1302.” 
Brouffonet, whowas alfoa native of Mont- 
pellier, made him acquainted with Bru- 
guiéres ; but when the latter was defired 
to bring the firft fpecimens of his labours 
to Daubenton, it was diflcovered that he 
had completed the whole. In confequence 
of this the work was wholly committed to 
his management, and he compofed the 
two half-volumes that have been fince pub- 
lithed, and which, although they reach no 
farther than the letter D, are calculated 
to enfure him a durable reputation. 
He has been reproached as too diffufe ; 
and in truth, one is tempted to believe, 
on reading his produétions, that if he had 
not written dy the fheet, he would have 
been more brief: it mui be acknowledg- 
ed, however, that if his ftyle be replete 
with cireumlocution, he exhaufts the fub- 
ject by the plenitude of his defcription.— 
His merit muft indeed be always confider- 
ed as great in France, when it is recol- 
le&ted that he made his countrymen ac- 
quainted with the difcoveries of foreign- 
ers relative to fubje€ts but little ftudied 
among them ; and alfo thatehe was the firit 
to develope the riches which they them- 
felves poffefied in their own cabinets. He 
has doubled, nay tripled, certain /peczes ; 
he has afcertained with greater accuracy 
the characters of many gevera,. and even 
eftablifhed feveral new ones. He perfeét- 
ed this laft branch in proportion as he pro- 
ceeded, and it will be difcovered trom 
thofe plates, which were executed under 
his own immediate fuperintendance, that 
they contain a confiderable number of ge- 
wera not mentioned in the catalogue pre- 
fixed to the Diétionary. 
The Citizen Lamaus, who affifted Bru- 
guiéres in his labours, has adopted his 
plans, and exprefled the characters of thofe 
genera, the names of which were only 
given by the latter. They extend, in re- 
{pet to the fhells, no further than the 
end of the bivalves. He has alfo foilow- 
ed him in the different orders of the vermes, 
mollufce, and echinodermes. It was only 
in the laft clafs, and in the teftaceous one, 
that he was able to prefent a confiderable 
number of new figures, becaufe our cabi- 
nets are very poor in refpect to fuch of the 
wermes as are deftitute of fhells ; this is 
doubtlefs the reafon that prevented him 
from giving that degree of perfection, 
which was to have been withed, to his 
general method ; it is to be remarked, 
neverthelefs, that the orders of the zvte/- 
tinal worms, and the échinodermes, which 
were the firft eftablifhed by him, are very 
correct. Itis his order of the Mollufce 
alone that contains any thing triyial; but 
Biographical Account of Bruguiéres. 
AQ1 
it is to be recolle&ted, that we were then 
but little acquainted with thefe animals ; 
for although anatomical defcriptions of 
fome of them had been publithed, they 
were neither formed into a fyftem, nor 
were they executed in a manner calculated 
for the ufe of the naturalitt. 
Bruguléres, in conjunction with La- 
marck, Olivier Hatiy, and our late col- 
league Pelletier, had undertaken a Four- 
nal of Natural Hfiory, in which he in- 
ferted a variety of interefting memoirs re- 
lative to foffils, new fhells, and fubjects of 
this kind. This publication, which woald 
have proved precious to the f{ciences, was 
put a ftop to partly by the revolution of 
Augut, 1792, which bereaved them of 
their fubfcribers, and partly by the depar- 
ture of Bruguiéres and Olivier. 
It is, perhaps, difgraceful to France, a 
country fo rich in great naturalifts, and 
admirable colletions of natural hiftory, 
that fhe does not, at this day, poflefs a 
fingle periodical work confecrated to that 
fcience, while in Germany, where the col- 
le&tions are not only fcarce, but poor— 
where the Princes do not fend naturalitts 
abroad, and where the means of inftruc- 
tion are infinitely inferior—that there 
fhould be twenty different magazines de- 
dicated to this fubject alone ;_ thetfe origi- 
nate folely in the invincible patience of the 
writers of that country, and the love of 
the middle ranks of life for Rudy and ho- 
nourable occupations. 
I know, indeed, that this proceeds froma 
the aflonifhing facility with which the 
naturalifts. of the capital are enabled to 
confult the objeéts themfelves : this ren- 
ders particular defcriptions the lefs necef- 
fary ; they attach no value but to general 
ideas, and to works that embrace objeéts 
of an extenfiye nature: by this, however, 
they deprive the departments of informa- 
tion, and concentrate knowledge among 
themfelves ; they alfo eftablith an impene- 
trable barrier to fcience, and they conceal 
the immenfe collections contained in Pa- 
ris; while by running into another ex- 
treme, they engage the Government to far 
more extenfive undertakings, in. order to 
fearch for new productions in diftant lands, 
which are piled up with thofe procured be- 
fore, and coniigned with them to ob{cu- 
rity. There 1s, perhaps, another caufe 
that produces the neglect of every thing 
conneéted with detail-on the part of the 
naturalifts of the capital. The facility of 
obtainiog pleafures of all kinds, added to 
the charms of thatamiable fociety in which 
they live, hold out temptations which be- 
reave them of all Igiiure, except that 
which 
