Georges Louis Leclerc, created in 1773 Comte de Buffon, was born at
Montbard, in France, on September 7, 1707. Evincing a marked bent
for science he became, in 1739, director of the Jardin du Roi and
the King's Museum in Paris. He had long contemplated the
preparation of a complete History of Nature, and now proceeded to
carry out the work. The first three volumes of the "Histoire
Naturelle, Générale et Particulière" appeared in 1749, and other
volumes followed at frequent intervals until his death at Paris on
April 16, 1788. Buffon's immense enterprise was greeted with
abounding praise by most of his contemporaries. On July 1, 1752, he
was elected to the French Academy in succession to Languet de
Gergy, Archbishop of Sens, and, at his reception on August 25 in
the following year, pronounced the oration in which occurred the
memorable aphorism, "Le style est l'homme même" (The style is the
very man). Buffon also anticipated Thomas Carlyle's definition of
genius ("which means the transcendent capacity of taking trouble,
first of all") by his famous axiom, "Le génie n'est autre chose
qu'une grande aptitude à la patience."
_Scope of the Work_
Buffon planned his "Natural History" on an encyclopaedic scale. His
point of view was unique. Natural history in its widest sense, he tells
us, embraces every object in the visible universe. The obvious divisions
of the subject, therefore, are, first, the earth, the air, and the
water; then the animals--quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and so
on--inhabiting each of these "elements," to use the phrase of his day.
Now, Buffon argued, if man were required to give some account of the
animals by which he was surrounded, of course he would begin with those
with which he was most familiar, as the horse, the dog, the cow. From
these he would proceed to the creatures with which he was less familiar,
and finally deal--through the medium of travellers' tales and other
sources of information--with the denizens of field, forest and flood in
foreign lands. In similar fashion he would consider the plants,
minerals, and other products of Nature, in addition to recounting the
marvels revealed to him by astronomy.
Whatever its defects on the scientific side, Buffon's plan was
simplicity itself, and was adopted largely, if not entirely, in
consequence of his contempt--real or affected--for the systematic method
of the illustrious Linnæus. Having charted his course, the rest was
plain sailing. He starts with the physical globe, discussing the
formation of the planets, the features of the earth--mountains, rivers,
seas, lakes, tides, currents, winds, volcanoes, earthquakes, islands,
and so forth--and the effects of the encroachment and retreat of the
ocean.
Animate nature next concerns him. After comparing animals, plants and
minerals, he proceeds to study man literally from the cradle to the
grave, garnishing the narrative with those incursions into the domains
of psychology, physiology and hygiene, which, his detractors insinuated,
rendered his work specially attractive and popular.
_I.--The Four-Footed Animals_
Such questions occupied the first three volumes, and the ground was now
cleared for the celebrated treatise on Quadrupeds, which filled no fewer
than twelve volumes, published at various dates from 1753 (vol. iv.) to
1767 (vol. xv., containing the New World monkeys, indexes, and the
like). Buffon's _modus operandi_ saved him from capital blunders. Though
inordinately vain--"I know but five great geniuses," he once said;
"Newton, Bacon, Leibniz, Montesquieu, and myself"--he was quite
conscious of his own limitations, and had the common-sense to entrust to
Daubenton the description of the anatomy and other technical matters as
to which his own knowledge was comparatively defective. He reserved to
himself what may be called the "literary" aspect of his theme, recording
the place of each animal in history, and relating its habits with such
gusto as his ornate and grandiose style permitted.
After a preliminary dissertation on the nature of animals, Buffon
plunges into an account of those that have been domesticated or tamed.
Preference of place is given to the horse, and his method of treatment
is curiously anticipatory of modern lines. Beginning with some notice of
the horse in history, he goes on to describe its appearance and habits
and the varieties of the genus, ending (by the hand of Daubenton) with
an account of its structure and physiology. As evidence of the pains he
took to collect authority for his statements, it is of interest to
mention that he illustrates the running powers of the English horse by
citing the instance of Thornhill, the postmaster of Stilton, who, in
1745, wagered he would ride the distance from Stilton to London thrice
in fifteen consecutive hours. Setting out from Stilton, and using eight
different horses, he accomplished his task in 3 hours 51 minutes. In the
return journey he used six horses, and took 3 hours 52 minutes. For the
third race he confined his choice of horses to those he had already
ridden, and, selecting seven, achieved the distance in 3 hours 49
minutes. He performed the undertaking in 11 hours and 32 minutes. "I
doubt," comments Buffon, "whether in the Olympic Games there was ever
witnessed such rapid racing as that displayed by Mr. Thornhill."
Justice having been done to it, the horse gives place to the ass, ox,
sheep, goat, pig, dog, and cat, with which he closes the account of the
domesticated animals, to which three volumes are allotted. It is
noteworthy that Buffon frequently, if not always, gives the synonyms of
the animals' names in other languages, and usually supports his textual
statements by footnote references to his authorities.
When he comes to the Carnivores--"les animaux nuisibles"--the defects of
Buffon's higgledy-piggledy plan are almost ludicrously evident, for
flesh-eaters, fruit-eaters, insect-eaters, and gnawers rub shoulders
with colossal indifference. Doubtless, however, this is to us all the
more conspicuous, because use and wont have made readers of the present
day acquainted with the advantages of classification, which it is but
fair to recognise has been elaborated and perfected since Buffon's time.
As his gigantic task progressed, Buffon's difficulties increased. At the
beginning of vol. xii. (1764) he intimates that, with a view to break
the monotony of a narrative in which uniformity is an unavoidable
feature, he will in future, from time to time, interrupt the general
description by discourses on Nature and its effects on a grand scale.
This will, he naively adds, enable him to resume "with renewed courage"
his account of details the investigation of which demands "the calmest
patience, and affords no scope for genius."
_II.--The Birds_
Scarcely had he finished the twelve volumes of Quadrupeds when Buffon
turned to the Birds. If this section were less exacting, yet it made
enormous claims upon his attention, and nine volumes were occupied
before the history of the class was concluded. Publication of "Des
Oiseaux" was begun in 1770, and continued intermittently until 1783. But
troubles dogged the great naturalist. The relations between him and
Daubenton had grown acute, and the latter, unwilling any longer to put
up with Buffon's love of vainglory, withdrew from the enterprise to
which his co-operation had imparted so much value. Serious illness,
also, and the death of Buffon's wife, caused a long suspension of his
labours, which were, however, lightened by the assistance of Guéneau de
Montbéliard.
One stroke of luck he had, which no one will begrudge the weary Titan.
James Bruce, of Kinnaird, on his return from Abyssinia in 1773, spent
some time with Buffon at his château in Montbard, and placed at his
disposal several of the remarkable discoveries he had made during his
travels. Buffon was not slow to appreciate this godsend. Not only did
he, quite properly, make the most of Bruce's disinterested help, but he
also expressed the confident hope that the British Government would
command the publication of Bruce's "precious" work. He went on to pay a
compliment to the English, and so commit them to this enterprise. "That
respectable nation," he asserts, "which excels all others in discovery,
can but add to its glory in promptly communicating to the world the
results of the excellent travellers' researches."
Still unfettered by any scheme of classification, either scientific or
logical, Buffon begins his account of the birds with the eagles and
owls. To indicate his course throughout the vast class, it will suffice
to name a few of the principal birds in the order in which he takes them
after the birds of prey. These, then, are the ostrich, bustard, game
birds, pigeons, crows, singing birds, humming birds, parrots, cuckoos,
swallows, woodpeckers, toucans, kingfishers, storks, cranes, secretary
bird, herons, ibis, curlews, plovers, rails, diving birds, pelicans,
cormorants, geese, gulls, and penguins. With the volume dealing with the
picarian birds (woodpeckers) Buffon announces the withdrawal of Guéneau
de Montbéliard, and his obligations for advice and help to the Abbé
Bexon (1748-1784), Canon of Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
_III.--Supplement and Sequel_
At the same time that the Birds volumes were passing through the press,
Buffon also issued periodically seven volumes of a supplement
(1774-1789), the last appearing posthumously under the editorship of
Count Lacépède. This consisted of an olla podrida of all sorts of
papers, such as would have won the heart of Charles Godfrey Leland. The
nature of the hotchpotch will be understood from a recital of some of
its contents, in their chronological order. It opened with an
introduction to the history of minerals, partly theoretical (concerning
light, heat, fire, air, water, earth, and the law of attraction), and
partly experimental (body heat, heat in minerals, the nature of
platinum, the ductility of iron). Then were discussed incandescence,
fusion, ships' guns, the strength and resistance of wood, the
preservation of forests and reafforestation, the cooling of the earth,
the temperature of planets, additional observations on quadrupeds
already described, accounts of animals not noticed before, such as the
tapir, quagga, gnu, nylghau, many antelopes, the vicuña, Cape ant-eater,
star-nosed mole, sea-lion, and others; the probabilities of life (a
subject on which the author plumed himself), and his essay on the Epochs
of Nature.
Nor did these concurrent series of books exhaust his boundless energy
and ingenuity, for in the five years preceding his death (1783-1788), he
produced his "Natural History of Minerals" in five volumes, the last of
which was mainly occupied with electricity, magnetism, and the
loadstone. It is true that the researches of modern chemists have
wrought havoc with Buffon's work in this field; but this was his
misfortune rather than his fault, and leaves untouched the quantity of
his output.
Buffon invoked the aid of the artist almost from the first, and his
"Natural History" is illustrated by hundreds of full-page copper-plate
engravings, and embellished with numerous elegant headpiece designs. The
figures of the animals are mostly admirable examples of portraiture,
though the classical backgrounds lend a touch of the grotesque to many
of the compositions. Illustrations of anatomy, physiology, and other
features of a technical character are to be numbered by the score, and
are, of course, indispensable in such a work. The _editio princeps_ is
cherished by collectors because of the 1,008 coloured plates ("Planches
Enluminées") in folio, the text itself being in quarto, by the younger
Daubenton, whose work was spiritedly engraved by Martinet. Apparently
anxious to illustrate one section exhaustively rather than several
sections in a fragmentary manner, the artist devoted himself chiefly to
the birds, which monopolise probably nine-tenths of the plates, and to
which he may also have been attracted by their gorgeous plumages.
As soon as the labourer's task was over, his scientific friends thought
the best monument which they could raise to his memory was to complete
his "Natural History." This duty was discharged by two men, who, both
well qualified, worked, however, on independent lines. Count Lacépède,
adhering to the format of the original, added two volumes on the
Reptiles (1788-1789), five on the Fishes (1798-1803), and one on the
Cetaceans (1804). Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812), feeling that this
edition, though extremely handsome, was cumbersome, undertook an
entirely new edition in octavo. This was begun in 1797, and finished in
1808. It occupied 127 volumes, and, Lacépède's treatises not being
available, Sonnini himself dealt with the Fishes (thirteen volumes) and
Whales (one volume), P.A. Latreille with the Crustaceans and Insects
(fourteen volumes), Denys-Montfort with the Molluscs (six volumes), F.M.
Dandin with the Reptiles (eight volumes), and C.F. Brisseau-Mirbel and
N. Jolyclerc with the Plants (eighteen volumes). Sonnini's edition
constituted the cope-stone of Buffon's work, and remained the best
edition, until the whole structure was thrown down by the views of later
naturalists, who revolutionised zoology.
_IV.--Place and Doctrine_
Buffon may justly be acclaimed as the first populariser of natural
history. He was, however, unscientific in his opposition to systems,
which, in point of fact, essentially elucidated the important doctrine
that a continuous succession of forms runs throughout the animal
kingdom. His recognition of this principle was, indeed, one of his
greatest services to the science.
Another of his wise generalisations was that Nature proceeds by unknown
gradations, and consequently cannot adapt herself to formal analysis,
since she passes from one species to another, and often from one genus
to another, by shades of difference so delicate as to be wholly
imperceptible.
In Buffon's eyes Nature is an infinitely diversified whole which it is
impossible to break up and classify. "The animal combines all the powers
of Nature; the forces animating it are peculiarly its own; it wishes,
does, resolves, works, and communicates by its senses with the most
distant objects. One's self is a centre where everything agrees, a point
where all the universe is reflected, a world in miniature." In natural
history, accordingly, each animal or plant ought to have its own
biography and description.
Life, Buffon also held, abides in organic molecules. "Living beings are
made up of these molecules, which exist in countless numbers, which may
be separated but cannot be destroyed, which pierce into brute matter,
and, working there, develop, it may be animals, it may be plants,
according to the nature of the matter in which they are lodged. These
indestructible molecules circulate throughout the universe, pass from
one being to another, minister to the continuance of life, provide for
nutrition and the growth of the individual, and determine the
reproduction of the species."
Buffon further taught that the quantity and quality of life pass from
lower to higher stages--in Tennysonian phrase, men "rise on
stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things"--and showed the
unity and structure of all beings, of whom man is the most perfect type.
It has been claimed that Buffon in a measure anticipated Lamarck and
Darwin. He had already foreseen the mutability of species, but had not
succeeded in proving it for varieties and races. If he asserted that the
species of dog, jackal, wolf and fox were derived from a single one of
these species, that the horse came from the zebra, and so on, this was
far from being tantamount to a demonstration of the doctrine. In fact,
he put forward the mutability of species rather as probable theory than
as established truth, deeming it the corollary of his views on the
succession and connection of beings in a continuous series.
Some case may be made out for regarding Buffon as the founder of
zoogeography; at all events he was the earliest to determine the natural
habitat of each species. He believed that species changed with climate,
but that no kind was found throughout all the globe. Man alone has the
privilege of being everywhere and always the same, because the human
race is one. The white man (European or Caucasian), the black man
(Ethiopian), the yellow man (Mongol), and the red man (American) are
only varieties of the human species. As the Scots express it with wonted
pith, "We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns."
As to his geological works, Buffon expounded two theories of the
formation of the globe. In his "Théorie de la Terre" he supported the
Neptunists, who attributed the phenomena of the earth to the action of
water. In his "Epoques de la Nature" he amplified the doctrines of
Leibniz, and laid down the following propositions: (1) The earth is
elevated at the equator and depressed at the poles in accordance with
the laws of gravitation and centrifugal force; (2) it possesses an
internal heat, apart from that received from the sun; (3) its own heat
is insufficient to maintain life; (4) the substances of which the earth
is composed are of the nature of glass, or can be converted into glass
as the result of heat and fusion--that is, are verifiable; (5)
everywhere on the surface, including mountains, exist enormous
quantities of shells and other maritime remains.
To the theses just enumerated Buffon added what he called the
"monuments," or what Hugh Miller, a century later, more aptly described
as the Testimony of the Rocks. From a consideration of all these things,
Buffon at length arrived at his succession of the Epochs, or Seven Ages
of Nature, namely: (1) the Age of fluidity, or incandescence, when the
earth and planets assumed their shape; (2) the Age of cooling, or
consolidation, when the rocky interior of the earth and the great
vitrescible masses at its surface were formed; (3) the Age when the
waters covered the face of the earth; (4) the Age when the waters
retreated and volcanoes became active; (5) the Age when the elephant,
hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and other giants roamed through the northern
hemisphere; (6) the Age of the division of the land into the vast areas
now styled the Old and the New Worlds; and (7) the Age when Man
appeared.