60 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 



degree ; and it is adding to the praise of M. de La- 

 marck, to recount what his children did for him." 



After several years of affliction, his constitution 

 at last gave way, and he died on the 18th December, 

 1829, in the 85th year of his age. Some of his 

 children had been carried off previously, and at the 

 time of his disease only two sons and two daughters 

 survived. The eldest of the former was appointed 

 to a situation of considerable trust under govern- 

 ment. 



A just estimate of Lamarck's merits, will entitle 

 him . to occupy a high place among modern na- 

 turalists. Endowed by nature with varied and 

 vigorous mental powers, he was fitted to excel in 

 many branches of knowledge, and never failed to 

 strike out a new path in every department to which 

 he attached himself. He possessed, in an eminent 

 degree, some intellectual qualities which are not 

 frequently combined ; a lofty and active imagination, 

 in no way unfitted him for the most unwearied and 

 laborious investigation of minute matters of fact. 

 Hence he seems equally following the natural bent of 

 his mind, when devising a theory to explain the most 

 recondite operations of nature, and describing the 

 markings of a shell, or the ramifications of a coral. 

 It is to be lamented that his imagination so often 

 gained the ascendency over his other faculties, and 

 led to those daring and licentious speculations which 

 have been alluded to. But in other instances, his 

 fancy becomes the legitimate handmaid of his reason, 

 and lends her aid in beautifying and illustrating his 



