376 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



In the "Principes primordiaux " he considers man 

 as the only being who has the power of observing 

 nature, and the only one who has perceived the 

 necessity of recognizing a superior and only cause, 

 creator of the order of the wonders of the world of 

 life. By this he is led to raise his thoughts to the 

 Supreme Author of all that exists. 



" In the creation of his works, and especially those 

 we can observe, this omnipotent Being has undoubt- 

 edly been the ruling power in pursuing the method 

 which has pleased him, namely, his will has been: 



" Either to create instantaneously and separately 

 every particular living being observed by us, to per- 

 sonally care for and watch over them in all their 

 changes, their movements, or their actions, to unre- 

 mittingly care for each one separately, and by the 

 exercise of his supreme will to regulate all their life; 



" Or to reduce his creations to a small number, 

 and among these, to institute an order of things gen- 

 eral and continuous, pervaded by ceaseless activity 

 {inouvement), especially subject to laws by means of 

 which all the organisms of whatever nature, all the 

 changes they undergo, all the peculiarities they pre- 

 sent, and all the phenomena that many of them 

 exhibit, may be produced. 



" In regard to these two modes of execution, if 

 observation taught us nothing we could not form 

 any opinion which would be well grounded. But it 

 is not so ; we distinctly see that there exists an order 

 of things truly created (v^ritableinent creY), as un- 

 changeable as its author allows, acting on matter 

 alone, and which possesses the power of producing 

 all visible beings, of executing all the changes, all 

 the modifications, even the extinctions, so also the 

 renewals or recreations that we observe among them. 

 It is to this order of things that we have given the 



