LAMARCK’S THEORY OF DESCENT 355 
Lamarck [referring to new wants, see p. 346] as com- 
pared with more modern and now widely received 
theories, it must be observed that it is only an ex- 
tension of his third law; and that third law is a fact. 
The strengthening of the blacksmith’s arm by use is 
proverbially notorious. It is, therefore, only the suffi- 
ciency of the Lamarckian hypothesis to explain the 
first commencement of new organs which is in ques- 
tion, if evolution by the mere operation of forces 
acting in the organic world be granted; and surely 
the Darwinian theory is equally helpless to account 
for the beginning of a new organ, while it demands 
as imperatively that every stage in the assumed 
hereditary development of an organ must have been 
useful. . . . Lamarck gave great importance to 
the influence of new wants acting indirectly by stim- 
ulating growth and use. Darwin has given like im- 
portance to the effects of accidental variations acting 
indirectly by giving advantage in the struggle for ex- 
istence. The speculative writings of Darwin have, 
however, been interwoven with a vast number of 
beautiful experiments and observations bearing on 
his speculations, though by no means proving his 
theory of evolution; while the speculations of La- 
marck lie apart from his wonderful descriptive 
labors, unrelieved by intermixture with other mat- 
ters capable of attracting the numerous class who, 
provided they have new facts set before them, are 
not careful to limit themselves to the conclusions 
strictly deducible therefrom. But those who read 
the Philosophie Zoologique will find how many truths 
often supposed to be far more modern are stated 
with abundant clearness in its pages.’’ (Eucyc. Brit., 
art. “‘ Lamarck.’’) 
