14 THE DARWINIAN THEORY 



habit of fetching food out of deep or narrow 

 crevices ; the webbed toes of the frog to its con- 

 stant endeavours to swim, and to the very move- 

 ments of swimming. The true explanation, as we 

 shall see afterwards, was furnished by Darwin's 

 theory of natural selection. 



St. Hilaire, i 771-1840, was educated as a priest, 

 but owing to his passionate love for zoology was 

 allowed to stay in Paris and work at the Jardin des 

 Plantes. He was offered an appointment, and 

 afterwards joined Lamarck at the Musee d'Histoire 

 Naturelle in 1793. St. Hilaire was a great friend 

 of Lamarck, and adopted his theory of descent. 

 He believed that the transformations of animals 

 were effected less by the action of the organism 

 itself, than by change in the outer environment. 

 .A long and fierce controversy raged between 

 the three friends, Cuvier, Lamarck, and St. Hilaire, 

 (chiefly between Cuvier and St. Hilaire, who, 

 jstrangely enough, was thought an abler man than 

 vLamarck. Shortly after Lamarck's death a formal 

 and final discussion took place in the Academy 

 of Sciences at Paris between Cuvier and St. Hilaire. 

 This occurred on the 22nd of February 1830, 

 and was renewed on the 19th of July, a bare week 

 before the outbreak of the French Revolution. 

 All Europe was excited by the controversy, and 

 none more so than Goethe, then an old man, and 

 a firm believer in the doctrine of Evolution. 



Cuvier was far too strong for his opponent ; a 

 hard hitter, and a man of greater personal power 

 and influence, and one who did not scruple to use 



