"I made," said Geoffroy, "the proposition to my _confreres_, but I was supported, and only feebly, by M.de Lamarck, who slightly knew M.Cuvier as the author of a memoir on entomology." The eulogy pronounced by Geoffroy St.Hilaire over the remains of his old friend and colleague was generous, sympathetic, and heartfelt.
"Yes [he said, in his eloquent way], for us who knew M.de Lamarck, whom his counsels have guided, whom we have found always indefatigable, devoted, occupied so willingly with the most difficult labors, we shall not fear to say that such a loss leaves in our ranks an immense void.

From the blessings of such a life, so rich in instructive lessons, so remarkable for the most generous self-abnegation, it is difficult to choose.
"A man of vigorous, profound ideas, and very often admirably generalized, Lamarck conceived them with a view to the public good.
If he met, as often happened, with great opposition, he spoke of it as a condition imposed on every one who begins a reform.

Moreover, the great age, the infirmities, but especially the grievous blindness of M.de Lamarck had reserved for him another lot.

This great and strong mind could enjoy some consolation in knowing the judgment of posterity, which for him began in his own lifetime.

When his last tedious days, useless to science, had arrived, when he had ceased to be subjected to rivalry, envy and passion became extinguished and justice alone remained.