3IO 



LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



use. A quantity of Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hy- 

 menoptera, and of Hemiptera, etc., afford examples ; 

 the habits of these animals do not require them to 

 make use of their wings. 



" But it is not sufficient to give the explanation 

 of the cause which has brought about the condition 

 of the organs of different animals — a condition which 

 we see to be always the same in those of the same 

 species ; we must besides observe the changes of con- 

 dition produced in the organs of one and the same 

 individual during its life, by the single result of a 

 great change in the special habits in the individuals 

 of its species. The following fact, which is one of 

 the most remarkable, will serve to prove the influence 

 of habits on the condition of organs, and show how 

 changes wrought in the habits of an individual, pro- 

 duce the condition of the organs which are brought 

 into action during the exercise of these habits. 



" M. Tenon, member of the Institute, has given an 

 account to the Class of Sciences, that having ex- 

 amined the intestinal canal of several men who had 

 been hard drinkers all their lives, he had constantly 

 found it to be shortened to an extraordinary extent, 

 compared with the same organ in those not given to 

 such a habit. 



" We know that hard drinkers, or those who are ad- 

 dicted to drunkenness, take very little solid food, that 

 they eat very lightly, and that the beverage which 

 they take in excess frequently suffices to nourish them. 



" Moreover, as fluid aliments, especially spirituous 

 liquors, do not remain a long time either in the stom- 

 ach or in the intestines, the stomach and the remain- 

 der of the intestinal canal lose the habit of being dis- 

 tended in intemperate persons, so also in sedentary 

 persons and those engaged in mental labor, who are 

 habituated to take but little food. Gradually and at 

 length their stomach becomes contracted, and their 

 intestines shortened. 



