MEMOIR OF EUFFON. Xlii 



afterwards ; and, out of twenty-four which he made, only three were 

 ahle to be preserved. One of these, forty-six inches in diameter, was 

 presented to the King of France, and was regarded as the most power- 

 ful burning mirror in Europe. 



A few years before the commencement of these experiments, 

 Buffon succeeded to M. Du Fay in the office of Intendant to the 

 Royal Garden and Cabinet, and, as before hinted, this appointment 

 ultimately fixed his mind to the pursuits of natural history. He was 

 only thirty-two years of age ; and when he saw such a mass of ma- 

 terials at his command, a great part of which was unnoticed by any 

 naturalist, we may easily conceive that a mind possessed of such en- 

 thusiasm, would be led again to a science which it had previously 

 studied. The great work contemplated, was intended to embrace 

 every branch of the animal kingdom; but he thought it would be 

 incomplete, unless the composition of the globe which sustained such 

 a multitude of living creatures, should itself be first elucidated, and 

 it was accordingly commenced by a history of the theory of the earth, 

 which he afterwards augmented by what he termed the " Epochas of 

 Nature." The first volume of the Natural History of Quadru- 

 peds did not appear till 1749, ten years after his appointment as In- 

 tendant of the Gardens ; and the first edition of the whole work 

 was not completed till 1767, occupying its author during a period of 

 sixteen years. In 1782, only six years before his death, we find a 

 supplementary number published. During the progress of the work, 

 he appears also to have kept up that unremitting perseverance which 

 characterises the pursuits of his earlier years, and he is said to have 

 employed fourteen hours daily in writing and study. 



Previous to the publication of the first volume of his Natural 

 History, Buffon was enabled to increase his domestic felicity, by a 

 marriage with a lady with whom he had been for some time ac- 

 quainted, In 1752, he married Mademoiselle Saint Belin, who 

 though without fortune, possessed qualifications which rendered the 

 happiness of her husband undoubted. She eagerly followed the 

 train of honours which was now brightly expanding upon him, and 

 watched every step which .he gained with fresh anxiety ; many years 

 seemed thus to have passed in great tranquillity, and present an un- 

 varied routine of research and addition to the works which were ad- 

 vancing. During the height of this bright career, he was honoured 

 with marks of approbation by many of the sovereigns of Europe, 

 and by the learned societies of his country. 



During his whole life lie enjoyed a singular portion of good 

 health, notwithstanding the irregularities which all his biographers 

 allow that he frequently indulged in. 



