HISTORY OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION n 



which led him to the conception of blood relation- 

 ship between animals, and of the descent from a 

 common original type. 



The most famous of the opponents of Cuvier, and 

 upholders of the doctrine of mutability of species, 

 were two of his own countrymen, who were col- 

 leagues in Paris for many years, Lamarck and St. 

 Hilaire. 



Lamarck, i 744-1 829, was originally intended for 

 the Church, like Linnaeus, Cuvier, St. Hilaire, and 

 Darwin. He, however, had a passion for the army, 

 and on the death of his father in 1760 set off for 

 Germany, where the French were then fighting. 

 There he distinguished himself as a volunteer, but 

 owing to being accidentally disabled by a comrade 

 had to abandon his career. He then went to Paris, 

 and commenced the study of medicine, while holding 

 a post as a banker's clerk. He was for a long time 

 interested in botany, and in 1779 published three 

 small volumes on the Flora of France. This at- 

 tracted the notice of Buffon, and in 1793 Lamarck 

 obtained an appointment at the Jardin des Plantes, 

 the year before Cuvier, and applied himself with 

 great vigour to the study of zoology. Lamarck and 

 Cuvier worked practically side by side for many 

 years. Cuvier, working mainly at Vertebrates and 

 at fossils, was impressed by the differences between 

 species, especially those between recent and fossil 

 species. Lamarck worked mainly at the lower In- 

 vertebrates — jelly-fish, worms, and snails. He, on 

 the other hand, was struck by their resemblances 

 rather than the differences between them, and was 



