12 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



of his village, he rode across the country to join the 

 French army, then campaigning in Germany. 



He carried with him a letter of recommendation 

 from one of his neighbors on an adjoining estate in 

 the country, Madame de Lameth, to M. de Lastic, 

 colonel of the regiment of Beaujolais.* 



" We can imagine [says Cuvier] the feelings of this 

 officer on thus finding himself hampered with a boy 

 whose puny appearance made him seem still younger 

 than he was. However, he sent him to his quarters, 

 and then busied himself with his duties. The period 

 indeed was a critical one. It was the i6th of July, 

 1 76 1. The Marshal de Broglie had just united his 

 army with that of the Prince de Soubise, and the 

 next day was to attack the allied army commanded 

 by the Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. At the break 

 of day M. de Lastic rode along the front of his corps, 

 and the first man that met his gaze was the new re- 

 cruit, who, without saying anything to him, had placed 

 himself in the front rank of a company of grenadiers, 

 and nothing could induce him to quit his post. 



" It is a matter of history that this battle, which 

 bears the name of the little village of Fissingshausen, 

 between Ham and Lippstadt, in Westphalia, was lost 

 by the French, and that the two generals, mutually 

 accusing each other of this defeat, immediately sepa- 

 rated, and abandoned the campaign. 



" During the movement of the battle, de Lamarck's 

 company was stationed in a position exposed to the 

 direct fire of the enemy's artillery. In the confusion 

 of the retreat he was forgotten. Already all the 

 officers and non-commissioned officers had been 



* We are following the Eloge of Cuvier almost verbatim, also repro- 

 duced in the biographical notice in the Revue biographique de la So- 

 ciH^ Malacologique de Fj-ance, said to have been prepared by J. R. 

 Bourguignat. 



