VIEWS OF ERASMUS DARWIN 22% 



principle of protective mimicry, so much discussed 

 in these days by Darwin, Wallace, and others, and 

 which was not even mentioned by Lamarck. From 

 the internal evidence of Lamarck's writings we there- 

 fore infer that he was in no way indebted to Erasmus 

 Darwin for any hints or ideas.* 



* Mr. Samuel Butler, in his Evolution^ Old and New, taking it for 

 granted that Lamarck was " a partisan of immutability till 1801," in- 

 timates that " the secret of this sudden conversion must be found in 

 a French translation by M. Deleuze of Dr. Dar«'in's poem, The 

 Loves of the Plants, which appeared in 1800. Lamarck — the most 

 eminent botanist of his time — was sure to have heard of and seen this, 

 and would probably know the translator, who would be able to give 

 him a fair idea of the Zoonomia" (p. 258). 



But this notion seems disproved by the fact that Lamarck delivered 

 his famous lecture, published in 1801, during the last of April or in 

 the first half of May, 1800. The views then presented must have 

 been formed in his mind at least for some time — perhaps a year or 

 more — previous, and were the result-of no sudden inspiration, least of 

 all from any information given him by Deleuze, whom he probably 

 never met. If Lamarck had actually seen and read the Zoonomia he 

 would have been manly enough to have given him credit for any novel 

 ideas. Besides that, as we have already seen, the internal evidence 

 shows that Lamarck's views were in some important points entirely 

 different from those of Erasmus Darwin, and were conceptions 

 original with the French zoSlogist. 



Krause in his excellent essay on the scientific works of Erasmus 

 Darwin (1879) refers to Lamarck as "evidently a disciple of Dar- 

 win," stating that Lamarck worked out "in all directions" Erasmus 

 Darwin's principles of "will and active efforts" (p. 212). 



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