INTRODUCTION. XXV11 



to go through the whole animal kingdom the 

 same mutual relation and dependence between 

 the different parts and organs of the structure 

 and their functions would be found. 



Can any one in his rational senses believe 

 for a moment that all these adaptations of one 

 organ to another, and of the whole structure 

 to a particular function, resulted originally 

 from the wants of a senseless animal living by 

 absorption, and whose body consisted merely 

 of cellular tissue, which in the lapse of ages, 

 and in an infinity of successive generations 

 by the motions of its fluids, directed here and 

 there, produced this beautiful and harmonious 

 system of organs all subservient to one pur- 

 pose ; and which in numerous instances vary 

 their functions and organs, but still preserving 

 their mutual dependence, by passing through 

 three different states of existence. 



Lamarck's great error, and that of many 

 others of his compatriots, is materialism ; he 

 seems to have no faith in any thing but body, 

 attributing every thing to a physical, and 

 scarcely any thing to a metaphysical cause, 

 Even when, in words, he admits the being 

 of a God, he employs the whole strength of 

 his intellect to prove that he had nothing to 



