198 
MEMOIR OF DAUBENTON. 
scrupulously examined all their parts ; he tried all pos- 
sible orders, until he fell upon that which neither 
offended the eye nor did violence to the natural rela- 
tions. 
This taste for the arrangement of a cabinet showed 
itself very strongly in Ms latter years, when victories 
brought to the Museum of Natural History a new mass 
of riches, and when circumstances admitted of giving a 
greater development to the whole. At eighty-four years 
of age, his head sunk upon his breast, his feet and hands 
disfigured by gout, not able to walk unless supported by 
two people, he caused himself to be led every morning 
to the cabinet, in order to preside over the arrangement 
of the minerals, the only part which remained in his 
handsiin the new organization of the establishment. 
Thus, it is principally to Daubenton that France is 
indebted for that temple, so worthy of the goddess to 
whom it is dedicated ; and in which we know not what 
to admire most, the astonishing fecundity of Nature, 
which produced so many living beings, or the indefati- 
gable patience of the individual who could collect all 
these beings, name them, classify them, point out their 
relations, describe their parts, and explain their pro- 
perties. 
The second monument Daubenton left behind him 
ought to have been, according to his primitive plan, the 
result and complete description of this cabinet ; but cir- 
cumstances to which we shall soon refer, prevented him 
carrying his description further than the quadrupeds. 
