SECOND PERIOD. 



he had allied himself ; and to him are owing its 

 growth and improvement , till the period of its 

 reorganisation , and that extension and variety 

 which rendered a new organisation necessary. 



In the construction of a vast edifice, a single 

 architect projects the plan , orders the distribu- 

 tion , and directs the first operations ; but diffe- 

 rent artists are employed to perfect the details , 

 and to form an harmonious whole by labouring 

 after a common conception : when the attention 

 of an individual is distracted by a variety of ob- 

 jects, essential things are likely to be neglected 

 for others of less importance. If the Museum 

 owes its splendour to Buffon , to this magnifi- 

 cent establishment Buffon owes his fame. If he 

 had not been placed in the midst of collections \ 

 furnished by government with the means of 

 augmenting them, and thus enabled by extensive 

 corresp on dance to elicit information from all 

 the naturalists of his day , he would never have 

 conceived the plan of his Natural History , or 

 would never have been able to execute it. That 

 genius which embraces a great variety of facts, 

 in order to deduce from them general conclu- 

 sions, is continually exposed to err, if it has not 

 at hand all the elements of its speculations. 



When Buffon entered upon his office , the 

 cabinet consisted of two small rooms , and a 



