DE LAMARCK. 1/5 



existence; and, in a word, at the end of many- 

 successive generations, these individuals which 

 originally belonged to another species are trans- 

 formed into a new and distinct species. 



All this came from the study of a man who had 

 an enormous experience, and if he had not gone on 

 any further it would have been better. Lamarck's 

 views already stated may be accepted by every- 

 body, and the grand changes in living forms under 

 law are doubtless true. But he introduced the 

 notion that "wants" exercised an influence and 

 produced new organs, and wrote about effects of 

 internal sentiment, and the influence of subtle 

 fluids. Thus he argued that otters, beavers, water- 

 fowl, turtles, and frogs, were not made web-footed 

 in order that they might swim ; but their wants 

 having attracted them to the water in search of 

 prey, they stretched out the toes of their feet to 

 strike the water and move more rapidly along its 

 surface. By the repeated stretching of their toes, 

 the skin that united them at the base acquired the 

 habit of extension, until, in the course of time, the 

 broad membranes which now connect their ex- 

 tremities were formed. 



Lamarck taught that the first animals and plants 

 which appeared on the globe were the simplest, 

 and that the more complex are of comparatively 

 late date. He insisted that nature was an order of 

 things constituted by the Supreme Being, and sub- 

 ject to laws which are the expressions of His will. 

 There is no doubt that these views of Lamarck 



