LYOXXET'S FIRST PUBLICATION. 99 



When he came of age to judge for himself, he 

 preferred the profession of the law to that of 

 divinity ; and having graduated at Utrecht, and 

 practised as a barrister for some time at the Hague, 

 he obtained the appointment of perpetual secretary 

 and sworn translator to the States-General of the 

 United Provinces. The abundant leisure which 

 the duties of this office left upon his hands he 

 devoted to the study of natural history, and espe- 

 cially to that of insects. He formed a collection 

 of those which are found in the neighbourhood of 

 the Hague, of which he made descriptions and 

 coloured drawings. With the feelings of a true 

 Christian, Lyonnet delighted in these studies to 

 behold the wonders of creative skill and benevo- 

 lence, and his first publication was a translation 

 of Lessor's " Theology of Insects," a work in which 

 the author's aim is to point out the proofs of the 

 Divine goodness and wisdom as seen in that class 

 of animals. He added numerous and valuable 

 notices to the original, and some drawings by him- 

 self. Shortly before this time, his friend Abraham 

 Trembley, the Genevese, had come to the Hague, 

 where he had made his famous discovery of the 

 fresh-water polypus, and its method of propagation 

 by budding, or self-division. He imparted these 

 observations to Lyonnet, w r ho drew for him the 

 figures necessary to illustrate them, and the cele- 



