SECOND PERIOD. 47 



at the disposal of M. Daubenton, for the pur- 

 chase of objects, interesting from their ra- 

 rity, or their utility to science ; foreign trees 

 were transplanted ; the cabinet of zoology 

 was enriched by the collection of Sonnerat in 

 India , by thai of Commerson , made in Bougain- 

 ville's voyage round the world, and by a part of 

 that brought by Dombey from Peru and Chili , 

 of which half the objects were detained by the 

 Spanish government, who even prevented the 

 publication of his narrative : commissions of cor- 

 respondence , accompanied by a salary, were also 

 given to learned travellers , who engaged to col- 

 lect objects for the botanical garden and the 

 cabinet. 



Nevertheless, it must be owned that all these 

 collections were not at that moment of much uti- 

 lity, and that it is only at a later period , and 

 since the new organisation of the establish- 

 ment, that their importance has been felt, and 

 their end attained. Buffon was not a friend to 

 method : he described the exterior form , the 

 habits and economy and animals , and soared 

 to the most elevated general views ; but he dis- 

 liked the labour of distinguishing characters , 

 and settling principles of classification. In the 

 arrangement of the cabinet , he wished to excite 

 curiosity by striking contrasts, so that, like his 



