248 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



(beginning to deteriorate) cease to make new develop- 

 ments ; if, then, each particular organ undergoes re- 

 markable changes, according as it is exercised and 

 according to the manner of which I have shown you 

 some examples, you will understand that in carrying 

 you to the end of the animal chain where are found 

 the most simple organizations, and that in consider- 

 ing among these organizations those whose simplicity 

 is so great that they lie at the very door of the 

 creative power of nature, then this same nature — that 

 is to say, the state of things which exist — has been to 

 form directly the first beginnings of organization ; 

 she has been able, consequently, by the manner of 

 life and the aid of circumstances which favor its dura- 

 tion, to progressively render perfect its work, and to 

 carry it to the point where we now see it. 



" Time is wanting to present to you the series of 

 results of my researches on this interesting subject, 

 and to develop — 



" I. What really is life. 



" 2. How nature herself creates the first traces of 

 organization in appropriate groups where it had not 

 existed. ■y 



" 3. How the organic or vital movement is excited 

 by it and held together with the aid of a stimulating 

 and active cause which she has at her disposal in 

 abundance in certain climates and in certain seasons 

 of the year. 



" 4. Finally, how this organic movement, by the in- 

 fluence of its duration and by that of the multitude 

 of circumstances which modify its effects, develops, 

 arranges, and gradually complicates the organs of the 

 living body which possesses them. 



" Such has been without doubt the will of the in- 

 finite wisdom which reigns throughout nature ; and 

 such is effectively the order of things clearly indicated 

 by the observation of all the facts which relate to 

 them." (End of the opening discourse.) 



