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