REAUMUR. 



Account of the Life and Writings of Reaumur. 



Birth and Education of Reaumur — He settles at Paris, where he 

 is introduced to the Scientific World by the President Henault, 

 and becomes a Member of the Academy of Sciences — His La- 

 bours for the Improvement of the Arts — His Works on Natural 

 History, of which the Memoirs on Insects are the most import- 

 ant — His Occupations and Mode of Life. 



Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur, one of 

 the most ingenious naturalists whom France has 

 produced, was born at Rochelle in 1683. He com- 

 menced his studies in his native place, continued 

 them at Poitiers under the Jesuits, and finished his 

 professional course at Bourges ; but feeling less in- 

 clined to the practice of law than to the investiga- 

 tions of natural science, he resolved to devote him- 

 self entirely to the latter. In this respect he was 

 the more justified in following his inclination, that 

 he possessed a fortune sufficient to support him 

 without engaging in any occupation merely to pro- 

 cure the means of subsistence. He began to prepare 

 for his new pursuits by studying mathematics, and 

 when he thought his proficiency such as to qualify 

 him to make a respectable figure among the natu- 

 ralists and philosophers of the capital, he removed 

 thither in the year 1 703. 



