the ancestors of those now in being. This notion is not very generally
received, but we are not warranted in assuming the contrary, without
fully explaining the data and reasoning by which it may be refuted.

I shall begin by stating as concisely as possible all the facts and
ingenious arguments by which the theory has been supported; and for this
purpose I cannot do better than offer the reader a rapid sketch of
Lamarck's statement of the proofs which he regards as confirmatory of
the doctrine, and which he has derived partly from the works of his
predecessors and in part from original investigations.

His proofs and inferences will be best considered in the order in which
they appear to have influenced his mind, and I shall then point out some
of the results to which he was led while boldly following out his
principles to their legitimate consequences.

_Lamarck's arguments in favor of the transmutation of species._--The
name of species, observes Lamarck, has been usually applied to "every
collection of similar individuals produced by other individuals like
themselves."[790] This definition, he admits, is correct; because every
living individual bears a very close resemblance to those from which it
springs. But this is not all which is usually implied by the term
species; for the majority of naturalists agree with Linnaeus in supposing
that all the individuals propagated from one stock have certain
distinguishing characters in common, which will never vary, and which
have remained the same since the creation of each species.

In order to shake this opinion, Lamarck enters upon the following line
of argument:--The more we advance in the knowledge of the different
organized bodies which cover the surface of the globe, the more our
embarrassment increases, to determine what ought to be regarded as a
species, and still more how to limit and distinguish genera. In
proportion as our collections are enriched, we see almost every void
filled up, and all our lines of separation effaced! We are reduced to
arbitrary determinations, and are sometimes fain to seize upon the
slight differences of mere varieties, in order to form characters for
what we choose to call a species; and sometimes we are induced to
pronounce individuals but slightly differing, and which others regard as
true species, to be varieties.

The greater the abundance of natural objects assembled together, the
more do we discover proofs that every thing pas