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LAMARCK, JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE ANTOINE
DE MONET DE (b. Bazentin-le-Petit, Picardy,
France, 1 August 1744; d. Paris, France, 28 December
1829), botany, invertebrate zoology and paleontology,
evolution.
creator. Thus, according to Burkhardt, Lamarck's
changing positions on these two issues were the
crucial events which led to his theory of evolution.
While accepting the changes described above, we
should also look at some of the continuities in
Lamarck's thought. The continuities have been
mentioned in each section of the article, but we will
try to summarize them here. Lamarck had been
interested in trying to develop a natural method of
classification from the time of his earliest work in
botany. Well before 1800, he had constructed a series
of classes. In his theory of evolution, the natural
method was the path nature had followed in producing
the different groups of organisms. In Lamarck's work
prior to 1800, we see his stress on nature as a whole
whose processes and interrelations are more important
than the details. The chemistry provides the key to
these connections and perhaps a model for understanding
the realm and order of living organisms.
Finally, Lamarck's belief in the idea of progress may
have prepared him for the application of such an
idea to nature.
Lamarck's Reputation.
When Lamarck died in 1829,
he left few followers; generally he was ignored. The
official eulogy prepared by Cuvier for the Academy
condemned Lamarck's speculations and theories in
all fields as being equally unacceptable; faint praise
was offered for his contributions to biological classification.
While he was ignored by his countrymen, he
did receive some attention in England from the
generation before Darwin. But it was really Darwin's
theory of evolution which ensured Lamarck's fame.
The question of the extent of Lamarck's influence on
Darwin is still debated. It was mainly Darwin's
enemies and detractors who revived Lamarck for a
variety of reasons, ranging from scientific to religious
to nationalistic (on the part of the French). Toward
the end of the nineteenth century, a famous controversy
developed between Darwinians and the so-called
neo-Lamarckians; the latter used Lamarck's views
selectively and often changed many of them to suit
their purposes. Neo-Lamarckism had strong proponents
in France, Germany, England, America, and
more recently in the Soviet Union. With the wide
acceptance of Darwinism as modified by modern
genetic theory, much of Lamarckism has died out,
although some still apply it to seemingly purposive
biological behavior.
Aside from his legacies and the battles fought in
his name, Lamarck deserves an important place in the
history of science. He made significant contributions
in botany, invertebrate zoology and paleontology, and
developed one of the first thoroughgoing theories of
evolution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. ORIGINAL WORKS.
A more complete bibliography may
be found in Landrieu (see below). Lamarck's most important
published works are Flore françoise, 3 vols. (Paris,
1779; 2nd ed., 1795; 3rd ed., 1805, in collaboration with
A. P. de Candolle, 4 vols.; repr. of 3rd ed. with 1 vol.
supp., 1815); Dictionnaire de botanique, vols. I-III and
first half of IV of 8 vols. (Paris, 1783-1795) in Encyclopédie
méthodique, C. J. Panckoucke, ed., 193 vols. (Paris, 1782-1832);
Illustration des genres, 3 vols. (Paris, 1791-1800),
also in Encyclopédie méthodique; Recherches sur les causes
des principaux faits physiques, 2 vols. (Paris, 1794);
Réfutation
de la théorie pneumatique (Paris, 1796); Mémoires
de physique et d'histoire naturelle (Paris, 1797); “Prodrome
d'une nouvelle classification des coquilles,” in Mémoires
de la Société d'histoire naturelle, I (Paris, 1799),
63-91;
Annuaires météorologiques, 11 vols. (Paris, 1800-1810);
Système des animaux sans vertèbres
précédé du ‘Discours
d'ouverture du cours de zoologie de l'an VIII’ (Paris, an
IX
[1801]); Hydrogéologie (Paris, an X [1802]), English
trans.
by A. V. Carozzi, Hydrogeology (Urbana, Ill., 1964);
Recherches sur l'organisation des corps vivans
précédé du
‘Discours d'ouverture du cours de zoologie, l'an X’ (Paris,
an X [1802]); Mémoires sur les fossiles des environs de
Paris
(Paris, 1809), originally published as separate articles in
Annales du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (Paris,
1802-1806); see Landrieu for vol. and page references;
Introduction à la botanique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1803), part of
Lamarck and B. de Mirbel, Histoire naturelle des
Végétaux,
15 vols. (Paris, 1803); Philosophie zoologique, 2 vols.
(Paris, 1809; repr. Paris, 1830; New York, 1960), English
trans., Zoological Philosophy (London, 1914; repr. New
York-London, 1963); Histoire naturelle des animaux sans
vertèbres, 7 vols. (Paris, 1815-1822); and Système
analytique
des connaissances positives de l'homme (Paris, 1820).
Posthumous works include “Discours d'ouverture des
cours de zoologie donnés dans le Muséum d'histoire naturelle,
an VIII (1800), an X (1802), an XI (1803), et 1806,”
A. Giard, ed., in Bulletin scientifique de la France et de la
Belgique,40 (1906), 443-595; The Lamarck Manuscripts at
Harvard, William Wheeler and Thomas Barbour, eds.
(Cambridge, Mass., 1933); “La biologie, texte inédit de
Lamarck,” Pierre Grassé, ed., in Revue scientifique,82
(1944), 267-276; and Inédits de Lamarck d'après les
manuscrits conservés à la Bibliothèque centrale du
Muséum
national d'histoire naturelle de Paris, Max Vachon, Georges
Rousseau, and Yves Laissus, eds. (Paris, 1972).
Some unpub. MSS remain in the Muséum d'Histoire
Naturelle's collection; consult Max Vachon, Georges
Rousseau, and Yves Laissus, “Liste complète des manuscrits
de Lamarck conservés à la Bibliothèque centrale du
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle de Paris,” in Bulletin
du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 2nd ser., 40
(1969),
1093-1102.
II. SECONDARY LITERATURE.
See Jean-Paul Aron, “Les
circonstances et le plan de la nature chez Lamarck,” in
Revue générale des sciences pures et appliquées,64 (1957),
243-250; Franck Bourdier, “Esquisse d'une chronologie