RISE OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY 147 
permanent secrctary of the newly 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- 
vanced 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. 
Fic. 40.—Vicg p’Azyr, 1748-1794. 
He made extensive studies upon the organization particu- 
larly of birds and quadrupeds, making comparisons between 
their structure, and bringing out new points that were 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 served 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. 
