BANET, CHARLES, an eminent naturalist, was born at Geneva on the 13th March 1720, and was the only son of a Protestant refugee, who sought for shel ter in Switzerland from the religious persecutions with which France was at that time agitated. His father _sent him early to school ; but, in consequence of a de .fect in hearing with which he was afflicted at an early age, and probably from his being unable to partici pate in the bustle and rivalry of a public .seminary, he made little progress in his studies, and was placed under the care of a domestic tutor, who inspired him with a taste for general literature. In 1736, the pe rusal of La Pluche's interesting work, entitled, Le Spectacle de In Nature, turned his attention to those ,branches` of natural history, in the cultivation of which lie obtained such distinguished eminence. He investigated with particular success the structure and habits of the curious insect called the formica leo, or .ant ,lion, and detected many interesting facts which had escaped the notice of Poupart and Reaumur. He repeated many of Reaumur's experiments on in sects.. He made several interesting observations on caterpillars; and, at the early age of eighteen, he had the courage to communicate the results of his re searches to Reaumur, who admired the ingenuity of young Bonnet, and encouraged him to proceed in the study of natural history. His researches, in 1740, respecting the generation of aphides, or vine fretters, conducted him to a very curious discovery regarding these singular insects. He found, that the impreg nation of a female aphis by the male transmitted the prolific quality to its offspring even to the tenth in succession, so that each succeeding female, within these limits,- will produce its young without any sexual intercourse with the male.* This discovery was communicated, in a memoir, to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, who immediately its its .inge nious author among the number of ts corresponding members.. These experiments were of such a delicate nature, and required such minuteness of observation, and such close attention, that they brought on a weak ness of sight, from which he never aftenyards . reco vered. • During these inquiries, ,Bonnet was„prosccuting, wit•extreme reluctance, the study of the law; a pro fession to which he had been destined by his father. He however, to. perform this unpleasant
task till the year 1743, when he received the degree of doctor,of laws, on which •occasion lie abandoned for ever the study of the law. In the year 1741, lie discovered, that the reproductivepower of the polypus was, in some measure,. possessed, by different kinds of wqrms ; and, in 1742, he spade some new observa tions on the tape worm, and found that butterflies and caterpillars respired , by means of their .stigmata, or pores. In the year 1743, hesoinmunicated to the Royal Society of London a long paper, entitled, An Abstract of some new Observations on Insects; the substance of which was republished in his Insecto(ogie, which appeared in 1744, and which contained his obi servations on worms and aphides. in consequence of this paper, he was elected a member of the Royal Society.
The fatigue which accompanied these incessant la bours, produced a severe effect upon his health, and for some time he was compelled to relinquish entire= ly his favourite pursuits. By this relaxation from study, his eye-sight was considerably improved, and his general health so greatly re-established, that, in 1746, he renewed his studies by a course of experi ments on moss and other vegetable substances. These experiments were succeeded by his inquiries respect ing the ascent of sap in vegetables, and the action of the upper and under leaves of plantf; the result of which were given to the 'world, in 1751; under the Recherches sur l'usage des Feudles dans Planks, which was- improVed by a supplement, in 1779, and afterwards published in the second volUme of his works. He published also another treatise on a similar subject, entitled Sur la Fecondation des Plantes, which is given in the fifth volume of his works. ' From this fertile path of experiment and observa tion which Bonnet had •so long pursued, he was al lured, by the study of Malebranche and Leibnitz, into the toilsome but more seducing track of metaphysi cal speculation. The results of these new inquiries' were given to the world in An Essay on Psychology,' i published at London, anonymously, 1755; and in an Analytical Essay on the Faculties of the Soul,' which was printed in quarto at Copenhagen, at the expense of ,the King of Denmark. Both these works ,were well received ; though the latter exposed him to the charge of materialism.