202 
MEMOIR OF DAEBENTON. 
were clear, elegant, and full of that interest which 
arises from the curiosity being continually kept on the 
stretch by new and singular details. They had begun 
to diffuse among people of the world a taste for the 
study of Nature. 
It was not without some feeling of dissatisfaction 
that Reaumur saw himself eclipsed by a rival, whose 
bold views and magnificent style, excited the enthu- 
siasm of the public, and inspired them with a kind of 
contempt for researches in appearance so minute as 
those which have insects for their object. He showed 
his bad humour in a somewhat sharp manner. He is 
snpposed even to have contributed to the publication of 
some critical letters, in which the discussions of an 
obscure metaphysician are opposed to the eloquence 
of the painter of Nature, and in which Daubenton, 
in whom Reaumur believed he saw the only solid sup- 
port of what he called the prestiges of his rival, was 
by no means spared. The Academy sometimes witnes- 
sed more direct quarrels, the recollection of which has 
not altogether reached us, but which were so strong, 
that Buffon was obliged to employ his influence with 
the favourite of the day,* to support his friend, and 
enable him to reach those higher degrees which were 
due to his works. 
There is no celebrated man who has not experienced 
such disagreeable occurrences; for, under every pos- 
sible combination of circumstances, there is never' a 
* Madame de Pompadour. 
