ons and figures which
it would contain) would be such that any arrangement with the
printer or the manager of the edition could not remunerate the
author for writing such an immense work.

"If the nation should wish to print the work at its own expense, and
then give to the author the profits of the sale of this edition,
the author would be very much pleased, and would doubtless not
expect any further aid. But it would cost the nation a great deal,
and I believe that this useful project could be carried through with
greater economy.

"Indeed, if the nation will give me twenty thousand francs, in a
single payment, I will take the whole responsibility, and I agree,
if I live, that before the expiration of seven years the _Systeme de
la Nature_ in French, with the complemental addition, the
corrections, and the convenient explanations, shall be at the
disposition of all those who love or study natural history."

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Most men of science of the Revolution, like Monge and others, were
advanced republicans, and the Chevalier Lamarck, though of noble birth,
was perhaps not without sympathy with the ideas which led to the
establishment of the republic. It is possible that in his walks and
intercourse with Rousseau he may have been inspired with the new notions
of liberty and equality first promulgated by that philosopher.

His studies and meditations were probably not interrupted by the events
of the Terror. Stevens, in his history of the French Revolution, tells
us that Paris was never gayer than in the summer of 1793, and that
during the Reign of Terror the restaurants, _cafes_, and theatres were
always full. There were never more theatres open at the same period than
then, though no single great play or opera was produced. Meanwhile the
great painter David at this time built up a school of art and made that
city a centre for art students. Indeed the Revolution was "a grand time
for enthusiastic young men," while people in general lived their
ordinary lives. There is little doubt, then, that the savants, except
the few who were occupied by their duties as members of the _Convention
Nationale_, worked away quietly at their specialties, each in his own
study or laboratory or lecture-room.

[33] Bern. Germ. Etienne, Comte de Lacepede, born in 1756, died in 1825,
was elected professor of the zooelogy of "quadrupedes ovipares, reptiles,
et poissons," January 12, 1795 (Records of t