Part 5 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF LAMARCK, WHEN OLD AND BLIND, IN THE COSTUME OF A MEMBER OF THE INSt.i.tUTE, ENGRAVED IN 1824.]
From the observations of the records we infer that Lamarck never had any long, lingering illness or suffered from overwork, though his life had little suns.h.i.+ne or playtime in it. He must have had a strong const.i.tution, his only infirmity being the terrible one (especially to an observer of nature) of total blindness.
Lamarck's greatest work in systematic zoology would never have been completed had it not been for the self-sacrificing spirit and devotion of his eldest daughter.
A part of the sixth and the whole of the last volume of the _Animaux sans Vertebres_ were presented to the a.s.sembly of Professors September 10, 1822. This volume was dictated to and written out by one of his daughters, Mlle. Cornelie De Lamarck. On her the aged savant leaned during the last ten years of his life--those years of failing strength and of blindness finally becoming total. The frail woman accompanied him in his hours of exercise, and when he was confined to his house she never left him. It is stated by Cuvier, in his eulogy, that at her first walk out of doors after the end came she was nearly overcome by the fresh air, to which she had become so unaccustomed. She, indeed, practically sacrificed her life to her father. It is one of the rarest and most striking instances of filial devotion known in the annals of science or literature, and is a noticeable contrast to the daughters of the blind Milton, whose domestic life was rendered unhappy by their undutifulness, as they were impatient of the restraint and labors his blindness had imposed upon them.
Besides this, the seventh volume is a voluminous scientific work, filled with very dry special details, making the labor of writing out from dictation, of corrections and preparation for the press, most wearisome and exhausting, to say nothing of the corrections of the proof-sheets, a task which probably fell to her--work enough to break down the health of a strong man.
It was a natural and becoming thing for the a.s.sembly of Professors of the Museum, in view of the ”malheureuse position de la famille,” to vote to give her employment in the botanical laboratory in arranging and pasting the dried plants, with a salary of 1,000 francs.
Of the last illness of Lamarck, and the nature of the sickness to which he finally succ.u.mbed, there is no account. It is probable that, enfeebled by the weakness of extreme old age, he gradually sank away without suffering from any acute disease.
The exact date of his death has been ascertained by Dr. Mondiere,[45]
with the aid of M. Saint-Joanny, archiviste du Department de la Seine, who made special search for the record. The ”acte” states that December 28, 1829, Lamarck, then a widower, died in the Jardin du Roi, at the age of eighty-five years.
The obsequies, as stated in the _Moniteur Universel_ of Paris for December 23, 1829, were celebrated on the Sunday previous in the Church of Saint-Medard, his parish. From the church the remains were borne to the cemetery of Montparna.s.se. At the interment, which took place December 30, M. Latreille, in the name of the Academy of Sciences, and M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in the name and on behalf of his colleagues, the Professors of the Museum of Natural History, p.r.o.nounced eulogies at the grave. The eulogy prepared by Cuvier, and published after his death, was read at a session of the Academy of Sciences, by Baron Silvestre, November 26, 1832.
With the exception of these formalities, the great French naturalist, ”the Linne of France,” was buried as one forgotten and unknown. We read with astonishment, in the account by Dr. A. Mondiere, who made zealous inquiries for the exact site of the grave of Lamarck, that it is and forever will be unknown. It is a sad and discreditable, and to us inexplicable, fact that his remains did not receive decent burial. They were not even deposited in a separate grave, but were thrown into a trench apparently situated apart from the other graves, and from which the bones of those thrown there were removed every five years. They are probably now in the catacombs of Paris, mingled with those of the thousands of unknown or paupers in that great ossuary.[46]
Dr. Mondiere's account is as follows. Having found in the _Moniteur_ the notice of the burial services, as above stated, he goes on to say:
”Armed with this doc.u.ment, I went again to the cemetery of Montparna.s.se, where I fortunately found a conservator, M. Lacave, who is entirely _au courant_ with the question of transformism. He therefore interested himself in my inquiries, and, thanks to him, I have been able to determine exactly where Lamarck had been buried. I say had been, because, alas! he had been simply placed in a _trench off on one side_ (_fosse a part_), that is to say, one which should change its occupant at the end of five years. Was it negligence, was it the jealousy of his colleagues, was it the result of the troubles of 1830? In brief, there had been no permission granted to purchase a burial lot. The bones of Lamarck are probably at this moment mixed with those of all the other unknown which lie there. What had at first led us into an error is that we made the inquiries under the name of Lamarck instead of that of de Monnet. In reality, the register of inscription bears the following mention:
”'De Monnet de Lamarck buried this 20 December 1829 (85 years), 3d square, 1st division, 2d line, trench 22.'
”At some period later, a friendly hand, without doubt, had written on the margin of the register the following information:
”'To the left of M. Da.s.sas.'
”M. Lacave kindly went with us to search for the place where Lamarck had been interred, and on the register we saw this:
”'Da.s.sas, 1st division, 4th line south, No. 6 to the west, concession 1165-1829.' On arriving at the spot designated, we found some new graves, but nothing to indicate that of M. Da.s.sas, our only mark by which we could trace the site after the changes wrought since 1829. After several ineffectual attempts, I finally perceived a flat grave, surrounded by an iron railing, and covered with weeds.
Its surface seemed to me very regular, and I probed this lot. There was a gravestone there. The grave-digger who accompanied us cleared away the surface, and I confess that it was with the greatest pleasure and with deep emotion that we read the name Da.s.sas.
[Ill.u.s.tration: POSITION OF THE BURIAL PLACE OF LAMARCK IN THE CEMETERY OF MONTPARNa.s.sE.]
”We found the place, but unfortunately, as I have previously said, the remains of Lamarck are no longer there.”
Mondiere added to his letter a little plan (p. 59), which he drew on the spot.[47]
But the life-work of Lamarck and his theory of organic evolution, as well as the lessons of his simple and n.o.ble character, are more durable and lasting than any monument of stone or bra.s.s. His name will never be forgotten either by his own countrymen or by the world of science and philosophy. After the lapse of nearly a hundred years, and in this first year of the twentieth century, his views have taken root and flourished with a surprising strength and vigor, and his name is preeminent among the naturalists of his time.
No monument exists in Montparna.s.se, but within the last decade, though the reparation has come tardily, the bust of Lamarck may be seen by visitors to the Jardin des Plantes, on the outer wall of the Nouvelle Galerie, containing the Museums of Comparative Anatomy, Palaeontology, and Anthropology.
Although the city of Paris has not yet erected a monument to its greatest naturalist, some public recognition of his eminent services to the city and nation was manifested when the Munic.i.p.al Council of Paris, on February 10, 1875, gave the name Lamarck to a street.[48] This is a long and not unimportant street on the hill of Montmartre in the XVIII^e _arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_, and in the zone of the old stone or gypsum quarries which existed before Paris extended so far out in that direction, and from which were taken the fossil remains of the early tertiary mammals described by Cuvier.
The city of Toulouse has also honored itself by naming one of its streets after Lamarck; this was due to the proposal of Professor emile Cartailhac to the Munic.i.p.al Council, which voted to this effect May 12, 1886.
In the meetings of the a.s.sembly of Professors no one took the trouble to prepare and enter minutes, however brief and formal, relative to his decease. The death of Lamarck is not even referred to in the _Proces-verbaux_. This is the more marked because there is an entry in the same records for 1829, and about the same date, of an extraordinary _seance_ held November 19, 1829, when ”the a.s.sembly” was convoked to take measures regarding the death of Professor Vauquelin relative to the choice of a candidate, Chevreul being elected to fill his chair.