B U F F O N. 



Buffon. though his conversation was more the vehicle of irre- 

 v" 1 ligious sentiments than his works. It would neither 

 amuse nor instruct our readers, to detail the Anti- 

 christian sayings which the folly of his friends has di- 

 vulged, and to which the folly of his biographers 

 has given additional currency. It is sufficient to 

 state the melancholy fact, and to point out the gross 

 inconsistency of his conduct, in performing all the 

 ceremonies and external duties which the religion of 

 his country enjoined. He considered a system ot faith 

 as necessary for the multitude, and regarded all those 

 as madmen who openly opposed it ; but it may be fair- 

 ly questioned, whether this kind of support was not 

 more dangerous, than the avowed hostility of Vol- 

 taire and Diderot. 



The opposition which Buffon uniformly makes to 

 the doctrine of final causes, and his unwillingness to ac- 

 knowledge those numerous marks of benevolence and 

 wisdom, which appear in every part of creation, are 

 perhaps more inexcusable than his infidelity. The 

 energy of nature, resulting, as he imagines, from the 

 great laws of attraction and impulse, is with him the 

 cause of all that is sublime and beautiful in the ma- 

 terial world ; and if the Creator is accidentally na- 

 med, he is brought to the bar of human wisdom, 

 and arraigned for all that appears defective in his 

 works, to the shallow penetration of his creatures. 



From the moral and religious defects of our au- 

 thor, we turn with pleasure to contemplate the sin- 

 gular genius which is displayed in his works. In 

 his Natural History, Buffon has described no fewer 

 than four hundred species of animals. Jn the anato- 

 mical description, he was assisted by the celebrated 

 Daubenton, * but the rest of the work was the pro- 

 duction of his own genius. In the first volume, he 

 has given a new theory of the earth, and a discourse 

 on the method of studying and treating natural his- 

 tory. The second and third volumes are devoted to 

 an explanation of his system of generation, and to 

 his history of man, in which he has painted, with all 

 the charms of eloquence, and of the most alluring 

 philosophy, the progress of man under all the va- 

 rious circumstances of his existence. The fourth 

 and fifth volumes contain the history of the domestic 

 animals. The account of carnivorous animals begins 

 the sixth, and is continued through the seventh, 

 eighth, and ninth volumes. The tenth, eleventh, 

 twelfth, and thirteenth volumes, in which Buffon 

 has abandoned every kind of classification, contain 

 the description of individual species ; and the four- 

 teenth and fifteenth volumes are occupied with the 

 history of apes, -j- 



The history of birds he found more difficult to 

 execute than that of quadrupeds, and the interrup- 

 tion of ill health rendered it necessary for him to 

 avail himself of the assistance of his friends. The 

 articles written by Buffon in the second volume, were 

 those on the pigeon, the ring dove, the turtle dove, and 

 some pages of the history of the cock. His articles in 

 the other volumes are marked with his own name ; and 

 one of these in particular, viz. the history of the swan, 

 has been nvich admired. Buffon read this article to 

 Prince Henry of Prussia, when he visited him at 



Montbard ; and, as a mark of his delight, the prince 

 sent Buffon a service of porcelain, in which swans 

 were represented in everv attitude. 



For the particular views of Buffon in geology, and 

 in other branches of natural history and physics, we 

 must refer our readers to his own writings, or to the 

 different articles in our work, in which these subjects 

 will be amply discussed. 



In estimating the merits of Buffon as a philoso- 

 pher and a naturalibt, we must withhold from him 

 that substantial praise which is due only to the high- 

 er efforts of invention and discovery. The brilliant 

 eloquence and the imposing dignity of his style, have 

 perhaps never been equalled ; but his passion for fine 

 writing has often led him from the path of simple 

 truth, and has given a currency to speculative opi- 

 nions which profound science will never recognise. 

 His History of Man, his Theory of the Earth, and 

 his Epochs of Nature, contain the finest specimens 

 of philosophical discussion and refined taste ; but it 

 is that species of philosophy which amuses and asto- 

 nishes, not that which instructs and enlightens us. 

 By confounding facts with opinions by pushing his 

 general views too far by moulding to his precon- 

 ceived notions the various facts which would other- 

 wise have overturned them by attempting, in short, 

 Lo explain every thing before the progress of science 

 had furnished the necessary materials Buffon has 

 maintained a series of hypotheses which, in the fu- 

 ture history of knowledge, will be regarded only aa 

 philosophical romances, to which nothing could have 

 given currency but the magical influence of his elo- 

 quence and genius. The mass of authenticated facts, 

 however, which is contained in his works, and the 

 rank to which he has raised the science of natural 

 history, entitle him to that fame which he now enjoys, 

 and to that immortality which he himself anticipated. 



In other branches of general physics, the genius 

 of Buffon was happily displayed. His discovery 

 and explanation of ACCIDENTAL COLOURS (see 

 that article), his experiments on the strength of 

 wood, on the propagation and motion of heat, 

 and his invention of a burning mirror, entitle 

 him to high praise, and will be noticed in the dif- 

 ferent articles of our work. The Natural History 

 of Buffon was translated by our ingenious country- 

 man, Mr Smellie of Edinburgh, and was published 

 in 1781, in 8 vols. Svo., to which a 9th volume was 

 added in 1786. Some of the supplementary vo- 

 lumes were also translated by Mr Smellie, but they 

 have not been given to the world. The History of 

 Birds was translated by Mr Leslie, and published 

 in 1793, in nine vols. Svo. The whole of Buffv-n's 

 works were lately published at Paris, under the title 

 of Histoire Natursllc generate et particuliere, Nou- 

 velle Edition, accompagnte de Notes, et dans laquelle 

 les Supplemens sont inheres dans le premier texte, a la 

 place qui leur convient. Redige par G. S. Sonnini, 

 in 113 vols. Svo. The work is thus divided : 



Buffon 



Theory of the Earth, 4 vols. 

 Minerals, - 12 



Animals, - - 18 

 Apes, - 2 



Birds, - 28 vols* 



Reptiles, 8 



Fishes, 13 



Cetaceae, 1 



These descriptions were left out by Buffon in the second edition of his work* 

 t We have here followed the quarto edition of Buffon's works. 



