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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Jean Baptiste de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, was born on August 1, 1744, in Picardy, where his father owned land. Originally educated for the Church, he soon enlisted, and distinguished himself in active service. Owing to an accident affecting his health, the young Lieutenant gave up the military career, and, without means, studied medicine and natural sciences at Paris. In 1778 appeared his 'Flore française.' In 1793 he was appointed to a Chair of Zoology at the newly-formed Musée d'Histoire Naturelle. He had the misfortune to become gradually blind, and the last years of his life were spent amid straitened circumstances. He died in 1829.
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