422 LinruBan Society, 



object ; and he was also appointed to the charge of one of the loca^ 

 hospitals, in the conduct of which he was most successful. 



He subsequently married the daughter of a Quaker merchant in 

 Philadelphia, by w^hom he had several children. His first visit to 

 England was made about this time ; but he afterwards returned to 

 Europe with the design of establishing himself in practice in Paris. 

 In this object, however, he was disappointed, and he once more 

 sought refuge in his native city. Here again he was doomed to dis- 

 appointment, and he was at length led to believe that a better chance 

 of success was opened for him at New Orleans, in which city he fell 

 a victim to disease when there was just reason for thinking that he 

 was on the point of meeting with that success which his talents and 

 acquirements so well deserved. He became suddenly hemiplegic, and 

 died in the course of a few days from the time of his attack in the 

 autumn or late summer of 1844. 



He was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society in 1835 ; 

 and in the same year he collected his various scattered memoirs into 

 an 8vo volume, entitled ' Medical and Physical Researches ; or Ori- 

 ginal Memoirs in Medicine, Surgery, Physiology, Geology, Zoology 

 and Comparative Anatomy.' The greater part of this volume con- 

 sists of papers previously published ; but it also contains several not 

 before given to the world. Those relating to natural history occupy 

 a very considerable portion of the work, and contain much valuable 

 information. 



Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire was born at Etampes on the 15th of 

 April 1772, and destined for the ecclesiastical profession; but an 

 early introduction to Haiiy, whose pupil he became, entirely changed 

 the character of his pursuits, and for a time he gave himself up almost 

 entirely to the study of mineralogy. When, in consequence of the 

 events of the 10th of August 1792, Haiiy was thrown into prison, 

 and placed, in common with so many others, in extreme peril of his 

 life, young Geoflfroy ardently exerted himself to procure the libera- 

 tion of his teacher, which he succeeded in accomplishing, and was 

 repaid for his exertions by the zealous friendship of the great mine- 

 ralogist. On the warm recommendation of Haiiy, Daubenton pro- 

 cured for him on the 13th of March 1793 the appointment of Assist- 

 ant Keeper and Demonstrator of the Museum of Natural History, 

 vacated by the resignation of Lacepede ; and on the 1 Oth of June in 

 the same year, when the Jardin des Plantes was re-organized in con- 

 formity with a decree of the Convention, Geoffroy, then only 21 years 

 old, was appointed to the Professorship of Zoology for the Verte- 

 brated Animals, the duties of which he afterwards shared with La- 

 cepMe. From this period he devoted his whole attention to zoology, 

 and several valuable papers which he published in the ' Decade Phi- 

 losophique ' and ' Magazin Encyclopedique ' attest the rapidity of his 

 progress in his new pursuit. 



In 1798 he was appointed one of the scientific Commission which 

 accompanied the French army into Egypt, and whose labours have 

 added so much celebrity to that expedition. Of these labours M. 

 Geoffroy contributed an important share, and to his firmness science 



