigdom. — (See 

 General Natural History of the Organic Kingdoms.) 



t A poljgenistic belief bad sometimes been attributed to Etienne Geoffrey Saint Hilaire. 

 In tbe work wbich be has devoted to the memory of bis father, Isidore Geoffrey has warmly 

 protested against this assertion. — {Life, Labors, and Scientific Doctrine of Etienne Gcojfroy 

 Saint Hdairc, 1S47.) 



X According to the lectures reported by M. Dclvaille, Isidore Geoffrey, in 1856, only pre- 

 sented this doctrine as having in its favor the largest share of probability. To judge by the 

 convcrsauons I bad with him less than a year before his death, liis convictions on this point 

 had become much more decided. Unfortunately, ho did not reach this part of his work. 



§ Abstract of the Analytic Programme placed at the head of the first volume. 



II It is well known that the son of Buffon caused to be placed at the town of Jlontbert, 

 where his father had worked, a column which bore this inscription : 



Excclsa turris, humills columna, 

 Parenti suofilius Buffon. (1780.) 



Isidore Geoffrey conceived the nobler thought of raising to his father a more durable mon- 

 ument by publishing the work entitled Life, Labors, and Scientific Doctrine of Etienne 

 Geoff roy Saint Hilaire. The General Xatiual History of the Organic Kingdoms has as a 

 dedication this verse of Dupoty : 



"MSme etait fait per moi, cct ovrage est le lien." (Eveu tliough done by me, this work is thine.) 



