SECOND PERIOD. 4g . 



Daubenton had prepared the skeletons of such 

 quadrupeds as he could procure , which were 

 crowded into a narrow space, and concealed 

 from view. To remedy this inconvenience, more 

 extensive galleries were necessary ; and as the 

 Museum united the productions of the three 

 kingdoms, it was indispensable that each col- 

 lection should be arranged by a professor of the 

 science which it was intended to illustrate , so 

 as to accord Avith his o wn lectures. As there was 

 at that period no professor of zoology nor of 

 mineralogy , the botanical garden was the only 

 part of the establishment methodically distri- 

 buted throughout. 



Far from reproaching Buff on with not having 

 effected what it was perhaps impossible, at that 

 time, to perform, we should acknowledge our 

 obligations to him , for having assembled not only 

 the numerous collection of birds contained in his 

 work, and that of fishes described by M. de 

 Lacepede, but also a multitude of objects of all 

 kinds, which have since been properly arranged, 

 and have eminently contributed to the progress 

 of natural history. 



In 1784, Daubenton the younger being obliged 

 by bad health to resign his place of keeper and 

 demonstrator of the cabinet, Buff on appointed 

 as his successor M. de Lacepede : who was thus 



