538 



DAUBENTON. 



Rheims in 1741, the year in which the death of his 

 father left him at full liberty to abandon his theological 

 pursuits. Upon his return to his native place to follow 

 the practice of medicine, lie began his career during the 

 prevalence of an epidemic distemper which threatened 

 to depopulate the country, and during the progress of 

 which he displayed great ability ; but he was soon cal- 

 led by an unforeseen accident into a situation more con- 

 genial to his wishes. 



As soon as BufFon succeeded Dufay as intendant of 

 the Royal Garden at Paris, he formed the plan of giving 

 a complete view of the natural history of quadrupeds. 

 His personal knowledge of Daubenton, who resided in 

 the same village with himself, and who had devoted a 

 great portion of his time to the study of comparative 

 anatomy, induced him to request his assistance in that 

 department of his work, for which he himself was by no 

 means qualified. Daubenton, who had already, through 

 the influence of BufFon, been appointed keeper and de- 

 monstrator of the cabinet of natural history in the Royal 

 Garden, felt himself honoured by the proposal, and im- 

 mediately commenced those labours which have im- 

 mortalized his own name, and that of his illustrious as- 

 sociate. He furnished all the anatomical part, and all 

 the technical description of one hundred and eighty-two 

 species of quadrupeds, which BufFon has given in his 

 splendid work. In a subsequent edition, BufFon sepa- 

 rated the labours of his coadjutor from his own ; and 

 though Daubenton was chagrined at this apparent dis- 

 respect, which has been severely reprobated by Pallas and 

 Cuvier, yet we must admit that the unity and popular 

 character of his work was, by this means, more com- 

 pletely preserved. Daubenton was elected adjunct bo- 

 tanist in the Academy of Sciences on the 28th March, 

 1744, and associate on the 1st June, 1755. From the 

 situation of associate botanist he passed to that of associate 

 anatomist, and he was elected a pensionary on the 21st 

 May, 1760. 



The first paper which he presented to the Academy 

 was entitled, Distribution methodique des coquillages, el 

 description pariiculiere dune espece de buccin, ou de li- 

 magon terrestre, and appeared in the Memoirs for 1743. 

 His next papers, entitled, De la connaissance des pierres 

 precieuses ; Memoire sur I'hippomanes ; and Observations 

 sur la liqueur de V allantoide , appeared successively in 

 the years 1750, 1751, and 1752. In 1756, he published 

 his Observations sur les Musaraignes, et en particulier 

 sur tin nouvelle espece de Musaraigne qui se trouvent en 

 France, et qui n'a pas ete remarquee par Naluralistes. 

 This was followed by his Memoire sur les Chauve-souris, 

 in 1759, in which he describes five new species of bats. 

 The Memoirs of the Academy for 1772, contain the 

 history of the civet cat, which produces the muse, and 

 exhibits some curious details respecting the organization 

 of that quadruped ; and in 1781 he published another 

 Memoir, respecting the organs of voice in several foreign 

 animals. 



In the application of comparative anatomy to zoology, 

 Daubenton was equally industrious ; and though all his 

 conjectures have not been well founded, yet in his Me- 

 moir which appeared in 1762, entitled, Sur des os, et 

 des dents remarquablespar lew grandeur, he has correct- 

 ed several erroneous views which had been entertained 

 by preceding naturalists. 



Persuaded that the term animal was used by BufFon 

 in a sense too extended, and tJiat it should be restricted 

 to those that had red blood, lie proposed, in a Memoir 

 read to the National Institute in 1797, to divide them 

 into vertebral and invertebral animals, 



The attention of Daubenton was also directed to the 

 subject of vegetable physiology. He was the first bo- 

 tanist who observed that the growth of the palm tree 

 was effected by a prolongation of the central fibres, 

 which "developed themselves in leaves; and he was also 

 the first who recognised in the coats of the trachea a 

 kind of brilliant and aerial vessels, which had hitherto 

 been observed only in the structure of wood. 



In the department of mineralogy, Daubenton labour- 

 ed with equal zeal. His Tableau du regne mineral ; 

 his researches on the formation of alabaster, published 

 in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1754; and his Me- 

 moir on the Herborization in Stones, published in the 

 Memoirs of the Academy for 1782, give him a strong 

 claim upon the gratitude of mineralogists. But he 

 had also the great honour of being the master of the il- 

 lustrious Hauy, whose mineralogical and crystallogra- 

 phical labours have extended the boundaries of science. 

 His researches on the occipital hole in man, which ap- 

 peared in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1766, under 

 the title of Memoire sur les differences de la situation du 

 grand trou occipital dans I'hommeet dans les animauz ; 

 and his essay on Indigestion, are only works which he 

 published, as immediately connected with his profession. 

 Daubenton had long directed his attention to the 

 subject of sheep, and particularly to the amelioration of 

 the French wool. The results of his investigations were 

 laid before the Academy in a series of Memoirs, the 

 first of which appeared in 1768, under the title of Me- 

 moire sur le mechanisme de la rumination et sur le tem- 

 perament des betes a laine. He afterwards considered 

 the advantages of keeping the sheep constantly in the 

 fold ; the amelioration of beasts and wool in general ; 

 the method of curing the diseases to which they are lia- 

 ble; the differences between French and foreign sheep; 

 and the purgatives which are most suitable for that ani- 

 mal. 



In order to render useful the results of his labours, 

 he embodied them in a work entitled, Instruction pour 

 les Bergers, et les pi opriet aires de troupeaux, which ap- 

 peared in 1782. 



The other works of this industrious naturalist were, 

 his Dictionnaire des animaux vertebres, published in the 

 Encyclopedic Methodique, and his Lectures in the 

 Normal School. The last of all his works was entitled 

 Observations sur nne petrifaction du mont deTerre Noire 

 departemetd de la Loire, which was published in the first 

 volume of the Memoirs of the National Institute for 

 1798- The manuscripts which he left behind him were 

 his Lectures in the Veterinary School, in the College 

 of France, and in the Museum. 



During the terrors of the French revolution, he pre- 

 served himself, by his prudence, from the disasters which 

 befel so many of his friends and associates. 



In the year 1795, when he had reached his eightieth 

 year, it was necessary to procure a certificate of civism, 

 in order to preserve a situation which he had filled 

 during 50 years. Some of his friends, afraid that 

 this certificate woidd be refused, advised him to pre- 

 sent himself as a shepherd in the Assembly of Sans Cu- 

 lottes, and in that character to demand his certificate. 

 This plan was attended with complete success ; and in 

 the habiliments of a shepherd, Daubenton obtained the 

 certificate which was necessary for holding the Direc- 

 torship of the Museum of Natural History. 



In the year 1 799, Daubenton was elected a member 

 of the Conservative Senate ; but he did not live long to 

 enjoy this honour. He died in December 1 799 T in the 

 84th year of his age. His Eloge was pronounced by the 



