BUFFON

From Agepedia

BUFFON (George Louis Leclerc), count of, one of the most celebrated naturalists and authors of the 18th century, born at Montbard, in Burgundy, 1707, received from his father, Benjamin Leclerc, counsellor to the parliament of his province, a careful education. Chance connected him, at Dijon, with the young duke of Kingston, whose tutor, a man of learning, inspired him with a taste for the sciences. They travelled together through France and Italy, and B. afterwards visited England. In order to perfect himself in the language without, neglecting the sciences, lie translated Newton's Fluxions and Hales's Vegetable Statics. After some 27* time, he published some works of his own, in which he treated of geometry, natural philosophy, and rural economy. He laid his researches on these subjects before the academy of sciences, of which he became a member in 1733. The most important were on the construction of mirrors for setting bodies on fire at a great distance, as Archimedes is said to have done, and experiments on the strength of different kinds of wood, and the means of increasing it, particularly by removing the bark of the trees some time before felling them. B., in his earlier years, was animated only by an undefined love of learning and fame, but his appointment as intendant of the royal garden, in 1736, gave his mind a decided turn towards that science in which he has immortalized himself. Considering natural history in its whole extent, he found no works in this department but spiritless compilations and dry lists of names, There were excellent observations, indeed, on single objects, but no comprehensive work. Of such an one he now formed the plan, aiming to unite the eloquence of Pliny and the profound views of Aristotle with the exactness and the details of modern observations. To aid him in this work, by examining the numerous and often minute objects embraced in his plan, for which he had not the patience nor the physical organs requisite, he associated himself with Daubenton, who possessed the qualities in which he was deficient; and, after an assiduous labor of 10 years, the two friends published the three first volumes of the Natural History, and, between 1749 and 1767, 12 others, which comprehend the theory of the earth, the nature of animals, and the history of man and the viviparous quadrupeds. The most brilliant parts of them, the general theories, the descriptions of the characters of animals, and of the great natural phenomena, are by B. Daubenton limited himself to the description of the forms and the anatomy of the animals. The nine following volumes, which appeared from 1770 to 1783, contain the history of birds, from which Daubenton withdrew his assistance. The whole shape of the work was thus altered. Descriptions, less detailed, and almost entirely without anatomy, were inserted among the historical articles, which, at first, were composed by Guenau de Montbeillard, and afterwards by the abbe Bexon. B. published alone the five volumes on minerals, from 1783 to 1788. Of the seven supplement ary volumes, of which the last did not appear until after his death, in 1789, the 5th formed an independent whole, the most celebrated of all his works. It contains his Epochs of Nature, in which the author, in a style truly sublime, and with the triumphant power of genius, gives a second theory of the earth, very different from that which he had traced in the first volumes, though he assumes, at the commencement, the air of merely defending and developing the former. This great labor, with which B. was occupied during 50 years, is, however, but a part of the vast plan which he had sketched, and which has been continued by Lacepede, in his history of the different species of cetaceous animals, reptiles and fishes, but has remained unexecuted as far as regards the invertebral animals and the plants. There is but one opinion of B. as an author. For the elevation of his views, for powerful and profound ideas, for the majesty of his images, for noble and dignified expression, for the lofty harmony of his style in treating of important subjects, he is, perhaps, unrivalled. His pictures of the sublime scenes of nature are strikingly true, and are stamped with originality. The fame of his work was soon universal. It excited a general taste for natural history, and gained for this science the. favor and protection of nobles and princes. Louis XV raised the author to the dignity of a count, and d'Argivilliers, in the reign of Louis XVI, caused his statue to be erected, during his life, at the entry of the royal cabinet of natural curiosities, with the inscription Majestati natures par ingenium. The opinions entertained of B. as a natural philosopher, and an observer, have been more divided. Voltaire, d'Alembert, Condorcet, have severely criticised his hypotheses, and his vague manner of philosophizing from general views. But although the views of B. on the theory of the earth can no longer be defended in detail, he will always have the merit of having made it generally felt, that the present state of the earth is the result of a series of changes, which it is possible to trace, and of having pointed out the phenomena which indicate the course of these changes. His theory of generation has been refuted by Haller and Spallanzani, and his hypothesis of a certain inexplicable mechanism to account for animal instinct, is not supported by facts; but his eloquent description of the physical and moral developement of man, as well as his ideas on the influence which the delicacy and developement of each organ exert on the character of different s'pecies of animals, are still of the highest interest. His views of the degeneracy of animals, and of the limits prescribed to each species by climates, mountains and seas, are real discoveries, which receive daily confirmation, and furnish to travellers a basis for their observations, which was entirely wanting before. The most perfect part of his work is the History of Quadrupeds ; the weakest, the History of Miner als, in which his imperfect acquaintance with chemistry, and his inclination to hypothesis, have led him into many errors. His last days were disturbed by the painful disease of the stone, which did not, however, prevent the prosecution of his great plan. He died at Paris, April 16, 1788, at the age of 81 years, leaving an only son, who perished, in the revolution, by the guillotine. B. was of a noble figure, and of great dignity of manners. His conversation was remarkable for a simplicity but little in accordance with the style of his writings. The best edition of his Natural History is that published from 1749 to 1788, in 36 vol, umes.