BUFFON. 



eorge Louis Le Clerc, afterwards 

 Count Buffon, the celebrated French 

 naturalist, was born at Montbard, 

 in Burgundy, September 7, 1707 — 

 the same year in which Linnaeus 

 was born. His father was a coun- 

 cillor of parliament of Dijon. It 

 was the wish of his father that 

 Buffon, with a view to qualify him- 

 self for the magistracy, should adopt 

 the profession of the law. This, however, had no 

 charms for the latter, and his father quickly observed 

 that astronomy and mathematics were likely to become 

 the chief objects of his son's study. He wisely allowed 

 him to follow the path which he had chosen, and he 

 became so interested in geometry that some of his 

 biographers assert, that while his youthful companions 

 were at their sports he w T as generally to be found in 

 some retired corner, poring over his pocket copy of 



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