18 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 



and penetration, as well as for extensive and varied 

 knowledge. 



Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, 

 generally called the Chevalier de Lamarck, was 

 descended from an ancient family of some dis- 

 tinction, possessed of considerable property in the 

 province of Beam. He was born at Bezantin, a 

 small village in Picardy, on the 1st August, 1744. 

 His fathers pecuniary resources having become 

 considerably impaired, among other things by the 

 maintenance of a numerous family, Jean Baptiste 

 being his eleventh child, he found it necessary to 

 educate his sons for some useful profession. Several 

 of them entered the army, and the subject of the 

 present notice was destined for the church, which 

 at that period offered many lucrative and influential 

 appointments to the members of noble families. 

 To qualify him for this office, he was sent to study 

 under the Jesuits at Amiens, with whom he remained 

 for a considerable time. From the first, however, he 

 appears to have had some aversion to the profession 

 selected for him by his father, and this was increased 

 to positive dislike by the mode of life which he was 

 obliged to lead at college. His active and excursive 

 mind submitted with impatience to the punctilious 

 restraints of college discipline, and the mechanical 

 routine of studies prescribed indiscriminately to all, 

 without reference to natural bias or acquired predi- 

 lection. Most of his companions were actively 

 engaged in the field or in other public services, for 



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