248 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 
(beginning to deteriorate) cease to make new develop- 
ments; if, then, each particular organ undergoes re- 
markable changes, according as it is exercised and 
according to the manner of which I have shown you 
some examples, you will understand that in carrying 
you to the end of the animal chain where are found 
the most simple organizations, and that in consider- 
ing among these organizations those whose simplicity 
is so great that they lie at the very door of the 
creative power of nature, then this same nature—that 
is to say, the state of things which exist—has been to 
form directly the first beginnings of organization ; 
she has been able, consequently, by the manner of 
life and the aid of circumstances which favor its dura- 
tion, to progressively render perfect its work, and to 
carry it to the point where we now see it. 
“Time is wanting to present to you the series of 
results of my researches on this interesting subject, 
and to develop— 
“1, What really is life. 
“2, How nature herself creates the first traces of 
organization in appropriate groups where it had not 
existed. 
“3, How the organic or vital movement is excited 
by it and held together with the aid of a stimulating 
and active cause which she has at her disposal in 
abundance in certain climates and in certain seasons 
of theyicar. 
“4, Finally, how this organic movement, by the in- 
fluence of its duration and by that of the multitude 
of circumstances which modify its effects, develops, 
arranges, and gradually complicates the organs of the 
living body which possesses them. 
“Such has been without doubt the will of the in- 
finite wisdom which reigns throughout nature; and 
such is effectively the order of things clearly indicated 
by the observation of all the facts which relate to 
them.” (End of the opening discourse.) 
