THE TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES. 255 



merely intended to disarm the ecclesiastical prejudices of 

 his day. 



'Without doubt,' says he, ' nothing exists save by the 

 will of the sublime Author of all things. But are we able 

 to lay down laws for Him in the execution of his will, or 

 to fix the methods in which He has carried out his 

 purposes ? Why should not His infinite power have been 

 able to create an order of things, which has successively 

 given rise to everything which we see, as well as to every- 

 thing which exists, but of the existence of which we are 

 ignorant?' 



. Strictly speaking, according to Lamarck, circumstances 

 have in themselves no power of directly modifying the 

 organisation of an animal. Changed circumstances, how- 

 ever, give rise to changes in the needs ('besoins') of 

 animals; changed needs imply and necessitate changed 

 actions on the part of animals ; and if the changes of 

 circumstances become permanently established, so also 

 do the changes of habitudes thence resulting. But change 

 of habit implies corresponding change on the part of the 

 animal as to the organs which it most largely employs. 

 If an animal has enjoyed a particular habit of life, it has 

 necessarily used the organs which conform to that habit 

 and are in agreement with it. If, on the other hand, it 

 changes its habit of life, it must use more sparingly, or 

 cease to use, the organs which it formerly exercised, and 

 it must call into play another set of organs. 



In the case of plants, which have no actions (in the 

 sense in which Lamarck used this term), and which then 

 cannot be properly said to have any habitudes, changed 

 conditions similarly produce changes of structure, some 



