e readily admitted by him, that
instinct is reason, but reason many times repeated made perfect, and
finally repeated by rote; so that far from being prior to reason, as
Lamarck here implies, it can only come long afterwards), "such as those
which have a system enabling them to feel, but which still lack the
organ of intelligence; and finally, that there are those which have not
only instinct, but over and above this a certain degree of reasoning
power, such as those creatures which have one system for sensations and
another for acts involving intelligence. Instinct is with these last
animals the motive power of almost all their actions, and they rarely
use what little reason they have. Man, who comes next above them, is
also possessed of instincts which inspire some of his actions, but he
can acquire much reason, and can use it so as to direct the greater part
of his actions."[201]

All this will be felt to be less satisfactory than the simple directness
of Dr. Darwin. It comes in great measure from following Buffon without
being _en rapport_ with him. On the other hand, Lamarck must be admitted
to have elaborated the theory of "descent with modification" with no
less clearness than Dr. Darwin, and with much greater fulness of detail.
There is no substantial difference between the points they wish to
establish; Dr. Darwin has the advantage in that not content with
maintaining that there will be a power of adaptation to the conditions
of an animal's existence which will determine its organism, he goes on
to say what the principal conditions are, and shows more lucidly than
Lamarck has done (though Lamarck adopts the same three causes in a
passage which will follow), that struggle, and consequently
modification, will be chiefly conversant about the means of subsistence,
of reproduction, and of self-protection. Nevertheless, though Dr. Darwin
has said enough to show that he had the whole thing clearly before him,
and could have elaborated it as finely as or better than Lamarck
himself has done, if he had been so minded, yet the palm must be given
to Lamarck on the score of what he actually did, and this I observe to
be the verdict of history, for whereas Lamarck's name is still daily
quoted, Dr. Darwin's is seldom mentioned, and never with the applause
which it deserves.

The resemblance between the two writers--that is to say, the complete
coincidence of their views--is so remarkable that the question is forced
upon us