288 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 
armed which devour the weaker, and that the larger 
kinds devour the smaller. Nevertheless, the indi- 
viduals of a single species rarely devour each other: 
they war upon other races.* 
“The multiplication of the small species of animals 
is so considerable, and the renewals of their genera- 
tions are so prompt, that these small species would 
render the earth uninhabitable to the others if nature 
had not set a limit to their prodigious multiplication. 
But since they serve as prey for a multitude of 
other “animals, as the Jeneth of their life is’ very 
limited, and as the lowering of the temperature kills 
them, their numbers are always maintained in proper 
proportions for the preservation of their races and 
that of others. 
“ As to the larger and stronger animals, they would 
be too dominant and injure the preservation of other 
races if they should multiply in too great proportions. 
But their races devouring each other, they would only 
multiply slowly and in a small number at a time; this 
would maintain in this respect the kind of equilibrium 
which should exist. 
“Finally, only man, considered separately from all 
which is characteristic of him, seems capable of mul- 
tiplying indefinitely, because his intelligence and his 
resources secure him from seeing his increase arrested 
by the voracity of any animals. He exercises over 
them such a supremacy that, instead of fearing the 
larger and stronger races of animals, he is thus rather 
capable of destroying them, and he continually checks 
their increase. 
“But nature has given him numerous passions, 
which, unfortunately, developing with his intelligence, 
* Perrier thus comments on this passage: Jc? nous sommes bien 
pres, semble-t-il, non seulement de la lutte pour la vie telle que la con- 
cevra Darwin, mais méme de la sélection naturelle, Matheureuse- 
ment, au lieu de poursuivre Vidée, Lamarck aussitét sengage dans 
ahi 2 , f , 
une autre voie,” etc. (La Philosophie zoologique avant Darwin, p. 81). 
