ST. VINCENT. 205 



France. Like his leader, he was both a naturah'st, 

 and, for a time, an army officer. In the furmcr 

 capacity, he was, for a time, with the expedition 

 of Baudin. Quatrefages has given the following 

 sketch of his views : 



In several papers, but especially in the article 

 * Creation ' of the Dictionnairc Classiqiic dc rilis- 

 ioire Naturelle, of which he was the editor, he 

 developed, in more than one point, the doctrines 

 of Lamarck, and drew from them conclusions which 

 belonged to himself. 



Bory admits the spontaneous daily formation of 

 new species, not, it is true, upon our continents, 

 which have for a long time been peopled with both 

 animals and plants, but only in countries consid- 

 ered by him less ancient in formation. He cites, 

 for example, the island of Madagascar, which he 

 believes to have only recently issued from tlie sea, 

 under the influence of volcanic forces. According 

 to him, this island contains more "polymorphic 

 species than all the terra fijnna of the Old World." 

 On this relatively modern soil he says species are 

 not yet fixed. Nature, in hastening to constitute 

 the types, seems to have neglected to regulate the 

 accessory organs. On the other hand, in the con- 

 tinents more anciently formed, the develoj^nent of 

 plants has, perforce, followed an identical route for 

 an incalculable number of generations. The plants 

 have thus become arrested in their types, and do 

 not present the variations so frequent in new coun- 



