198 MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 



scrupulously examined all their parts ; he tried all pos- 

 sible orders, until he fell upon that which neither 

 offended the eye nor did violence to the natural rela- 

 tions. 



This taste for the arrangement of a cabinet showed 

 itself very strongly in his latter years, when victories 

 brought to the Museum of Natural History a new mass 

 of riches, and when circumstances admitted of giving a 

 greater development to the whole. At eighty-four years 

 of age, his head sunk upon his breast, his feet and hands 

 disfigured by gout, not able to walk unless supported by 

 two people, he caused himself to be led every morning 

 to the cabinet, in order to preside over the arrangement 

 of the minerals, the only part which remained in his 

 hands in the new organization of the establishment. 



Thus, it is principally to Daubenton that France is 

 indebted for that temple, so worthy of the goddess to 

 whom it is dedicated ; and in which we know not what 

 to admire most, the astonishing fecundity of Nature, 

 which produced so many living beings, or the indefati- 

 gable patience of the individual who could collect all 

 these beings, name them, classify them, point out their 

 relations, describe their parts, and explain their pro- 

 perties. 



The second monument Daubenton left behind him 

 ought to have been, according to his primitive plan, the 

 result and complete description of this cabinet ; but cir- 

 cumstances to which we shall soon refer, prevented him 

 carrying his description further than the quadrupeds . 



