996 
This statement might, without violence, be 
paraphrased by saying: ‘‘ Lamarck believed in 
a tendency toward perfection, modified by ex- 
ternal conditions;’’ which I believe to be strict- 
ly correct. But Professor Osborn’s next sen- 
tence is: ‘‘ Lamarck denied, absolutely, the ex- 
istence of any ‘ perfecting tendency’ in nature, 
and regarded evolution as the final necessary 
effect of surrounding conditions on life.”’ 
On looking up other writers I found that a be- 
lief in a perfecting tendency is ascribed to La- 
marck by Lyell (Principles, Vol. II., p. 259), 
Darwin (Origin, Amer. ed., I., pp. xv+153, and 
Life, I., p. 384), Spencer (Biology, Section 146), 
Romanes (Darwin and after Darwin, I., p. 255). 
Perrier (Phil. Zool. avant Darwin, p. 84) argues 
strongly on the same side. Strangely enough, 
Quatrefages (Darwin et ses Précurseurs Fran- 
gais, p. 65) takes quite the opposite view, and 
directly accuses Darwin of error. I have been 
unable to consult any of Lamarck’s works ex- 
cept the Philosophie Zoologique, but so far as 
that is concerned the majority view seems to 
be the correct one. Throughout, though La- 
marck does not exactly use the expression 
‘perfecting tendency,’ he distinguishes be- 
tween two things—one, the échelle, the dégrada- 
tion or gradation of organisms, their tendency 
to composition (complication, advancement); the 
other, the influence of environment in alter- 
ing their needs and thus their structure. The 
échelle is a pre-established order through which 
organisms have progressively evolved, but vis- 
ible only in its grand outlines, because chang- 
ing conditions have indirectly altered the form 
of the organisms, especially externally, and 
thus obscured the details. 
A pre-established order of evolution from the 
lowest to the highest forms seems to amount 
to the same thing as a tendency towards per- 
fection. 
I have been unable to find any passages 
which can be construed as an absolute denial 
of a perfecting tendency, but I have found a 
good many which indicate that Lamarck be- 
lieved in it; whether or not because he was 
unable to suggest anything better to account 
for the progressive evolution which he saw, 
who can say? The following are sufficiently 
good examples : 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. VI. No. 157. 
‘La puissance absolue du sublime Auteur de 
toutes choses, n’a-t-elle pu créer un ordre de 
choses qui donnat successivement l’existence a 
tout ce que nous voyons comme a tout ce qui 
existe et que nous ne connaissons pas?’’ (Phil. 
Zool. ed. 1873, I. p. 74.) 
“ Je vais faire voir que la nature en donnant, 
a aide de beaucoup de temps, l’existence a 
tous les animaux et 4 tous les végétaux, a réelle- 
ment formé dans chacun de ces régnes une véri- 
table échelle, rélativement 4 la composition 
croissante de l’organisation de ces étres vivants, 
mais que cette échelle, qu’il s’agit de recon- 
naitre, en rapprochant les objets, d’aprés leurs- 
rapports naturels, n’offre des degrés saisissables 
que dans les masses principales de la série gén- 
érale, et non dans les espéces ni méme dans les 
genres: la raison de cette particularité vient 
de ce que ’extréme diversité des circonstances 
dans lesquelles se trouvent les différentes races 
d’animaux et de végétaux n’est point en rap- 
port avec la composition croissante de |’ organi- 
sation parmi eux, ce que je ferai voir, et qu’elle 
fait naitre dans les formes et les caractéres ex- 
térieurs des anomalies ou des espéces d’écarts 
que la composition croissante de l’ organisation 
n’aurait pu seule occasionner.’”’ (1. ¢, p. 
121.) 
On page 144 Lamarck says: ‘‘Il est évident 
que si la nature n’eut donné Vexistence qu’a 
des animaux aquatiques, et que ces animaux 
eussent tous et toujours vécu dans le méme 
climat, la méme sorte d’eau, la méme pro- 
fondeur, etc., sans doute alors on efit trouvé 
dans organisation de ces animaux une grada- 
tion réguliére et méme nuancée.’’ And then he 
shows that differences in the composition, depth, 
ete., of the water have brought about dis- 
turbances in the regularity of the gradation. 
Lamarck invariably uses gradation in the sense 
of an upward series, opposing it to dégradation, 
a downward series. 
A very important passage is that quoted by 
Perrier from Phil. Zool., p. 114. Lamarck 
states the struggle for existence according to his 
imperfect conception of it, showing how big and 
little animals alike are kept within due bounds. 
He concludes: ‘‘ Ainsi par ces sages précautions 
tout se conserve dans l’ordre établi; les change- 
ments et les renouyellements perpétuels qui 
