BUFFON 385 



ascertained/ Again it was BufFon who first propounded 

 and solved the celebrated mathematical needle-problem.* 

 Upon a surface ruled with equidistant and parallel 

 straight lines a rod, such as a needle, which must be 

 shorter than the distance between the lines, is thrown 

 at random ; what is the probability that it will intersect 

 one of the lines? BufFon shows that the answer involves 

 a number which expresses, among many other things, 

 the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, 

 and that this ratio may be experimentally determined 

 by a long series of trials with the needle. He announced, 

 not quite for the first time, that the stone axes which 

 were popularly called " pierres de foudre," or " thunder- 

 stones," were the work of early races of men.^ These 

 are but specimens of contributions to knowledge which 

 told with great effect upon that class of alert and 

 speculative men, of whom Erasmus Darwin is a familiar 

 example. 



BUFFON'S MAXIMS, DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 



Some of Buffon's forcible sentences have become 

 universally current, like the happiest phrases of national 

 poets. How many writers have either quoted or adapted 

 his description of the horse :— " La plus noble conquete 

 que I'homme ait jamais faite, &c. ! " Who does not 

 know his definition of genius :— " Le g^nie n'est qu'une 

 plus grande aptitude a la patience"?' "Le style est 

 rhomme meme " is not less familiar.* Another maxim 



^Hist. Nat., Suppl.. Vol. IV, pp. 46-148 (1777). 



2/6»d.,pp. 100-3. 



*Ibid., Suppl., Vol. V, p. 225 (177H). 



« Quoted in this form by H^rault do 8.^oholloH. BufTon's puUinhed definition 

 is very different :— ** La vue imrnWiato do I'osprit." 



» Some give it in this form :-*' Le style eet tU rhommo m<^m«/' anil dooUre 

 that the other version misropre^jnU Buflbn'i meaniiig (Va|K,r«iu'« IhcUm- 



2B 



