ON THE GENETIC VIEW OF NATURE. 



309 



ten years before von Baer l took up " the subject, which 

 then presented itself as the richest which an anatomist 

 could take up, the history of development," and twenty 

 years before his first larger publication on this subject. 

 Lamarck's 2 ' Philosophie Zoologique ' appeared in 1809. 

 Though known to von Baer, it does not seem to have 

 ever been much appreciated by him, but it was the 

 first serious attempt to deal with phylogenesis, as von 

 Baer's researches were the first consistent studies in 

 ontogenesis. 



It is of interest to inquire into the reasons which 

 induced Lamarck to form opinions so entirely different 

 from those which, through the influence and the authority 

 of Cuvier, were then prevalent among naturalists, and to 

 oppose the idea of variability and of descent to that of 



1 Von Baer himself describes 

 using these words how in the year 

 1819 the play of accident or good 

 fortune "threw this subject into 

 his hands." Stieda, p. 67. 



a Since the interest in the specu- 

 lations of J. Baptiste de Lamarck 

 (1744 - 1829) has been revived 

 through the writings of Charles 

 Darwin, the historical antecedents 

 of his ideas have also been studied, 

 and his as well as Geoffrey's 

 theories have been brought into 

 connection with the views contained 

 in Buffou's 'Epoques de la Nature.' 

 See especially the interesting an- 

 alysis in Edmond Perier's ' La 

 Philosophie Zoologique avant Dar- 

 win,' 1884. " Aiusi surgissent, 

 poses par Buffon, ce partisan d'abord 

 si resolu de la fixite des especes, 

 tous les problemes dont la solution 

 aura ele" sans aucun doute la pensde 

 dominante de la seconde inoitie de 

 ce siecle. . . . Et toutes ces 

 grandes idees que Buffon devine en 



19. 



Lamarck. 



quelque sorte, vers lesquelles il est 

 invinciblement entraine par la puis- 

 sante et rigoureuse logique de son 

 genie, sont pre'cise'ment celles qui 

 commencent aujourd'hui, appuyees 

 sur un ensemble imposant de re- 

 cherchea, a triompher de tous les 

 scrupules " (p. 68). " Trois grands 

 hommes y vont poursuivre, par des 

 voies diverses, 1'oeuvre de Buffon : 

 Lamarck, Geoffroy St Hilaire, et 

 Cuvier " (p. 72). For the histori- 

 cal connections of Lamarck's ideas 

 see also Huxley's article in the 9th 

 ed. of the ' Ency. Brit. ,' in which he 

 points to a great change which took 

 place in Lamarck's views between 

 1794 and 1809. In fact, the theories 

 which have given to Lamarck so 

 distinguished a position in the his- 

 tory of the genetic view of nature 

 belong to the latter half of his long 

 life. I know of no other recent 

 example of so late a development of 

 quite original ideas except perhaps 

 the critical philosophy of Kant. 



