Linnean Society. 423 
in all probability owes their preservation. When the French army 
were about to evacuate the country, the papers and drawings belong- 
ing to the Commission were demanded by the English general; but 
a resolute intimation of their determination to commit the whole to 
the flames, if the demand were persisted in, delivered through the 
mouth of M. Geoffroy, had its proper effect—Lord Hutchinson with- 
drew his orders, and the Commission were left in possession of the 
fruits of their researches. 
On his return to Paris from this expedition M. Geoffroy resumed 
his lectures at the Jardin des Plantes, and occupied himself assi- 
duously in adding to the zoological collections of the museum and 
in improving their arrangement. He was elected a Member of the 
Institute in 1807 ; and in 1810 was again despatched on a mission 
to Portugal. After encountering great dangers on his road through 
Spain, arising from the excited state of the country, he arrived in 
Portugal, where he succeeded in accumulating large collections of 
minerals and animals, chiefly obtained from the cabinets of the Palace 
of Ajuda and of the Academy of Lisbon. In pursuance of the capi- 
tulation for the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the restora- 
tion of these collections was demanded by General Beresford and 
Lord Proby ; but M. Geoffroy claiming them as his private property, 
and the conservators of the collections from which they were ob- 
tained declaring that they had been given to him in exchange for 
other specimens and in return for services, he was suffered to retain 
them, and in 1815 they were not reclaimed by Portugal. In this 
last-named year M. Geoffroy was elected Member of the Chamber of 
Deputies for his native town. He had been a Member of the Legion 
of Honour from the establishment of the order; and became gra- 
dually associated with a large number of scientific Societies through- 
out the world. His election as a Foreign Member of the Linnean 
Society took place in 1824, and he died on the 19th of June 1844. 
A mere list of his zoological writings would occupy a considerable 
space. Besides a number of important papers in the ‘ Annales’ and 
‘Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle,’ in the ‘ Bulletin de la 
Société Philomathique,’ in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’ in 
the ‘ Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,’ and in other scientific 
miscellanies, he published separately several works which have con- 
tributed in no small degree to the progress of zoological and anato- 
mical science. Among these the most important is his ‘ Philosophie 
Anatomique,’ in two vols., published in 1818 and 1823 ; the first en- 
titled ‘ Des Organes Respiratoires sous le rapport de la détermina- 
tion et de lidentité de leurs pieces osseuses,’ the second ‘ Des Mon- 
struosités Humaines.’ In this work he endeavours to demonstrate 
throughout the animal kingdom a uniform plan of organization, re- 
cognizable by the existence, not of the same organs, but of the mate- 
rials of the same organs in all. From the period of the publication 
of his ‘ Philosophie Anatomique,’ this ‘‘ unity of composition ”’ be- 
came the leading idea of all his writings. It was the subject of a 
lengthened discussion between him and Cuvier; and presides over 
his ‘Systéme Dentaire des Mammiféres et des Oiseaux,’ published 
in 1824, his ‘ Considérations Générales sur les Monstres,’ in 1826, 
