19S 
MEMOIR OP DAUBENTON. 
time, this was nothing else than a mere druggist s shop, 
where the products of the public courses of chemistry 
were collected, in order that they might he distributed 
to the sick poor. In natural history, properly so called, 
it contained only a few shells collected by Toumefort, 
which had served to amuse the early years of Louis XT., 
many of them still bearing marks of the royal infant’s 
caprice. 
In a very few years he changed the entire face of it. 
Minerals, fruits, woods, and shells, were collected from 
every quarter, and exposed in the most beautiful order. 
Every thing was done to discover, or to bring to perfec- 
tion, the means by which the different parts of orga- 
nised bodies might be preserved ; the lifeless skins of 
quadrupeds and birds reassumed the appearances of life, 
and presented to the observer the smallest details of 
their characters, at the same time that they astonished 
the curious by the variety of their forms, and the bril- 
liancy of their colours. 
Formerly, a few wealthy individuals ornamented 
their cabinets with the productions of Nature ; but they 
excluded from them such as might impair their beauty, 
or deprive them of the appearance of decoration. Some 
savants had collected the objects which might assist 
their researches, or support their opinions ; but limited 
in their fortunes, they were obliged to work for a long 
time before completing even an insulated department. 
A few curious individuals had assembled a series of 
objects which satisfied their tastes ; but they usually 
