202 MEMOIR OF DAUBEXTON. 



were clear, elegant, and full of that interest which 

 arises from the curiosity being continually kept on the 

 stretch by new and singular details. They had begun 

 to diffuse among people of the world a taste for the 

 study of Nature. 



It was not without some feeling of dissatisfaction 

 that Reaumer saw himself eclipsed by a rival, whose 

 bold views and magnificent style, excited the enthu- 

 siasm of the public, and inspired them with a kind of 

 contempt for researches in appearance so minute as 

 those which have insects for their object. He showed 

 his bad humour in a somewhat sharp manner. He is 

 supposed even to have contributed to the publication of 

 some critical letters, in which the discussions of an 

 obscure metaphysician are opposed to the eloquence 

 of the painter of Nature, and in which Daubenton, 

 in whom Reaumur believed he saw the only solid sup- 

 port of what he called, the prestiges of his rival, was 

 by no means spare:!. The Academy sometimes witnes- 

 sed more direct quarrels, the recollection of which has 

 not altogether reached us, but which were so strong, 

 that Buffon was obliged to employ his influence with 

 the favourite of the day,* to support his friend, and 

 enable him to reach those higher degrees which were 

 due to his works. 



There is no celebrated man who has not experienced 

 such disagreeable occurrences; for, under every pos- 

 sible combination of circumstances, there is never a 

 * Madame de Pompadour. 



