MEMOIR OP LAMARCK. 
63 
premises. But the very extravagance of the con- 
clusions ought to have created a suspicion that the 
premises were erroneous ; and they are, in fact, 
almost invariably found to be wholly inadmissible. 
While, therefore, we acknowledge Lamarck’s pre- 
eminent excellence in the ordinary subjects of na- 
tural history, we cannot fail to lament that his 
attention was so often engrossed by fanciful specu- 
lations ; speculations of which, all tilings considered, 
it is no undue depreciation to affirm that they 
are at once absurd and impious — alike opposed to 
reason and religion ; and the regret which must be 
felt in making such an assertion in regard to so 
celebrated a man, is not a little enhanced by the 
accompanying reflection, that, with Lamarck and 
others of his school, the latter imputation would be 
regarded as infinitely less discreditable than the 
former. 
