SKETCH OF LAMARCK. 107 



Lamarck entered the Academy of Sciences. Buffon, who wished his 

 son to travel, gave him Lamarck as a conductor, with a commission 

 from the government. They journeyed through Holland, Germany, 

 and Hungary, and Lamarck became acquainted with Gleditsch in Ber- 

 lin, Jaquin in Vienna, and Murray in Gottingen. 



The " Encyclopedic methodique," begun by d'Alembert and Dide- 

 rot, was not yet finished. Lamarck composed four volumes of this 

 work, and in them described all the then known plants the names of 

 which begin with the letters from A to P — a huge work, which was com- 

 pleted by Poiret, and included twelve volumes, appearing between 

 1783 and 1817. A still more important work, which also forms a part 

 of the " Encyclopaedia," and is continually quoted by botanists, is en- 

 titled " Illustration des genres " (" Illustration of Genera "), in which 

 Lamarck described the characteristics of two thousand species. The 

 work, says the title-page, is illustrated with nine hundred copper-plate 

 engravings. Only a botanist can form a conception of the researches 

 in herbaria, gardens, and books, which such an undertaking demanded. 

 Lamarck accomplished it all by means of the most restless industry. 

 If a traveler came to Paris, he was the first one to announce himself 

 to him. Sonnerat returned from India with immense collections. 

 Nobody but Lamarck took the trouble to look at them, and Sonnerat 

 was so pleased with him for this that he presented the splendid herba- 

 rium to him. In spite of his indefatigable labors, Lamarck's situa- 

 tion was miserable enough. He lived by his pen, and in the service of 

 the book-sellers. Even the petty position of overseer of the Royal 

 Herbarium was refused him. Like the majority of naturalists, he 

 contended for many years with the diflSculties of life. A fortunate 

 circumstance, which gave his activity another direction, brought im- 

 provement in his condition. The convent ruled over France. Camot 

 organized victory. Lamarck undertook to organize the sciences. The 

 Museum of Natural History was founded upon his motion. They 

 had been able to name professors for all the branches except zoology ; 

 but, in those times of ardent enthusiasm, France found warriors and 

 men of science wherever it needed them. Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hi- 

 laire was twenty-one years old, and was engaged with Haity in miner- 

 alogy. Daubenton said to him : " I take the responsibility for your 

 inexperience upon myself ; I have the authority of a father over you. 

 Be so bold as to assume the chair of zoology, and it may be said some 

 day that you have made a French science of it." Geoffroy acceded, 

 and undertook the higher animals. Lakanal had well comprehended 

 that a single professor would not be adequate to the task of working 

 out the whole animal kingdom. Since the classification of the verte- 

 brates only was taken care of by Saint-Hilaire, the whole list of inver- 

 tebrates, including the insects, moUusks, worms, zoophytes, etc., still 

 remained in chaos — in the unknown. Lamarck, says Michelet, under- 

 took the unknown. He had busied himself a little, under Bruguidres's 



