336 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



to the effusion of blood. How terrible then must have 

 been the effect produced on his mind by the agitations of 

 the republic, and above all by the sanguinary days of 

 June, 1848 ! Indeed, from this period, his health de- 

 clined rapidly, and notwithstanding a naturally robust 

 constitution, he sank under the effects of an incurable 

 diabetes. 



More than two years before his death Arago almost 

 entirely lost his sight ; but, although he could no longer 

 read, he continued to fulfil the duties of perpetual secre- 

 tary to the Academy. Before each meeting, the different 

 memoirs and papers that were on the list for the day 

 were read over to him. At the proper time, when one of 

 his colleagues informed him of the title of the paper 

 before him, he would give an account of each memoir, 

 not certainly with all the charm of diction that he at one 

 time displayed, but still with so much clearness of mind, 

 that those who were not aware of the true state of the 

 case would have supposed that he had himself studied the 

 memoirs which he described. (See F. A. Barral, Notice 

 sur Frangois Arago.) 



Note XI. 



Buffon, who was born at Montbard in 1707, and died 

 at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris in 1788, was one of 

 the most remarkable geniuses of his native country. 

 His father, who was a Councillor in the Parliament of 

 Burgundy, possessed a considerable fortune; hence, after 

 having terminated his classical studies in the most 

 brilliant manner, he was able to indulge his tastes for 

 study without any of those pre-occupations of mind 

 which too often stifle, or at all events check, the develop- 

 ment of the most promising talents. Having made the 

 acquaintance of young Lord Kingston, who was travel- 

 ling with his tutor, a man of much cultivation and learn- 



