THE TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES. . 237 



on the other hand, is, in one form or another, almost 

 or quite universally admitted. Opinions may and do 

 differ as to the extent to which evolution has operated, 

 and as to the precise method or methods in which the 

 process has been carried out. Admittedly, also, there 

 are still many difficulties remaining unexplained, or only 

 partially explained, by any theory of evolution. All 

 naturalists, however, are now willing to admit that the 

 existing species of animals have been produced by the 

 gradual modification of pre-existing species, and that 

 these, in turn, have been evolved from a still older series 

 of specific forms. 



The successful accomplishment of this revolution in 

 the Philosophy of Zoology must be associated with the 

 great name of Charles Darwin. We have seen, however, 

 that the application of the principle of evolution to 

 the solution of the problems of organic life was first 

 systematically attempted by Erasmus Darwin, at the end 

 of last century. In the beginning of the present century, 

 the same principle was applied, more rigidly, and with 

 greater completeness, to the problem of the origin of 

 species by the celebrated French zoologist, De Lamarck, 

 whose life and writings may be briefly glanced at 

 here. 



Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, usually known 

 as the Chevalier de Lamarck, was born on the ist of 

 August 1744, at Bezantin, a small village in Picardy. He 

 was of noble descent, but his father was poor, and being 

 the youngest of a large family he was educated with a view 

 to entering the church. He had, however, an invincible 

 repugnance to a clerical life, and when his father died in 



