xviii INTRODUCTION 



Shortly afterwards Lamarck was promoted to the rank 

 of heuteoant. Peace being declared, he spent five years in 

 garrison, first at Toulon, then at Monaco. While at Monaco, 

 one of his comrades in horseplay lifted him up by the head. 

 Inflammation of the lymphatic glands of the neck ensued. 

 He had to abandon his profession, and proceeded to Paris, 

 where after some delay a complicated operation was per- 

 formed, which cured him at the expense of deep and per- 

 manent scars.^ 



Lamarck was now thrown upon the world at the age of 

 22, damaged in health, and with no other resources than a 

 pension of 400 francs a year. For a year he lived in a garret 

 in Paris, and earned a living as a clerk in a bank. Then he 

 entered upon a course of medicine lasting, according to 

 Bourguin, four years, during part of which time he lived 

 with his eldest brother in a village near Paris. While in 

 garrison, Lamarck had already acquired an interest in 

 botany, and when studying medicine, developed his know- 

 ledge of it. It was through this means that he came into 

 contact with Jean-Jacques Rousseau ; and the two 

 philosophers made botanical excursions together. It was 

 possibly through Rousseau's influence that Lamarck thought 

 of devoting himself entirely to mu^ic ; but he was dissuaded 

 by his brother. Botany, however, absorbed him to such 

 an extent that he abandoned medicine, and entered upon 

 a course of botanical study lasting ten years, at the end of 

 which he published his Flore Frangaise, with a preface by 

 Daubenton. 



France was now at the zenith of her philosophic career. 

 Scientific and philosophic subjects were discussed even in 

 the world of fashionable society : and the publication of 

 Lamarck's work, in which also Buffoii had assisted, brought 



based upon a letter written by Lamarck's son in 1830, shortly after his death, giving 

 Cuvier certain biographical particulars. This letter was only published in 1909 : 

 I have read it, and find in it every disposition towards magnifying Lamarck's achieve- 

 ments and enhancing the family glory. I do not wish to throw doubt on a pleasing 

 story : I merely wish to indicate that it comes from a distinctly biassed source, and 

 scarcely justifies the confident relation of it hitherto given by Lamarck's biographers. 



' This is Cuvier's account, which differs somewhat from that of Lamarck's son. 



