384 BUFFON 



tells us confidently, but without pretence of experi- 

 mental proof, that the growth of horns in the stag is 

 due to an accumulation of organic molecules derived 

 from its food. The lichen on which the reindeer feeds 

 is, he makes bold to say, a richer food than the leaves, 

 bark, and buds which nourish the stag ; hence the 

 more abundant secretion of horn in the reindeer. The 

 organic matter is not, he tells us, perfectly assimilated 

 in deer, and this explains why their horns resemble the 

 branches of trees in form and texture ; they are vege- 

 table structures grafted upon the bodies of animals. 

 He suggests that the periodical shedding of the horns is 

 due to their vegetable origin ; it is analogous to the fall 

 of a ripe fruit. Ancient naturalists had believed that 

 ivy will grow round the horns of a living stag, and 

 Buffon thinks that if the fact were established, it would 

 constitute an interesting proof of the fundamental 

 identity of stags' horns and wood. He accepts without 

 misgiving the old belief that the beaver gets his scaly 

 tail by feeding on fishes (this is mentioned in Harrison's 

 Description of Britayne, 1577, and doubtless in earlier 

 books also). 



THE EANGE OF BUFFON'S STUDIES 



Buffon did more than fix the attention of his genera- 

 tion upon " les id^es g^n^rales sur les animaux," and 

 "I'histoire de I'homme," though these were his chief 

 themes ; he has left the marks of his powerful mind 

 upon such problems as the amelioration of wool and the 

 strength of wooden beams, as well as upon problems 

 which have no direct reference to natural history. It was 

 Buffon who explained to the world what was meant by 

 the expectation of life at different ages, and how it was 



