BUFFON 



1707-1778 



T INNJLUS and Buffon were born and died in the 

 ^~^ same years ; this identity of dates, and the im- 

 portance of the services which they rendered to natural 

 history, are the only similitudes in their lives. Linnaeus 

 was poor, extremely poor ; the poverty of which Marie 

 Corelli speaks in The Sorrows of Satan : while BufFon 

 was the scion of a noble and rich family. 



Georges Louis Le Clerc (Comte de Buffon) was born 

 at Montbard, in Burgundy, on 7th September 1707, 

 and at school displayed a great liking for mathematics 

 and astronomy. 



It was in 1727, while travelling in Italy, that he 

 received the news of his mother's death. This event 

 placed him in possession of 12,000 a year; but he did 

 not settle on his estate until he reached the age of 

 twenty-five. On his return to his ancestral home, he 

 resolutely followed a course of study and research for 

 fifty years. His studies were pursued at a building 

 situated at the extremity of his beautiful garden. This 



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