238 NATURAL HISTORY. 



1760, he at once abandoned his studies, and betook 

 himself straightway to the French army, which was at 

 that time in Germany. He was admitted as a volunteer in 

 a regiment of Grenadiers, and the next day distinguished 

 himself so highly on the field of battle, that he was at 

 once made an officer. His military career was, how- 

 ever, shortly thereafter brought to an abrupt close, in 

 consequence of an injury inflicted upon him in sport by 

 one of his companions, which necessitated the perform- 

 ance of a severe surgical operation, and left him 

 permanently unfitted for the life of a soldier. He was 

 therefore compelled to earn his own living as best he 

 could, and to begin with he became a banker's clerk, a 

 position in which he remained a long time. For four 

 years he studied medicine, but he ultimately abandoned 

 this, and devoted the whole of his spare time to scientific 

 studies, his favourite subjects at first being meteorology 

 and botany. 



To the study of botany in particular Lamarck applied 

 himself with the greatest diligence; and in 1778 he 

 published his first book, the 'Flore Frangaise,' This was 

 a sort of descriptive catalogue of all the known species of 

 plants in France, and its special object was to allow of 

 the ready identification of any unknown plant. The 

 method of arrangement adopted in this work is what has 

 been called the ' dichotomous ' or 'binary' arrangement, 

 a method which has the merit of great simplicity, though 

 in itself essentially artificial. Lamarck was perfectly 

 acquainted with the natural system of classification of plants, 

 which had been introduced into botany by the Jussieus ; 

 and he fully recognised the merits of this system as a 



