cH. XVIII The Evolution of Evolution Theories 289 



environment as for the most part indirect. Let us quote 

 some conclusions from his Zoonomia (1794): — 



" Owing to the imperfection of. language the offspring is termed 

 a new animal, but is in truth a branch or elongation of the 

 parent, since a part of the embyron animal is, or was, a part of the 

 parent, and therefore in strict language cannot be said to be entirely 

 new at the time of its production ; and therefore it may retain 

 some of the habits of the parent-system. " 



" The fetus or embryon is formed by apposition of new parts, 

 and not by the distention of a primordial nest of germs included 

 one within another like the cups of a conjuror. " 



" From their first rudiment, or primordium, to the termination 

 of their lives, all animals undergo perpetual transfonnations ; which 

 are in part produced by their own exertions in consequence of 

 their desires and aversions, of their pleasures and their pains, or 

 of irritations, or of associations ; and many of these acquired forms 

 or propensities are transmitted to their posterity. " 



" As air and water are supplied to animals in sufiicient profusion, 

 the three great objects of desire, which have changed the forms of 

 many animals by their exertions to gratify them, are those of lust, 

 hunger, and security." 



" This idea of the gradual generation of all things seems to have 

 been as familiar to the ancient philosophers as to the modern ones, 

 and to have given rise to the beautiful hieroglyphic figure of the 

 TpwTov (fbv, or first great egg, produced by night, that is, whose 

 origin is involved in obscurity, and animated by ipihs, that is, by 

 Divine Love ; from whence proceeded all things which exist." 



On Lamarck (i 744-1 829) success did not shine as it 

 did on the Comte de Buffon or on Dr. Erasmus Darwin. 

 His life was often so hard that we wonder he did not say 

 more about the struggle for existence. As a youth of six- 

 teen, destined for the Church, he rides off on a bad horse 

 to join the French army, then fighting in Germany, and 

 bravely wins promotion on his first battle-field. After the 

 peace he is sent into garrison at Toulon and Monaco, 

 where his scientific enthusiasm is awakened by the Flora 

 of the south. Retiring in weakened health from military 

 service, he earns his living in a Parisian banker's office, 

 devotes his spare energies to the study of plants, and 

 writes a Flore franqaise in three volumes, the publica- 

 tion of which (1778) at the royal press was secured by 



u 



