RISE OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 



147 



permanent secretary of the nevvlv founded Academy of Med- 

 icine, consulting physician to the queen, and occupied other 

 positions of trust and responsibility. He married the niece 

 of Daubenton, and, largely through his influence, was ad- 

 ^•anced to social place and recognition. On the death of 

 Buffon, in 1788, he took the seat of that distinguished nat- 

 uralist as a member of the French Academy. 



Fig. 40. — VicQ d'Azyr, 1748-1794. 



He made extensiye studies upon the organization particu- 

 larly of birds and quadrupeds, making comparisons bet\yeen 

 their structure, and bringing out ne\y points that \yere supe- 

 rior to anything yet published. His comparisons of the limbs 

 of man and animals, showing a correspondence between the 

 flexor and extensor muscles of the legs and arms, were made 

 with great exactness, and they seryed to mark the beginning 

 of a new kind of precise comparison. These were not merely 

 fanciful comparisons, but exact ones — part for part; and 

 his general considerations based upon these comparisons were 

 of a brilliant character. 



