36 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



else for him to undertake, to assume charge of the 

 collection of. invertebrate animals, and to him was 

 assigned that enormous, chaotic mass of forms then 

 known as molluscs, insects, worms, and microscopic 

 animals. Had he continued to teach botany, we 

 might never have had the Lamarck of biology and 

 biological philosophy. But turned adrift in a world 

 almost unexplored, he faced the task with his old- 

 time bravery and dogged persistence, and at once 

 showed the skill of a master mind in systematic 

 work. 



The two new professorships in zoology were filled, 

 one by Lamarck, previously known as a botanist, and 

 the other by the young ^tienne GeofTroy St. Hilaire, 

 then twenty-two years old, who was at that time a 

 student of Haiiy, and in charge of the minerals, be- 

 sides teaching mineralogy with especial reference to 

 crystallography. 



To Geoffroy was assigned the four classes of verte- 

 brates, but in reality he only occupied himself with 

 the mammals and birds. Afterwards Lac^pfede * took 

 charge of the reptiles and fishes. On the other hand, 

 Lamarck's field comprised more than nine-tenths of 

 the animal kingdom. Already the collections of in- 

 sects, Crustacea, worms, molluscs, echinoderms, corals, 

 etc., at the Museum were enormous. At this time 



* Bern. Germ. Etienne, Comte de Lacepide, born in 1756, died 

 in 1825, was elected professor of the zoology of " quadrupedes ovi- 

 pares, reptiles, et poissons," January 12, 1795 (Records of the 

 Museum). He was the author of works on amphibia, reptiles, and 

 mammals, forming continuations of Buffon's Histoire Naturelle. He 

 also published Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (1798-1803), Histoire 

 de^s Cifiaci!s (1804), and Histoire Naturelle de VHoniine (1827), Les 

 Ages de la Nature et Histoire de I'Esphe Humaine, tome 2, 1830. 



