CHAPTER XIX 



LAMARCK'S THOUGHTS ON MORALS, AND ON THE 

 RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION 



One who has read the writings of the great French 

 naturalist, who may be regarded as the founder of 

 evolution, will readily realize that Lamarck's mind 

 was essentially philosophic, comprehensive, and syn- 

 thetic. He looked upon every problem in a large 

 way. His breadth of view, his moral and intellec- 

 tual strength, his equably developed nature, gener- 

 ous in its sympathies and aspiring in its tendencies, 

 naturally led him to take a conservative position as 

 to the relations between science and religion. He 

 should, as may be inferred from his frequent refer- 

 ences to the Author of nature, be regarded as a 

 deist. 



When a very young man, he was for a time a friend 

 of the erratic and gifted Rousseau, and was after- 

 wards not unknown to Condorcet, the secretary of 

 the French Academy of Sciences, so liberal in his 

 views and so bitter an enemy of the Church; and 

 though constantly in contact with the radical views 

 and burning questions of that day, Lamarck through- 

 out his life preserved his philosophic calm, and main- 

 tained his lofty tone and firm temper. We find no 

 trace in his writings of sentiments other than the 



