Such are the principal subjects to which Lamarck’s attention was directed, together with some of the results to which his investigations led him. After his establishment in the Museum of Natural History, much of his time was occupied with the objects whose history he was appointed to teach; and so favourably were his labours in this department received by the public, that his interest as well as his inclination would have conspired to make him cultivate it to the uttermost. But his exertions received an early check, and were at last entirely stopped, by the inroads of a most afflicting calamity. His eyes had long been weak, and as he advanced in years, they became so diseased, that he was obliged to refrain from using them for the examination of any minute object. Hence it was that he had recourse to the celebrated Latreille to assist him in that part of his system of invertebrata which related to insects. Notwithstanding every precaution, the disorder increased, and at last produced total blindness, which continued till his death. “This event was the more distressing,” says Cuvier, “because it overtook him in such circumstances that he could obtain none of those means of alleviation which might otherwise have been procured. He had been married four times, and was the father of seven children. The whole of his little patrimony, and even the fruits of his early economy, were lost in one of those hazardous investments which shameless speculators so often hold out as baits to the credulous. His retired life, the consequence of his youthful habits, and attachment to systems so little in accordance with the ideas which prevailed in science, were not calculated to recommend him to those who had the power of dispensing favours. When numberless infirmities, brought on by old age, had increased his wants, nearly his whole means of support consisted of a small income derived from his chair. The friends of science, attracted by the high reputation which his botanical and zoological works had conferred on him, witnessed this with surprise. It appeared to them, that a government which protects the sciences, ought to have provided for the wants of a celebrated individual; but their esteem for him was doubled, when they saw the fortitude with which the illustrious old man bore up against the assaults both of fortune and of nature. They particularly admired the devotedness which he inspired in such of his children as remained with him. His eldest daughter, entirely devoted to the duties of filial affection for many years, never left him for an instant, readily engaged in every study which might supply his want of sight, wrote to his dictation a portion of his last works, and accompanied and supported him as long as he was able to take some exercise. Her sacrifices, indeed, were carried to a degree which it is impossible to express; when the father could no longer leave his room, the daughter never left the house. When she afterwards did so, for the