21 
MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 
preparatory labour. Indeed, the principle on which 
it rests must to a certain extent be implied in every 
artificial system of arrangement. 
This work soon acquired a considerable degree of 
popularity, not only by its intrinsic value, but from 
the seasonable time of its appearance. The study of 
botany,, which had hitherto been confined almost 
exclusively to the members of the medical profes- 
sion, was now becoming a popular and even fashion- 
able pursuit ; a distinction which it owed chiefly to 
the writings and example of J. J. Rousseau. Every 
work, therefore, calculated to facilitate the study, 
was likely to meet with a favourable reception 
among those who would probably have been repelled 
by dry technical details and rigorous scientific pre- 
cision. Its publication had an important influence 
on Lamarck’s fortune and prospects. It secured for 
him the friendship and patronage of M. de Buffon, 
who was then in the height of his popularity, and 
possessed of much influence, not only from his rank, 
character, and celebrity, but also from his authority 
with the government. Even its want of a very 
philosophical and precise system was probably one 
of the circumstances that recommended it to Buf- 
fon’s attention, as it was thereby assimilated to his 
own writings, from which every thing of that nature 
was expressly excluded. Through his influence, an 
edition of the work was printed at the royal press, 
and its author introduced to the favourable notice of 
many of the leading savans of the day. He had 
soon an opportunity of turning his popularity to 
