DE LAMARCK. 1 65 



cared more for the army than for his studies at 

 college he really worked there, and what he learned 

 was of great use to him in his future career. His 

 hours of weary suffering were sometimes employed 

 in studying the clouds, and in noticing their dif- 

 ferent shapes and appearances. He got by this 

 means some vague ideas of meteorology. ' E[£jiad 

 already been attracted, during his stay at Monaco, 

 by Jhi^curious vegetation of that rocky country, 

 and had taken a fancy for botany from reading a 

 treatise on common plants, which happened to fall 

 m his way. H^therefore began to see that the 

 projession of arms was not the only one worth 

 living for, or in which distinction might be earned ; 

 and he took the bold resolution of applying himself 

 tQ _the s tudy o£ medicine. This, considering the 

 smallness of his resources, was hardly less hazardous 

 than his former determination to join the army. 

 Unable to defray the expense attending the studies 

 to which he now applied himself, he was forced to 

 seek employment as a banker's clerk, and thus to 

 work for the means of pursuing his purpose. He 

 studied medicine four years, and at the end of that 

 time, not finding it accord with his taste, he re- 

 linquished it, in order to attach himself the more 

 closely to botany. In this science he laboured 

 most perseveringly, and after a preparation of ten 

 years he suddenly revealed himself and his views 

 to the learned world in a work as remarkable for 

 the novelty of the plan, as for the mode of execu- 

 tion. " For a long time," says Cuvier, " while col- 



