24 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 



preparatory labour. Indeed, the principle on which 

 it rests must to a certain extent be implied in every 

 artificial system of arrangement. 



This work soon acquired a considerable degree of 

 popularity, not only by its intrinsic value, but from 

 the seasonable time of its appearance. The study of 

 botany, which had hitherto been confined almost 

 exclusively to the members of the medical profes- 

 sion, was now becoming a popular and even fashion- 

 able pursuit ; a distinction which it owed chiefly to 

 the writings and example of J. J. Rousseau. Every 

 work, therefore, calculated to facilitate the study, 

 was likely to meet with a favourable reception 

 among those who would probably have been repelled 

 by dry technical details and rigorous scientific pre- 

 cision. Its publication had an important influence 

 on Lamarck's fortune and prospects. It secured for 

 him the friendship and patronage of M. de Buffon, 

 who was then in the height of his popularity, and 

 possessed of much influence, not only from his rank, 

 character, and celebrity, but also from his authority 

 with the government. Even its want of a very 

 philosophical and precise system was probably one 

 of the circumstances that recommended it to Buf- 

 fon's attention, as it was thereby assimilated to his 

 own writings, from which every thing of that nature 

 was expressly excluded. Through his influence, an 

 edition of the work was printed at the royal press, 

 and its author introduced to the favourable notice of 

 many of the leading savans of the day. He had 

 soon an opportunity of turning his popularity to 



