274 PROCEEDINGS OF THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIEXY. 



the change of his studies from Botany to Zoology " {p2, p. 155). 

 A possibly more potent factor, however, appears to have been over- 

 looked; it was once more a question of environment. The Revolution 

 had taken place in those interveniug years; the power of the 

 priesthood was broken ; and Lamarck was free to boldly advocate, as 

 he did, the transmutation of species. 



This transmutation he explained primarily on the theory of 

 changing needs (environment we might say) leading either to the 

 greater use of parts or organs not previously brought so much into 

 play and thus to their development, or, on the other hand, to their 

 disuse and consequent atrophy ; in either case the resultant eflect 

 reacted' on the organism, which became in course of time and 

 generations so modified as to eventuate in a new species. At the 

 same time he advocated the progressive development of Animals and 

 Plants in geological time, and so was the father of Evolution as we 

 understand it.^ 



His theories met with no hearty response at the time, chiefly 

 because the scientific world of the day was not sufficiently advanced 

 to receive the new teaching, which met with Cuvier's strong 

 opposition ; but also because the final and convincing argument was 

 lacking and only supplied subsequently in the theory of "Natural 

 Selection" promulgated by Darwin & Wallace {2T)} 



We are still, perhaps, too close to the time of Darwin to fully 

 appreciate the magnitude of his work. ' Darwinism,' as it came to 

 be termed, is even now interpreted by the proverbial ' Man in the 

 Street ' as explaining man's descent from a monkey, or as I once 

 heard it expressed in front of Darwin's statue in the Natural History 

 Museum, " He discovered the Missing Link, don't you know." 



Probably to Darwin's theory more than to any other of the great 

 discoveries in Science has the old aphorism been applicable that first 

 people said " It is not true," then that " It is contrary to Pteligion," 

 and finally that " Everybody knew it before." Certainly of late 

 years the final stage has been predominant, and many would-be 

 belittlers have arisen and pointed to the lack of originality in the 

 various items of his work. 



That such was the case was fully acknowledged by Darwin himself, 

 and he notes that even the Theory of Natural Selection had been 

 anticipated, and the fact lost sight of [20^ pp. xv and xvi). Thus 

 Dr. W. C. Wells {61) in 1813, and Patrick Matthew {51, Appendix, 

 pp. 384-7) in 1831, very exactly postulated the view of the Origin 

 of Species propounded by Darwin & Wallace in 1858. 



What Darwin did in his "Origin" was to give practical shape 

 to the theory of Evolution by supplying the key to the fitting 



1 For more detailed information on Lamarck and his opinions reference shoidd be 



had to Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire [25, torn, ii, pp. 404-11), Kellogg {hk, P- 263), 

 Osborn [52, pp. 156-81), Packard (54), and Clodd (15, pp. 105-7). 



2 Dr. Jackson, the General Secretary of the Linnean Society, informs me that the 



historic meeting on 1st July, 1858, was held in the Society's rooms in old 

 Burlington House, now used by the Eoyal Academy of Arts, the Linnean 

 Society having removed thither from Banks' House ia Soho Square in 1857. 



