1 78 FROM LAMARCK TO ST. HILAIRE. 



in its methods of absorption, and in its transpira- 

 tions, in the quantity of caloric, light, air, and 

 humidity; finally, in the superiority which certain 

 of its vital movements can take on over others." 

 In his transfer from the study of Botany to Zool- 

 ogy, Lamarck's interests seem to have been wholly 

 weaned from the study of plants. He does not 

 show the least glimmering of the ideas of the 

 struggle for existence among the plants, and does 

 not by any means enlarge Buffon's ideas upon this 

 subject. 



In his speculations upon the origin of life, La- 

 marck at first seems to have rejected the doctrine of 

 Abiogenesis, but later (1802) he placed the origin 

 and continuous generation of the lowest forms of 

 life out of inorganic matter, at the base of his scale 

 of Evolution. He says: 



" In the waters of the ancient world, and at the present time, 

 very small masses of mucilaginous matter were collected. Under 

 the influences of light, certain elements, caloric and electric, entered 

 these little bodies. These corpuscles became capable of taking 

 in and exhaling gases ; vital movements began, and thus an ele- 

 mental plant or animal sprang into existence. Possibly higher 

 forms of life, such as infest the intestines, originate in this way, 

 Nature is thus always creating." 



He believed that by these little masses of gelati- 

 nous matter, brought together by attraction, a tissue 

 ' cellulaire ' was formed, containing gases and vital 

 movements ; that these little forms of life were the 

 original inhabitants of the globe; moreover, that 



