310 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 
use. A quantity of Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hy- 
menoptera, and of Hemiptera, etc., afford examples; 
the habits of these animals do not require them to 
make use of their wings. 
“But it is not sufficient to give the explanation 
of the cause which has brought about the condition 
of the organs of different animals—a condition which 
we see to be always the same in those of the same 
species ; we must besides observe the changes of con- 
dition produced in the organs of one and the same 
individual during its life, by the single result of a 
great change in the special habits in the individuals 
of its species. The following fact, which is one of 
the most remarkable, will serve to prove the influence 
of habits on the condition of organs, and show how 
changes wrought in the habits of an individual, pro- 
duce the condition of the organs which are brought 
into action during the exercise of these habits. 
“M. Tenon, member of the Institute, has given an 
account to the Class of Sciences, that having ex- 
amined the intestinal canal of several men who had 
been hard drinkers all their lives, he had constantly 
found it to be shortened to an extraordinary extent, 
compared with the same organ in those not given to 
such a habit. 
“ We know that hard drinkers, or those who are ad- 
dicted to drunkenness, take very little solid food, that 
they eat very lightly, and that the beverage which 
they take in excess frequently suffices to nourish them. 
“Moreover, as fluid aliments, especially spirituous 
liquors, do not remain a long time either in the stom- 
ach or in the intestines, the stomach and the remain- 
der of the intestinal canal lose the habit of being dis- 
tended in intemperate persons, so also in sedentary 
persons and those engaged in mental labor, who on 
habituated to take but little food. Gradually and a 
length their stomach becomes contracted, and ee 
intestines shortened. 
