200 Dr Daubeny on the Writi»gs and 



ralization, with respect to the essential differences pervading 

 plants with one cotyledon and with more, which I have ven- 

 tured on a former occasion* to characterize " as the key- 

 stone of the natural system, and as holding the same rank in 

 botany, which the discovery of the circulation of the blood, 

 or the distinction between vertebrated and invertebrated ani- 

 mals, claims in zoology.'' 



The latter had already promulgated those singular specu- 

 lations respecting the origin of inorganic matters, intended 

 by him to supersede the new chemistry, which Lavoisier had 

 so recently founded on the basis of experiment. 



In these it had been assumed, that life was the original 

 cause of all combinations, the antagonist to those natural 

 forces, which tend to resolve the elements of matter into their 

 simplest forms, and which bring about death in organic, and 

 dissolution in inorganic substances. 



But although such immense effects were attributed to the 

 operation of life, Lamarck had not yet explained to the 

 public how he considered this principle to operate ; and it was 

 only in 1802 that we find him, in his " researches on the 

 organization of living bodies,'' attributing to that blind im- 

 pulse, or creative energy, which he denominates life, the power 

 of building up, by an indefinite succession of efforts, the com- 

 plicated organization of an animal or a plant. 



It is probable, however, that these theories were floating in 

 his mind at the time when Decandolle's intimacy with him 

 commenced, and must have formed the subjects of frequent 

 discussion, thus serving to render the latter familiar with 

 those facts respecting abortive and rudimentary organs, on 

 which the French Naturalist had raised this fanciful and airy 

 superstructure. 



That a connexion with such persons as I have mentioned, 

 should impart a bias to the genius and pursuits of a young 

 man just entering into life, was unavoidable ; but what may 

 be remarked as the peculiar merit of Monsieur Decandolle 

 was, that whilst we may trace in his writings the impress of 

 those principles of science, which might be gleaned from the 



* See my Inaugural Lecture on the Study of Botany, Oxford, 1034, 



