C PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



also to supply the place in the Museum, which had been so ad- 

 mirably filled by his father, who, like his fellow-labourers, Sa- 

 vigny and Lamarck, was about this time afflicted with the loss of 

 sight. In 1841 this temporary' position was rendered permanent, 

 the disabled veteran in science yielding place to the young soldier 

 he had so carefully reared ; and Isidore Geoffiroy, named Professor of 

 Mammalogy at the Museum, received during his father's life an in- 

 heritance worthily merited by the way in which he had long vica- 

 riously discharged the duties of the office. In fact, since 1824, he 

 had performed the duties of " Aide Naturaliste " in the Jardin des 

 Plantes, and in this capacity had under his superintendence and 

 direction not only the collection of stuffed mammals and birds in the 

 Museum, but also the menagerie of living animals first brought 

 together by Etienne Geoffiroy in 1793. The zeal and industry dis- 

 played by him in the latter capacity may be judged of from the fact 

 that in 1824 the collection included not more than 283 birds and 

 mammals, whilst between 1850 and 1861 their number amounted 

 on the average to about 900. 



It was here also that he began to devote considerable attention to 

 a branch of what may be termed applied zoology, in which, during the 

 whole of his career, he continued to take the warmest interest, viz. 

 the acclimatization of animals which may be useful to man either 

 as food or as ministers otherwise to his wants or pleasures. 



In pursuance of this object, he, in concert with several other men 

 of science and of business, was mainly instrumental in the formation 

 of the Imperial Zoological Society of Acclimatization, and in the 

 establishment of the gardens belonging to that Society in the Bois 

 de Boulogne, acting also as President of the Society from 1855 to 

 his death. 



In 1845 he received the decoration of the Legion of Honour ; and 

 he was elected a Foreign Member of our body in 1861. 



Among his numerous contributions to zoological science, most of 

 which have appeared in various periodicals, may be enumerated, 

 besides those already mentioned, his ' Essais de Zoologie g^nerale, 

 ou Memoires et Notices;' ' I'Anthropologie et I'Histoire de la Science,' 

 1840 ; ' Histoire Naturelle des Insectes et des Mollusques,' 1841 ; 

 ' Vie, Travaux, et Doctrine Scientifique d'Etienne Geoflfroy St.-Hi- 

 laire,' 1847 ; ' Catalogue Methodique du Museum d'Histoire Natu- 

 relle,' 1850-51 ; ' Essai sur la Domestication et la Naturalisation des 

 Animaux utiles,' 1854 ; and, lastly, his ' Histoire NatureUe generale 

 des Regnes organiques, principalement etudiee chez I'Homme,' 

 1854-55, an undertaking perhaps of too great a scope for any 



