Zoological Philosophy

Lamarck outlined his theory of 'soft inheritance', which influenced Darwin, in this 1809 work, eventually translated into English in 1914.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... INTRODUCTION. 1. Life. Jean-baptiste-pierre-antoine De Monet De Lamarck was born on Aug. 1st, 1744, at Bazantin, a village in Picardy, now known as the Department of the Somme. He was the eleventh and youngest child of his parents, and belonged to a family of nobility which had for generations past been devoted to military pursuits. A number of his brothers carried on the family tradition by entering the French army; but Jean himself was destined by his father for an ecclesiastical career, and was entered as a student at the Jesuit College at Amiens. Yet he himself had no inclination to the calling desired by his father; and on the death of the latter in 1760, he made immediate use of his new liberty to leave the Jesuit College and join the French army, which was then in Germany, near the end of the Seven Years' War. He bought a horse and rode through France and part of Germany, until he reached the French lines on the eve of the Battle of Fissingshausen. He carried with him a letter of introduction to the colonel of one of the infantry regiments; and on the following morning placed himself in a company of Grenadiers. The battle of Fissingshausen was fought and lost: the French retreated: all the officers of Lamarck's company were killed, and the command fell upon him. His courage was such that his colonel took him that very evening to the Field-Marshal, by whom he was appointed an officer.1 1 This at least is the story told by all Lamarck's biographers. I venture nevertheless to suggest that it can hardly be accepted in the unquestioning way usually followed. The story is founded upon Cuvier's Eloge de M. de Lamarck, and that again is doubtless Shortly afterwards Lamarck was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Peace being...

Zoological Philosophy is a groundbreaking treatise on natural history by the French biologist and philosopher Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Lamarck. Originally published in 1809, the book presents an innovative theory of evolution that seeks to explain the diversity of animal species based on their adaptation to their environment and their inheritance of acquired characteristics. The book also contains numerous observations and descriptions of animals, as well as Lamarck's reflections on the nature of knowledge and the philosophy of science. This book will appeal to biologists, philosophers, and anyone interested in the history of scientific thought. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Jean Octave Edmond Perrier was a French zoologist who lived through the tumult of British Darwinism and Lyellism, and reminds us in this revealing account that French scientists had much to contribute to such perennial topics as evolution, catastrophism and creationism. While very much a product of the Third Republic, Perrier’s account also aimed to outline timeless issues and permanent advances in taxonomic and developmental biology since classical Greece and Rome. In this aim he succeeds with surprisingly modern perspectives for a book first published in 1884. Perrier was born May 9, 1844 at Tulle, the son of the principal of a school which now bears his name, Lycée Edmond Perrier. In 1864 he was accepted to the École Normale Supérieure, where he was strongly influenced by Louis Pasteur and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After working for three years at a high school in Agen, he obtained a post of naturalist-aid at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (1868), advancing in that institution to Chair of Natural History of Molluscs, Worms and Corals (1876–1903) and then Director of the museum (1900–1919) and Chair of Comparative Anatomy (1903–1921). Previous directors of the museum included many of the scientists he discusses in this book: George Cuvier (1822–1823, 1826–1827, 1830–1831), Isidore Geoffrey St Hilaire (1860– 1861), and Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1891–1900). Perrier’s own research on echinoderms and earthworms took him on several expeditions in 1880-1885, mostly to Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, but also to the Caribbean.

"In preparing this work for the public, the writer was chiefly influenced by a desire to collect the truths of Zoology within a small compass, and to render them more intelligible, by a systematical arrangement. He is not aware that there exists any work in the English language, in which the subject, in its different bearings, has been illustrated in a philosophical manner, or to which a student of Zoology could be referred, as a suitable introduction to the science. There are not wanting, it is true, many disquisitions of great value, on particular departments of the physiology and classification of Animals. But the writings of these naturalists, and others which have been noticed in the body of the work, are not only rare, but expensive; so that the task of investigating the facts which have been established, or the theories which have been proposed, can scarcely, in ordinary circumstances, be entered upon. The want, indeed, of such an introduction to the study of the Animal Kingdom, as should serve as an index to the doctrines on which the classification is founded, has frequently been the subject of regret, and may probably be considered as the origin of that indifference to the science which is but too apparent in this country. This work aims to provide such an introduction by providing a view of the structure, functions, and classification of animals"--Preface.