18 MODERN HISTORY 



Destined by his father for the church, Daubenton went to 

 Paris to study theology, but he applied in secret to medi- 

 cine, and particularly anatomy; and when his father's death 

 allowed him to pursue the bent of his own inclination, he 

 adopted the medical profession, and began to practise it 

 in his native place, when Buffon invited him to Paris, and 

 procured for him the situations of keeper and demonstrator 

 of the cabinet of natural history. Their association pre- 

 sented the singular spectacle of two men with high yet dif- 

 ferent qualifications, uniting their efforts without impairing 

 tlieir energy, and combining the lights they derived from 

 various sources only to increase their intensity, and to 

 throw them with greater effect on the objects they both 

 wished to illuminate. In the great work, so honourable to 

 the country which gave it birth, containing the result of 

 their associated labours, the share contributed by Dauben- 

 ton is the internal and external description of 132 animals, 

 several of which had neither been observed nor described 

 before by naturalists. The useful facts accumulated by 

 him, in the course of many years devoted to this undertak- 

 ing, are presented in a form so unpretending, that they are 

 overpowered and thrown into the back-ground by the grand 

 and imposing general views, the beautiful particular descrip- 

 tions, and the eloquence at once majestic and captivating, 

 of the French Pliny. 



So great were the care and accuracy of Daubenton, in 

 registering the facts which he observed, that, in spite of 

 their number, we can hardly detect an error. He admitted 

 nothing, but what he saw himself, without indulging in 

 those bold hypotheses, for which Buffon had so marked a 

 predilection ; without even drawing those general conclu- 

 sions, whicli might have been most naturally deduced 

 from his observations. Here perhaps his reserve was exces- 

 sive; and it is in this respect Camper observed of him, 

 that he did not know himself how many things he had 

 discovered. 



The anatomical descriptions and plates of Daubenton 

 are, in many instances, the most valuable part of the work 



