212 MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 



These numerous labours would have exhausted a 

 bustling activity, but they were insufficient for the 

 peaceable love of a regulated occupation, which formed 

 part of Daubenton's character. 



It had been for a long time a subject of regret, that 

 in France there were no public lectures on Natural 

 History. He managed, in 1773, that one of the chairs of 

 Practical Medicine, in the College of France, should be 

 changed into a chair of Natural History, and undertook, 

 in 1775, to fill it. The intendant of Paris, Berthier, 

 engaged him, in 1783, to give lectures on Rural Economy 

 in the Veterinary School of Alford, at the same time that 

 Vicq. d'Azyr gave lectures on Comparative Anatomy and 

 Fourcroy on Chemistry. 



He likewise desired to give lectures in the cabinet of 

 Paris, where the objects themselves would have spoken 

 even more distinctly than the professor ; and not having 

 been able to accomplish this under the old regime, he 

 united with the other individuals of the Jardin des 

 Plantes, in requesting the Convention to convert this 

 establishment into a special school of Natural History. 



Daubenton was nominated Professor of Mineralogy 

 in this establishment, and he fulfilled the duties of that 

 office till his death, with the same care that he bestow- 

 ed on every thing he undertook. 



It was indeed an affecting sight to observe the old 

 man, surrounded by his pupils, who listened with reli- 

 gious attention to his words, which, in their estimation, 

 were like the responses of an oracle ; to hear his feeble 



