August 2 2, 1889] 



NATURE 



195 



good-hearted, striding across his drawing-room and giving 

 us a picture of what our Society should, according to his 

 idea, be— of what it has since l)ecome."^ 



M. de Lacaze Duthiers then proceeded to describe the 

 state of zoology a hundred years ago. 



" When 1789 came, Linnaeus and Buffon had just died, 

 and their fame was at its greatest splendour. They were the 

 absolute masters of zoology, and the whole science was 

 summed up in their work. Yet how different were the 

 two in their nature and their work. 



*' Linnxus, precise, methodical, a classifier above all, in- 

 troduced clearness and order into the most minute details 

 of natural history, and as he proposed a nomenclature at 

 once simple and precise his influence acquired such a 

 preponderance that von Haller complained of his tyranny. 

 If the reform of scientific language proposed by 

 Linnaeus took such immediate and powerful hold on the 

 scientific world, it was because it exactly corresponded 

 to the need of the moment. 



*' Before Linnicus, the objects of natural history were 

 designated by the help of names or phrases formed by the 

 addition of adjectives describing their characteristics, 

 which overburdened the memory. All this he reduced 

 to two words, just as in our families we distinguish the 

 various members by a family name and a Christian name. 

 The simplicity, the ease of application, and above all 

 the opportune appearance of his nomenclature were the 

 causes of its great success ; but we must add that its in- 

 trinsic value is such that even to-day we hardly depart 

 from the rules on which it is founded. 



"The opposite of Linna:us, Bufifon delighted in broad 

 delineations, and his general reflections were animated by 

 a potent inspiration. We are carried away and en- 

 thralled by the profundity of his thought, the elevated 

 standpoint from which he views science. By reasoning 

 and the consequences of observations which he interprets, 

 he seeks as much to discover what will take place, and 

 what must have taken place, as to determine the exact 

 nature of what he observes. And thus he was often in 

 advance of his epoch, and his lofty views could be 

 understood only by the i&\s. 



" Linnaeus, on the contrary, established facts with sim- 

 plicity and clearness. 



" With qualities such as these, these two men of genius, 

 who died towards the end of the last century, must often 

 have been at variance ; and though the name had not 

 yet been pronounced, we may already at this epoch 

 distinguish between the school of facts and the school of 

 theories {Vecole des /aits et Pecole du ratsonneinent). 



" But there was wanting to the works of Linnteus and 

 Bufifon a foundation whose necessity made itself impera- 

 tively and universally felt. For it was beginning to be 

 perceived that the study of the habits, of the geographical 

 origin, and of the external characters of animals was not 

 sufficient. 



'• Then came Cuvier. It was the great merit of Cuvier 

 to see clearly that if zoologists would arrive at a truer 

 knowledge of animals, they must not content themselves 

 with a description of their external forms, but must 

 investigate their internal construction. It was thus 

 that he introduced the notion of anatomy into natural 

 history." 



M. de Lacaze Duthiers proceeded to defend Cuvier's 

 memory fiom unjust attacks which it had suffered owing 

 to his opposition to Lamarck. 



" Let us not judge great men by their weaknesses. By 

 wishing to depreciate them, we often arrive at a contrary 

 result, and lessen ourselves by a display of systematic and 

 unjustifiable hostility. Let us see in them only what is 



It need hardly be said that Wurtz founded the French Association on the 

 model of our British Association. From the war of 1870 dates a remarkable 

 renaissance in French scient.fic activity, which had been in abeyance during 

 the Empire, or at least till M. Duruy came into power in 1869 as iSI.nister of 

 Public Instruction, and founded that unique institution for the encouragement 

 of research, the £cole des Hautes Etudes. 



good and great. And then we shall not fail to recognize 

 the fact that Cuvier is entitled to our fullest meed of 

 admiration." 



The lecturer continued by pointing out that Geoffroy 

 St. Hilaire and Lamarck occupied the same position with 

 regard to Cuvier that Buffon had held with regard to 

 Linnaeus. Their speculations were too advanced, they 

 came before their time. 



" Zoology remained stationary for many years after 

 Cuvier, and it was not before the beginning of the century 

 that new ideas sprang up directing research along fresh 

 paths, and profoundly modifying certain branches of 

 biological science. 



" It is strange to see how books and observations of 

 considerable value often remain obscure for years, and 

 are then finally brought to light by some unexpected 

 discovery. 



" I remember that about the year 1855 Prof. Huxley, the 

 illustrious English savant, wrote to me (I was then Pro- 

 fessor at Lille) : ' In England we are all much excited 

 about the discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes.' You 

 all remember the interest aroused by the discovery of the 

 chipped silexes of St. Acheul, and the famous jaw of 

 Moulin Quignon. 



" English geologists came to Amiens. The most lively 

 discussions took place, and an International Committee 

 was formed to direct an official excavation. 



" But perhaps the real discovery made, and this 

 was due chiefly to the journey of the iLngWsh savants, was 

 that of the books, the researches, and the new ideas of 

 Boucher de Perthes, which had hitherto passed almost 

 unnoticed. 



" We may say that from this moment dates the study of 

 prehistoric times, which has undergone so immense a 

 development. The excitement produced by the dis- 

 coveries of M. Boucher de Perthes had begun to calm 

 down, and researches were being pursued in every direc- 

 tion, when the first of Darwin's essays appeared in 1858 

 and 1859. These dates will remain for ever memorable 

 in the history of natural science, for henceforward zoology 

 (the only science of which I am at present speaking) 

 takes an entirely new direction. 



" We must acknowledge that whatever the measure 

 of confidence we have in the theory of transformism, if 

 we admit it to its full extent, with all its consequences, 

 or if we reject it, it can be a matter of doubt to no 

 one that this theory has led to a truly extraordinary 

 scientific activity. Partisans and detractors both— in 

 seeking for proofs of their opinions, either in the mysteries 

 of embryology or in the investigation of the animal 

 remains in geological strata— all, whatever their method, 

 their ideas, their opinions, or their hostility, have caused 

 zoology to take great strides. 



" How far removed we are from the time of Linnseus, 

 when external characteristics were everything— from the 

 time of Cuvier, when anatomical notions and the study of 

 exterior forms alone guided the classifier ! 



" To-day, what we seek for first of all is the enchainment 

 of animals, either by going back to the forms of the past 

 from those of the present, or the converse. We seek to 

 explain the varied forms we see by the laws so happily 

 formulated by Darwin— laws, indeed, which are as true as 

 they are seductive. 



" Who can deny the struggle for existence ? Is it not to 

 be found everywhere ? And who will not admire the effects 

 of selection ? But why exaggerate its true bearings ? 



" Evolution is to be met with everywhere, in the civilized 

 world as in the world of Nature, development is the 

 great and eternal problem, resolved by the destruction of 

 some, by the advancement of others ; everywhere the 

 struggle for life shows itself, inflexible and fatal. 



" One may be a partisan or not of the theory of evolution 

 —and I have not here to declare my own opinions, but 

 rather to determine the exact influence of certain dis- 



