BIRTH, .YOUTH, AND MILITARY CAREER 13 
killed; there remained only fourteen men, when the 
oldest grenadier, seeing that there were no more of 
the French troops in sight, proposed to the young 
volunteer, become so promptly commander, to with- 
draw his little troop. ‘But we are assigned to this 
post,’ said the boy, ‘and we should not withdraw 
from it until we are relieved. And he made them 
remain there until the colonel, seeing that the squad 
did not rally, sent him an orderly, who crept by all 
sorts of covered ways to reach him. This bold stand 
having been reported to the marshal, he promoted 
him on the field to the rank of an officer, although 
his order had prescribed that he should be very 
chary of these kinds of promotions.” 
His physical courage shown at this age was paralleled 
by his moral courage in later years. The staying 
power he showed in immovably adhering to his views 
on evolution through many years, and under the di- 
rect and raking fire of harsh and unrelenting criticism 
and ridicule from friend and foe, affords a striking 
contrast to the moral timidity shown by Buffon when 
questioned by the Sorbonne.) We can see that La- 
marck was the stuff martyrs are made of, and that 
had he been tried for heresy he would have been 
another Tycho Brahe. 
[Soon after, de Lamarck was nominated to a lieuten- 
ancy; but so glorious a beginning of his military 
career was most unexpectedly checked. A sudden 
accident forced him to leave the service and entirely 
change his course of life. His regiment had been, 
during peace, sent into garrison, first at Toulon and 
then at Monaco. While there a comrade in play 
lifted him by the head; this gave rise to an inflam- 
