86 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



terpreted with reference to the modern doctrine of 

 energy ; but it is certain that Lamarck, antedating 

 Fresnel, Carnot, Ampfere, not to mention their great 

 followers, had not the faintest inkling of the possi- 

 bility of such an interpretation. Indeed, one may 

 readily account for the resemblance to modern views, 

 seeing that all speculative systems of science must 

 to some extent run in parallel, inasmuch as they 

 begin with the facts of common experience. Nor 

 were his speculations in any degree stimulating to 

 theoretical science. Many of his mechanisms in which 

 the ether operates on a plane of equality with the 

 air can only be regarded with amusement. The whole 

 of his elaborate schemes of color classification may 

 be instanced as forerunners of the methods commer- 

 cially in vogue to-day ; they are not the harbingers of 

 methods scientifically in vogue. One looks in vain 

 -for research adequate to carry the load of so much 

 speculative text. 



" Even if we realize that the beginnings of science 

 could but be made amid such groping in the dark, 

 it is a pity that a man of Lamarck's genius, which 

 seems to have been destitute of the instincts of an 

 experimentalist, should have lavished so much serious 

 thought in evolving a system of chemical physics out 

 of himself." 



The chemical status of Larnarck's writings is thus 

 stated by Professor H. Carrington Bolton in a letter 

 dated Washington, D. C, February 9, 1900: 



" Excuse delay in replying to your inquiry as to 

 the chemical status of the French naturalist, La- 

 marck. Not until this morning have I found it con- 

 venient to go to the Library of Congress. That Li- 

 brary has not the Recherches nor the M^moires, but 

 the position of Lamarck is well known. He had no 

 influence on chemistry, and his name is not men- 



