Natural Curiosities Zoologique Etoile De Mer First Edition 14 images Collection

First Edition, A Collection of 14 exquisite images. Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (August 1, 1744 - December 28, 1829) A French naturalist and an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He was also one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. Lamarck was born in France August, 1744. Born into poor nobility (hence chevalier - knight), Lamarck served in the army before becoming interested in natural history and writing a multi-volume flora of France. This caught the attention of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon who arranged for him to be appointed to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris in France. After years working on plants, Lamarck was appointed curator of invertebrates — another term he coined. He began a series of public lectures. Before 1800, he was an essentialist who believed species were unchanging; however, after working on the molluscs of the Paris Basin, he grew convinced that transmutation or change in the nature of a species occurred over time. He set out to develop an explanation, which he outlined in his 1809 work, Philosophie Zoologique.