lO LAMAHCIC, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



The name was at first variously spelled de La- 

 marque, de la Marck, or de Lamarck. He himself 

 signed his name, when acting as secretary of the As- 

 sembly of Professors-administrative of the Museum 

 of Natural History during the years of the First Re- 

 public, as plain Lamarck. 



The inquiry arises how, being the eleventh child, 

 he acquired the title of chevalier, which would natur- 

 ally have become extinct with the death of the oldest 

 son. The Abb6 Dulac suggests that the ten older of 

 the children had died, or that by some family arrange- 

 ment he was allowed to add the domanial name to 

 the patronymic one. Certainly he never tarnished 

 the family name, which, had it not been for him, would 

 have remained in obscurity. 



As to his father's tastes and disposition, what in- 

 fluence his mother had in shaping his character, his 

 home environment, as the youngest of eleven chil- 

 dren, the nature of his education in infancy and boy- 



Pontacq, or Lamarque prhs B^arn. That the Lamarque of the 

 botanist of the royal cabinet distinguished himself from all the La- 

 marques of Beam or of Bigorre, which it bears (qWil gise) to this day in 

 the Hautes-Pyrenees, Canton d'Ossun, we have many proofs : Aast at 

 some distance, Bourcat and Couet all near I'Abbaye Lal'que, etc. The 

 village so determined is called in turn Marca, La Marque^ La- 

 marque ; names predestined to several destinations ; judge then to 

 the mercy of a botanist, Lamarck, La Marck, Delamarque, De La- 

 marck, who shall determine their number ? As to the last, I only ex- 

 plain it by a fantasy of the man who would de-Bigorrize himself in 

 order to Germanize himself in the hope, apparently, that at the first 

 utterance of the name people would believe that he was from the 

 outre Rhin rather than from the borders of Gave or of Adour. Con- 

 sequently a hundred times more learned and a hundred times more 

 worthy of a professorship in the Museum, where Monet would seem 

 (entrevait) much less than Lamarque." 



It may be added that Beam was an ancient province of southern 

 France nearly corresponding to the present Department of Basses- 

 Pyrenees. Its capital was Pau. 



