LAMARTINE
754
LAMARTINE
analytical, dichotomous system of determining the
species of plants, a system originated by him and now
much used. In classification he maintained the prin-
ciple, in opposition to Jussieu, that a single part, no
matter how essential, was not sufficient for the classi-
fication of the plant but that, in classification, all
parts should be considered. This work led to his ac-
quaintance with Buffon and in 1779 gained his elec-
tion to the Academy of Sciences. With Buffon's son
he then travelled through Holland, Germany, and
Hungary. Once more in Paris he became a contrib-
utor to the " Encyclopedic methodique", for which he
wrote the first four volumes of the " Dictionnaire de
botanique" (Paris, 1783-96). In this work the gen-
era of plants are skilfully treated in alphabetical order
from A to P, the great collections of Paris being ex-
haustively drawn upon. The large atlas " Illustration
des Genres", which accompanied the work, contains
900 plates. Lamarck began a " Histoire naturelle des
veg^taux" (Paris, 1802), as part of the compilation
"Suites de BufTon"; Mirbel continued the "Histoire
naturelle" from volume III to XV. In the mean-
time Lamarck had received, in 1789, the position of
keeper of the herbarium at the Jardin des Plantes as
assistant to Daubenton, but he soon lost it. At no
time in his life was he in very prosperous^ circum-
stances. When the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle was
reorganized in 179.3 there were no professors of zool-
ogy. The professorship for the lower animals was
ofTered to the botanist Lamarck, and he had the cour-
age at the age of forty-nine to teach himself zoology.
He commenced his zoological lectures in 1794 and car-
ried them on until blindness forced him in 181§ to
transfer them to the entomologist Latreille.
Lamarck began by separating the animal kingdom into the two important divisions of vertebrates and in- vertebrates. He sought to develop the classification of invertebrates ("Systcme des animaux sans ver- tebres", Paris, 1801), and established numerous new genera and species for them. His most important zoological work is the "Histoire des animaux sans vertebres" (7 vols., Paris, 1815-22; 2nd ed., 11 vols., 1835-45). Particular mention should be made of Lamarck's investigations concerning molluscs, es- pecially his studies of the geologically important fossil molluscs. For the last twenty years his reputation has been far greater than in his lifetime in a steadily increasing degree. His theoretical views concerning life-forms which were often regarded by his contem- poraries, as by Cuvier, only as droll, fantastic crotch- ets, unworthy of notice or even of contradiction, are now considered by many Ijiologists as showing in the highest degree the originality of genius. These views are expressed in numerous treatises issued dur- ing the (period 1802-20 but especially in his work "Philosophic zoologique" (2 vols., Paris, 1809,1839, 1873, etc.; lately translated into other languages). They are the basis of that form of evolution which as Lamarckism, and of late in sharp opposition to Dar- win as neo-Lamarckism, has distinguished adherents among botanists, zoologists, and palaeontologists. These adherents, however, do not agree among them- selves. Every year in increasing number appear pop- ular and scientific works upon Lamarck and Lamarck- ism. His ideas were partly influenced by Maillet, Condillac, Rousseau, and especially by Buffon. La- marck can with more right than Darwin be called the originator of the theory of evolution, just as he was also the first to choose the form of a genealogical tree to illustrate the genetic connexion of organisms. Ac- cording to him only a few species have died out; for the most part they have been modified. However, the word Lamarc'kism means above all the impelling forces, postulated by Lamarck, of phylogeny: the use or disuse of the organs, oci-isiniicd by need, conse- quently by a factor inherent in the life-form, is said to call forth adaptations which become permanent by
heredity. Lamarck was, therefore, a vitalist, not a
materialist; he was also neither an atheist, nor irre-
ligious, nor an opponent of the Scriptures. On the
contrary, in regard to the creation of man he frankly
placed the authority of the Bible higher than his own
ideas. At least there is no valid reason for regarding
his words relative to this as hypocritical, as many La-
marckians do. Lamarck's name is perpetuated in
botany in the genera Monetia, Markea, Lamarchea,
and Lamarckia. In 1909 a monument to him was un-
veiled in the Mus6um d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris.
Of tlie extensive literature on Lamarck may be mentioned :
Cltvier, Elogc de Lamarck (Paris,183.5) ; CovE.The Origin of the Fittest (New York, 1887); Packard, Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution (New York, London, and Bombay, 1901); Pauly, Darwinismus und Lamarckismus (Munich. 1905); Lotsy, Vor- lesungeniiberDescendemtheorien, (Jena, 1906-08); Burckhardt, Geschichte der Zoologic (Leipzig, 1907); Pehrieh, Gdignard. and Delage in Acad, des Sciences, Inst, de France, CXLIX (Pans, 1909); Radl, Geschichte der biolog. Theorien (Leipzig,
1903-09)- Joseph Rompel.
Lamartine, Alphonse de, poet, b. at Macon, Saone-et^Loire, France, 21 Oct., 1790; d. at Paris, 1 March, 18G9. Born of a noble and Christian family, Lamartine at an early age read se- 1 e c t e d passages from the Bible, later from F(5ne- lon, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Cha- teaubriand, Mnie de Stael, Racine, Voltaire, Parny, and among for- eign poets, Tasso, Dante. Petrarch, Shakespeare, Os- sian, especially the last, who was then very popu- lar. About the age of twenty he met at the house of one of his rela- tives at Naples a little cigarette girl called Graziella, who captured his heart or his imagination, and of whom he sang in his works. Two years later, in 1814, when he was a member of the life-guards, he made the acquaintance of a delicate young woman, the wife of a physician named Charles, who died shortly afterwards. This ideal passion and the grief which followed so soon upon its blossoming revealed him to himself. Hith- erto he had been an imitator; henceforth he would accept no guide save his own inspiration. Madame Charles is the Julie of his "Raphael", and the Elvire of his poems. He made his entrance into the field of poetry by a masterpiece, "Les Medita- tions Po^tiques" (1820), and awoke to find himself famous; he may be said to have taken glory by storm. His other poetical works are "Les Se- condes Mf^ditations" (1823); "Harmonies Po^tiques et Religieuses" (1830); "Jocelyn" (1836); and "La Chute d'un Ange" (1838); two fragments of a great epic which he dreamed of dedicating to humanity, and lastly the " Recueillements Poetiques" (1839), in which he returned to lyricism, but without equalling his early works. He had already made himself known in prose. In 1835 he published the "Voy.ige en Ori- ent", a brilliant and bold account of the journey he had just made, in royal luxury, to the coimtries of the Orient, and in the course of which he had lost his only daughter. Thenceforth he confined himself to prose. He pul)lislied volumes on the most varied sulijecta (history, criticism, personal confidences, literary con- versations) especially during the Empire, when, hav-
AlphONSE de LAMARTI^
