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AimuST 27, 1853.] THE LEADER. S33
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, ^ Lamarck And T.Imc V.Nstkxek. Vestige...
vidlv regular : let . ,-I say , only ider these things , and we shall see - Jhat the decreeing of laws to bring tbe whole about was an act involving . ch a degree of wisdom and device as . . ., .: % only can attribute , adoringly , to the ., . ; one Eternal and Unchangeable /' Tti the sixth edition the author says , "Hence comes my suggestion of a
rocess analogous to ordinary gestation ; " the alteration of " my" into '' the " given above , seems a disclaimer of originality . Taking the passages ' as they stand , however , is it not remarkable , first , that opponents should have accused the "Vestiges of holding an hypothesis so distinctly repudiated ; and , second , that they should have ignored the theologicometaphysical conception of a " pre-ordained plan , " and persisted in accusing the author of being a materialist , and every other " , ist" which could * supposed to damage his repute P
But to continue our examination of the Lamarck question . We find , in the preface to this edition , that , at ' the time the first was produced , the author had only heard of Lamarck , which will account for that levity of
tone just noted ; since then he seems to have learned something more of him , though we question whether he has read the Philosophic Zoologique very carefully . He admits that the germ of the natural view is in Iiamarck . Lamarck ' s error , as it appears to us , arose from his not having the true fundamental biological conception , since elaborated by De Blainville and Coin te , viz ., —the indispensable co-relation of an Organism and a Medium " From the want of this guiding conception he kept the influence of circumstance in modifying and developing the Organism , constantly before his eyes , as the one determining cause ; but , if this were so , every change in the Medium would change the organism , and , in process of time , the result of a sufficiently constant set of conditions would produce absolute uniformity in the organism , so that all birds would be alike , all fishes alike , & c .
Historically , one can but applaud Lamarck's efforts m ascertaining the influence of external circumstances , for it was to them , mainly , that the modern theory of the Medium owes its existence . It has led to extravagances beyond the Lamarckian Hypothesis ; for example , that profoundly unbiological attempt of Cuvier to determine all modifications by mere alimentation . 13 ut , while doing Lamarck justice , one must see that the onesidedness of the view necessarily landed him in error , He gave too much and too exclusive an importance to external conditions ; yet , even in doing so , he did not entirely set aside the other factor * which has been brought into such metaphysical prominence by the Vestiges . In the Introduction to his Philosophie Zoologique , he says :-
—" The conditions necessary to life being found complete in the least complex organizations , but also reduced to their most simple form , the question arises how this organization , by any process of change , should develope into a less simple one , and finally result in the more complicated organizations , traceable in the extent of the animal scale . Here , by the aid of the two following considerations , to which I had been led by observation , I imagined I had discovered the solution of this problem . " In the first place , numerous established facts prove that the continual exercise
of an organ contributes to its development , strengthens , and oven increases it in size , while on the other hand , habitual inactivity retards the development , deteriorates , and even entirely effaces the organ , should this inactivity continue for a long period , with individuals of successive generations . From hence we conclude that , should a change of circumstances compel the individuals of a race to a complete change of habits , the organs least in use will disappear by degrees , whilo those more actively employed will gradually develope , and acquire vigour and size , in proportion to their habitual exercise .
" Secondly , by reflection on the powers of motion exercised by fluids in the extremel y yielding substances in which they are contained , I became convinced , that , m proportion as their motion is accelerated , the fluids of an organized body have power to modify tho tissues containing them , to open for themselves a passage , to form various canals , in fact , to create different organs , according to the stato of organiza tio n at which they have arrived . " From these two considerations I concluded , with certainty , that the motion of J tuds in tho interior of animals—a motion accelerated in proportion to tho complexity of the organization , and tho influence of new circumstances , operating , by < cgrees , as animals become oxposed to it , by being dispersed over inhabited disncts , vvero the two general causes which have affected tho utato of animals , as wo « t present see thorn . "
-Ihero was necessarily an organic vitality—a power of adaptation—im-P'led in this hypothesis , over and above tho influence of tho Medium , and ; " 8 , although a more "• germ , " determined Lamarck in tho creation of his "vat zoological principle , viz .: -the progression in the composition of an organism is affected , hero and We , m the animal scries , by certain anomalies due to the influence of cirwmstanccs , and of contracted habits . '' llvo most decisive passage wo remember , containing the " gorm" bu 1 > - fi t < iuem , l y developed in the Vestiges , ib tho following : __ < l " fl" > n ' lvin . £ u ^ ** invM'tchratcd animals , wo enter on an immense sorics of int' - r nn"Tm' 8 » *' ° inost ' numerous class existing in nature , tho most , curious and fiiCHllT- > ' ' th rcfc ' roiico to tho diflbrences observable in their organization and
exist at convmce < 1 ow olraorving their Htate , that in developing each successive comiT ° "twvc lma P ** lc ( l gradually , from tho most wimple towards tho moro Blionl l ° ' i llOr Oh ' 0 c ( i boi " <; o linivo nt n scheme of organization , which brato 1 - ° f fch ° ntino 8 t P «» ** efcU > ili ( , y , ( that of tho organization of tho vcrto-W < 1 , nnunnlH ») u « cht" »« differing greatly from tluwo which who wan previously a » w ,, Lt \ t r 0 ilt 0 > m ordcr to aUlim «>«« object , —wo feel that there must exist , voloiJSli i ? " v . » Grou * » " »™» K not one Hy « tem of organization progressively down * * " » wu » f 5 and distinct HystomH , each dovoWniir from the point at winch « - » organ of primar y importance began to exifit . » l tho ™!!! * \ J * llturo hna crwtcd a Hpecial organ for tho process of digestion , ( as v ? P 0 Hmw , ) » ho gave , for tho firat thno , a peculiar and unvarying form to tho
, ^ Lamarck And T.Imc V.Nstkxek. Vestige...
animals furnished with such organ ; the infusoria , by which she first commenced her creative scale , possessing neither the faculty proper to this organ , nor the form and organization favourable to the exercise of its functions . " Wheivsubsequently , she established an especial organ for respiration , andin proportion as she ; Varied this organ , to perfect it and to adapt It to the differing circumstances of animal life ,: she diversified the organization , according to the requirements of the existence and development of other special organs . " When , later , she succeeded in producing the nervous system , it then became possible to create the mtiscular system , and thenceforward she needed' parts possessing solidity , for the attachment of the muscles , double parts , to constitute symmetry of form , and from hence resulted various modes of organization , differing on account of external circumstances , and additional developments , which could not have come into being previously . " Finally , when she had obtained sufficient motion among the fluids contained in the animal tissues , to organize the circulation , very important peculiarities developed themselves , distinguishing this organic system from those in which circulation did not exist . " The conception is vague and confused . In the Vestiges it is clear , emphatic , and has become more and more so in succeeding editions . The author is as open to the charge of disregarding the influence of external conditions as Lamarck is of exaggerating it . There is some interest in comparing the original statement with its latest modification : —
FIRST EDITION . " The tendency of all these illustrations is to make us look to development as the principle which has been immediately concerned in the peopling of this globe , a process extending over a vast space of time , but which is nevertheless connected in character with the briefer process by which an individual being is evoked from a simple germ . What mystery is there here—and how shall I proceed to enunciate the conception which I have ventured to form of what
may prove to be its proper solution ! It is an idea Try no means calculated to impress by its greatness , or to jjuzzle by its profoundness . It is an idea more marked by simplicity than perhaps any other of those which have explained the great secrets of nature . But in this lies , perhaps , one of its strongest claims to the faith of mankind .
" The whole train of animated beings , from the simplest and oldest up to the highest and most recent , are , then , to be regarded as a series of advances of the principle of development , which have depended upon external physical circumstances , to which the resulting animals are appropriate . I contemplate the whole phenomena as having been in the first place arranged in the counsels of Divine Wisdom , to take place , not only upon this sphere , but upon till tho others in space , under necessary modifications , and as being carried on , from first to last , here and elsewhere , under immediate favour of the creative will or
energy- The nucleated vesicle , tho fundamental form of all organization , we must regard as tho meeting-point between tho inorganic and the organicthe end of the mineral and tho beginning of the vegetable and animal kingdoms , which thence start in different directions , but in perfect parallelism and analogy . We have already seen that this nucleated vesicle is itself a typo of mature and independent being in tho infusory animalcules , as well as the starting point of
the fcotal progress of every higher individual in creation , both animal and vegetable . Wo have Keen that it is a form of being which electric agency will produce—though not perhaps usher into full life—in albumen , ono of tho . se compound elements of animal bodies , of which another ( urea ) has been made by artificial means . . Remembering these things , wo are drawn on to tho supposition , that tho first step in tho creation of lifo upon this planet was a
chemicoclectric operation ; hy which simple gcrmicql vesicles were produced . This is bo much , but what wore tho next stops P Let a common vegetable infu-« ion hel p us to an answer . There , as wo have scon , simple forms an ? produced afc first , but afterwards they become moro complicated , until at length tho life-producing powers of tho infusion aro exhausted . Aro wo to presume that , in this case , the simplo engender tho complicated ? Undoubtedly , this would not bo moro wonderful n « u natural nvoccui * .
, ^ Lamarck And T.Imc V.Nstkxek. Vestige...
TENTH JSDlTIOJSi . " The proposition determined on after much consideration is , that the several series of animated beings , from the simplest and oldest up to the highest and most recent , are , under the providence of God , the results first , of an impulse which lias been imparted to tho forms of life , advancing them , in definite times , by generation , through grades of organization terminating in the highest dycotyledons and vertebrata , these grades
being few in number , and generally marked by intervals of organic character which we find to be a practical difficulty in ascertaining affinities ; second , of another impulse connected taith the vital forces , tending in the course of generations to modify organic structures in accordance with external circumstances , as food , the nature of tlio habitat , and the meteoric agencies , these being the ' adaptations' of the natural theologian . We may
contemplate these phenomena as ordained to take place in every situation , and at every time , where and when the requisite materials and conditions are presented—in other orbs as well as in thisin any geographical area of this globe which may at anytime arise—observing only the variations duo to difference of materials nnd of conditions . Tho nucleated vesicle is contemplated as tho fundamental form of all organization , tho meeting-point between the inorganic and the organic — tho end of tho mineral and beginning of the vegetable
and animal kingdoms , which thence start in different directions , but in a general parallelism and analogy . This nucleated vesicle is itself a type of mature and independent being , as well an the starting-point of the foetal progress of every hig her individual in creation , both animal and vegetable . We ha \ e seen that , tho proximate princip les or first organic combinations being held , nnd in some instances proved , as producible by the chemist , an operation which would produce in thepo th « nucleated vesicle is all that is
wanting effectually to bridge over llio spuco between the inorganic and flio organic . Remembering these- things , ii ; does not seem , after all , «¦ very inimodornto hypothesis , that a chemieoclcclric opera / ion , by which germinal vesicles were produced , was tho first phenomenon in organic creation , and that the second was an admwco of these through a succession of higher grades , and wit variety " of modifications in accordance with ™ laws of tho same absolute nnluro as Uu > s , o I ) . V which tho Almighty rules tho physical department of nature . "
Aimust 27, 1853.] The Leader. S33
AimuST 27 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . S 33
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27081853/page/17/
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