Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution | Page 6

years of the First Republic, as plain Lamarck.
The inquiry arises how, being the eleventh child, he acquired the title of
chevalier, which would naturally have become extinct with the death of
the oldest son. The Abbé Dulac suggests that the ten older of the
children had died, or that by some family arrangement he was allowed
to add the domanial name to the patronymic one. Certainly he never
tarnished the family name, which, had it not been for him, would have
remained in obscurity.
As to his father's tastes and disposition, what influence his mother had
in shaping his character, his home environment, as the youngest of
eleven children, the nature of his education in infancy and boyhood,
there are no sources of information. But several of his brothers entered
the army, and the domestic atmosphere was apparently a military one.
Philippe de Lamarck, with his large family, had endowed his first-born
son so that he could maintain the family name and title, and had found
situations for several of the others in the army. Jean Lamarck did not
manifest any taste for the clerical profession. He lived in a martial
atmosphere. For centuries his ancestors had borne arms. His eldest
brother had been killed in the breach at the siege of Berg-op-Zoom; two
others were still in the service, and in the troublous times at the
beginning of the war in 1756, a young man of high spirit and courage
would naturally not like to relinquish the prospect of renown and
promotion. But, yielding to the wishes of his father, he entered as a
student at the college of the Jesuits at Amiens.[8]
His father dying in 1760, nothing could induce the incipient abbé, then
seventeen years of age, to longer wear his bands. Immediately on
returning home he bought himself a wretched horse, for want of means
to buy a better one, and, accompanied by a poor lad of his village, he
rode across the country to join the French army, then campaigning in
Germany.
[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF LAMARCK, JANUARY 25, 1802
je prie le Citoyen qui assemble dans le Magazin de l'imprimerie du

Citoyen Agasse de remettre à Madame chevalier Cent exemplaires de
mon hydrogeologie, pour les Brocher.
Paris le 5 pluviose an dix
Lamarck]
He carried with him a letter of recommendation from one of his
neighbors on an adjoining estate in the country, Madame de Lameth, to
M. de Lastic, colonel of the regiment of Beaujolais.[9]
"We can imagine [says Cuvier] the feelings of this officer on thus
finding himself hampered with a boy whose puny appearance made
him seem still younger than he was. However, he sent him to his
quarters, and then busied himself with his duties. The period indeed
was a critical one. It was the 16th of July, 1761. The Marshal
de Broglie had just united his army with that of the Prince de Soubise,
and the next day was to attack the allied army commanded by the
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. At the break of day M. de Lastic rode
along the front of his corps, and the first man that met his gaze was the
new recruit, who, without saying anything to him, had placed himself
in the front rank of a company of grenadiers, and nothing could induce
him to quit his post.
"It is a matter of history that this battle, which bears the name of the
little village of Fissingshausen, between Ham and Lippstadt, in
Westphalia, was lost by the French, and that the two generals, mutually
accusing each other of this defeat, immediately separated, and
abandoned the campaign.
"During the movement of the battle, de Lamarck's company was
stationed in a position exposed to the direct fire of the enemy's artillery.
In the confusion of the retreat he was forgotten. Already all the officers
and non-commissioned officers had been killed; there remained only
fourteen men, when the oldest grenadier, seeing that there were no
more of the French troops in sight, proposed to the young volunteer,
become so promptly commander, to withdraw his little troop. 'But we
are assigned to this post,' said the boy, 'and we should not withdraw

from it until we are relieved.' And he made them remain there until the
colonel, seeing that the squad did not rally, sent him an orderly, who
crept by all sorts of covered ways to reach him. This bold stand having
been reported to the marshal, he promoted him on the field to the rank
of an officer, although his order had prescribed that he should be very
chary of these kinds of promotions."
His physical courage shown at this age was paralleled by his moral
courage in later years. The staying power he showed in immovably
adhering to his views on evolution through many years,