Development of Animal Organization, — 211 
to be given to De Maillet, who lived at the end of the 17th and 
beginning of the 18th centuries, and was French consul in 
_ Egypt and afterwards at Palermo. His opinions are explained 
in a book entitled ‘Telliamed, ou Entretiens d’un Philosophe 
Indien avec un Missionnaire Frangois sur la Diminution de la 
Mer, la Formation de la Terre, Origine de ’ Homme, ete.’* 
From the supposition that animals now living and plants 
growing on the land all originated from organisms living in the 
sea, he endeavours to establish that all forms occurrmg among 
animals and plants on the continent have their representatives 
and corresponding species in the ocean. Birds are to be derived 
from flying-fishes, which, entangled by accident between the 
reeds, were prevented from returning to their former abode. 
Their fins were cloven, their rays were clothed with feathers, 
and the ventral fins were transformed into legs. “II se fit encore 
d’autres trés-petits changements dans leur figure. Le bee et le 
col des uns s’allongérent, et des autres se raccourcirent. Il en 
fut de méme au reste du corps. Cependant la conformité de la 
premiere figure subsiste dans le total, et elle est et sera toujours 
alsé & reconnoitre” (pp. 320,321). It is hardly necessary to 
say that such conceptions are inconsistent with calm and un- 
prepossessed inquiry, and are dissipated by its touchstone. 
Provided with a larger knowledge of natural history, the 
French naturalist Lamarck was, at the beginning of our century, 
the warm defender of similar views. He believed that there 1s 
a slow development, by which, from the most simple infusorium, 
originate different other animals, till the highest forms are at- ~ 
tained. If all animals were confined to the same conditions, the 
same medium, the same temperature, and the same external 
circumstances, this ladder of development would be uniform 
and very regular. This would be the case if, for instance, there 
were only marine animals living at the same depth and in the 
same temperature. But such not being the fact, another agent 
steps in, in addition to that of gradation—the influence of ex- 
ternal conditions, their relation to the wants and acts of animals, 
which, by constant repetition, produce habits. These habits 
modify the organization. Some parts, being more constantly 
used, increase in bulk and strength; others, by rest and inac- 
tion, lose their importance, are reduced in size, or disappear 
entirely. So habits form new organs, as, he says, is generally 
known, because it gave rise to the proverbial expression, “ Les 
habitudes forment une nouvelle nature.” + Even passions pro- 
* There are various editions of this book. I have that published at 
Basle, 1749, in small 8vo. “ Telliamed” is an anagram of the author’s name. 
+ Philosophie Zoologique, par J. B. P. A. Tiara Paris, 1809. 2 vols. 
8vo. See vol. i. p. 237. 
14* 
