PROFESSOR OF INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY 43 



library* With little doubt the windows of his study, 

 where his earlier addresses, the Recherches sur I' Or- 

 ganization des Corps Vivans, and the Philosophie Zo- 

 ologique, were probably written, looked out upon 

 what is now the court on the westerly side of the 

 house, that facing the Rue Geoffroy St. Hilaire. 



At the time of his entering on his duties as pro- 

 fessor of zoology, Lamarck was in his fiftieth year. 

 He had married twice and was the father of six 

 children, and without fortune. He married for a\ 

 third, and afterwards for a fourth time, and in all,] 



*A few years ago, when we formed the plan of writing his life, 

 we wrote to friends in Paris for information as to the exact house in 

 which Lamarck lived, and received the answer that it was unknown ; 

 another proof of the neglect and forgetfulness that had followed 

 Lamarck so many years after his death, and which was even mani- 

 fested before he died. Afterwards Professor Giard kindly wrote that 

 by reference to the proch verbaux of the Assembly, it had been found 

 by Professor Hamy that he had lived in the house of Buffon. 



The house is situated at the corner of Rue de Buffon and Rue 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The courtyard facing Rue Geoffroy St. Hilaire 

 bears the number 2 Rue de Buffon^ and is in the angle between the 

 Galerie de Zoologie and the Bibliotheque. The edifice is a large four- 

 storied one. Lamarck occupied the second ^tage, what we should 

 call the third story ; it was first occupied by Buffon. His bedroom, 

 where he died, was on the premier ^tage. It was tenanted by De 

 Quatrefages in his time, and is at present occupied by Professor G. T. 

 Hamy ; Professor L. Vaillant living in the first ^tage, or second 

 story, and Dr. J. Deniker, the biblioth^caire and learned anthro- 

 pologist, in the third. The second etage was, about fifty years ago 

 (1840-50), renovated for the use of Fremy the chemist, so that the 

 exact room occupied by Lamarck as a study cannot be identified. 



This ancient house was originally called La Croix de Fer, and 

 was built about two centuries before the foundation of the Jardin du 

 Roi. It appears from an inspection of the notes on the titles and 

 copies of the original deeds, preserved in the Archives, and kindly 

 shown me by Professor G. T. Hamy, the Archivist of the Museum, 

 that this house was erected in 146S, the deed being dated ixbre, 1468. 

 The house is referred to as maison ditte La Croix de Fer in deeds 

 of 1684, 1755, and 1768. It was sold by Charles Roger to M. le 

 Compte de Buffon, March 23, 1771. One of the old gardens over- 

 looked by it was called de Jardin de la Croix. It was originally the 

 first structure erected on the south side of the Jardin du Roi. 



