472 
refults. A full convi&tion, however, of 
the difficulties he muft encounter in the 
profecution of fuch a defign, induced him 
to refufea fafk fo flattering to felf-love. In 
the courfe of his obfervations he had too 
often witneffed the fallacy of general rules, 
to flatter himfelf with being able to efta- 
blith an unerring fyftem ; and his pru- 
dence has been fully juftified, by the 
failure of thofe who were more rafh than 
himfelf ; but efpecially by his own expe- 
rience ; fince the only general rule he ever 
prefumed to eftablifh, that of the number 
of the cervical vertebrze of quadrupeds, 
was completely overthrown towards the 
clofe of his life. 
He was likewife charged with not hav- 
ing fufficiently extended hisanatomical de- 
tails, and with limiting his defcriptions to 
the fkeleton and internal vifcera, without 
examining the mufcles, the veffels, the 
nerves, or the external organs of fen{ation; 
but, it will be eafy to evince that he did 
every thing in the power of man to per- 
form, poffeffing only the fame leifure and 
Opportunities. It is certain, at leaft, that 
one of his pupils who attempted to extend 
his plan, has only filled up the greateft 
part of it with the moft infignificant com- 
pilations. 
Immediately upon the appearance of 
his work, Daubenton had lavifhed upon 
him the ufual rewards of all great ations, 
glory and honours, malicious cenfures and 
cavils; for in the purfuit of fcience it is 
lefs difficult perhaps to arrive at glory and 
even fortune, than to preferve our tran- 
quillity after obtaining them. 
Réaumur held, at this period, the firtt 
rank as a natural hittorian ;_ no individual 
had hitherto evinced greater accuracy of 
obfervation, or rendered this branch of 
{cience more interefting by pointing out 
the wifdom, and the fort of minute fore. 
fight, of which he had found fo many in- 
ftances in the manners and habitudes of 
the {malleft animals. 
His Memoirs on Infeéts, although diffufe, 
were luminous and elegant, and beiny full 
of fingular and original faéts, tending to 
excite curiofity, they had begun to diffufe, 
among the higher ranks, a general tafte 
‘tor the fludy of nature. 
It was not, therefore, without experi- 
encing fome chagrin, that Réaumur faw 
himfeif eclipfed by a rival, whofe bold 
views and lofty ftyle excited the enthu- 
fia of the public, and infpired it with a 
kind of contempt for refearches apparently 
fo trifling as thofe of which infeéts are the 
ebject. On this oceafion he teltified his 
Memoirs of M. Daubenton: 
[June i; 
ill-humour fomewhat keenly ;* he is even 
fufpeéted to have contributed to the publi- 
cation of fome fatirical letters, + in which 
he oppofes dry metaphyfical difcuffion to 
the eloquence of the delineator of nature, 
and in which Daubenton, whom Réau-, 
mur confidered as the moft ftaunch fupport 
of what he termed the fallacies of Buffen, 
was not fpared. The Academy fometimes 
witneffed more open quarrels, with which 
we are not fully acquainted ; but -which 
were fo violent, that Buffon found it necef= 
fary to employ his ‘influence with the. 
reigning favorite to {upport his friend, and 
to confer upon him thofe diftinétions 
which were due to his merit. 
There are few celebrated charaéters 
who have not fometimes fuffered fimilar 
vexations ; for, under all poffible circum~ 
tances, every man has his enemies ; and 
thofe who with to injure never want pro- 
tectors. 
Daubenton evinced confiderable forti- 
tude, in not finking beneath the injuftice 
he experienced on this and fimilar occa- 
fions; more efpecially as his. talents 
were not of a nature to fecure popular ap- 
plaufe. Modeft and circumfpeét in his 
refearches, his Jabours were but ill calcu- 
lated to captivate either the multitude, or 
even Jearned ftrangers, becaufe learned 
men, like the vulgar, too often judge of 
the merit of works, according to their own 
tafte ; and at that period the number of na- 
turalifts was very fmall. Had Daubenton’s 
work appeared alone, it muft have for ever 
remained unknown to all but a few anato- 
mifts and naturalifts, who were capable 
of appreciating its true value; and their 
fuffrages influencing thofe of the people, 
the Jatter would have taken the author’s 
merit for granted, in the fame manner, 
as unknown gods are fo much the more 
revered, as their fanétuary is more impene- 
trable ; but, being incorporated with the 
work of his brilliant coadjutor, it found 
ifs way equally into the toilets of females 
and the cabinets of Jiterary men. 
A comparifon of his meafured ftyle and 
circumfpect march with the poetical lan. 
pee 
* Ina paper publifhed in the Memoirs of 
the Academy for 1746, on the method of pre- 
venting the evaporation of {pirituous liquors 
emaployed for the prefervation of anatomical 
preparations, he bitterly complains, that Dau- 
benton had’ publifhed, in the third volume of 
his Natural Hiftory, an extra&t from this Me- - 
moir before it had been printed, 
t Letters from an American, refpecting the 
Natural Hittory of M. de Buffon, Paris, 17 5% 
Fiamburgh, 1756. : : 
guage, 
