286 LAMARCK. HIS LILES, AND NV OTR 
« Shall we dare to extend the spirit of system so 
far as to say that it is Nature who has herself alone 
created this astonishing diversity of means, of con- 
trivances, of skill, of precautions, of patience, of which 
the zxdustry of animals offers us so many examples? 
What we observe in this respect in the simple class 
of zusects, is it not a thousand times more than suff- 
cient to make us realize that the limit to the power 
of Nature in nowise permits her to herself produce 
so many marvels, but to force the most obstinate 
philosopher to recognize that here the will of the 
Supreme Author of all things has been necessary, and 
has alone sufficed to create so many admirable things ? 
‘Without doubt, one would be rash or, rather, 
wholly insensate, to pretend to assign limits to the 
power of the first Author of all things; but, aside 
from that, no one could dare to say that this infinite 
power could not will that which Nature even shows 
us it has willed ’* (p. 67). 
Referring to the alleged proof of the fixity of 
species brought forward by Cuvier in the Aznales 
du Muséum a@ Histoire naturelle (i., pp. 235 and 236) 
that the mummied birds, crocodiles, and other ani- 
mals of Egypt present no differences from those now 
living, Lamarck says: 
“Tt would assuredly be very singular if it were 
otherwise, because the position of Egypt and its 
climate are still almost exactly what they were at 
that epoch. Moreover, the birds which live there 
still exist under the same circumstances as they were 
then, not having been obliged to change their habits. 
“Moreover, who does not perceive that birds, 
which can so easily change their situation and seek 
* The foregoing pages (283-286) are reprinted by the author from 
the Discours of 1803. See pp. 266-270. 
