242 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Lamarck's later life was an unfortunate one, and it was 

 greatly to the discredit of his countrymen, usually so 

 prompt to recognise and reward genius, that it should 

 have been so. He was attacked by a disease of the eyes, 

 which at first led only to an impairment of vision, but 

 which terminated in total blindness. His limited savings 

 had been lost in some unlucky investment, and he was 

 thus deprived not only of his employment but also of the 

 means of life. His closing years were therefore passed in 

 extreme poverty and in helplessness, though the latter 

 affliction was to some extent alleviated by the devoted 

 affection of one of his daughters. He died on the iSth of 

 December 1829, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. 



The name of Lamarck can never be forgotten in the 

 history of zoology ; and his great work on the Invertebrate 

 Animals would alone have been sufficient to secure this. 

 He also left a permanent mark in certain special groups 

 of Invertebrates, and particularly as regards the Mollusca; 

 his labours as to living and fossil shell-fish having been 

 of great extent, and having produced results of great 

 value. Lamarck, however, was very much more than a 

 mere observer, describer, or classifier of animals. He 

 possessed a singularly original mind, prone to generalisa- 

 tion, and bold to rashness in its conceptions. In all 

 the subjects which he touched, he showed this tendency ; 

 and it is no matter for surprise to find him the author 

 of such books as the 'Systeme analytique des Connais- 

 sances positives de 1'Homme 3 and the * Philosophic 

 Zoologique,' to say nothing of his writings on the Theory 

 of Chemistry or on Hydrogeology. The most famous 

 of his philosophical or theoretical treatises is his ' Philo- 



