2o8 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



the animal modified, change of condition being the 

 indirect cause. * 'rHe, however, did not suggest the 

 idea of the transmission of acquired characters by 

 heredity, and does not mention the word heredity. 



These are all the facts he stated ; but though not 

 an observer, Buffon was a broad thinker, and was led 

 from these few data to generahze, as he could well 

 do, from the breadth of his knowledge of geology 

 gained from the works of his predecessors, from 

 Leibnitz to Woodward and Whiston. 



" After the rapid glance," he says, " at these varia- 

 tions, which indicate to us the special changes under- 

 gone by each species, there arises a more important 

 consideration, and the view of which is broader ; it is 

 that of the transformation [changement) of th« species 

 themselves ; it is that more ancient modificationiwhich 

 has gone on from time immemorial, which seems to 

 have been made in each family or, if we prefer, in each 

 of the genera in which were comprised more or less 

 allied species." f 



In the beginning of his first volume he states " that 

 we can descend by almost imperceptible degrees from 

 the most perfect creature to the most formless matter 

 — from the most highly organized animal to the most 

 entirely inorganic substance. We will recognize this 

 gradation as the great work of nature ; and we will 

 observe it not only as regards size and form, but 

 also in respect of movements and in the successive 

 generations of every species." 



"Hence," he continues, "arises the difficulty of 



* Butler, /. c, p. 122 (from Buffon, tome v., 1755). 

 f Tome xiv. , p. 335 (1766). 



