BUFFON, GEORGE LOUIS LECLERC, Comte de, one of the most famous naturalists and writers of the c., was b. at Montbard, in Burgundy, Sept. 7, 1707. Ile studied law at the college of Jesuits at Dijon, but showed so marked a predilection for astronomy and mathematics, that his father allowed him to follow his own inclinations. At Dijon, lie became acquainted with lord Kingston, whose tutor, a man of learning and taste, directed the mind of B. to the study of the sciences. With lord Kingston and his tutor, B. traveled through France and Italy, and came to England, where, to improve his knowledge of our language, he translated Newton's Hales' Vegetable Statics. In 1733, he wrote several original essays, which gained notice in the academy, of which he had been made a member. His general love of science received a definite impulse toward zoology by his appointment, in 1739, as intendant of the royal garden and museum. Hitherto zoology, consisting of a series of unconnected observations and fruitless attempts at classification, had been commonly regarded by educated readers as a dry study, and by savans as play-work. B. first conceived the idea of making it attractive to the first of these classes, and of securing for it, at the same time, the respect of the second. His plan was assuredly comprehensive enough, since he aimed at noth ing less than a collection of all the separate known facts of physical investigation, and a systematic arrangement of these, to assist the author in forming a theory of nature; but B. possessed neither the science ror the patience necessary for such a task. Endowed, however, with a brilliantly rhetorical imagination, and always inclined to deliver himself from doubts and ignorance by sparkling hypotheses, the elaboration of which cost him little trouble, he contrived to produce a work which, if not severely scientific in its method, at least shone with what many then conceived to be the brightest literary luster. However, it is not to be denied that many of his views are very ingeni
ous, although later researches have completely exploded them. The Natural History of B. made an epoch in the study of the natural sciences, though it has now little or no scientific value. His attempted explanations. of natural phenomena were opposed by Condillac, who, with Ilelvetius, Diderot, D'Alembert, and others, also ridiculed, with a certain degree of justice, the excessive pomp of style used by Buffon. The most insig nificant part of B.'s treatise is the mineralogy, for which he was quite unqualified by the deficiencies of his chemical, mathematical, and physical knowledge. The system atic and anatomical arrangement of the mammalia was executed by Daubenton, the colleague of Buffon. B.'s works passed through numerous editions, and several were translated into most of the languages of Europe. The best complete edition is the Ilistoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere, in 36 volumes (Par. 1749-88.) After receiv ing several high honors, being elevated to the rank of comte de B. by Louis 1."7., and treated with great distinction by Louis XVI., B, died in Paris, April 16, 1788. In per son and carriage, B. was noble; as a Parisian academician, and a self-complacent, theoretical naturalist, dressed in courtly style, pursuing his pleasant studies in the allees i of the royal garden, and largely participating in the vices of his time, B. was quite a model of a French philosopher of the 18th century. His son, Henri Leclerc. comte de B., b. 1764, was attached, at the outbreak of the revolution, to the party of the duke of Orleans, and fell under the guillotine. His last words were: Citoyens, je sne nomme Buffon.