BON 



his fpcculative refeavches to tbe faculties of tlie human mind ; 

 and liaviiig c;)lle£>td a mafs c f materials on tliis fubjcft, he 

 pubiiflied A kind of abiidgmcnt of them, under the title of 

 an " EiTay on Phyfiology," in 175,^, at London. This 

 work, which appeared vvithont his name, and which he did 

 not acknowledge for 30 years, contains a concife ftatement 

 of the fundamental principles cf his philofophy. " It 

 traces the origin and progrefs of the human mind, from the 

 firll germ oflife, to the devclopement of all its faculties, 

 ths mutual dependence of which it points out, as deduced 

 from actual obfervation. It enters into the difficult fub- 

 ie£l of human liberty, and endeavours to reconcile it with 

 the divine prefcience, and with the philofophical principle, 

 that every eff'.'ft mull have an adequate caufe. From the 

 edential properties of the adlivity of the foul, and the efiedls 

 of habit upon it, the whole art of education and govern- 

 ment is deduced ; and a fyftjm of the former is laid down, 

 materially different from the ufually cilablillied methods." 

 Our author's metaphylical ideas w'ere evidently founded on 

 the principles of Malebranche and Leibnitz ; but as he had 

 freely difcufled fome points of a delicate nature, and w-hicli 

 were likely to involve him in perfonal controverfy, he chofe 

 to conceal his name. His next wurk, tne fruit of five 

 years' labour, was an " Analytical Effay on the faculties of 

 the Soul," firft printed at Copenhagen in 1760, 4to. at the 

 cxpcnce of the king of Denmark. In this work he affumes 

 the liypothefis of a ftatue organized like the human body, 

 which he animates by degrees, and (hews how its ideas 

 would arile from imprefiions on the organs of fenfe. Al- 

 though this performance was well received by fome phi- 

 lolophers, it foon fubiefted the author to the charge of 

 materialifm and fatalifm ; but to this charge he made no 

 reply. Accultomed to retirement, to which mode of life 

 he was obliged to recur, on account of his deafnefs and 

 other bodily infirmities, he fought the comforts of a domeftic 

 life ; and in 1759, he married a lady of refpeftable family, 

 the aunt of the celebrated Saulfure, with whom he paffcd 

 37 years of connubial felicity. In the profecution of his 

 phyfical fyftem, Bonnet publidicd at Amfterdam in 1762, 

 his " Confiderations on organized bodies," 2 vols. 8vo. The 

 principal objefts of this work were, to detail, in an abridged 

 form, all the moll interefting and well afcertained facts, ref- 

 peCting the origin, devclopement, and reproduftion of orga- 

 nized bodies; to refute the different fyllems founded upon 

 " epigcnefis ;" and to explain and defend the fyltem of 

 germs. His " Contemplation of Nature," which ap- 

 peared in 1764, Amil. 2 vols. 8vo., was a popular work, 

 diiplaying the principal fafts relating to the different orders 

 of created beings, in an inllruflive and entertaining manner, 

 and recommended by the charms of an eloquent ilyle, with 

 a conllant reference to final caufes, and the proofs of 

 wifdom and benevolence in the creator. This was tranflated 

 into feveral European languages, and enriched with notes by 

 the author himfelf, and alfo by others, in a new edition. His 

 concluding work was his " Pahiigcnefic Philofophique," 

 printed at Geneva in J 769, 2 vols. Kvo. This treats on the 

 pall and future ftate of living beings, and fupports the idea 

 of the revival of all animals, and the perfedi:ig of their facul- 

 ties in a future flate. To this work he annexed " tin inquiry 

 into the evidences of the Chrillian revelation, and the 

 doilrines of Chrillianity, which, with a piece " On the 

 exiftence of God," was publiflitd feparatcly at Geneva in 

 1770. 



Towards the year 1773 ^^ refumed his attention to na- 

 tural hillory, and pubiiflied, in Rozier's journal, a memoir 

 on the method of preferving iufttts and hlh /„ cabinets. In 

 the following year he ftnt to the fame jourii al a memoir on 



BON 



the loves of plants, originating in the difcovery of a kind of 

 cleft or mouth in the pillii of a lily. Other memoirs con- 

 tained a detail of his experiments on the rcprodudlion of the 

 heads of fnails, and of the lin.bs and organs of the water 

 falamander. He alfo made obfervatior.s on the pipa or Su- 

 rinam toad, on bees, on the blue colour acquired by mu(h» 

 rooms from expofure to the air, and on various other fub- 

 jefls in natuial hillory. His reputation introduced him as 

 an aflbciate into moll of the literary focieties of Europe ; and 

 in 178,3 he was eletled into the fcledl nunr.ber of foreign af- 

 fociates of the academy of fciences in Paris. His corref- 

 pondence was extenfive, and his attention to public duties 

 exemplary. In the great council of tiie republic into which 

 he entered in 1752, and in which he had a leat till I J 68, he 

 dillinguillied himlelf by his manly eloquence in the fupport 

 of wife and moderate meafures, and his conRant zeal in the 

 caufe of morals and religion, with which, in his opinion, the 

 profperity of the Hate was ti'eritially connefted. The lall 

 25 years of his life were Ipent altogether in the country, 

 wh'.-re be enjoyed, with a competence, the intercourfe of 

 cliofen friends. Some part of his time was employed in the 

 education of youth, tor which ofnce he was admirably quali- 

 fied. The revlfal of his wovki; occupied near eight years of 

 his life, and required a degree of application which was injuri- 

 ous to his health. This collcerion appeared at Neuchatel, in 

 Qvols. 4to. or iSvols. 5vo. and contains, bcfides the works al- 

 ready mentioned, feveral fmaller pieces in natural hillory and 

 mttaphyfics. They are all written in French. Towards 

 the year 17S8 he manifelled alarming iyniptoms of a dropfy 

 in the biealt ; and thele became more aggravated in procefs 

 of time, and occafioned a variety of fufierings which he en- 

 dured with patience and ferenity, till at length he was re- 

 Itafed by death. May 20, 1793, at the age of 73 years. 

 Public honours were rendered to his remains by his fellow 

 citizens ; and his funeral eulogy was pronounced by his iiluf- 

 trious friend and kinfman, M. dc Sauffure. Mem. pour 

 fervir a I'Hill. de la Vie et des ouvtages de M. Charles Bon- 

 net ; Berne 1794. Gen. Biog. 



Bonnet, Jaqj,ies, publillied, in 1726, at Amfterdam, 

 " Hilloire de la niufic," the hillory of mufic and of its effefts 

 from its origin to the prefent tiir.e, explaining, in what 

 its beauty confifts, 4 vols. i2mo. This hillory was at firft 

 undertaken by the abbe Bourdelot, uncle to the editor of 

 this work, and dillinguilhed by his erudition. Bonnet 

 Bourdelot, brother of Bonnet, the firll phyfician to the 

 duchefs of Burgundy, continued it after the death of his 

 uncle, and at length arranged and digelled the matcriab 

 which he found among the MS. papers of his uncle and his 

 brother. Indeed the firll volume only was written bv Bon- 

 net; the three kill were compiled in a patriotic fury by Fren- 

 cufe, a phyfician, in 1705, who died in 1707, in the flower 

 of his age, having only arrived at his j jd year. He feems tp 

 have been wholly itimulated to this undertaking by the abbe 

 Raguenet's parallel between the mufic of the Italians and the 

 French; which, though written with the utmoll circumfpeclion 

 and civility to F>ance, M. Frencufe thought too favourable to 

 Italy ; and inllead of a continuation of the hillory of mufic, . 

 has given us nothing but a violent philippic again'll the abbe 

 Raguenet, for daring to draw a parallel between the mufic 

 of France and Italy, and a cenfure of all the moll illuftrious 

 Italians of the 17th century, fuch as Carifllmi, Luigi Rofli, 

 Scarlatti, and Corelli ; and letting up Lulli againll them 

 all, has formed his refutation of the abbe into three dialogues; 

 in which two of the interlocutors are champions for Lulli, 

 and only one, and that a lady, neither a deep logician, nor 

 a powerful advocate for the Italians, is the heroine that un- 

 dcrtakes their defence. But the poor Italians have no quar- 

 ter 



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