Even in advanced life Lamarck seems not to have suffered from ill-health, despite the fact that he apparently during the last thirty years of his life lived in a very secluded way. Whether he went out into the world, to the theatre, or even went away from Paris and the Museum into the country in his later years, is a matter of doubt. It is said that he was fond of novels, his daughters reading to him those of the best French authors. After looking with some care through the records of the sessions of the Assembly of Professors, we are struck with the evidences of his devotion to routine museum work and to his courses of lectures. At that time the Museum sent out to the _Écoles centrales_ of the different departments of France named collections made up from the duplicates, and in this sort of drudgery Lamarck took an active part. He also took a prominent share in the business of the Museum, in the exchange and in the purchase of specimens and collections in his department, and even in the management of the menagerie. Thus he reported on the dentition of the young lions (one dying from teething), on the illness and recovery of one of the elephants, on the generations of goats and kids in the park; also on a small-sized bull born of a small cow covered by a Scottish bull, the young animal having, as he states, all the characters of the original. For one year (1794) he was secretary of the Board of Professors of the Museum.[43] The records of the meetings from 4 vendémiaire, l'an III., until 4 vendémiaire, l'an IV., are each written in his bold, legible handwriting or signed by him. He signed his name _Lamarck_, this period being that of the first republic. Afterwards, in the records, his name is written _De Lamarck_. He was succeeded by É. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who signed himself plain _Geoffroy_. In 1802 he acted as treasurer of the Assembly, and again for a period of six years, until and including 1811, when he resigned, the reason given being: "Il s'occupe depuis six ans et que ses travaux et son age lui rendent penibles." Lamarck was extremely regular in his attendance at these meetings. From 1793 until 1818 he rarely, if ever, missed a meeting. We have only observed in the records of this long period the absence of his name on two or three occasions from the list of those present. During 1818 and the following year it was his blindness which probably prevented his regular attendance. July 15, 1818, he was present, and presented the fifth volume of his _Animaux sans Vertèbres_; and August 31, 1819, he was present[44] and laid before the Assembly the sixth volume of the same great work. [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF LAMARCK, WHEN OLD AND BLIND, IN THE COSTUME OF A MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE, ENGRAVED IN 1824.]