CAP iE ke it 
LAMARCK’S SHARE IN THE REORGANIZATION OF 
THE JARDIN DES PLANTES: AND’ MUSEUM OF 
NATURAL HISTORY 
EVEN in his humble position as keeper of the 
herbarium, with its pitiable compensation, Lamarck, 
now an eminent botanist, with a European reputa- 
tion, was by no means appreciated or secure in his 
position. He was subjected to many worries, and, 
already married and with several children, suffered 
from a grinding poverty. His friend and supporter, 
La Billarderie, was a courtier, with much influence at 
the Tuileries, but as Intendant of the Royal Garden 
without the least claim to scientific fitness for the 
position; and in 1790 he was on the point of dis- 
charging Lamarck.* On the 20th of August the 
Finance Committee reduced the expenses of the Royal 
Garden and Cabinet, and, while raising the salary of 
the professor of botany, to make good the deficiency 
thus ensuing suppressed the position of keeper of 
the herbarium, filled by Lamarck. Lamarck, on 
learning of this, acted promptly, and though in this 
* Another intended victim of La Billarderie, whose own salary had 
been at the same time reduced, was Faujas de Saint-Fond, one of the 
founders of geology. But his useful discoveries in economic geology 
having brought him distinction, the king had generously pensioned 
him, and he was retained in office on the printed Etat distributed by 
the Committee of Finance. (Hamy, I. c., p. 29.) 
