“86 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 
terpreted with reference to the modern doctrine of 
energy; but it is certain that Lamarck, antedating 
Fresnel, Carnot, Ampére, not to mention their great 
followers, had not the faintest inkling of the possi- 
bility of such an interpretation. Indeed, one may 
readily account for the resemblance to modern views, 
seeing that all speculative systems of science must 
to some extent run in parallel, inasmuch as they 
begin with the facts of common experience. Nor 
were his speculations in any degree stimulating to 
theoretical science. Many of his mechanisms in which 
the ether operates on a plane of equality with the 
air can only be regarded with amusement. The whole 
of his elaborate schemes of color classification may 
be instanced as forerunners of the methods commer- 
cially in vogue to-day; they are not the harbingers of 
methods scientifically in vogue. One looks in vain 
for research adequate to carry the load of so much 
speculative text. 
“Even if we realize that the beginnings of science 
could but be made amid such groping in the dark, 
it is a pity that a man of Lamarck’s genius, which 
seems to have been destitute of the instincts of an 
experimentalist, should have lavished so much serious 
thought in evolving a system of chemical physics out 
of himself.” 
The chemical status of Lamarck’s writings is thus 
stated by Professor H. Carrington Bolton in a letter 
dated Washington, D. C., February 9, I1go0: 
“Excuse delay in replying to your inquiry as to 
the chemical status of the French naturalist, La- 
marck. Not until this morning have I found it con- 
venient to go to the Library of Congress. That Li- 
brary has not the Recherches nor the Mémotres, but 
the position of Lamarck is well known. He had no 
influence on chemistry, and his name is not men- 
