Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution | Page 7

it by a complicated operation, of which M. de?Lamarck preserved deep scars. This treatment lasted for a year, and, during this time, the extreme scantiness of his resources confined him to a solitary life, when he had the leisure to devote himself to meditations."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In the little chapel next the church lies buried, we were told by M.?Duval, a Protestant of the family of de?Guillebon, the purchaser (acqu��reur) of the chateau. Whether the estate is now in the hands of his heirs we did not ascertain.
[2] As stated by G. de?Mortillet, the date of his birth is variously given. Michaud's Dictionnaire Biographique gives the date April?1; other authors, April?11; others, the correct one, August?1, 1744. (Lamarck. Par un Groupe de Transformistes, ses Disciples. L'Homme, iv. p.?289, 1887.)
[3] "Sur la maison de Viella--les Mortiers-br��vise et les Montalembert en Gascogne--et sur le naturaliste Lamarck." Par Hippolyte Masson. (Revue de Gascogne, xvii., pp.?141-143, 1876.)
[4] Ibid., p.?194.
[5] A small town in southwestern France, near Lourdes and Pau; it is about eight miles north of Tarbes, in Gascony.
[6] Revue de Gascogne, pp.?264-269, 1876.
[7] The abb�� attempts to answer the question as to what place gave origin to the name of Lamarck, and says:
"The author of the history of B��arn considered the cradle of the race to have been the freehold of Marca, parish of Gou (Basses-Pyr��n��es). A branch of the family established in le Magnoac changed its name of Marca to that of La?Marque." It was M. d'Ossat who gave rise to this change by addressing his letters to M. de?Marca (at the time when he was preceptor of his nephew), sometimes under the name of M.?Marca, sometimes M.?la?Marqua, or of M. de?la?Marca, but more often still under that of M. de?la?Marque, "with the object, no doubt, of making him a Frenchman" ("dans la vue sans doute de le franciser"). (Vie du Cardinal d'Ossat, tome?i., p.?319.)
"To recall their origin, the branch of Magnoac to-day write their name Marque-Marca. If the Marca of the historian belongs to B��arn, the Lamarque of the naturalist, an orthographic name in principle, proceeds from Bigorre, actually chosen (d��sign��e) by Lamarcq, Pontacq, or Lamarque pr��s B��arn. That the Lamarque of the botanist of the royal cabinet distinguished himself from all the Lamarques of B��arn or of Bigorre, which it bears (qu'il gise) to this day in the Hautes-Pyr��n��es, Canton d'Ossun, we have many proofs: Aast at some distance, Bourcat and Couet all near l'Abbaye La?que, etc. The village so determined is called in turn Marca, La?Marque, Lamarque; names predestined to several destinations; judge then to the mercy of a botanist, Lamarck, La?Marck, Delamarque, De Lamarck, who shall determine their number? As to the last, I only explain it by a fantasy of the man who would de-Bigorrize himself in order to Germanize himself in the hope, apparently, that at the first utterance of the name people would believe that he was from the outre Rhin rather than from the borders of Gave or of Adour. Consequently a hundred times more learned and a hundred times more worthy of a professorship in the Museum, where Monet would seem (entrevait) much less than Lamarque."
It may be added that B��arn was an ancient province of southern France nearly corresponding to the present Department of Basses-Pyr��n��es. Its capital was Pau.
[8] We have been unable to ascertain the date when young Lamarck entered the seminary. On making inquiries in June, 1899, at the Jesuits' Seminary in Amiens, one of the faculty, after consultation with the Father Superior, kindly gave us in writing the following information as to the exact date: "The registers of the great seminary were carried away during the French Revolution, and we do not know whither they have been transported, and whether they still exist to-day. Besides, it is very doubtful whether Lamarck resided here, because only ecclesiastics preparing for receiving orders were received in the seminary. Do you not confound the seminary with the ancient college of Rue Poste de Paris, college now destroyed?"
[9] We are following the ��loge of Cuvier almost verbatim, also reproduced in the biographical notice in the Revue biographique de la Soci��t�� Malacologique de France, said to have been prepared by J.?R. Bourguignat.
CHAPTER II
STUDENT LIFE AND BOTANICAL CAREER
The profession of arms had not led Lamarck to forget the principles of physical science which he had received at college. During his sojourn at Monaco the singular vegetation of that rocky country had attracted his attention, and Chomel's Trait�� des Plantes usuelles accidentally falling into his hands had given him some smattering of botany.
Lodged at Paris, as he has himself said, in a room much higher up than he could have wished, the clouds, almost the only objects to be seen from his windows, interested him by their ever-changing shapes, and inspired in him his first ideas of meteorology. There