LAMARCK. 123 



different from what science is wont to designate by that 

 name. Why does the horse exist ? Because it was pre- 

 destined and prepared for man by the Deity."''^' This 

 is supposed to occur by means of the *' derivative law." 

 But this again is a word which conveys no meaning, 

 a phrase which imphes that the horse has become a 

 horse because it was so to be. The predecessors of the 

 horse modify themselves for the interest of man, who 

 does not as yet exist, but is already taken into account 

 by the intelligent Will. 



These ancestors of the horse might therefore be 

 compared to the sports of Nature ; the transformation 

 takes place, not because from inherent reasons it must 

 take place, but because it so pleases the intelligent Will. 

 We must beg to decline such ''natural laws" as these. 

 Owen says, " I deem an innate tendency to deviate from 

 the parental type, operating through periods of adequate 

 duration, to be the most probable nature or way of 

 operation of the secondary law, whereby species have 

 been derived one from the other.^^ From the Ichthyo- 

 saurus to Man, he sees the connection of descent ; he 

 denies that the influence of circumstances is decisive; he 

 rejects a dozen times any sort of miracle ; but the next 

 moment he cleaves to miracle again, namely, to an innate 

 tendency towards a certain future development not im- 

 posed by circumstances and dependent on them, but 

 conducive to a special purpose. 



Thus deal the trimmers, who, through fear of conse- 

 quences, appease their scientific consciences with a word. 



We now come to a courageous writer, whose principal 

 work, "La Philosophie Zoologique,""* was overlooked 

 and well-nigh forgotten for half a century, until it 



