DAUBENTON, LOUIS JEAN MARIE, a French naturalist, was b. at Montbar in Bur gundy, 29th May, 1716. His father wished him to be an ecclesiastic, and sent him to acquire a knowledge of theology at the Sorbonne in Paris, but D. had no inclination for this study, and gave himself up to that of medicine and anatomy. In 1741, after lie had taken his degree at Rheims, he returned to Montbar to practice his profession. In the following year, however, his old school-fellow, the corate de Buffon, induced him to come to Paris, and assist him in the preparation of his great work on natural history. For this office D. was admirably qualified. The sobriety of his understanding, the scrupulous care with which lie pursued the smallest investigations, his perseverance and industry, were in complete contrast to the impatient spirit and rapid generalizing of,his brilliant coadjutor, and enabled him to correct and moderate some of Buffon's hasty theories, as well as to substantially enrich the work with a multitude of new and impor tant facts relative to the anatomy of animals. Unfortunately, Buffon, who was exceed ingly jealous, allowed himself to be influenced unfavorably in regard to D., on account of the high estimation in which the Parisian savans generally held the latter. The
result was an estrangement between the two friends (who were, however, ultimately reconciled), and science suffered severely in consequence. D., who had contributed richly to the first 15 volumes of the Ilistoire Naturelle, ceased to have further connection with the work, and the subsequent labors of Gueneau de Montbeliard, Bexon, and Son nini, but ill supplied the want which his absence created. D. now devoted himself almost entirely to his duties in the Jardin du 1?oi, in which he held an appointment. In 1778, he was made professor of natural history in the college of medicine. During the revolution, the convention also appointed him professor of mineralogy in the museum of natural He died 1st Jan., 1800.
Besides his labors in connection with the Histoire Naturelie, D. contributed largely to the first Encyclopedic. In the memoirs of the academie des sciences, and in those of the societe de medecine, are to be found a multitude of his most interesting and valu able papers on natural history and mineralogy. Cuvier composed a notice of D.'s life and works for the memoirs of the institute.