Biology and Its Makers / With Portraits and Other Illustrations

by William A. Locy

Doubtless the factors that have played a part in molding the forms that have appeared in the procession of life upon our globe have been numerous, and, in addition to those that have been indicated, Osborn very aptly suggests that there may be undiscovered factors of evolution. Within a few years De Vries has brought into prominence the idea of sudden transformations leading to new species, and has accounted for organic evolution on that basis. Further consideration of this theory, however, will be postponed, while in the present chapter we shall endeavor to bring out the salient features of the theories of Lamarck and Darwin, without going into much detail regarding them.

Lamarck

Lamarck was the first to give a theory of evolution that has retained a place in the intellectual world up to the present time, and he may justly be regarded as the founder of that doctrine in the modern sense. The earlier theories were more restricted in their reach than that of Lamarck. Erasmus Darwin, his greatest predecessor in this field of thought, announced a comprehensive theory, which, while suggestive and forceful in originality, was diffuse, and is now only of historical importance. The more prominent writers on evolution in the period prior to Lamarck will be dealt with in the chapter on the Rise of Evolutionary Thought.

Lamarck was born in 1744, and led a quiet, monotonous life, almost pathetic on account of his struggles with poverty, and the lack of encouragement and proper recognition by his contemporaries. His life was rendered more bearable, however, even after he was overtaken by complete blindness, by the intellectual atmosphere that he created for himself, and by the superb confidence and affection of his devoted daughter Cornélie, who sustained him and made the truthful prediction that he would be recognized by posterity ("La postérité vous honorera").

His Family.—He came of a military family possessing some claims to distinction. The older name of the family had been de Monet, but in the branch to which Lamarck belonged the name had been changed to de Lamarque, and in the days of the first Republic was signed plain Lamarck by the subject of this sketch. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was the eleventh and last child of his parents. The other male members of the family having been provided with military occupations, Jean was selected by his father, although against the lad's own wish, for the clerical profession, and accordingly was placed in the college of the Jesuits at Amiens. He did not, however, develop a taste for theological studies, and after the death of his father in 1760 "nothing could induce the incipient abbé, then seventeen years of age, longer to wear his bands."

His ancestry asserted itself, and he forsook the college to follow the French army that was then campaigning in Germany. Mounted on a broken-down horse which he had succeeded in buying with his scanty means, he arrived on the scene of action, a veritable raw recruit, appearing before Colonel Lastic, to whom he had brought a letter of recommendation.

Military Experience.—The Colonel would have liked to be rid of him, but owing to Lamarck's persistence, assigned him to a company; and, being mounted, Lamarck took rank as a sergeant. During his first engagement his company was exposed to the direct fire of the enemy, and the officers one after another were shot until Lamarck by order of succession was in command of the fourteen remaining grenadiers. Although the French army retreated, Lamarck refused to move with his squad until he received directions from headquarters to retire. In this his first battle he showed the courage and the independence that characterized him in later years.

Adopts Natural Science.—An injury to the glands of the neck, resulting from being lifted by the head in sport by one of his comrades, unfitted him for military life, and he went to Paris and began the study of medicine, supporting himself in the mean time by working as a bank clerk. It was in his medical course of four years' severe study that Lamarck received the exact training that was needed to convert his enthusiastic love for science into the working powers of an investigator. He became especially interested in botany, and, after a chance interview with Rousseau, he determined to follow the ruling passion of his nature and devote himself to natural science. After about nine years' work he published, in 1778, his Flora of France, and in due course was appointed to a post in botany in the Academy of Sciences. He did not hold this position long, but left it to travel with the sons of Buffon as their instructor. This agreeable occupation extended over two years, and he then returned to Paris, and soon after was made keeper of the herbarium in the Royal Garden, a subordinate position entirely beneath his merits. Lamarck held this poorly paid position for several years, and was finally relieved by being appointed a professor in the newly established Jardin des Plantes.

He took an active part in the reorganization of the Royal Garden (Jardin du Roi) into the Jardin des Plantes. When, during the French Revolution, everything that was suggestive of royalty became obnoxious to the people, it was Lamarck who suggested in 1790 that the name of the King's Garden be changed to that of the Botanical Garden (Jardin des Plantes). The Royal Garden and the Cabinet of Natural History were combined, and in 1793 the name Jardin des Plantes proposed by Lamarck was adopted for the institution.