nd only feebly, by
M. de Lamarck, who slightly knew M. Cuvier as the author of a memoir on
entomology."

The eulogy pronounced by Geoffroy St. Hilaire over the remains of his
old friend and colleague was generous, sympathetic, and heartfelt.

"Yes [he said, in his eloquent way], for us who knew M. de Lamarck,
whom his counsels have guided, whom we have found always
indefatigable, devoted, occupied so willingly with the most
difficult labors, we shall not fear to say that such a loss leaves
in our ranks an immense void. From the blessings of such a life, so
rich in instructive lessons, so remarkable for the most generous
self-abnegation, it is difficult to choose.

"A man of vigorous, profound ideas, and very often admirably
generalized, Lamarck conceived them with a view to the public good.
If he met, as often happened, with great opposition, he spoke of it
as a condition imposed on every one who begins a reform. Moreover,
the great age, the infirmities, but especially the grievous
blindness of M. de Lamarck had reserved for him another lot. This
great and strong mind could enjoy some consolation in knowing the
judgment of posterity, which for him began in his own lifetime. When
his last tedious days, useless to science, had arrived, when he had
ceased to be subjected to rivalry, envy and passion became
extinguished and justice alone remained. De Lamarck then heard
impartial voices, the anticipated echo of posterity, which would
judge him as history will judge him. Yes, the scientific world has
pronounced its judgment in giving him the name of 'the French
Linne,' thus linking together the two men who have both merited a
triple crown by their works on general natural history, zooelogy and
botany, and whose names, increasing in fame from age to age, will
both be handed down to the remotest posterity."[52]

Also in his _Etudes sur la Vie, les Ouvrages, et les Doctrines de
Buffon_ (1838), Geoffroy again, with much warmth of affection, says:

"Attacked on all sides, injured likewise by odious ridicule,
Lamarck, too indignant to answer these cutting epigrams, submitted
to the indignity with a sorrowful patience.... Lamarck lived a long
while poor, blind, and forsaken, but not by me; I shall ever love
and venerate him."[53]

The following evidently heartfelt and sincere tribute to his memory,
showing warm esteem and thorough respect for Lamarck, and also a
con