316 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



tebrate animals. At first he refused to accept the chair, 

 saying that, as his studies had been all directed to mine- 

 ralogy, he was incapable of lecturing on zoology. Dauben- 

 ton, however, insisted with all the authority of a parent 

 that he should accept the appointment. " Zoology," 

 said he, to his young pupil, " has never been made the 

 subject of lectures at Paris ; everything, therefore, 

 remains to be done. Do you make the beginning, and 

 perform the duties of your chair in such a manner 

 that twenty years hence it may be said zoology is a 

 science, and what is more, an entirely French science^'' 

 Overcome by the persuasions of his master, GeofFroy at 

 length accepted the professorship, and at once set reso- 

 lutely to work. At this time he was one-and-twenty 

 years of age. 



Immediately after his installation, Geoffrey rendered a 

 very signal service to the science which he was called 

 upon to teach. The foundation of the Menagerie at the 

 Jardin des Plantes is entirely due to what may be called 

 an act of youthful temerity. From one of those caprices 

 which seem occasionally to have actuated the conduct of 

 those who held power at this period, the police had re- 

 ceived instructions to forbid the exhibition of living 

 animals in Paris, and to confiscate three itinerant me- 

 nageries, which were then being exhibited, and convey 

 them to the Museum. On the 4th of November, 1793, 

 Geoffrey, to his great surprise, was informed that a num- 

 ber of tigers, panthers, white bears, and other animals, 

 together with eagles, crocodiles, serpents, &c., were at 

 the gate of the Museum. They were to be received, fed, 

 lodged, and maintained, although the garden possessed 

 neither space, money, nor keepers. Geoffrey, however, 

 did not hesitate a moment, but ordered the vans and 

 cages which contained these animals, to be placed in the 

 court under his own window, retaining the ex-proprietors 



