190 MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 



After having completed, under the Dominicans of that 

 same town, what was then called a course of philosophy, 

 his parents, who intended him for the church, and made 

 him assume the ecclesiastical dress at twelve years of 

 age, sent him to Paris to be initiated in theology ; but, 

 inspired perhaps by a presentiment of what he would 

 one day become, young Daubenton secretly devoted 

 himself to the study of medicine. At the schools of the 

 faculty he attended the prelections of Baron, Martineux, 

 and Col de Villars ; and, in the same Jardin des Plantes 

 which he was afterwards so largely to benefit, those of 

 Winslow, Hunauld, and Antoine de Jussieu. The death 

 of his father, which happened in 1736, having left him 

 at liberty to follow the bent of his inclinations, he took 

 his degrees at Rheims in 1740 and 1741, and then re- 

 turned to his native place, where he limited his ambi- 

 tion to the exercise of his profession. But destiny re- 

 served him for a more brilliant theatre. 



The little town where he first saw the light, had 

 likewise produced an individual of independent fortune, 

 whose bodily and mental qualifications, and ardent 

 taste for pleasures, seemed to destine him for any other 

 career than that of the sciences, yet who found himself 

 attracted to them by an irresistible inclination, which 

 is almost a certain indication of extraordinary talents. 



BufFon (for it was that individual), for a long time 

 uncertain to what object he should apply his genius, 

 tried, in turns, geometry, physics, and agriculture. At 

 last, Dufay, his friend, who was called upon, during his 



