Jtianeon'a (Experience among the 



HIS naturalist was born at Aix, in Pro- 

 vence, on the 7th April 1727. His father, 

 of Scotch extraction, was attached to the 

 service of M. de Vintimille, then Arch- 

 bishop of Aix, but on the removal of that ecclesi- 

 astic to Paris followed him thither, and at three 

 years of age the little Michel became an inhabitant 

 of the French capital. His education was very 

 carefully attended to, and his natural ability well 

 rewarded the labours of his instructors. He was 

 very small of stature, and passed for much younger 

 than he actually was ; and when he was seen 

 carrying away the prizes of the University, people 

 laughed at the boy, hidden behind a huge volume 

 of Pliny and Aristotle. (Such was the description 

 of books then constantly given as rewards.) It 

 chanced on one of these occasions that Needham, 

 a naturalist famous for his microscopic discoveries, 

 delighted at the talent of this juvenile prodigy, 



