Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution Part 6

CHAPTER VI

POSITION IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE; OPINIONS OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES AND SOME LATER BIOLOGISTS

De Blainville, a worthy successor of Lamarck, in his posthumous book, _Cuvier et Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire_, pays the highest tribute to his predecessor, whose position as the leading naturalist of his time he fully and gratefully acknowledges, saying: "Among the men whose lectures I have had the advantage of hearing, I truly recognize only three masters, M. de Lamarck, M. Claude Richard, and M. Pinel" (p. 43). He also speaks of wishing to write the scientific biographies of Cuvier and De Lamarck, the two zoologists of this epoch whose lectures he most frequently attended and whose writings he studied, and "who have exercised the greatest influence on the zoology of our time" (p. 42).

Likewise in the opening words of the preface he refers to the rank taken by Lamarck:

"The aim which I have proposed to myself in my course on the principles of zoology demonstrated by the history of its progress from Aristotle to our time, and consequently the plan which I have followed to attain this aim, have very naturally led me, so to speak, in spite of myself, to signalize in M. de Lamarck the expression of one of those phases through which the science of organization has to pa.s.s in order to arrive at its last term before showing its true aim. From my point of view this phase does not seem to me to have been represented by any other naturalist of our time, whatever may have been the reputation which he made during his life."

He then refers to the estimation in which Lamarck was held by Auguste Comte, who, in his _Cours de Philosophie Positive_, has antic.i.p.ated and even surpa.s.sed himself in the high esteem he felt for "the celebrated author of the _Philosophie Zoologique_."

The eulogy by Cuvier, which gives most fully the details of the early life of Lamarck, and which has been the basis for all the subsequent biographical sketches, was unworthy of him. Lamarck had, with his customary self-abnegation and generosity, aided and favored the young Cuvier in the beginning of his career,[50] who in his _Regne Animal_ adopted the cla.s.ses founded by Lamarck. Thoroughly convinced of the erroneous views of Cuvier in regard to cataclysms, he criticised and opposed them in his writings in a courteous and proper way without directly mentioning Cuvier by name or entering into any public debate with him.

When the hour came for the great comparative anatomist and palaeontologist, from his exalted position, to prepare a tribute to the memory of a naturalist of equal merit and of a far more thoughtful and profound spirit, to be read before the French Academy of Sciences, what a eulogy it was--as De Blainville exclaims, _et quel eloge_! It was not printed until after Cuvier's death, and then, it is stated, portions were omitted as not suitable for publication.[51] This is, we believe, the only stain on Cuvier's life, and it was unworthy of the great man.

In this _eloge_, so different in tone from the many others which are collected in the three volumes of Cuvier's eulogies, he indiscriminately ridicules all of Lamarck's theories. Whatever may have been his condemnation of Lamarck's essays on physical and chemical subjects, he might have been more reserved and less dogmatic and sarcastic in his estimate of what he supposed to be the value of Lamarck's views on evolution. It was Cuvier's adverse criticisms and ridicule and his anti-evolutional views which, more than any other single cause, r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress of biological science and the adoption of a working theory of evolution for which the world had to wait half a century.

It even appears that Lamarck was in part instrumental in inducing Cuvier in 1795 to go to Paris from Normandy, and become connected with the Museum. De Blainville relates that the Abbe Tessier met the young zoologist at Valmont near Fecamp, and wrote to Geoffroy that "he had just discovered in Normandy a pearl," and invited him to do what he could to induce Cuvier to come to Paris. "I made," said Geoffroy, "the proposition to my _confreres_, but I was supported, and only feebly, by M. de Lamarck, who slightly knew M. Cuvier as the author of a memoir on entomology."

The eulogy p.r.o.nounced by Geoffroy St. Hilaire over the remains of his old friend and colleague was generous, sympathetic, and heartfelt.

"Yes [he said, in his eloquent way], for us who knew M. de Lamarck, whom his counsels have guided, whom we have found always indefatigable, devoted, occupied so willingly with the most difficult labors, we shall not fear to say that such a loss leaves in our ranks an immense void. From the blessings of such a life, so rich in instructive lessons, so remarkable for the most generous self-abnegation, it is difficult to choose.

"A man of vigorous, profound ideas, and very often admirably generalized, Lamarck conceived them with a view to the public good.

If he met, as often happened, with great opposition, he spoke of it as a condition imposed on every one who begins a reform. Moreover, the great age, the infirmities, but especially the grievous blindness of M. de Lamarck had reserved for him another lot. This great and strong mind could enjoy some consolation in knowing the judgment of posterity, which for him began in his own lifetime. When his last tedious days, useless to science, had arrived, when he had ceased to be subjected to rivalry, envy and pa.s.sion became extinguished and justice alone remained. De Lamarck then heard impartial voices, the antic.i.p.ated echo of posterity, which would judge him as history will judge him. Yes, the scientific world has p.r.o.nounced its judgment in giving him the name of 'the French Linne,' thus linking together the two men who have both merited a triple crown by their works on general natural history, zoology and botany, and whose names, increasing in fame from age to age, will both be handed down to the remotest posterity."[52]

Also in his _etudes sur la Vie, les Ouvrages, et les Doctrines de Buffon_ (1838), Geoffroy again, with much warmth of affection, says:

"Attacked on all sides, injured likewise by odious ridicule, Lamarck, too indignant to answer these cutting epigrams, submitted to the indignity with a sorrowful patience.... Lamarck lived a long while poor, blind, and forsaken, but not by me; I shall ever love and venerate him."[53]

The following evidently heartfelt and sincere tribute to his memory, showing warm esteem and thorough respect for Lamarck, and also a confident feeling that his lasting fame was secure, is to be found in an obscure little book[54] containing satirical, humorous, but perhaps not always fair or just, characterizations and squibs concerning the professors and aid-naturalists of the Jardin des Plantes.

"What head will not be uncovered on hearing p.r.o.nounced the name of the man whose genius was ignored and who languished steeped in bitterness. Blind, poor, forgotten, he remained alone with a glory of whose extent he himself was conscious, but which only the coming ages will sanction, when shall be revealed more clearly the laws of organization.

"Lamarck, thy abandonment, sad as it was in thy old age, is better than the ephemeral glory of men who only maintain their reputation by sharing in the errors of their time.

"Honor to thee! Respect to thy memory! Thou hast died in the breach while fighting for truth, and the truth a.s.sures thee immortality."

Lamarck's theoretical views were not known in Germany until many years after his death. Had Goethe, his contemporary (1749-1832), known of them, he would undoubtedly have welcomed his speculations, have expressed his appreciation of them, and Lamarck's reputation would, in his own lifetime, have raised him from the obscurity of his later years at Paris.

Hearty appreciation, though late in the century, came from Ernst Haeckel, whose bold and suggestive works have been so widely read. In his _History of Creation_ (1868) he thus estimates Lamarck's work as a philosopher:

"To him will always belong the immortal glory of having for the first time worked out the theory of descent, as an independent scientific theory of the first order, and as the philosophical foundation of the whole science of biology."

Referring to the _Philosophie Zoologique_, he says:

"This admirable work is the first connected exposition of the theory of descent carried out strictly into all its consequences. By its purely mechanical method of viewing organic nature, and the strictly philosophical proofs brought forward in it, Lamarck's work is raised far above the prevailing dualistic views of his time; and with the exception of Darwin's work, which appeared just half a century later, we know of none which we could, in this respect, place by the side of the _Philosophie Zoologique_. How far it was in advance of its time is perhaps best seen from the circ.u.mstance that it was not understood by most men, and for fifty years was not spoken of at all. Cuvier, Lamarck's greatest opponent, in his _Report on the Progress of Natural Science_, in which the most unimportant anatomical investigations are enumerated, does not devote a single word to this work, which forms an epoch in science. Goethe, also, who took such a lively interest in the French nature-philosophy and in the 'thoughts of kindred minds beyond the Rhine,' nowhere mentions Lamarck, and does not seem to have known the _Philosophie Zoologique_ at all."

Again in 1882 Haeckel writes:[55]

"We regard it as a truly tragic fact that the _Philosophie Zoologique_ of Lamarck, one of the greatest productions of the great literary period of the beginning of our century, received at first only the slightest notice, and within a few years became wholly forgotten.... Not until fully fifty years later, when Darwin breathed new life into the transformation views founded therein, was the buried treasure again recovered, and we cannot refrain from regarding it as the most complete presentation of the development theory before Darwin.

"While Lamarck clearly expressed all the essential fundamental ideas of our present doctrine of descent; and excites our admiration at the depth of his morphological knowledge, he none the less surprises us by the prophetic (_vorausschauende_) clearness of his physiological conceptions."

In his views on life, the nature of the will and reason, and other subjects, Haeckel declares that Lamarck was far above most of his contemporaries, and that he sketched out a programme of the biology of the future which was not carried out until our day.

J. Victor Carus[56] also claims for Lamarck "the lasting merit of having been the first to have placed the theory (of descent) on a scientific foundation."

The best, most catholic, and just exposition of Lamarck's views, and which is still worth reading, is that by Lyell Chapters x.x.xIV.-x.x.xVI. of his _Principles of Geology_, 1830, and though at that time one would not look for an acceptance of views which then seemed extraordinary and, indeed, far-fetched, Lyell had no words of satire and ridicule, only a calm, able statement and discussion of his principles. Indeed, it is well known that when, in after years, his friend Charles Darwin published his views, Lyell expressed some leaning towards the older speculations of Lamarck.

Lyell's opinions as to the interest and value of Lamarck's ideas may be found in his _Life and Letters_, and also in the _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_. In the chapter, _On the Reception of the Origin of Species_, by Huxley, are the following extracts from Lyell's _Letters_ (ii., pp. 179-204). In a letter addressed to Mantell (dated March 2, 1827), Lyell speaks of having just read Lamarck; he expresses his delight at Lamarck's theories, and his personal freedom from any objections based on theological grounds. And though he is evidently alarmed at the pithecoid origin of man involved in Lamarck's doctrine, he observes: "But, after all, what changes species may really undergo!

How impossible will it be to distinguish and lay down a line beyond which some of the so-called extinct species have never pa.s.sed into recent ones?"

He also quotes a remarkable pa.s.sage in the postscript to a letter written to Sir John Herschel in 1836: "In regard to the origination of new species, I am very glad to find that you think it probable it may be carried on through the intervention of intermediate causes."

How nearly Lyell was made a convert to evolution by reading Lamarck's works may be seen by the following extracts from his letters, quoted by Huxley:

"I think the old 'creation' is almost as much required as ever, but of course it takes a new form if Lamarck's views, improved by yours, are adopted." (To Darwin, March 11, 1863, p. 363.)

"As to Lamarck, I find that Grove, who has been reading him, is wonderfully struck with his book. I remember that it was the conclusion he (Lamarck) came to about man, that fortified me thirty years ago against the great impression which his argument at first made on my mind--all the greater because Constant Prevost, a pupil of Cuvier forty years ago, told me his conviction 'that Cuvier thought species not real, but that science could not advance without a.s.suming that they were so.'"

"When I came to the conclusion that after all Lamarck was going to be shown to be right, that we must 'go the whole orang,' I re-read his book, and remembering when it was written, I felt I had done him injustice.

"Even as to man's gradual acquisition of more and more ideas, and then of speech slowly as the ideas multiplied, and then his persecution of the beings most nearly allied and competing with him--all this is very Darwinian.

"The subst.i.tution of the variety-making power for 'volition,'

'muscular action,' etc. (and in plants even volition was not called in), is in some respects only a change of names. Call a new variety a new creation, one may say of the former, as of the latter, what you say when you observe that the creationist explains nothing, and only affirms 'it is so because it is so.'

"Lamarck's belief in the slow changes in the organic and inorganic world in the year 1800 was surely above the standard of his times, and he was right about progression in the main, though you have vastly advanced that doctrine. As to Owen in his 'Aye Aye' paper, he seems to me a disciple of Pouchet, who converted him at Rouen to 'spontaneous generation.'

"Have I not, at p. 412, put the vast distinction between you and Lamarck as to 'necessary progression' strongly enough?" (To Darwin, March 15, 1863. _Lyell's Letters_, ii., p. 365.)

Darwin, in the freedom of private correspondence, paid scant respect to the views of his renowned predecessor, as the following extracts from his published letters will show:

"Heaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a 'tendency to progression,' 'adaptations from the slow willing of animals,' etc.

But the conclusions I am led to are not widely different from his; though the means of change are wholly so." (Darwin's _Life and Letters_, ii., p. 23, 1844.)

"With respect to books on this subject, I do not know of any systematical ones, except Lamarck's, which is veritable rubbish....

Is it not strange that the author of such a book as the _Animaux sans Vertebres_ should have written that insects, which never see their eggs, should _will_ (and plants, their seeds) to be of particular forms, so as to become attached to particular objects."[57] (ii., p. 29, 1844.)

"Lamarck is the only exception, that I can think of, of an accurate describer of species, at least in the Invertebrate Kingdom, who has disbelieved in permanent species, but he in his absurd though clever work has done the subject harm." (ii., p. 39, no date.)