MEMOIR OP LAMARCK. 27 



of the temperament of his mind. He seems for a 

 time to have allowed the subject wholly to engross 

 his thoughts ; to have occupied himself with nothing 

 but plants, and to have associated almost exclusively 

 with botanists. He was a frequent visitor at the house 

 cf M. de Jussieu, whose celebrity drew around him 

 all who devoted themselves to this branch of science. 

 Whenever a new collection of plants arrived in Paris, 

 Lamarck was the first to inspect it ; and when the 

 celebrated Sonnerat returned from India in 1781, 

 he was so much pleased with Lamarck's enthusiasm, 

 as contrasted with the comparative indifference of 

 most other naturalists, that he presented him with 

 the magnificent herbarium which he had made in 

 the east. It is to zeal like this that we are entitled 

 to look for the achievement of the highest results in 

 science. 



Notwithstanding the patronage of Buffon, and 

 others having the greatest influence with the go- 

 vernment, it was long before Lamarck succeeded in 

 obtaining any permanent and lucrative appointment. 

 His chief dependence was on the casual and preca- 

 rious engagements which he formed with booksellers, 

 according to whose direction he was obliged to 

 labour ; a painful restraint to a man of genius, im- 

 patient to develope his own conceptions in whatever 

 way he judged best fitted to render them effective. 

 He was at length nominated by M. de la Billardiere, 

 a relation of his own, to a place which seems to 

 have been created expressly for him, by which the 

 duty was assigned him of keeping the herbaria in 



