SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 197 

 the priesthood and actually procured him a benefice, but at the same time 

 allowed him to follow his bent for natural studies. Highly gifted, impulsive, 

 and passionate, young Geoffrey became deeply engrossed in the study of 

 chemistry, crystallography, and anatomy. During the Revolution he dis- 

 tinguished himself by rescuing a number of priests from death during the 

 massacres in September 1791 at the risk of his own life. In spite of this he 

 was appointed in the following year by the Revolutionary Government pro- 

 fessor of zoology at a newly-founded educational establishment and at once 

 became known for his brilliant energies and success. Cuvier, who was at 

 that time still quite unknown, was promoted to another professorship under 

 his recommendation. Eventually Cuvier was to rise above the head of his 

 patron, but for the time they collaborated with success in the sphere of com- 

 parative anatomy. When Bonaparte made his famous expedition to Egypt, 

 Geoffroy accompanied him as zoologist and succeeded in making there a 

 number of splendid collections, which he later, thanks to his resolute action, 

 prevented from falling into the hands of the English. The result was that, 

 upon returning to Paris, he won still further honours. He won less glory 

 in an expedition that he m.ade to Portugal, in whose museums he brought 

 together ' ' collections ' ' at the command of Napoleon on behalf of the French 

 State. His later years are mainly characterized by an increasing rivalry and 

 enmity with Cuvier; they were very largely contrasts to one another. In his 

 old age he became blind and finally also paralytic. He died in 1844. 



Geoffroy' s comparative anatomy 

 The comparative anatomy introduced by Buffon and Daubenton was enthusi- 

 astically embraced by Geoffroy and Cuvier. The development to which this 

 science attained, chiefly thanks to Cuvier, who made it one of the most 

 important foundations of modern biology, will be described in the following 

 section. Nor, indeed, was GeofFroy's contribution towards the progress of 

 this science without its significance, but at quite an early age there developed 

 in him a fancy for imaginative speculation, which justifies his being placed 

 in the category of theorizing natural philosophers. It has been thought pos- 

 sible to trace the influence of German natural philosophy, especially Schel- 

 ling's,- in this tendency of his, but as it was not until later that Schelling's 

 writings were translated into French, one can hardly suppose that there was 

 any direct influence from that quarter. These fantastic speculations were cer- 

 tainly characteristic of the age; he had predecessors in this respect even in 

 French literature; one need only recall the name of Bonnet. The main idea 

 in Geoffroy's philosophy is the existence of a common fundamental type, 

 beginning with the organization of all the vertebrate animals, and then for 

 the entire animal kingdom in general. He worked principally at the anatomy, 



^ According to Kohlbrugge in his essay on Goeche; see the Bibliography at the end of 

 the book. 



