4(;6 



zooLoar 



in normal younp; people, and were responsil^le for the creation 

 of nianj' zool(jgical investigators. 



As the eighteenth century drew to a close, a more philo- 

 sophical tendency appeared in zoology — particularly in the 

 French school. Buffon (1707-1788) began a great popular 



encj'clopsedic work on the nat- 

 ural historj' of animals, but it 

 was never completed Ijy him. 

 The work was finished by other 

 hands. It is, however, on his 

 theoretical opinions, particularly 

 his recognition of the evolution 

 of species, and his protest 

 against Linnaeus's view of im- 

 mutahihty, that Buffon's great- 

 est claim to recognition rests. 

 But it is Lamarck (1744-1829) 

 who has made most famous this 

 French school of philosophical 

 zoologists. He held that species 

 are not immutable, but alter 

 under changing enviromnent, 

 and that there has been an up- 

 ward progression in the animal kingdom. He argued that 

 changes in en^'ironment bring about changes in habits, and that 

 new habits involve the use of new parts, resulting in modifjang 

 them. Such modifications are inherited, and thus are perpet- 

 uated as new specific characters. Rudimentary structures like 

 the eyes of moles or cave animals result from this use. Webbed 

 feet of birds, on the other hand, result from stretching the web 

 by extending the toes to swim more effectivelj^ The neck of 



Fi 



41(1. — Lamarok. From 

 "Lamarck, his Life and liis 

 'U'ork," y>y permis.sion of the 

 pulilishers, Mes.srs. Longmans, 

 Green, and Company. 



