196 MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 



time, this was nothing else than a mere druggist s shop, 

 where the products of the public courses of chemistry 

 were collected, in order that they might be distributed 

 to the sick poor. In natural history, properly so called, 

 it contained only a few shells collected by Tournefort, 

 which had served to amuse the early years of Louis XV., 

 many of them still bearing marks of the royal infant's 

 caprice. 



In a very few years he changed the entire face of it. 

 Minerals, fruits, woods, and shells, were collected from 

 every quarter, and exposed in the most beautiful order. 

 Every thing was done to discover, or to bring to perfec- 

 tion, the means by which the different parts of orga- 

 nised bodies might be preserved ; the lifeless skins of 

 quadrupeds and birds reassumed the appearances of life, 

 and presented to the observer the smallest details of 

 their characters, at the same time that they astonished 

 the curious by the variety of their forms, and the bril- 

 liancy of their colours. 



Formerly, a few wealthy individuals ornamented 

 their cabinets with the productions of Nature ; but they 

 excluded from them such as might impair their beauty, 

 or deprive them of the appearance of decoration. Some 

 savants had collected the objects which might assist 

 their researches, or support their opinions ; but limited 

 in their fortunes, they were obliged to work for a long 

 time before completing even an insulated department. 

 A few curious individuals had assembled a series of 

 objects which satisfied their tastes ; but they usually 



