Biographical Memoir of M» Daubentofi, 5 



people connected with the garden. BufFon revived it for Dau- 

 benton, and it was conferred upon him by brevet in 1745. His 

 salary, which at first was only 500 francs, was gradually aug- 

 mented to 4000. When he was only assistant in the Academy 

 of Sciences, Buffon, who was treasurer, made him several pre- 

 sents. On his arrival in Paris, he also gave him an apartment. 

 In a word, he neglected nothing to ensure him the comfort ne- 

 cessary for every man of letters, and for every person engaged 

 in the cultivation of science. 



Daubenton, on his part, devoted himself without intermission 

 to the labours calculated to second the views of his benefactor, 

 and by these very labours he erected the two principal monu- 

 ments of his own glory. 



One of these, although not a printed book, is not the less a 

 very beautiful and a very instructive volume, since it is almost that 

 of nature. I allude to the Natural History Cabinet of the ' Jar- 

 din des Plantes.' Before Daubenton''s time it was a mere drug- 

 shop, in which the products of the public courses of chemistry 

 were collected, to be distributed to the poor who might have 

 need of them for the cure of their diseases. In Natural History, 

 properly so called, it only contained some shells collected by 

 Tournefort, which had afterwards served to amuse the child- 

 hood of Louis the Fifteenth, and of which several still bore the 

 marks of his humours. 



In a very few years it entirely changed its appearance. Mi- 

 nerals, fruits, woods, and shells, were collected from all parts, 

 and laid out in the best order. The means by which the vari- 

 ous parts of organized bodies might be preserved, were made 

 an object of discovery and improvement. The inanimate spoils 

 of quadrupeds and birds resumed the appearances of life, and 

 presented to the observer the minutest details of their charac- 

 ters, at the same time that they astonished the curious by the 

 variety of their forms and the brilliancy of their colours. 



Previous to this, the cabinets of natural productions were 

 indeed ornamented with some riches ; but those were rejected 

 which might spoil their symmetry, or take away the appearance 

 of decoration. A few naturalists collected the objects which 

 might assist them in their inquiries, or give strength to their 

 opinions ; but, being limited in their fortune, they were obliged 



