LAMARCK 



the various new Chairs. Lamarck, being the youngest 

 of the members, had to be contented with the least 

 desirable of the positions one that no one else 

 wanted that under which, according to the system of 

 Linnaeus, were classified the worms and insects. He 

 had until then paid but little attention to any branch 

 of Zoology, but he devoted himself with such assid- 

 uity to the new study that his work there stood on a 

 higher level than even his botanical labors. To him 

 is due the classification and the term of the " Inver- 

 tebrata," which appropriately designates the distin- 

 guishing feature in these large classes of living 

 beings. He depended upon Cuvier for the anatomical 

 details, as he had no practical facility therein, but 

 supplied the power of co-ordination and classification, 

 in which Cuvier was often deficient. 



It was unfortunate for the fame of Lamarck, even 

 during his lifetime, that the speculative nature of his 

 mind built theories upon insufficient or absolutely 

 wanting foundations. With no practical or experi- 

 mental knowledge of Chemistry, he attacked the 

 doctrines and discoveries of Lavoisier, and attempted 

 to overthrow by a-priori reasoning the facts carefully 

 established by experiment. He also projected sys- 

 tems of geology, meteorology and of natural philos- 

 ophy, all of which had the serious fault of not 

 according with the known facts. The theory of 



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