This general distribution of animals has not been very much approved of by naturalists; and Cuvier asserts that it is neither founded on their organization, nor an exact observation of their faculties. The degree of intelligence observed in the different classes, would certainly lead most observers to give a very different position to several, from that which they have obtained in the above scale. The insecta and arachnides, for example, which are made to occupy the lowest place among the sentient races, are undoubtedly entitled to the rank assigned to the mollusca and cirrhipedes; for there can be no comparison in this respect between a hive-bee or an ant, and an imperfectly organized and almost inanimate mollusc.
At a subsequent period, in consequence of some new discoveries made by M. M. Savigny, Leseur, and Desmarets, he separated certain tribes from the polypi, and formed them into a distinct class under the name of ascidiens. Some new views likewise occurred to him regarding the general arrangement of animals, and instead of presenting them in a simple series, he divided them into two subramose series, as follows:—
| Apathetic Animals. | Series of inarticulated Animals. | Series of articulated Animals. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infusoria | ||||
| Polypes | ||||
| Ascidiens | Radiarii | Vermes | ||
| Epizoaria | ||||
| Sentient Animals. | ||||
| Acephala | ||||
| Insecta | ||||
| Mollusca | Annelides | Arachnides | ||
| Crustacea | ||||
| Cirrhipeda | ||||
| Intelligent Animals. | Pisces | |||
| Reptilia | ||||
| Aves | ||||
| Mammalia | ||||
This arrangement is particularly deserving of attention, from its being admitted by the author of the circular system to be the first approach to a perception of that order of affinities which he supposes to pervade the whole animal kingdom. “In the first volume of his celebrated work,” says Mr. Mac Leay, “Lamarck acknowledges that the idea of a simple series constituting the whole of the animal kingdom does not agree with the evident order of nature, because, to use his own words, this order is far from simple; it is branched, and is at the same time composed of several distinct series. He then presumes, that animals offer two separate subramose series, one commencing with the infusoria, and leading by means of the mollusca to the cuttlefish (cephalopoda), and the other commencing with the intestinal worms, and leading to insects. Now, this notion could only have gained a place in the mind of Lamarck from a conviction by experience of its being an incontrovertible truth. His table of affinities, however confused it may appear, or subramose, as it is termed, coincides with the tabular view which I have laid before the public. We have only to join the radiata to the cirripeda, and the annelides to fishes, and Lamarck’s table of affinities, with scarcely any alteration, becomes precisely the same as mine[20].”
In addition to the various branches of natural history already enumerated as cultivated by this indefatigable and ingenious inquirer, another still remains to be mentioned, to which he communicated a remarkable impulse; namely, the history of fossil shells. This highly important and interesting subject had long attracted the attention of geologists, but owing to the difficulties with which it is invested, it still remained in comparative obscurity. One of the facts most desirable to be ascertained in relation to these remains, was, whether they were identical with species now living, a point which could be determined only by a careful comparison. Applying to this investigation that profound knowledge which he had acquired of recent shells, Lamarck was enabled to illustrate the subject in a most satisfactory manner, and to throw light on some of the most anomalous phenomena which it presents to the inquirer. Besides his extensive acquaintance with the testacea, he enjoyed another advantage for entering upon an inquiry of this nature by residing at Paris, the vicinity of which has long been celebrated for the number and variety of its fossil productions[21]. The result of his investigation appeared in several of the earlier volumes of the Annals of the Museum; but the memoir was never brought to a conclusion. It was accompanied with a quarto volume of plates, containing figures of great beauty and accuracy.
Such are the principal subjects to which Lamarck’s attention was directed, together with some of the results to which his investigations led him. After his establishment in the Museum of Natural History, much of his time was occupied with the objects whose history he was appointed to teach; and so favourably were his labours in this department received by the public, that his interest as well as his inclination would have conspired to make him cultivate it to the uttermost. But his exertions received an early check, and were at last entirely stopped, by the inroads of a most afflicting calamity. His eyes had long been weak, and as he advanced in years, they became so diseased, that he was obliged to refrain from using them for the examination of any minute object. Hence it was that he had recourse to the celebrated Latreille to assist him in that part of his system of invertebrata which related to insects. Notwithstanding every precaution, the disorder increased, and at last produced total blindness, which continued till his death. “This event was the more distressing,” says Cuvier, “because it overtook him in such circumstances that he could obtain none of those means of alleviation which might otherwise have been procured. He had been married four times, and was the father of seven children. The whole of his little patrimony, and even the fruits of his early economy, were lost in one of those hazardous investments which shameless speculators so often hold out as baits to the credulous. His retired life, the consequence of his youthful habits, and attachment to systems so little in accordance with the ideas which prevailed in science, were not calculated to recommend him to those who had the power of dispensing favours. When numberless infirmities, brought on by old age, had increased his wants, nearly his whole means of support consisted of a small income derived from his chair. The friends of science, attracted by the high reputation which his botanical and zoological works had conferred on him, witnessed this with surprise. It appeared to them, that a government which protects the sciences, ought to have provided for the wants of a celebrated individual; but their esteem for him was doubled, when they saw the fortitude with which the illustrious old man bore up against the assaults both of fortune and of nature. They particularly admired the devotedness which he inspired in such of his children as remained with him. His eldest daughter, entirely devoted to the duties of filial affection for many years, never left him for an instant, readily engaged in every study which might supply his want of sight, wrote to his dictation a portion of his last works, and accompanied and supported him as long as he was able to take some exercise. Her sacrifices, indeed, were carried to a degree which it is impossible to express; when the father could no longer leave his room, the daughter never left the house. When she afterwards did so, for the first time, she was incommoded by the free air, the use of which had been so long unfamiliar to her. It is rare to see virtue carried to such a degree, and it is not less so to inspire it to that degree; and it is adding to the praise of M. de Lamarck, to recount what his children did for him.”
After several years of affliction, his constitution at last gave way, and he died on the 18th December, 1829, in the 85th year of his age. Some of his children had been carried off previously, and at the time of his disease only two sons and two daughters survived. The eldest of the former was appointed to a situation of considerable trust under government.
A just estimate of Lamarck’s merits, will entitle him to occupy a high place among modern naturalists. Endowed by nature with varied and vigorous mental powers, he was fitted to excel in many branches of knowledge, and never failed to strike out a new path in every department to which he attached himself. He possessed, in an eminent degree, some intellectual qualities which are not frequently combined; a lofty and active imagination, in no way unfitted him for the most unwearied and laborious investigation of minute matters of fact. Hence he seems equally following the natural bent of his mind, when devising a theory to explain the most recondite operations of nature, and describing the markings of a shell, or the ramifications of a coral. It is to be lamented that his imagination so often gained the ascendency over his other faculties, and led to those daring and licentious speculations which have been alluded to. But in other instances, his fancy becomes the legitimate handmaid of his reason, and lends her aid in beautifying and illustrating his speculations. He possessed especially all the requisite qualifications for a zoologist, and it is on what he accomplished in this department that his fame must principally rest. When we perceive the admirable manner in which he discerned and characterized natural groups, his skill in seizing on the most distinctive marks of species, the indefatigable industry with which he investigated their history and synonymy, together with the excellence of his system of arrangement,—we are led to regret that he was so late in entering upon this field of labour, as to be obliged to confine his attention to one division of the animal kingdom, and that he so frequently deviated even from that, in order to indulge his favourite practice of theorizing.
However little value may now be attached to these theories, without a due consideration of them, we can neither appreciate some of the best of Lamarck’s writings, nor understand the character of the man himself. In his own eyes, they appeared of paramount importance. The most practically useful of his zoological and botanical works he regarded as trivial in comparison. He conceived them to present a key to some of the most secret operations of nature, and to afford the means of placing many branches of knowledge on a new foundation. This ardent attachment to views which have so generally been considered extravagant and untenable, may seem surprising in the case of an individual whom all must acknowledge to be possessed of much acuteness and discrimination. It is perhaps to be accounted for by their being nursed in the long solitudes to which his bad health and limited circumstances frequently confined him, without having his eyes opened to their fallacies by a discussion of their merits, or interchange of thought with others: for ’Tis thought’s exchange, which, like the alternate rush
Of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum,
And defecates the student’s standing pool;
By that untutor’d, contemplation raves,
And nature’s fool by wisdom is outdone.
It may likewise be supposed that he would be unwilling to perceive, or if he did perceive, equally reluctant to acknowledge, the imperfection of systems which he had wrought out with so much care and labour. For that they must have cost him a great degree of laborious thought, will appear from the slightest inspection. It must also be allowed, that they evince a reach of mind, a power of original thinking, and a degree of varied knowledge, calculated to convey no mean idea of his intellectual character. Neither can we deny to them a certain degree of consistency, or adaptation of parts to each other; and although the praise of consistency must be qualified by the admission that it is consistency in error, yet, in such cases, this is of such difficult attainment, as of itself to imply a high degree of acuteness and circumspection. However startling the conclusions to which Lamarck leads us, they are generally drawn by a legitimate and fairly managed process of induction from the assumed premises. But the very extravagance of the conclusions 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 preeminent excellence in the ordinary subjects of natural history, we cannot fail to lament that his attention was so often engrossed by fanciful speculations; speculations of which, all things 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.